
By Sara Hodson
You have probably heard a lot about the gut, the microbiome, and probiotics in the news over the past few years. What do all of these things mean to a person living with chronic disease and trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle?
Gut and Stress: Did you know our gut responds to physical, psychological and emotional stress? Stress can increase fluids in our gut, leading to diarrhea and depletion of nutrients.
The Gut is Huge: If the human intestines were stretched out they would be 25 feet long. Considering the average American is less than 6 feet in height, 25 feet worth of guts is quite astonishing.
Lots of Bacteria: Not only is there 25 feet worth of guts inside, but there are also trillions of bacteria cells in our body.
Exercise and Your Gut: Caring for our gut is interwoven with the medications we take, the diet we consume, our environment, and many other factors including exercise. That’s right - exercise can boost our gut’s health by diversifying the bacteria.
A healthy gut is important. Not only is it important to look at what we put in our bodies, but we need to look at how we take care of our bodies. If we needed another reason to exercise, diversifying our gut could be added to the list.
A healthy gut is a diverse gut - the diversity in your gut helps fight infections, promotes disease prevention, and boosts your immune system. Knowing that a diverse gut helps maintain a healthy lifestyle, the goal is to keep a healthy variety of bacteria in your gut.
Reduction of the good bacteria normally found in the gut can happen easily in a Western diet which is low in fiber and high in sugars and fats. This list includes some healthy foods that can be beneficial to help increase gut bacteria diversity:
It is also important to know what foods to avoid that may hinder gut bacterial diversity. You can see below what foods may be detrimental to your gut diversity and overall gut health:
Having a healthy gut with a diverse diet will protect you from chronic diseases, prevent infections, and keep your immune system boosted. The foods listed above can affect that fine balance.
Exercise is important for your health - we’ve all heard this. What you may not know is that even your gut benefits from regular exercise. If you have been working hard to maintain a healthy diet, you will be happy to learn how exercise can positively boost your gut diversity.
Knowing how your body is being positively affected by exercise can be refreshing and motivating. You can use the nutrition and exercise tips in this article to take control of your gut health!
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