At any second, your body is home to millions of microorganisms. These microscopic creatures contribute to the most important functioning system of the
human body. Often referred to as the “second brain”, your gut is home to these microorganisms that play a crucial role in maintaining your body’s overall well being. Your digestive system is the control center for essential bodily functions such as digesting food, absorbing nutrients, maintaining a strong immune
system, and supporting your brain and mental health. With so much at stake, caring for your gut health is an important step to improving overall health and well being. Nourishing your gut with the right foods and lifestyle choices can unlock a world of benefits.

Understanding your digestive system is very complex, and there is still so much being discovered about it to this day. The key takeaway, though, is that your lifestyle and dietary habits directly influence how optimal it is functioning. It is important to know that a healthy gut generally leads to a decreased risk of chronic conditions such as autoimmune diseases, irritable bowel syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. It also plays a role in decreasing total body inflammation, which in excess amounts can cause disease. Let’s explore the main ways we can enhance our dietary choices to improve the quality of our digestive system.

One of the easiest changes you can make in your diet is to prioritize a variety of fiber rich foods. Two things happen when we do this: we give our “good” gut bacteria (probiotics) food to feed on (prebiotics) and we inadvertently limit our intake of processed foods and high sugar intakes. Processed and high sugar foods are detrimental to gut health. They decrease the amount of good bacteria we have. These helpful microorganisms are what keep our gut functioning at its best. When we switch out processed foods with fiber rich, nutrient dense foods, we start to crave them less, and create a better environment for our gut to thrive. Step one to feeding our gut the beneficial fiber it needs is to prioritize the produce department at your local grocery store. Great sources of fiber here include avocados, apples, potatoes, asparagus, leafy greens, berries, and carrots. While these are just a few examples, you can’t go wrong getting a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet. Another interesting option for a convenient source of prebiotics is the line of Poppi soft drinks. You can find a variety of low sugar flavors both refrigerated and shelf stable at any Strack and Van Til. Now that we’ve touched on fiber and how it helps feed your gut, let’s talk about how we keep our gut flourishing with healthy bacteria.

Feeding existing bacteria in your gut is a great start to keeping it functioning optimally, but we also need to make sure to provide it with extra beneficial bacteria. This can be done by including probiotic rich foods into your diet. When searching for probiotic rich foods, we should be browsing our grocery store for food products that have gone through a natural fermentation process. Some common examples of these foods include greek yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, apple cider vinegar, pickles, kimchi, and sourdough bread. As you can see, there are numerous options readily available in stores. You can ferment your own food, but the process takes very long so having these convenient options is an easy way to include probiotics into your diet. Like Poppi Prebiotic Sodas, Strack and Van Til also carry Lifeway Kefir drinks in the dairy section. Similar to yogurt, but thinner, kefir is a super convenient way for a quick source of probiotics.

While introducing more fibrous and probiotic rich foods into your diet is the best way to start improving your gut health, there are other nutritional interventions to contribute to a healthy digestive system. Eating foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids are great for overall health, but most importantly they contribute to lower levels of inflammation specifically in your digestive tract lining. Along with this studies have shown Omega-3 rich foods to support a diverse microbiome. Greater variety of beneficial gut bacteria is key to maintaining its health. Be sure to include fish, eggs, chia seeds, walnuts, and flax seeds in your diet to keep levels topped off.

Polyphenols are plant compounds that have tremendous health benefits to humans. Like Omega-3 rich foods, they also contribute to lower levels of inflammation, great for gut health. In addition to this, polyphenols help strengthen the lining of your gut. This is majorly important because a strong gut barrier helps your body process and absorb more nutrients. To find polyphenols, look for foods with a dark, vibrant color. Examples of these are coffee, grapes, olive oil, dark chocolate, and berries.

Lastly, to ensure your gut is functioning optimally, proper hydration is key. While drinking water alone will help you stay hydrated, proper electrolyte balance (Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium) is equally important. Staying hydrated will increase motility in the gut. This is what keeps food moving smoothly throughout. Along with this, proper fluid balance will help you absorb and transport nutrients through your gut to the body. Adequate water intake and consumption of fruits and vegetables will keep your body hydrated well but for those who struggle to get enough, there are a variety of electrolyte enhanced beverages on the market you can find at your local grocery store.

The digestive system plays such an important role in the human body. Now knowing that your gut influences so many critical processes, we should be making daily choices that improve the health of it. To recap, these nutritional interventions include increased fiber, more probiotic rich foods, nutrient dense foods containing Omega-3’s and polyphenols, and adequate hydration. While focusing on one of these options is great, success long term in improving gut health comes from changing your nutrition and lifestyle choices and being consistent