Looking to boost your gut health but not sure where to start? Here are 10 Top Tops for a Healthier Gut Microbiome for you to try out for not only your gut but your overall health!
What is a Microbiome
Every one of us has a microbiome, which is a collection of trillions of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungus that live in our intestines and skin. Most of these organisms, called microbes, are found in the large intestine, which is referred to as our gut microbiomes. Most microbes in your gut are beneficial for your body and health. The best microbiomes are diverse ones, meaning there is a vast variety of healthy bacteria to boost your gut health. Think of your microbiome as a rainbow, and each microbe is a different color. The healthiest microbiomes are the most colorful!
Why A Healthy Gut Microbiome is Important
The health of your gut Microbiome not only affects how your stomach feels and works, but it also affects almost every other system in the body. It is well known that the gut microbiota is indispensable to produce vitamins, fermentation of indigestible components of our diet, regulates lipid metabolism, produces fatty acids as fuel for cells and regulates our gene expression.
Having a healthy Microbiome can also mean better control of your blood sugar. In metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, the microbiota is out of balance, maybe due to the diet or excessive behaviour, such as overeating, alcohol abuse or sleep deprivation. The state of gut bacteria even relates to things like hormonal balances, skin and hair health, and mental health. When there is an imbalance of unhealthy and healthy microbes in the intestines it can lead to weight gain, high cholesterol, diabetes, and other bodily disorders with negative health outcomes.
How GluCare can help you Boost Your Gut Health
Try some of these top tips for not only a healthier gut but healthier life!
1. Try Probiotics
Probiotics are foods that contain healthy bacteria. They support your gut by adding more diversity to your gut microbiome through “reseeding”, which means they provide new and healthy bacterias that can then multiply to improve gut health. Examples of probiotics include fermented foods such as yogurt, sauerkraut, pickles, and even wine and beer (in moderation). You can also go for a probiotic supplement if that works better with your lifestyle. Your GluCare dietitian can help you find Probiotics that you enjoy.
2. Eat Your Prebiotics
Prebiotics are foods that have nutrients that your gut bacteria digest, allowing them to be well fed and healthy. These nutrients are things like fiber and natural forms of carbohydrates. These nutrients have been shown to benefit weight, cancer risk, diabetes, and other chronic disorders. Examples of prebiotics include high fiber foods like whole grains, legumes, and produce. Your GluCare dietitian can help you choose a well-balanced diet that you enjoy.
3. Diversify Your Plate
Just like your microbiome, the more diverse the food you eat, the better! Getting a nice mixture of healthy fruits, vegetables, whole grains, proteins, and fats allows your gut to soak up tons of different healthy nutrients and diversify healthy bacteria. Your GluCare dietitian can help you monitor your diet through food logging to make sure your diet is balanced to meet all your needs.
4. Fill Up on Vitamins and Minerals
When you’re building your diverse plate, try to eat lots of fruits and vegetables that are high in different essential vitamins and minerals. Vitamins such as A, B, C, D, and K are some of the gut’s favourite main food sources. It’s also said that eating plant-based foods are broken down by the microbiome to stimulate healthy bacterial growth. Your GluCare dietitian can help you select a diet that includes a wide variety of vitamins.
5. Log your meals on GluCare App
If you are noticing recurring gut issues, we suggest food logging to identify any relationships between food and your symptoms to discover which foods do and do not work for you. Over time, you can compare the foods that you’re eating with when your symptoms occur to figure out what’s going on. This way, your dietitian can target foods that upset your gut and swap them out for foods that better suit your diet.
6. Increase your Daily Movement
GluCare monitors your daily exercise, which is very beneficial for your gut health because it promotes the growth of healthy bacteria. Research shows that bacteria that grow due to exercise can reduce inflammation and help repair damaged gut lining. This may even prevent diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and type 2 diabetes. Even low-intensity exercise, such as walking, can benefit the gut, so keep in mind that every little bit helps! Try to get outside for your daily movement; the extra vitamin D boost can promote more gut diversity.
7. Find Ways to Relieve Stress
Stress can cause major issues with your gut from both short-term and long-term effects. In the short term, it can cause a loss of appetite and reduce the speed of digestion, leading to constipation, bloating, and cramping. In the case that stress continues long term, issues such as a decrease in blood and oxygen flow to the stomach can arise, which causes chronic cramping, constipation, diarrhea, indigestion, or stomach pain. Finding ways to reduce stress is essential to avoid stress-related gut issues. Your GluCare coach can help you find stress-relieving activities such as journaling, exercise, meditation, or spending time with loved ones.
8. Get Enough Sleep
Getting enough sleep is one of the top ways to help manage and reduce stress, which can therefore benefit the gut microbiome. Alternatively, poor gut health can lead to poor sleep, so the more you work on your gut health, the better your sleep may get, therefore benefiting your gut health cycle. GluCare monitors your sleep and provide helpful tips on how to improve your sleep patterns.
9. Stay Hydrated
We can’t stress enough just how important hydration is! Being dehydrated can lead to problems with your gut such as constipation and unhealthy gut lining, which may cause an imbalance of gut microbiota. Try to drink 1-2 liters per day for ultimate hydration. Your GluCare coach and app can help you remember to drink your water throughout your day.
10. Moderate your Alcohol
We recommend you avoid alcohol, but if you do drink, please be responsible. While beer and wine are probiotics, drinking too much of any type of alcohol can wreak havoc on your microbiome. Try to stick to 1-2 glasses at a time to avoid any negative consequences on your gut (and a hangover!)
The gut microbiome is an intricate and complex organ that plays a major role in your overall health including its effect in your blood glucose level.
It’s important to make sure that you are treating your gut right to prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and mental illnesses. GluCare can help you with these top tips for a healthier gut microbiome for better gut function and long-term health!
