Foods That Help Support a Healthy Gut
Have you ever thought of how healthy your gut is? Do you know why gut health is important? Your gut health is important because it can affect your immune system. It also affects how much energy you have, how you sleep, and even your mood.
Our guts play a large role in our digestive health and our overall health in general. In fact, there are strong links between your gut and your brain. So if you struggle with fatigue, brain fog, or trouble focusing, it might actually be from your gut.
Eating these gut-healthy foods helps to create a healthy, well-balanced diet. Doing this makes you feel good, gives you energy, and helps with your brain fog all at the same time.
Eat these foods for a Healthier Gut
So how do you improve your gut health? Reducing certain foods and replacing them with healthier ones is a good place to start.
Reduce processed foods, alcohol, highly processed soy, red meat, and artificial sweeteners. These foods might not be best for your gut.
One way to find out if these foods are affecting your gut health is by doing an elimination diet. An elimination diet is when you cut foods from your diet for a certain amount of time. Then you reintroduce them back in one at a time after a certain time frame.
Replace the foods you eliminate with a variety of plant-based foods. You should have a goal to eat at least 30 plant-based foods every week.
Plant-based foods often contain higher amounts of nutrients. Such as fiber, probiotics, prebiotics, protein, and many different vitamins and minerals.
Eat these 10 Foods for a Healthy Gut
Beans
Beans are a good source of protein and fiber so it’s no wonder adding this to your diet for a healthy gut is a good idea. Also, beans are an excellent plant-based protein. When eating for a healthy gut you want to eat more plant-based foods.
Berries
Berries are a good source of fiber. This gut-healthy food also contains less sugar making them less likely to cause gas. At breakfast, I love adding berries to my oatmeal. Plain greek yogurt and berries are a yummy healthy treat when you’re craving something sweet.
Leafy greens
There is a variety of leafy greens you can choose from. Variety is key for gut health. Which is one of the reasons why leafy greens are a good choice. You can have several different varieties of plants in one salad.
Potatoes
Don’t shy away from potatoes because they are higher in starch and carbs. Potatoes are a good choice for your gut health. You can cook potatoes in a variety of ways. You can mash them, and bake them. Or fry them in an air fryer.
Almonds
When it comes to nuts, most of them have a good amount of vitamins and minerals, but almonds are best for your gut. They contain probiotic properties. So a handful of almonds or almond butter will improve your digestive health.
Chia Seed
Chia seeds are an easy add-on to your diet. I like to add them to my morning oatmeal. It’s also easy to add to a protein shake. Or make chia seed pudding for a healthy dessert.
In each ounce of chia seeds, there’s an estimated 11g of fiber. This means one serving of the seeds provides you with the recommended daily dose of fiber.
Chia seeds are also absorbed once they’re in the stomach. So you’ll feel fuller quicker, preventing you from overeating.
Tofu
You want to avoid highly processed soy when eating for a healthy gut. But tofu and tempeh are good choices to heal your gut. I thought I wasn’t a fan of tofu because I didn’t like it when I had miso soup when I went out for Sushi.
It was mushy and didn’t taste like anything. But when I started working on a healthy gut I needed to add more plants to my diet and avoid eating a lot of red meat. So I decided to give tofu a try. I learned that you have to press as much of the water out as you can. So you can get rid of the mushy texture and be able to fry the tofu. I also learned to season it well. It tastes good and I will add it to my diet more. Also, it’s a lot cheaper than buying meat.
Fermented Foods for a Healthy Gut
Sauerkraut
Sauerfraut is a type of fermented vegetable that is amazing for your gut health. Sauerkraut is made from fermented cabbage. It can be added to many dishes, like sausages, meats, and other vegetables. Like other fermented vegetables, it is a type of probiotic food.
Kombucha
I tried Kombucha for the first time because I was on my first round of the Whole30. I heard that Kombucha had traces of alcohol. So of course for not being able to drink alcohol for a whole month. So I wanted to try it. I didn’t get a buzz from drinking it but I found out that I liked it.
When choosing a kombucha, pick one without added sugar. Kombucha has sugar added to it in the fermenting process. But there are brands like GT that don’t add sugar back into the drink when it’s done. GT is my favorite brand. The two flavors I love are trinity and gingerade.
Kimchi
Kimchi is a type of fermented vegetable that is popular in Korean cuisine. It’s a fermented food that will help to balance out the good and bad bacteria in your stomach. While improving your digestive system. Plus, it has many other vitamins and minerals, and a good amount of fiber.
Kimchi tastes great when served with meat or fish. If you are not a big meat eater, try it with your eggs.
The Last Thing You Need to Know About Foods for a Healthy Gut
The gut plays a big role in our health. It’s the gateway to the rest of our body and it takes up more than 75% of the immune system. Our gut is also where we absorb nutrients from food. So it’s important that we feed it well!
The best foods for gut health are probiotic-rich foods. Such as, yogurt, kimchi, kefir and sauerkraut. You can also include fermented foods like tempeh and miso. As well as fermented drinks like kombucha or kefir water to your diet.
You can find good bacteria for your gut by eating a wide variety of whole grains, beans, lentils, and vegetables. Make sure to avoid processed food which often has added sugar and refined grains.
Which of these healthy gut foods is your favorite? Let me know in the comments:)
