Tips for Improving Gut Health

You may think that your gut is your enemy, especially when it causes both uncomfortable and embarrassing side effects. Your digestive health is incredibly important to your energy levels, your immune health, and your ability to get proper nutrition. Keeping your digestive system healthy can lead to fewer problems with your bowels and even more benefits, including a stronger immune system. However, most people don’t know how to care for their gut, let alone work towards improving gut health. There are several things you can do in order to improve your digestive health and, in turn, improve your overall health.

To improve your gut health, try these five tips that can help you to not only feel better, but have a higher quality of life.

You’ve probably heard about probiotics. In fact, you may already be taking some form of probiotic supplement. Probiotics and digestive enzymes are a huge component of gut health. Babies start developing the probiotics in their gut at birth and continue to develop the naturally good bacteria for the first two years of life. Different things can happen to your gut that cause the bacteria that have built up to die off, ranging from drinking alcohol to taking antibiotics. It’s important to help your gut heal after any of these things and maintain appropriate probiotic levels in order to preserve your health. One of the easiest ways to do this is through a quality probiotic, like the one produced by American BioSciences.

If you’re constantly stressed out, your body is consistently releasing adrenaline. This puts your body in a constant state of “fight or flight.” Your body slows digestion and all processes associated with digestion if you’re always stressed out. Take the time to relax and allow your body to shift away from an adrenaline-driven system to one focused on rest and digestion. This is critical as your body only releases enough digestive enzymes when you’re resting. Without digestive enzymes, your food does not get fully processed and you receive less nutritional value from your food. This leaves you with the option of stressing less or supplementing with a good digestive enzyme.

If anyone ever tells you that exercise is bad for you for any reason, they’re definitely wrong. Along with helping to regulate weight and even improving bone density, regular exercise is an important component of your gut health. Regular exercise helps to “move things along” in your bowels, which means they are cleansed more regularly. A study done at University College Cork in Ireland concluded that individuals who exercise have a more diverse collection of gut flora to help with health and digestion.

Food is one of the most important aspects that affect your gut health. What you eat directly affects the changes in the gut flora and your ability to absorb nutrients. There are foods that can either help or hinder your gut’s ability to do its job and stay healthy. Ideal foods for your gut are ones that are high in fiber, like legumes, and a variety of fermented foods, such as kimchi and miso. These foods help to improve the flora in the gut.

Other foods are detrimental to the good bacteria in your gut and should be limited or avoided completely. The fewer processed foods you eat, the better. In addition to watching out for processed foods, avoid sugar and alcohol because both can be very detrimental to your gut’s ecosystem. Additionally, many argue that a vegetarian diet, or at least a diverse diet heavily weighted towards plant-based foods, can help to change gut flora for the better. Reducing animal protein allows your gut to produce different types of microbes that help to keep your body healthy and functioning at peak levels.

While we don’t think that you need to go outside and stomp in every mud puddle you can find, there is plenty to be said about the health benefits associated with avoiding the use of antimicrobial products. Antibiotic medications and other antibiotic products can really destroy your gut flora and reduce the strength of your immune system. The more hand sanitizer you use, the less your body is able to learn how to react to invaders. Allowing yourself to limit the use of these products and only use antibiotic medications when absolutely necessary is key to allowing your body to grow stronger on its own.

The Harmony Company is focused on providing quality natural supplements to help improve your health and well-being. When you need help with your gut health, try DIGESTSolve 24/7 to provide your body with quality probiotics and digestive enzymes in order to help you feel your best. Shop online with the Harmony Company today!