You’re familiar with the importance of gut health. Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses in your digestive tract - collectively known as the gut microbiome.
The gut microbiome is continuously shaped by many factors, such as dietary habits, lifestyle, stress, antibiotics use, and disease. As a result, your gut impacts everything from your nervous and immune systems to your digestive function and mental health.
Eating habits for gut health focuses on reducing inflammation and promoting the repair of the intestinal lining.
To nurture your gut microbiome and consider incorporating the following 7 eating habits.
1. Make Mealtime Relaxing Time
One of the best things you can do to support proper digestion and gut health is to eat in a relaxed mental and emotional condition - the parasympathetic “rest and digest” state.
A reminder: When Stress is On, Digestion is Off.
So, avoid the following while eating: multitasking, working, driving, scrolling your phone, watching the news and having stressful or difficult conversations.
Don’t forget to breathe and chew your food thoroughly. Take the time to focus on and enjoy your food and try to eat in peaceful, pleasant surroundings.
2. Focus on Food Diversity
Did you know that when you eat the same foods day after day it is actually unhealthy? Continually eating the same foods leads to nutrient deficiencies.
Our bodies need a broad range of macro- and micronutrients, and vitamins and nutrients. Eating a wide variety of wholesome foods found in nature like fish, meat, fruit and vegetables, helps us meet our body’s nutritional needs.
Yes! Diversity is key. Mix it up. When’s the last time you had mustard greens? Turnips? Mackerel?
For tips and tricks read, “Stuck in a Food Rut? How to Uplevel Your Health (and Life!) With Food Diversity.”
3. Avoid Foods That Cause Sensitivities
When you’re eating to support gut health it’s crucial to avoid foods that can irritate the gut lining and cause inflammation.
The most common trigger foods are gluten, dairy, alcohol, caffeine, hydrogenated oils, highly processed foods, artificial sweeteners and refined sugars.
Over time, inflammatory foods cause damage to our gut and can lead to chronic inflammation and illnesses.
So identifying which foods you may be sensitive to and avoid them or eliminate them all together.
4. Consume Collagen-Boosting Foods
Collagen, the most abundant protein in the body, helps to reduce inflammation and heal the gut lining. It's found in connective tissues including your muscles, skin, bones, organs, ligaments, hair, and intestinal lining.
It’s important to know that collagen production decreases with age and is impacted by lifestyle factors, so you want to focus on supporting collagen production, which means eating protein-rich foods that have the key amino acids needed for collagen such as bone broth (a personal favorite), fish, poultry, beef, eggs, dairy, legumes.
And while protein provides the building blocks, vitamin C is crucial for synthesis of collagen in the body. Include vitamin C rich foods such as citrus fruits and dark green, leafy vegetables.
Zinc and copper are also both needed for collagen production and are found in foods such as red meat, oysters, nuts and seeds.
5. Eat fermented Foods
Fermented foods are a great source of probiotics, which are the friendly bacteria that can help support digestion and a healthy gut microbiome. You can increase the good bugs in your gut by eating fermented foods that contain healthy live bacteria. Try fermented miso and tempeh, raw and fermented kombucha, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, and Yogurt with “live and active cultures.”
6. High Fiber Foods
High fiber foods feed the friendly bacteria in your gut and support proper digestion. Fiber is a complex carbohydrate found in nuts and seeds, legumes, fruit, veggies, and whole grains.
7. Hydration
Hydration is associated with an increased diversity of gut bacteria influences the balance of the gut microbiome by supporting processes such as intestinal secretions, gut motility, and waste removal.
A few tips to staying hydrated: start your day with a mug of warm lemon water, which is a soothing mood boost and digestive aid. Aim to drink ½ your body weight in ounces of water per day.
Here’s to a Healthy Gut in 2025!
Love, Your Wellness Coach,
Alyssa
P.S. Tune in to podcast episode 215, “Eating Habits for a Healthy Gut.”
February 5, 2025
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