Your gut is also known as the digestive system, and it is responsible for processing all the food you eat. A healthy gut is essential for optimal health because any sort of gut damage would lead to poor breakdown and digestion of food that would further promote various health complications.
However, if you want a healthy gut, you need to improve your gut microbiome that consists of both good and bad bacteria. Therefore, we have rounded up the top 8 things you can do for your gut health.
1. Increase Your Probiotic and Prebiotic Intake
Probiotics are the healthy bacteria that promote good gut health, and prebiotics is the food for probiotics to help them thrive in your gut. Probiotics are ideal for improving your gut health since they keep your gut and body safe from the harmful effects of poor diet and stress. They also improve nutrient absorption and increase immunity.
One of the best sources of probiotics is yogurt and fermented foods such as kimchi. Prebiotics are just as beneficial for your gut as probiotics since they help increase the probiotic population.
2. Ample Hydration
It is important to have at least six to eight glasses of water every day because water is beneficial for promoting a healthy gut as well. Drinking ample water makes it easier to digest food and increases stool bulk which makes it easier to defecate.
3. Eating on Time
You should be very particular about the timing of your meal consumption since eating your meals simultaneously every day can help improve your gut health. It trains your body to digest the food better at that particular time.
4. Stress Management
Being stressed out isn't just bad for your mental health, but your digestive health as well. Your gut is deeply affected by your emotions, as being stressed can cause your gut to go into overdrive by disturbing your natural digestive microbiome. Taking too much stress can also promote the development of stomach ulcers, and it also leads to increased acidity.
5. Say Goodbye to Alcohol Consumption and Smoking
Everyone knows that smoking is injurious to health, and you should have alcohol in limited amounts only. This is because having too much alcohol or smoking excessively negatively impacts your gut bacteria, which disrupts your overall gut health. They can also promote gut diseases such as IBS. Therefore, if you want to enjoy a healthy gut, then you need to quit these harmful habits.
6. Reduce Your Sugar Intake
Sugar is one of the most damaging products for gut health. Having too much sugar induces the state of gut dysbiosis, which means imbalanced gut bacteria. Furthermore, artificial sweeteners are no good either since aspartame, which is a well-known artificial sweetener, has been found to increase the production of harmful bacteria that promote metabolic ailments.
These metabolic complications included diseases such as cardiovascular ailments and diabetes. Artificial sweeteners also cause an instant spike in blood sugar levels that harm the beneficial gut bacteria. Therefore, you need to be careful about artificial sweeteners as well.
7. Regular Exercise
Regular exercise will give you good gut health due to weight management. Being overweight or obese has a negative impact on your overall health, and your gut is also affected by it. Furthermore, good gut health due to exercise will also help you to lose weight and retain your ideal body weight. Frequent exercise also gives you a diverse gut microbiome which helps to improve your gut health.
8. Monitor Your Antibiotic Intake
Antibiotics are drugs that help to control bacterial infections. However, they are drugs at the end of the day, and you need to be mindful while consuming them. Some people tend to overconsume these medicines, which induces antibiotic resistance, which means that the bacteria become resistant to this drug, and it can no longer help with your immunity.
Antibiotics also harm your gut microbiome as they can reduce the concentration of good bacteria in your body. Therefore, you should always consult your doctor before consuming antibiotics.
Final Word
A healthy gut is extremely important for overall good health. Therefore, you should make an effort to keep your gut in good shape by taking care of your diet, physical activity levels and avoiding the use of products that are injurious to health.
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