Your stomach is a little world full of microscopic organisms that impact your overall health. Read on if you want to improve your gut health.
Some of us remember learning about “biomes” back in high school. The word brings to mind massive ecosystems teeming with life—an ocean flooded with fish, a forest brimming with birds, or a desert resplendent with reptiles.
But our own bodies contain biomes, too. Inside our guts exist a whole world of microscopic life: fungi, viruses, and bacteria. This microbiome helps your body digest food, fight illness, and even guard our heart and brain’s health. Therefore, following these tips and tricks for improving gut health will help you improve your overall health and buff up your weight-loss regime.
Focus on Food Choice
Whenever anyone thinks of focusing on health, their first thought is to go on a diet. While eating healthier is always a good idea, the trick to improving gut health isn’t simply eating less, but eating a greater variety of the right foods. Here are a few foods to keep in mind:
- Fermented foods (kefir, sauerkraut, kombucha, miso, and kimchi)
- Fiber-rich foods (leeks, onions, legumes, artichokes, asparagus, bananas, and garlic)
- Whole grains (quinoa, millets, barley, whole wheat, corn, and brown rice)
- Collagen-rich foods (bone broth, chicken, egg whites, shellfish, leafy greens, and bell peppers)
Remember: diversity is key. While you want to incorporate all the things on this list, don’t go overboard adding food from one section, especially fibers. Also, avoid foods that are rich in sugar or deep fried.
Slow Down
We often focus on what we’re eating, but rarely on how we’re eating it. For example, we often don’t realize that we’re shoveling our food down without chewing it all the way, especially when eating a particularly tasty meal. But slowing down and being more mindful eaters can help our body more fully digest and absorb our foods and cut down on mindless snacking.
Slowing down in other areas of our lives can help improve gut health, too. Sleep deprivation and high-stress levels can both negatively impact our gut health. Take some time to relax and improve your mental health. Your stomach will thank you.
Get a Massage
Massage isn’t just a relaxing add-on to your spa day. There are multiple reasons to add massage to yourweight loss regime, and gut health is one of them. Massage helps improve the movement within the intestines and the production of digestive enzymes. It also has the benefit of improving sleep and reducing stress which, as we said, are both good for your gut.
Your body is an ecosystem, so taking care of it takes time and care. Improving gut health will help both you and your body’s biome thrive.
