What to Eat for Better Gut Health

Author's Bio: Marcie Vaske, MS, LN, CNS

Hi, and welcome back to our channel.

Today we're going to be talking all about what to eat for better gut health.

First, I'm going to run through things that we should definitely keep out of our diet and then follow it up with things that you can add in and how can you support your gut health the best.

But before we dig into our topic, my name is Marcie Vaske and I'm a functional licensed nutritionist with Oswald Digestive Clinic. At the clinic, we see many people who struggle with digestive issues and maybe haven't been eating right for their gut health. If that is you, I'm going to link our website here where you can easily make an initial appointment. And I'm also going to link our free guide, which is Five Ways to Improve Your Gut Health. So as we dig in now, let's just talk about what should you be eating for better gut health.

[Video Transcript Below Video - it is the same information]

What to Avoid for Better Gut Health

So eating better for gut health really means that we want to prioritize good, healthy, whole meals, proteins, carbs and fats, as well as reducing inflammation in our intestinal tract and helping to promote better absorption of our micronutrients. And so first, as I mentioned, I'm going to go through some things that we want to keep out of our diet, and you've heard these over the years, but sometimes on a certain day, hearing it again, it really clicks.

Added Sugars

So foods that are going to reduce our gut health is number one, going to be added sugars. So if your diet is filled with a lot of sodas or candies or pastries or even cereals, this can take a toll on your microbiome. What happens is that the sugar feeds more opportunistic bacteria or yeast, and it creates an imbalance in our intestinal tract, and this leads to possibly candida or just dysbiosis of the gut.

Artificial Sweeteners

Another big one that's going to reduce our gut health is going to be artificial sweeteners. Now, for years, years ago, anyone who was doing diet foods or fat-free foods or any of that kind of thing, especially diet sodas, diet drinks, sugar-free stuff, they've put artificial sugars in there. So things like Aspartame or even saccharin. And what happens is that these artificial sugars actually disrupt our microbiome and create an imbalance and also a reduced diversity. And so you can end up with bloating or gas or just abdominal cramping. So we want to keep those artificial sugars out of our diet.

Highly Processed Foods

Another big one is going to be highly processed foods. So foods that are like packaged snacks, things like frozen meals, things like fast food or even processed meats unless it's specifically nitrate and nitrite free. However, those types of packaged and highly processed foods are often low in fiber. They're high in preservatives, emulsifiers additives that actually irritate our gut lining and create more inflammation. Therefore, setting up a scene in our digestive tract that can really take a toll leading to diarrhea or constipation.

Refined Carbohydrates

Another one on the list is going to be refined carbohydrates. And those carbohydrates, what they do is they'll break down very quickly into sugars in our body. And potentially what they do is feed the harmful bacteria, very similar to what added sugar would do. And these refined carbohydrates look like white bread, white rice, pastas, crackers, baked goods, things that are going to be easily broken down that we may consume much more of and balanced to our proteins and our healthy fats. And if our diet is high in refined carbohydrates, this is really going to take a toll on our microbiome, creating more issues or symptoms.

Fried and Greasy Foods

Next is going to be fried or even just greasy foods, basically fried foods. And why we want to try to limit these is because they're hard to digest. They really slow down our gut motility and they contribute to gut inflammation. And this is over a period of time. Doesn't mean if you've eaten one greasy meal that you're going to, your gut's going to fall apart. However, it's definitely not helping it. And sometimes we get into a pattern where we're getting takeout often or we're eating fried or greasy foods too much. And you might notice, wow, I don't feel very good. This is just slow motility because it's very hard for our body to digest these foods.

Dairy and Gluten (For Sensitive Individuals)

Now, the next two I'm going to talk about aren't necessarily for everybody, but dairy and gluten. For those who have sensitivities, intolerances or allergies or even an autoimmune called celiac should definitely be staying away and avoiding dairy and gluten if either one of 'em are an issue for you. But dairy, if you have a lactose intolerance or maybe you even have an intolerance to the proteins in dairy, they'll trigger bloating, gas, abdominal discomfort, maybe for some it's diarrhea or constipation. And so having these are just going to increase the inflammation in your body. And pretty much the same thing for gluten. And sometimes the symptoms can look much different. It can be guts, it could be your skin, it could be your brain fog. So knowing that if you have a gluten sensitivity, a dairy intolerance, that if they're an issue for you, then your gut is not going to be able to tolerate that and you're going to just increase the inflammation and your gut health is going to go downhill quickly.

So now we know the main things about the foods that we should keep out of our diet for a good gut health. And like I said, you've heard those things over the years. It's nothing like earth shattering new, but sometimes just hearing things over and over again, something clicks and we're like, oh, yeah, maybe I shouldn't be doing that, or maybe that's why my gut is so bad.

