I’ve checked out dozens of books from the library and researched the academic databases, and I’ve learned a lot about gut health and diet! Diet is one of the most powerful ways we can influence our microbiotas. What you eat for one meal can change the composition of your microbiome within 24 hours. So consistency matters. When you take a probiotic supplement, it’s basically just passing through. It can do some good while it passes on through, but it doesn’t help replenish an anemic microbiome. A lot of the food labeled as “probiotic” in the grocery store is the same. You need real, old-fashioned fermented foods (eaten raw) for probiotics. And your resident or native microbes need fiber. But not just any fiber or prebiotics. This is what the microbes in our gut eat, and it keeps them strong and healthy and reproducing the way we need them to in order to protect the gut. I read that most Americans are getting maybe 15 g of fiber a day when the recommended amount is 30 g. But even that is substantially less than our ancestors ate. And they avoided many of the modern health issues. Additional fiber intake has been linked to a number of health benefits…including gut benefits. You want both soluble and insoluble fiber. You want to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables; eat what’s in season; avoid processed foods; eat a high fiber snack before meals; eat beans, peas, and lentils; include fiber at breakfast, like oatmeal; eat whole grain foods. With all of that said, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and that includes fiber. It can then actually cause digestion issues like bloating, diarrhea, etc. Feeding the good bacteria is important and keeping them strong and fighting for you helps with issues like IBS. So… that’s some of what I learned from all my library books and journal articles. 🙂
Wider than the Sky 