For anyone who has suffered or is currently dealing with intestinal pain, then you’ll know it’s no walk in the park. Gut health is one of the most underrated forms of taking care of ourselves, as it’s often only when we start to experience pain and discomfort in the gut that we start to take action.
But why wait until then? There are many ways you can improve intestinal health and have a better balance of microorganisms in your digestive tract. A healthy gut balance isn’t just good for your stomach and bowels, but also mental health, immune system, skin, and much more.
Here’s what changes you can make to improve your gut health and likely prevent stomach issues in the future.
Probiotics and fermented foods
The gut contains essentially what’s known as good and bad bacteria at any given point. However, certain types of food help to boost the “good guys” and ensure your stomach health is at its best. Probiotic supplements and fermented foods are some of your best allies against bad bacteria. Supplements are easily found in health food shops or pharmacies, as these support a healthy gut microbiome and work to prevent gut inflammation and many other stomach problems. Probiotics can also be found in some types of yoghurts, as well as fermented foods such as kimchi, miso, kombucha, kefir, tempeh, and sauerkraut.
Prebiotic fibres
Prebiotics encourage good bacteria to increase in the gut, which gives your intestines a healthy balance. The great news is that prebiotics are easily found in many common types of food that we would likely eat anyway, such as asparagus, bananas, garlic, artichokes, onions, and whole grains. You obviously don’t have to consume these foods in large quantities every day, but incorporate them as part of a healthy balanced diet each week to help out your gut.
Only take antibiotics if completely necessary
There may come a time where antibiotics are helpful to destroy bacteria infections in the body, but this type of medicine is quite strong and should only be taken if no other form of action is an option. Although antibiotics often do combat bacterial infections, they can also kill off good bacteria in our bodies and upset the balance for several months afterwards. Although it’s not too common, some doctors can prescribe antibiotics unnecessarily, so always talk through other options if available. Sometimes it’s just a case of switching up the diet and changing your lifestyle. Still, there are ways to restore gut flora after antibiotics with help from Biomes, so check out these options if you’re taking or have recently taken antibiotics.
Ease up on sugar and sweeteners
As tasty as sugar is, you probably already know that it’s not the best thing for our bodies. In terms of gut health, eating too much sugar and artificial sweeteners contributes to an imbalance of gut microbes, which often leads to stomach pain and discomfort but also our mood. There’s usually a lot of hidden sugars in the foods we buy, most of it in foods that we think are relatively healthy, such as cereals, condiments, yoghurts, and sports drinks. Enjoy your chocolate bar from time to time, but also look at food labels to check that you’re not consuming too much extra sugar each week.
Don’t forget a healthy sleep pattern and exercise
A decent 7 hours of sleep every night helps our mood, memory, perception, and of course, gut health. Irregular sleep patterns and disrupted sleep night after night can increase a lot of mental and physical issues, so if you find yourself going to bed late after watching TV or playing video games, then it’s worth changing your habits. Of course, a hot room or noise doesn’t always make it easy to fall asleep, but ideas like investing in a fan and earplugs can solve these problems. Make sure you know how to sleep when it gets cold again! Also, even if it’s just a jog around the block or some yoga, keep up a good exercise regime to help manage stress, improve gut health and even make it easier to fall asleep at night.
