When we think about dieting, we often think about switching out the unhealthy fries and corndogs for the healthier options of boring old lettuce and cucumbers. However, the issue is that often when people diet, they are left feeling depressed and deflated, while still not losing the pounds they hoped for. The reason for this is usually because, while they are packing their stomachs with vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables, they are not considering how the gut is going to break it down.
Fiber is good for the body and loading up on vegetables is great. However, better diets don’t just give you salads and juices, they give you a means to assist with digesting those things. The best way to do this is to consume foods which help to balance the bacteria in your gut, making it work more effectively at processing the foods that enter it. This prevents diarrhea, bloating, gas, and encourages the breakdown of foods to be used correctly in the body. Here are some ways to encourage healthy gut flora:
- Cut out sugar
The simplest carbohydrates, which are easily absorbed as sugars in the small intestine, disrupt the balance of the gut bacteria considerably. Because they are easily absorbed, that leaves you hungry, which either causes you to eat more or it leaves the stomach nibbling on its lining. Moreover, sugar encourages the growth of certain fungi in the stomach such as candida albican, which attacks the wall of the intestines.
- Eat your veggies
Eating vegetables is of course very important for dieting, but the dietary fiber is extremely helpful for the gut bacteria. It allows encourages diversity in the microbiota. This helps to keep the lining of the intestine intact while also helping to ensure that you have a whole variety of bacteria inside the body, which aid with different types of digestion and immune building. It is important, then, to eat a range of different fruits and vegetables.
- Eat fermented foods
Probiotics are really helpful toward balancing the bacteria in the digestive system. Fermented foods provide a whole host of bacteria, making them one of the best probiotics to invest in when trying to recreate that balance. Try dipping into some natural Greek yogurt or picking up the pickles. A practice we’ve been doing for over 8000 years, fermenting has been a way to help your stomach for millennia.
- Cut down on antibiotics
Antibiotics are designed to kill all the bacteria, good or bad. While this can be helpful for infections, it can be quite damaging for the stomach, as the good bacteria often fight off the bad. By killing all the bacteria, we leave ourselves open to new bad bacteria coming in which is now open to infect you, without your body providing the defenses of good bacteria. This compromises the gut, as well as the immune system which takes the cue from the gut but taking nutrients to sustain itself.
- Exercise
Your digestive system likes it when you move. It allows it to flow more easily, stopping the bad bacteria from blocking up the tracts. Studies have shown that more good bacteria is present in people who exercise, which helps to fight off infection, build the immune system, and contributes to helping you lose weight.
If you are in the process of getting a healthier gut, you may as well give it a helping hand by shifting some visceral fat with the supplement ‘Flat Belly’. It helps targeted weight loss to prevent the constriction of organs by fat while helping you drop pounds for a slimmer you.