What to Eat for Better Gut Health

So now I want to talk about what foods you should make sure you're having in your diet for better gut health. And at the top of the list here, we have high fiber foods.

High-Fiber Foods

So foods like vegetables, right? It's always going to be great to get green leafy vegetables. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts and cabbage and even artichokes are going to be great for increasing good diversity of your microbiome. In addition to that, having legumes in your diet is going to be helpful.

High fiber helps to feed our gut bacteria, feed our short chain fatty acids that support our integrity of our gut health. So lentils, chickpeas, black beans, also whole grains. So oats, quinoa, brown rice is even a good option. Wild rice is grape. And then of course, adding in fruits because we know all of these foods contain a nice amount of fiber which support our overall diversity of our microbiome.

Fermented Foods

Another great food category to add in is going to be fermented foods. And fermented foods already have a bacteria or flora in them that support our own bacteria in our intestinal tract. So having yogurt with live cultures, that's going to feed that good bacteria in your gut. Also, kefir is a good option. You can do sauerkraut or kimchi or miso if you have a dairy intolerance, but you want to get some fermented foods in. Also, you can do temp is another option for a fermented food. It's not that you even have to have 'em every day, but having them a few times a week to help support a balanced microbiome is going to keep your gut much happier.

Prebiotic Fibers

Another category is adding in prebiotic fibers. Things like garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, green bananas. What these do is they help to feed our good bacteria, and it's just, it's like you're putting fertilizer on your flora to help build up the good stuff. Now, know also that if you do have a little bit of digestive issue already, probably jumping into prebiotic fibers isn't the first thing you want to do, you probably want to add, try to change your foods first, do some gut healing, and then adding in those prebiotics very slowly can really be beneficial to supporting our gut microbiome as well as the integrity of our intestinal tract.

Healthy Fats

Now, another great category is going to be healthy fats and healthy fats really support anti-inflammatory properties or balance in the body, and also improve our nutrient absorption. For example, if you eat vegetables and you put some butter on it, you will absorb more minerals and vitamins with the fat on it versus no fat.

So I'm always recommending people put a little bit of fat, either olive oil or butter or coconut or GH or whatever your body can handle or whatever you like the taste of, because if you're going to eat the foods, you want to absorb the minerals and vitamins. So what other fats can help to support more absorption? Fat like avocados, fantastic for fiber, a beautiful fat, and it's very satiating. I talked about olive oil, very great oil to use. You want to use that on colder foods versus frying something with it, you will damage the fat, so make sure you use it as a salad dressing or you're drizzling it on your vegetables. Fatty fish, this is another great way to get fat and protein. So salmon, sardines, macro, things of that nature can really increase absorption, and you're getting all those amazing omega threes out of it.

And another one would be nuts and seeds. So chia seeds, flax seeds, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, they're amazing. Adding in these fats, those particular fats, nuts and seeds, you're also going to get some good fiber from that. You get a little pinch of protein from that, and it's just a really nice satiating snack.

Hydration

Now, the last thing you want to do to help support your gut health is drink plenty of water. Water. I think so often we forget about the importance of water. We know it, but we don't always do it. And oftentimes we're dehydrated and we don't even really notice it because maybe you haven't been drinking enough water for many years, weeks, months, whatever it might be. But hydration is going to keep your digestive system moving. It's going to support that mucosal lining in our stomach and our intestines so that you have a better chance at having good gut health.

So hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. I can't push it enough. And we have to remember that each, our organ in our body needs plenty of hydration. And so this is why even though personally I hate drinking water, I've always hated it, but I push myself every day to get the amount of water I need to get because I know how much better I feel when I do it. So I find different ways to add water into my life. One water will be full of electrolytes and I'll pretty much water it down so I have a little bit of flavor, but I'm still drinking a lot of water. I'll also use herbal teas and just ice them and drink it that way. And sometimes I just will put in a little bit of lime juice or apple cider vinegar. I try to find different ways to get all my water in so that I'm not only getting my water, but I might be getting something else that's beneficial as well.

So I hope this video helped you. It's just kind of repeating everything that we've talked about in so many of our videos about having good gut health, eat balanced food, drink water, and your gut will serve you better. If you have questions, please leave them in the comments down below. And as a reminder, if you need further help with your gut health, I have a link down below for our website where you can easily make an initial appointment and also our free guide.

So thanks for watching, and I'll see you next week.

If you'd like to explore any of this information further or obtain an individualized nutrition plan, you can schedule an initial appointment at our clinic.  We also take insurance and some of our clients get full coverage, which is great.

Or you can just start by downloading our FREE GUIDE: 5 WAYS TO IMPROVE GUT HEALTH