Best foods for a healthy gut

I wish to share with you some of the very best foods to eat for a healthy gut. Before we get to the particular foods, let’s discuss why your gut health matters.

Your gut health is so crucial to the total health of your body. Poor gut health might be the root cause behind some of your other health issues, ranging from physical to psychological health issues.

Your gut health is affected by numerous factors such as the environment, particular medications, and naturally, your diet. Since it can be hard to control external factors like the environment, the most convenient way to recover your gut is to recover your diet plan. When it comes to diet plan, there are 2 main points I wish to talk about. The first one is probiotics. You might have become aware of probiotics prior to. They are the healthy gut bacteria that live in your gut microbiome. Foods that are rich in probiotics tend to be fermented foods. A food is fermented by leaving it out on the counter for a long enough period of time that it’s exposed to bacteria and yeast. Of course, you can’t ferment every single kind of food.

You can’t just leave a chicken out on your counter and hope that after 10 days it’ll be fermented and good for you. It’ll offer you Salmonella, so do not try it. On the other hand, you can ferment lots of vegetables, and that’s why it’s excellent for a vegan diet plan. The second part of your diet plan that I wish to speak about is fiber. Dietary fiber serves as food for those probiotics, allowing them to grow.

Healthy gut bacteria

And the reason you want healthy gut bacteria to grow is that the more you have and the more diverse your bacteria are, the healthier your gut will be. This means you are less likely to have chronic illnesses and inflammation.

You can find dietary fiber in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. So, if you are eating a vegan diet, particularly a whole foods-based vegan diet, you will have no problem getting enough fiber.

Foods that contain probiotics

Now that we have actually talked about probiotics, let’s talk about foods that contain probiotics. Of course, you can take a probiotic supplement, but they can be expensive, especially the higher-end brand names. If you wish to heal your gut through food just and conserve some cash, here are some excellent plant-based foods that are full of probiotics.

An abundant source of probiotics is sauerkraut, which is just fermented cabbage. You may have had sauerkraut on a burger or hot dog before, and my favorite way is in fact to match it with a kale salad, some velvety salad dressing, and a lot of nuts and seeds. The mix of textures and flavors is truly tasty.

The next food on our healthy gut list is kimchi. It’s salted and fermented cabbage, generally Napa cabbage and Korean radishes, and it’s then seasoned with chili powder and a lot of other flavorings. It’s actually tasty, and like sauerkraut, you can make it in your home and ferment it in the house, or you can buy it at the shop. Normally, I combine kimchi with some Asian-flavored food like ramen or rice, however you can put it on a sandwich or hamburger or truly anything.

The next food on our list is tempeh, which is whole fermented soybeans. I talked a lot about the nutritional benefits of this superfood in an earlier video on “Where Do Vegans Get Their Protein From?” If you want to check that out and find out more about tempeh.

Probiotics in Yogurt and Kefir

Our next source of probiotics is plant-based yogurt and kefir. You may have heard that traditional dairy yogurt is a great source of probiotics, and it is, but it’s not the dairy that’s the source of probiotics. It’s the live active cultures that are used to make yogurt. So, most plant-based yogurts and kefirs also have a high source of probiotics.

These are two of my favorite plant-based yogurts and kefirs. One is almond milk-based, and the other is coconut milk-based. If you look at the ingredients, you will see that there are live active cultures in them. Just try to stick to unsweetened yogurts or yogurts with a low amount of sugar because you want to make sure that the bacteria in your gut are feasting on the probiotics, not on the sugar.

Next up on our probiotic list is miso. Miso is a traditional Japanese condiment made of fermented soybeans. Of course, you’ve had miso in miso soup, which is served at Japanese restaurants, but I also like to put miso in salad dressings, marinades, and sauces. I actually put a little bit of miso in my vegan cheese sauce because it adds that extra umami flavor. If you want to check out that recipe, I will link to it here.

What about olives?

Next up on our healthy gut list are olives. Once olives are soaked in brine, which is a solution of water and salt, the healthy bacteria causes them to ferment, making them a good source of probiotics. So, if you love olives as much as I do, take this as your excuse to eat as many as you want. Another salty favorite of mine is pickles. You want to make sure, though, that you’re buying pickles that have been pickled in saltwater, not in vinegar. If they’ve been pickled in vinegar, they’re not going to have the fermentation process, and you won’t be getting any probiotics.

Pickles as a source of probiotics

Saltwater pickles are typically sold in the refrigerated section and may carry a label that says “active cultures”. Vinegar pickles are usually sold in the shelf-stable aisle of the grocery store. Last but not least, my favorite source of probiotics is kombucha.

Kombucha is actually a black or green tea, fermented by a colony of bacteria and yeast. You can buy kombucha at the store or make it at home. Now that we have talked about foods that are rich in probiotics, I want to quickly talk about prebiotics.

As I mentioned earlier, probiotics are live microorganisms and they need food to grow and flourish. The food they eat usually comes in the form of dietary fiber, also referred to as prebiotics. Some of the best sources of prebiotics are onions, garlic, artichokes, asparagus, leeks, sweet potatoes, bananas, legumes, and whole grains.

You get the point: stuff that vegans would eat anyway. But I do want to mention two of my favorite sources of prebiotics because they might surprise you that they’re good for your gut. If you’re like me, you probably don’t need any excuse to eat more chocolate, but here’s just another excuse. Chocolate is actually a probiotic food because when you eat chocolate, the healthy gut bacteria in your microbiome ferment the compounds in cocoa. I don’t know about you, but that certainly makes me feel better about all the times I’ve eaten a dark chocolate bar in one sitting. It happens all the time, like once a week, so I feel better now.

Surprise: Red wine

The last prebiotic I want to talk to you about that might surprise you is red wine. You might have heard that red wine is good for your heart, but it’s also good for your gut. Like cocoa, red wine encourages the healthy gut bacteria to grow in your gut.

Of course, I feel obligated to tell you to drink responsibly and not treat red wine as your sole source of prebiotics. Make sure you also eat vegetables and all that stuff. So, the next time you have a glass of red wine and a piece of dark chocolate, or a few pieces of dark chocolate, give yourself a pat on the back because you’re doing your gut and your health a big favor.

Well, that does it for my video on foods to eat for a healthy gut. If you think this video is informative, helpful, or learned something new, I would love it if you hit that “thumbs up” button as well as that “subscribe” button so I know that you’re enjoying these videos. If you want to talk more about gut health or if you have questions, leave me a comment below, and I would love to talk to you. Alright, I’ll see you guys next week.

This post originally appeared at Stay Well Club.

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