Foods that are good for your gut

A healthy gut equals improved mental health, digestion, immunity, and metabolism. Choosing the most compatible foods is the only way you can keep the beneficial gut flora zinging with vitality.

Before you can grow a healthy gut microbiome, these are the foods that are causing imbalances, reports WebMD.

These foods support bad gut flora that keeps you clogged up and in pain:

Red meat: causes the overgrowth of bad gut bacteria that usually clogs arteries. If you must have red meat and can’t tolerate lean protein sources such as fish or plant protein like beans and tofu, then choose leaner cuts of red meat like sirloin, loin or rounds.
Antibiotic laden foods: these foods are animal products because most farmers feed their animals antibiotics to keep them infection-free. So this seeps into every part of the animal. These include every piece of meat, a litre of milk or chunk of cheese that you consume. Many people are lactose intolerant and suffer from bloating, gas and diarrhoea whenever they eat dairy products. Antibiotic foods kill both good and bad bacteria. With compromised gut health, you run the risk of developing killer superbugs.
Fried foods: Heated oil-laden foods are implicated in everything from high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, clogged arteries to rheumatoid arthritis, among others. Studies show that foods soaked in oil damage healthy gut bacteria.
Alcohol: Heavy drinking not only causes belly ache, acid reflux and vomiting, but it also impacts the balance of the gut bacteria and helps the bad artery-clogging bacteria grow. The key is to drink in moderation.
Caffeine: When you have too much coffee, eat too much chocolate or have too much caffeine-laden soft drinks, you send your digestive system into overdrive, and this often takes you high and plunges you down, and it often leads to diarrhoea.

Getting the balance right

Optimal gut health requires getting the right balance of bacteria that will help you digest your food. If you live with indigestion, you will mostly be on a rollercoaster ride with infection and inflammation.

Eating prebiotic foods such as whole grains, bananas, greens, onion, garlic, soya beans, and artichokes feed healthy gut bacteria. While there are probiotics such as yoghurt, milk kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, pickled vegetables and water kefir loaded with good live bacteria.

Other foods that boost the good bacteria in the gut include:

Bananas: come loaded with fibre inulin. Bananas are usually a key ingredient in smoothies, greens, and flaxseeds because they feed good bacteria.
Leafy green vegetables: These are high in fibre and are a healthy source of carbohydrates. It also contains bioactive compounds such as niacin, omega-3 fatty acids, flavonoids, carotenoids, sulforaphane, and others with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Whole grains: these are key to your gut’s defence system. Gut bacteria in the large intestine break down fibre, and this process creates acids that feed intestinal cells that protect your gut from bad bacteria.
Polyphenols: These are compounds found in colourful fruit and vegetables, tea, green tea, coffee and red wine. They protect cells from damage as they fight inflammation and infection. Green tea, in particular, is effective in fighting bad E.coli bacteria and to calm inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and peptic ulcers symptoms.

According to Medical News Today, getting the right balance of probiotics and prebiotics is crucial for ongoing gut health.

To this end, probiotics help break down food improves digestion by speeding it up, and as a result, symptoms of intestinal conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease and colitis association cancer may be improved.

As you increase your intake of probiotics, there is a reduction in the risk of metabolic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. For type-2 diabetics, in particular, probiotics improve glycemic control and lipid metabolism.

Another benefit of good gut health is that mental health gets a boost, often leading to reduced feelings of depression and anxiety.

Good gut health menu

According to The Gut Health MD, you won’t need supplements if you have a good diet consisting of a variety of plant foods that include colourful fruits and veggies, whole grains, nuts, seeds and at least two servicing of beans a day – roughly a third of a 250 ml cup.

This is what The Gut Health MD eats in the day after kick-starting his day with a few glasses of water for rehydration, followed by a cup of black. Matcha or lemon water are good alternatives.

For the rest of the day, he eats:

Breakfast: a bowl of oatmeal and mixed berries. Or green smoothie consisting of banana, greens, berries, flax seeds, broccoli sprouts and some walnut occasionally
Lunch: a salad of greens and other colourful veggies, chickpeas or tofu croutons, topped with a dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil
Snacks: Matcha tea for a boost, fibre-rich slices of apple or some walnuts
Dinner: Sweet potato chilli, including beans over quinoa. This can be substituted with millet, buckwheat or wild rice. Other sides include probiotic-rich foods such as sourdough bread and about a tablespoon of sauerkraut or kimchi.

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