There are many reasons why good gut health is crucial to a happy, comfortable, healthy life, but it is something that many people forget about. They know they need to exercise and eat right, they know they need to sleep enough and generally take care of themselves, but gut health specifically can easily be forgotten. This can then lead to conditions relating to the bowel, including IBS and more. When the gut is healthy, however, your skin will look good, you’ll be more energized, you’ll lose weight (healthily), and your mental health will improve. With this in mind, here are some of the best things you can do to ensure your gut is as healthy as possible all the time.
1. Probiotics
A lot of bacteria is bad for you, and that’s why it’s so important to clean up around the house, wash your hands, and so on. However, some bacteria is good for you – this healthy bacteria, known as probiotics, can improve your gut health by creating a balance between good and bad bacteria, and preventing the bad bacteria from doing any damage. When you have an unbalanced gut, you can experience pain, bloating, and gas, for example. By taking probiotics and adding them to your diets, you can reduce these symptoms as you readdress the balance.
Probiotics also help food break down more easily, and that’s another positive thing. The more quickly and easily food is digested, the more use the nutrients within it can be. Therefore, your health will be at a peak when you add probiotics to your general diet.
2. Intermittent Fasting
There are many ‘trends’ when it comes to diet and fitness, and not all of them are good for you. Some do nothing at all, whereas others are actually harmful. Intermittent fasting, however, is one of the few ideas that works well, and it’s ideal if you want to keep your gut healthy.
The specifics of intermittent fasting can be found online, and you can try to get all the info related to intermittent fasting for beginners and try this route. In general, however, it means that you eat in a pattern consisting of both eating and fasting. One option that is popular is fasting for 16 hours and eating for eight. When you do this, you are giving your gut the change to recover and be healthy, ensuring that when you do eat, the nutrients are used in the right way and not wasted.
3. Relaxation
Your gut is very sensitive, and when you’re stressed and anxious, it will react. For example, being stressed causes the bad bacteria to multiply quickly, leading to the issues mentioned above. Therefore, relaxing when possible is crucial. It’s important not just for gut health, but for other physical health elements and your mental health too.
It’s not always easy to relax, but it’s vital you take at least a few minutes every day to unwind because you’ll be helping your health immensely. This could be going for a walk, having a hot shower, gardening, watching TV, reading a book, and many other things too.
