Good gut health is essential for our all round wellbeing, not just for our digestive system. From how we deal with everyday stress to how effective we are at fighting off infections, the gut plays an important role in it all. There are plenty of ways to support your gut health, but few are as effective as eating a balanced diet rich in probiotics, prebiotics and other essential nutrients.
Probiotics in Food: How What You Eat Contributes to Gut Health
As the old saying goes, ‘you are what you eat’ and perhaps this is most true of all when it comes to your gut. It’s here that an estimated trillion-plus microorganisms lurk[1], many of them involved in helping your body and mind to stay healthy.
Why is gut health important?
Your gut is responsible for digesting the food you eat, absorbing the nutrients found within it and getting rid of waste. But it’s so much more besides. Your microbiome, as the bacteria and other organisms that thrive in your gut are collectively known, has been found in recent years to have a significant link to numerous other aspects of our health. Perhaps most notably, gut health is strongly linked to our brain through the gut-brain axis[2]. It’s also deeply involved in the immune system, with studies showing that somewhere between 70% and 80% of immune cells reside deep inside your intestinal tract[3]. Additionally, gut flora has been linked to skin health[4], the endocrine system[5], the health of the heart[6] and even how well we sleep[7].
How will I know when my gut health isn’t good?
We tend to notice changes in our gut pretty quickly, provided they affect our gut itself. The gastrointestinal system is so intrinsically linked with so many different areas of our health that in some cases our body can be telling us that our microbiome is unhappy in quite unexpected ways. In addition to gastrointestinal symptoms, signs of a gut that’s out of whack might include:
- Skin issues: including flare ups in conditions such as psoriasis[8]
- Sleep disturbances[9]: such as finding it hard to get to sleep, waking up overnight and feeling unrested even after a full night’s sleep
Getting ill more often: becoming more prone than usual to common illnesses like colds and flu, cold sores or infections could be down to a gut microbiome that’s struggling
- New food intolerances: suddenly can’t do bread? Hard time dealing with dairy? Changes in your tolerance to foods could indicate gut dysbiosis[10]
Probiotic Foods: Eating For Good Gut Health
You might be able to feel that things aren’t quite right but what might strike you as a little more challenging is setting your gut on the right path. After all, how can you begin to fix something you can’t see?
How do I fix my gut health fast?
Actually, the gut microbiome is incredibly easy to please. What it’s looking for is diversity, which requires little more than a good and varied diet. Unfortunately though there’s no quick fix when your microbiome has found its way into dysbiosis. In fact, improvements could take some months to show. Experts say too that our microbiomes are so different from person to person that the time it takes to correct an unbalanced gut can vary significantly[11].
What is the seven day gut reset and do I need it?
If you’re interested in gut health you’ve almost certainly heard of the Seven Day Gut Reset. A meal program that varies depending on which version you choose to follow, the Seven Day Gut Reset focuses on consuming healthy, gut-friendly foods. Those who offer plans promise a quick fix that’ll upgrade the gut and reduce symptoms such as sleeplessness, brain fog, everyday anxiety and gut issues such as constipation and bloating.
While a seven day plan is a great place to start, it seems unlikely that a week-long regime would show lasting results. And while you may indeed see improvements to intestinal symptoms, such as experiencing more regular and consistent bowel movements, long term gains to your wider wellbeing are unlikely without commitment to an ongoing regimen.
What are the super six foods for gut health?
Gut health trends are, it seems, all about numbers. Not only are social media nutrition gurus keen to hook you onto a seven day gut reset, they’re also super excited about six specific super foods. The so-called Gut Health Super Six comprises:
Vegetables
Fruits
Seeds and nuts
Wholegrains
Legumes and beans
Herbs and spices
It’s not the most surprising of lists, containing those daily must-haves that anybody focusing on consuming a healthier diet will look out for. However, you’ll notice that the Super Six is entirely free of meat and animal products. A plant-based diet is proven by research to be beneficial for gut health[12] so it does make sense that the Gut Health Super Six diet should do just what it says on the tin. That said, eating a diverse range of plants coupled with plenty of fibre-packed beans, seeds and wholegrains is a common sense approach to all-round health, not a groundbreaking new discovery.
The Best Foods For Gut Health (and Other Gut Health Fixes)
With gut health at the forefront of public and medical interest, what can we do to better support the microbiota that supports us? It takes more than a fad diet…
Gut health gimmicks v eating well
Current trends like the Seven Day Gut Reset and the Gut Health Super Six are based in sensible, microbiome-friendly eating. While there’s nothing inherently bad about these diets there doesn’t appear to be a good reason to spend hard-earned money on glossy books or costly subscriptions.
Simple changes can make a big difference when it comes to gut health. Our advice? Opt for a diverse range of fruits, veggies and wholegrains alongside plenty of fermented food such as kimchi, tofu and yoghurt[13]. We also know that high fibre foods have a positive impact on gut health[14] while studies give an early indication that collagen-rich eating (think bone broth) may be beneficial too[15].
Lifestyle and gut health
The health of your gut is about more than just what you eat. Your day-to-day lifestyle can have a huge impact on your microbiome. Stress can have a particularly negative effect on our gut[16], thanks to the two-way highway that is the gut-brain axis. And while avoiding stress altogether is an unachievable dream for most of us there are tools we can use, including meditation and mindfulness, to help us deal better with daily stresses and anxieties.
Additional lifestyle tips for good gut health include staying hydrated[17], giving up smoking[18] and avoiding alcohol[19].
Sources:
[1]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4191858/
[2]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-024-01743-1
[3]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33803407/
[4]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7916842/
[5]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5414803/
[7]https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/irregular-sleep-patterns-harmful-gut-bacteria
[8]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9321451/
[9]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32668369/
[10]https://gut.bmj.com/content/71/1/215
[11]https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/gut_bacteria
[12]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10057430/
[14]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8153313/
[15]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8151984/
[16]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22314561/
[17]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224011258
