Our gut health affects many aspects of our lives. Including our weight, mood, and even our cognitive function. Besides being the source of our digestive problems, it may also be the cause of our back discomfort, pain and sadness. Because of this, determining the condition of our gut and healing it are crucial steps in enhancing both our mental and physical well-being.
How to start healing gut health may be confusing at times. After all, gut health healing is not the easiest process! To help you through your journey, here is a Step by Step Guide to Healing Your Gut.
1. Dedicate Time for Exercise
Did you know that exercise can improve your Gut Bacteria? Many studies support this. In fact, moderate exercise benefits the health of your microbiome. It lowers inflammation and intestinal permeability, improves body composition, and has other benefits. It also causes improvements in the composition of the gut microbiota and the microbial metabolites produced in the gastrointestinal tract.
Our digestive system contains most of our immune system. Our gut microbiome contains more than 100 trillion bacteria. Is that not crazy? These gut microbiota—both the good and the bad—help us stay healthy overall and prevent disease. The cycle is straightforward: regular exercise strengthens our immune system, which in turn keeps us healthy.
Starting a new exercise regimen can feel like a significant commitment. Try setting small, attainable objectives when you’re first getting started. Take each day as it comes, whether you are a beginner at exercising or a seasoned fitness advocate. The secret to developing and maintaining both internal and external fitness is consistency.
2. Eat Healthy – Gut Healthy!
Consistent exercise and a healthy diet are the greatest combinations for a healthy stomach. Together, they are a powerful team that neither could be as effective without. One essential strategy for promoting digestive health is to eat for your stomach. Eating a balanced diet full of colourful fruits and vegetables is a key example of making healthier food choices that can really heal your gut.
The greatest way to keep a healthy balance of good bacteria in your digestive tract is to consume nutrient-rich meals that are friendly to the gut. Properly cultured yoghurt, sauerkraut, and other fermented foods are among the healthiest foods for gut health. They encourage healthy bacteria, increase natural antibodies, and fight illness. Other foods rich in soluble fibre, such as chia and flax seeds, stalky green vegetables (like chard and asparagus), and pears, can help to increase your energy levels and feed the good bacteria in your stomach.
Check out these Meal Plans that could help in your journey to gut healing.
3. Check for Food Intolerances
It’s possible that you’re having trouble healing food sensitivities if you’re experiencing digestive problems.
You are not by yourself in this. When there is any kind of gut illness or imbalance present, food sensitivities are a very frequent complaint. We don’t want to accept our inability to handle a certain food and often think food is not the problem. Even if you are able to handle the symptoms of consuming a meal that you are sensitive to, it is just not worth it to continue exposing your body to that item. You can be sensitive to even healthy foods, when your gut is out of balance.
Food sensitivities cause systemic, underlying inflammation that can seriously hinder any recovery you’re attempting to achieve. In essence, having food sensitivities makes it more challenging for your gut to recover. Consult with me and discover possible food intolerances you may have!
4. Say No to Stress
We’ve all felt the butterflies in our stomach when we are anxious about something, like an upcoming presentation or a first date. Those “butterflies” demonstrate the close connection between our brain and digestive system.
Stress has an impact on our stomachs as well. Stress speeds up fluid and motility secretion in the gut. This is why experiencing a stressful event may cause you to experience a case of diarrhea or running to the bathroom to wee. Stress has the ability to both speed up material passing through the intestines and delay the emptying of the stomach. In short, stress can absolutely impact the way your gut is moving and how inflamed it is.
5. Avoid Taking Unnecessary Antibiotics
You would think that antibiotics would help to repair gut health. After all, the development of antibiotics was supposed to increase life expectancy and transform human health. Not so. Not at all. Your gut microbiota can be negatively impacted by antibiotic use in many ways. This includes decreased species diversity, altered metabolic functions, and the development of organisms that are resistant to antibiotics. This can then result in drug-associated diarrhoea and recurring infections.
