4 Ways To Start Improving Your Gut Health Today
If you read my last article Why Gut Health Is Important you would have gained a good basic understating of why gut health is such a big topic these days, and why so many of us are suffering from gut issues such as gas, bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, food intolerances, candida, leaky gut, IBS, other diagnosed gut conditions and auto-immune issues.
And if you answered YES to any of the gut related questions in the last article Why Gut Health Is Important you will most likely want to get started on healing your tummy troubles!
So here are 4 ways you can start improving your gut health today:
(And I’ve kept them super simple so you can start doing this at home straight away).
1. Look at your current diet.
Are you currently eating or drinking any of the following:
Soy milk, or soy based products (tofu, tempe), processed vegetable oils, wheat based foods such as breads, cakes, pastries, pasta’s, dairy products, milk, yoghurt, chocolate, coffee, alcohol, or eat a lot of corn or conventional produce, processed foods & foods that contain hidden GMO’s, artificial sweeteners, soft-drinks?
If you answered YES to one or more, start by eliminating these foods in your diet, as they are gut irritants, inflammatory and can weaken the gut. Replace with natural based sugar free, non GMO, organic if you can, dairy and gluten free options.
Try this for a week and see and feel the difference this makes. It may help with your bloating, improve your toilet trips, as well as improve your mood, quality of sleep and more!
If your gut health does not improve after eliminating these inflammatory and gut weakening foods you may need to delve deeper into your tummy troubles as these types of foods can contribute to leaky gut which requires a bit more attention and strategy to healing your gut.
2. Start taking Apple Cider Vinegar before every meal
Apple Cider Vinegar is truly a miracle food! If any of you follow me on Instagram you’ll know how much I go on and on about ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar).
Most of us have low stomach acid these days due to our crazy lifestyles and diet. And this can contribute to gas, bloating, poor digestion, malabsorption, inflammation, weight gain, parasites, candida and bad bacteria and general poor gut health.
ACV can help improve that by increasing stomach acid. Having optimal stomach acid is key to keeping candida, parasites, bad bacteria away, and to ensuring all your food is digested properly when it hits the stomach.
To improve your gut health today start by taking 1T ACV in a small glass of water before every meal. It’s quite strong, so knock it back like you would having a tequila shot! And then follow up with another glass of water.
Don’t worry even though you are drinking an ‘acid’ you won’t become acidic as ACV leaves an alkaline ash in the body.
There are also a million other amazing benefits of taking ACV (literally) such as lowering blood sugar from the foods you eat, helping improve insulin resistance, improving protein digestion (great for retaining muscle mass), I might even write a seperate article about this miracle food another time. :)
3. Take a good quality broad-spectrum pro-biotic & eat fermented foods every day.
Working on your gut health without taking probiotics or eating fermented foods is like trying to make a raw vegan cheesecake with out coconut oil. It just won’t work!
Poor gut health usually involves an incorrect ratio of good bacteria to bad, with more bad than good.
So we need to correct this imbalance to get you feeling good again. (There’s a specific protocol for doing this which we do together in The Gut Makeover Program), but in the meantime for a good all round maintenance / daily application do this:
Find yourself a good quality broad-spectrum pro-biotic and take it in the morning before breakfast, and perhaps even 1 before you go to bed. You need to take these every day, as we excrete good bacteria every day, and sometimes we need even higher doses and other specific strains depending on what is going on with our gut health at the time.
Broad spectrum pro-biotics supports normal absorption and assimilation of nutrients, promotes healthy bacteria counts and pH levels in the gut, helps maintain a healthy intestinal bacterial balance, maintains intestinal comfort and health, may help alleviate occasional gas, bloating or traveler’s diarrhea.
And start incorporating fermented foods to round out your pro-biotic supplementation.
Plus you can use the pro-biotics to kick start fermentation recipes!
You’ll find loads of fermented foods recipes and all the equipment you need for fail safe ferments in The Complete Fermentation Starter Kit if you’re ready to get into fermentation for improved gut health.
4. Eat more plants.
The latest gut microbiome scientific studies have shown that the more plants you eat the more diverse your bacterial terrain will be. And that missing gut microbiome or less diversity can contribute to obesity, particular food cravings, ADHD, anxiety or depression.
So check out my free recipes or sign up to me via the Home Page of the website and let me help you get started in the right direction towards adding more delicious plant based foods into your everyday.
Try these 4 simple but key tips for improving your gut health and let me know how you go!
And check out this article here for more tips on how to improve gut health.
If I can heal my gut so can you!
I’m here to help, if you have any questions on gut health or are ready to dive into healing try joining my 4 Week Gut Makeover Program or my Every Day Healthy Course.
