Gut Health is an important topic in the wellness world today because it contributes to a strong immune system, heart health, brains health, mood, sleep cycles and digestion! I recently finished a book called Fiber Fueled by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz. In his book, he teaches us how to support our microbiome and gut health with diet and lifestyle!
TIPS FROM FIBER FUELED:
1. EXCERSISE
Dr. Bulsiewicz points to a small 2014 study of Irish rugby players that showed exercise increases microbial diversity in humans. Exercise has also been found to help IMS symptons and a researcher found that athletes who better optimized their diets for digestive health performed better. “These changes that occur in the gut microbiome as a result of exercise lead to you getting more beneficial health-promoting nutrients from your food,” he explains. “[Exercise] helps you get more good gut microbes and those gut microbes help you to basically extract and unpack the nutrients in your food.” I loved learning about this because I LOVE to workout!
2. COFFEE
Dr. Bulsiewicz says that YOU CAN have your coffee and have a healthy guy too! In fact, coffee is actually beneficial for your gut because it has chlorogenic acid, plyphenols, and antioxidants that have prebiotic properties (menaing that they feed the good bacteria in your gut). What makes coffe unhealthy is not the coffee itself but what we put it in it! Avoid sigar, cream and artifical flavors and sweetners. Dr. Bulsiewicz says that black coffee is the way to go for gut health ( or my healthy latte recipe).
3. HYDRATE
Drinking enough water is an important part of attaining gut health! Dr. Bulsiewicz makes water a priority first thing in the morning! Water helps break down food and help it move through the digestive tract so drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning is a great git health habit! “You haven’t had anything to drink for many hours, you’ve potentially been up to the restroom a few times and many of us reach out in our zombie-like state and grab a cup of coffee and we dehydrate ourselves further,” he says. “So, start with hydration and make it a core part of your daily routine. Two glasses of water first thing in the morning—boom. That’s the first thing I do.” Smart and simple!!
4. EAT A BIG SALAD EVERY DAY
This is something simple that we can all do! Including plenty of vegetables and fiber in a big salad every day keeps our gut happy by feeding it fiber and prebiotics! Dr. Bulsiewicz insists that diet is the main determinant of your gut microbiome, making a “monstrous salad” for lunch is the only food-related thing that he’s going to recommend you consider doing every single day. “Our gut microbes, they want fiber,” he says. “And it’s scientifically proven that the single greatest predictor of a healthy gut is a diversity of plants [in one’s diet]. So when you build your daily food routine around a lunch salad, you have an opportunity to really build the foundation of a healthy gut with that meal on a daily basis.”
5. FASTING AFTER DINNER
Dr. Bulsiewicz says you should include fasting for your internal body clock. “The way that you do that is simply by cutting out the late-night snacks and beverages,” he says. “Hard rule. No food or beverage other than water after dinner.” For Dr. Bulsiewicz, that means eating dinner around 6 p.m. and calling it quits until the morning. Which is where he starts all over again, beginning, of course, with his morning dose of water. I do this and can attest to how powerful this is not only for weight loss but for better digestion!!
I highly recommend FIBER FUELED if you are interested in learning more about how to improve your gut health! I loved it and learned a lot! The recipes in the back of the book go along with his 4-Week Meal Plan that you can follow to improve your gut health, add in more plant based foods and diversify your diet!!
Xo, Megan