Unfortunately, even one round of antibiotics can change the intestinal flora permanently. Many studies from several disciplines show the detrimental consequences of gut dysbiosis and insufficient friendly bacteria on a range of health outcomes.
6. Probiotic Therapy
Probiotics are an important component of intestinal healing. They aid in the rebalancing of your gut flora, the restoration of your intestinal wall, and the reduction of intestinal inflammation. These beneficial bacteria can provide relief for leaky gut symptoms such as abdominal pain, cognitive fog, and stool changes in as little as a few weeks.
Some people experience gas, bloating, or diarrhoea when they first start taking probiotics. Changes in the gut microbiota can cause bacteria to produce more gas than usual, resulting in bloating. These negative effects, however, normally go away after a few days or weeks of using probiotics. Though many people get relief from their gut issues within a few weeks of starting probiotics, keep in mind that they are only one piece of the jigsaw and work best when combined with a balanced diet and lifestyle.
7. Stay Hydrated
It may seem the simplest thing to follow, but not a lot of people are fans of drinking plain old water. Drinking plenty of water each day is good for the mucosal lining of the intestines. It also helps you move your gut! Additionally, water can support a healthy mix of gut-friendly microorganisms.
Drinking water before and after meals helps the body transport food through the digestive tract. More significantly, if solid food is not broken down, it cannot be properly digested. Water is involved in this situation once more. The nutrients included in food are transported by water to the parts of the body where they are needed for digestion. Additionally, it aids in moving the waste out of our bodies by moving it through the remainder of the digestive tract. Remember that the stomach contains a lot of acids that combine with water to break down our meals. Drinking a lot of water will assist maintain everything in balance.
Due to its colon-cleansing and detoxifying qualities, alkaline water in particular is a fantastic choice for preserving gut health. Additionally, it may promote the development of probiotics, which help the body absorb nutrients. If you also believe that Your Gut Deserves Better, check out my signature online course and Get Your Gut Right.
Conclusion
It can be challenging to restore good gut health and address associated symptoms. A disturbance in gut function can result from a variety of circumstances. Human digestion is intricate. Although further research is needed, it is evident that the gut microbiome has an impact on overall health. Benefits of a healthy gut include a strong immune system, a healthy heart and brain, improved mood, peaceful sleep, effective digestion, and even the potential prevention of some malignancies and autoimmune diseases. Your gut and general health may benefit from changing your diet and way of living.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I naturally heal my gut?
The greatest method to support a healthy gut is through a healthy, low-stress lifestyle that emphasises sleep, exercise, and plant-based diets. Healing gut health naturally takes commitment. If you’re only going to commit to one thing, alter your diet to incorporate more fresh produce and nutritious meals. This will have the most effect overall.
Increase your intake of healing foods and herbs to treat aches and pains and boost your energy, vitality, and emotional toughness. The relationship between your body and brain, as well as between desire and action, may be renewed.
What helps repair your gut?
Most people must first adopt an anti-inflammatory diet and alter their lifestyles to promote rest, relaxation, and joy in order to heal their guts. L-glutamine, zinc, vitamin D, and collagen are additional nutrients that may help lessen inflammation and protect the gut lining even more.
How long does the gut take to heal?
Some studies reveal that differences can be seen within a couple of days. But it would still depend from person to person. If the new healthy practices are abandoned, the microbiome reverts to its old composition.
If the right healthy behaviours are adopted, it could take up to six months to build a healthy microbiome. However, in order to maintain a healthy microbiome, you must practice these habits throughout your life.
How do you know if your gut is healing?
We can connect the dots between our gut health and the typical symptoms of poor digestion. Recognise the typical symptoms of poor digestion and absorption. It may include bloating, gas, gut discomfort, inconsistent urination, parasites, yeast infections, skin issues, and mood swings.
The most obvious sign that your gut is healing is when your strength and vigour have returned, you’ve regained clarity of mind, your mood has gone better, you’ve restored to your ideal body weight, and you feel like your best self. It’s crucial to realise that, like other health issues, gut health is a spectrum condition.
