Top 5 Favorite Foods For Gut Health

Eating gut healing food can help reduce inflammation and eliminate harmful bacteria in the body. Not to mention, using food as medicine to heal your gut allows your body to absorb nutrients that encourage good bacteria growth.

With the growing popularity of probiotics and fermented foods you’re probably familiar with the idea of gut health. In this blog we'll focus on my favorite gut healing foods along with their specific benefits.

To heal your gut, it is important to eat foods that promote the growth of healthy gut bacteria, including fruits, cultured dairy products, healthy fats, lean meats, and fibrous and fermented vegetables. It is equally important to avoid processed and refined junk foods, reduce stress, limit NSAIDs and alcohol, and get more sleep.

Here are my top 5 favorite foods for gut health

1. Bone Broth - Bone broths are rich in protein, collagen and amino acids that are a wonderful nutritional and digestive remedy. Bone broth is packed with glycine, an essential amino acid recognized for its gut-healing properties. Glycine provides an anti-inflammatory effect by creating new connective tissue to control leaky gut.

Bone broth is also rich in gelatin which may help to satisfy hunger and restore normal hormone function in the gut.

2. Collagen - Collagen is rich in glycine and glutamine which are 2 amino acids that are beneficial for promoting digestion and supporting a healthy gut barrier.

Because the amino acids in collagen build the tissue that lines the colon and GI tract, supplementing with collagen can help treat gastrointestinal symptoms and disorders, including leaky gut syndrome, IBS, acid reflux, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

3. Omega-3 Fatty Acids - Omega-3 fatty acids help to reduce inflammation by making the gut wall receptive to messages from your brain and immune system.

Gut cells that have enough omega-3 oils don’t trigger excessive inflammation.  This prevents the whole process that leads to leaky gut so that the gut wall can heal. Once the gut wall has healed and the barrier function is functioning again, no more random particles can enter your bloodstream.  

4. Probiotics - Probiotics are the good bacteria that reside in the gut. Probiotics support our immune system, aid digestion and assist with nutrient absorption into our bloodstream. Additionally, good bacteria line and help seal the gut to keep your gut lining strong and permeable. A balanced gut microbiome with plenty of probiotic bacteria keeps your digestive system healthy, your skin clear, and your immune system strong. Fermented foods are a rich source of good bacteria that help restore digestive health.

Examples of foods that contain probiotics include kefir, tempeh, yoghurt, pickles, sourdough, sauerkraut and kimchi.

5. Prebiotics - Probiotics and prebiotics work synergistically to keep your gut well-populated and healthy. Prebiotic-rich foods act by by fueling the gut bacteria to produce beneficial compounds called “short-chain fatty acids” which are produced by the good bacteria in your gut. These can help to promote weight loss, gut diversity and other various health benefits. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the best sources of prebiotics, which are essentially the food to promote the growth of good gut flora. Prebiotics also help to promote peristalsis (movement) in the gut which aids in the elimination of waste.

Good sources of prebiotics are citrus fruits, unripe bananas, asparagus, chicory, garlic, onions, leeks, Jerusalem artichoke, kiwi fruit, pear and leafy greens.

Contact me to see how I can help you heal your gut using food as medicine today!