Five Steps to a Healthy Gut (and a Healthy Body) Follow these five simple steps to begin re-balancing your gut flora: Eat a fiber–rich, whole foods diet—it should be rich in beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, all of which feed good bugs. Limit sugar, processed foods, animal fats, and animal protein—these provide food for unhealthy bugs. Avoid the use of antibiotics, acid blockers, and anti-inflammatories—they change gut flora for the worse. Take probiotics daily—these healthy, friendly flora can improve your digestive health and reduce inflammation and allergy. Consider specialized testing—such as organic acid testing, stool testing (new tests can look at the DNA of the bacteria in your gut), and others to help assess your gut function. You will likely have to work with a functional medicine practitioner to effectively test and treat imbalances in your gut. And if you have a chronic illness, even if you don’t have digestive symptoms, you might want to consider what is living inside your gut. Tending to the garden within can be the answer to many seemingly unrelated health problems. Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below—but remember, we can’t offer personal medical advice online, so be sure to limit your comments to those about taking back our health! To your good health, Mark Hyman, MD
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 21:02:48 +0000
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