You Can Support Your Gut Health With These Simple Lifestyle Adjustments

You Can Support Your Gut Health With These Simple Lifestyle Adjustments

In a healthy digestive system, the food you eat is broken down in the gut before it travels through the bloodstream to fuel and nourish your body. A healthy gut contains immune cells and healthy bacteria that fight off infectious bacteria, fungi, and viruses while communicating with the brain to help maintain overall health and well-being.

At Integrative Medica in Salt Lake City, Utah, Jake Schmutz, NMD, and Joshua Hersh, NMD, can help you learn lifestyle changes to strengthen your immune system, boost your mood, improve brain and heart health, and experience optimal digestion that’s free of discomfort. 

Healthy lifestyle habits to improve gut health naturally

Changing your diet and cultivating healthy habits can go a long way toward establishing and maintaining a healthy gut. Simple lifestyle adjustments for a healthy gut include: 

Eat more fiber and probiotics

Fiber is a plant-based substance found in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, ranging from strawberries and apples to sweet potatoes and legumes. Whole grains and nuts also contain fiber. A diet that’s rich in fiber stimulates the growth of good bacteria in the gut and reduces the risk of metabolic diseases.

Probiotics help calm gastrointestinal conditions like constipation, diarrhea, or inflammatory bowel disease. Probiotics are found in fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, and kombucha, and can also be taken as supplements. Our team can help you determine which probiotic products are best suited to your individual needs. 

Limit alcohol consumption

Consuming too much alcohol is linked to gastritis, or gut inflammation. Long-standing gut inflammation may cause ulcers, heartburn, chronic gastrointestinal discomfort, or bacterial infections. Excessive alcohol intake can also cause persistent intestinal inflammation that alters microbiota function and throws your gut flora off balance. 

Stay physically active

Exercise increases the diversity of healthy bacteria in the gut, with or without a healthy diet. While longer endurance workouts and higher-intensity aerobic exercise offer the greatest benefits for gut health, any form of consistent physical activity promotes healthier and more diverse gut microbiota.

Reduce stress and anxiety

The brain and gut are intimately connected: Just think about the “butterflies” you get in your stomach when you’re nervous — being nervous is an emotional reaction that you experience in your gut! 

Easing stress and anxiety can reduce the risk of uncomfortable gastrointestinal symptoms, including those caused by a chronic condition like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Simple ways to manage stress include getting enough sleep, spending time outdoors, taking a daily walk, and practicing deep breathing exercises that keep you in the present moment.

Signs of an unhealthy gut

Whether it’s abdominal discomfort, bloating, loose stools, constipation, nausea, or heartburn, everyone experiences digestive problems from time to time. But when symptoms persist — or when they’re accompanied by unexplained weight loss, blood in your stools, severe vomiting, or difficulty swallowing — you should schedule a visit with Dr. Schmutz or Dr. Hersh.

If you have questions about how you can support optimal gut health, the team at Integrative Medica can help. Call 801-676-9876 to reach our office in Salt Lake City, Utah, today, or use our easy online booking feature to make an appointment with our integrative medicine experts any time.

You Might Also Enjoy...

What Causes Vertigo?

What Causes Vertigo?

Maintaining your balance is important to most everything you do, so conditions like vertigo can be hard to manage if you don’t know what causes them. Read on to find out more about what can bring on this condition.
5 Reasons Ozone Therapy May Be Right for You

5 Reasons Ozone Therapy May Be Right for You

Oxygen is vital to life. Without it, cells die off. Yes, poor oxygenation is problematic, but now there are ways to improve oxygen intake at a cellular level, improving the body’s function in almost every way. Read on to find out more.
Signs You’re Not At a Healthy Weight

Signs You’re Not At a Healthy Weight

It can be tricky to know what’s a healthy weight in this day and age since so many people are struggling with obesity. We review signs that it might be time to lose weight.
Understanding Hypothyroidism

Understanding Hypothyroidism

Your thyroid may be a small gland, but it plays a big role in keeping your body regulated and functioning at its best. That’s why hypothyroidism can create such wide-ranging symptoms. Learn more about this condition and how to treat it here.
Going Hiking This Summer? Here’s How to Avoid Lyme Disease

Going Hiking This Summer? Here’s How to Avoid Lyme Disease

If your summers are usually full of outdoor activities like hiking, your chances of getting bug bites – including ones from ticks – are high. Ticks carry Lyme disease, so it’s important to know what you can do to prevent bites from these insects.