Ten ways to cultivate good gut bacteria
1. Give your gut a rest
Giving your body a break from digesting food could protect from metabolic diseases and restore gut health.
When your gut takes a break from food for 12 (or more) hours between dinner and breakfast, it has time to heal — because digestion is an abrasive activity.
It can also improve the diversity of your gut microbiome so your bacteria can help you stay healthy too.
In fact, some beneficial bacteria, such as Akkermansia muciniphila, actually enjoy a nice fast, and help strengthen the gut lining when they aren’t being fed by your food intake.
There’s no need to be radical here, though, just lay off the midnight snacks and when you do eat, make sure you cram in wholesome plant-based carbs.
2. Eat fermented foods and taking probiotics
Ideally, fermented food has always been a good way of preserving food and drinks long before days of refrigerating.
Fermented food is rich in probiotics. Probiotics are a combination of live beneficial bacteria that live within your body.
The main job of probiotics in your gut is to maintain a healthy balance in your body.
This means that when you are sick, the good bacteria fights the bad bacteria to restore balance within your body, hence making you feel better.
Therefore, one way you can cultivate your gut bacteria is through ensuring that you introduce food, drinks and probiotic supplements that could help restore probiotics in your system.
So how about incorporating some Kombucha (fermented tea) and yoghurt in your meal plan?
3. How about some whole grains?
Whole grains contain a lot of fibre and non-digestible carb. These foods are not absorbed in the small intestine and make their way to the large intestine.
Here, they are broken down by microbeta and promote the growth of beneficial bacteria, which reduce inflammation and heart disease risk factor.
4. Limit Antibiotics intake
Antibiotics work buy wiping out any and all bacteria, which makes them very effective for treating illnesses, but very bad for your microbiome.
The antibiotic cannot recognise the difference between good gut bacteria and bad bacteria.
This is why you see some people having diarrhoea as a side effect of taking antibiotics. Also, too much antibiotics intake is linked to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Therefore, how about avoiding over the counter antibiotics as well as looking for alternatives to antibiotics that could help restore your bacterial gut?
5. Get some good sleep
Cytokines — or inflammatory messengers — have circadian cycles that are dictated by our gut critters.
This means that disruption of the gut bacteria can have significant negative effects on sleep and circadian rhythms.
Studies have shown that people with erratic sleeping patterns run the risk of disrupting their microbiome and running the risk of developing inflammatory diseases.
Practicing good sleep hygiene may balance your gut and help break through insomnia.
6. Sweat it out
We all know regular exercise is good for your health, body, and muscles. But also, it has proved to be good to your gut.
Studies show that exercise induces changes in the gut microbiota that are different from that of diet and probiotics.
This means that it could influence your metabolism and introduce good gut bacteria and also alter your immune functions.
7. Go slow on sugar and processed foods
Monosaccharides, the simplest carbohydrates containing a single molecule of glucose and fructose disrupt a healthy microbial balance because they are digested easily by and absorbed into our small intestine without any help from our microbes.
That leaves our gut bugs hungry, with nothing to munch on, so they begin nibbling on the mucus lining of our intestines — which is meant to be a strong barrier between the gut and the rest of the body.
When the wall of the intestine is permeated, particles of food enter the bloodstream, and our immune system alerts our brain and other organs to the attack, causing inflammation in various parts of our body.
Sugar also feeds organisms like Candida Albican, a kind of fungus that grows in the gut and attacks the intestine wall.
8. Don’t be obsessed with cleanliness
Most of the gut experts say we ought to be picky about the household cleaners we use to disinfect our homes.
Most of them are like antibiotics: they obliterate everything, which includes some of the helpful bacteria we need to stay sane.
Experts suggest using less toxic cleaners such as vinegar, castile soap, and lemon juice.
Limiting our exposure to such chemicals as chlorine can help protect our health as well.
9. Choose foods and drinks with high level of antioxidants
Food with high level of antioxidants are said to have compounds that may have health benefits, which include reductions in blood pressure, cholesterol levels and inflammation.
“They cannot be digested by the human cells, but are efficiently broken down in the gut. These foods include, cocoa, dark chocolates, red wine, grape skins, broccoli, onions, almonds and green tea.
They work well as antioxidants and help in introducing good bacteria to the body,” says Ivy Wangeci, a nutritionist.
10. Reduce stress
Managing stress is important for many aspects of health, including gut health.
Animal studies have suggested that psychological stressors can disrupt the microorganisms in the intestines, even if the stress is only short-lived.
In humans, a variety of stressors can negatively affect gut health, including:psychological stress, environmental stress, such as extreme heat, cold, or noise, sleep deprivation, disruption of the circadian rhythm.
