The gastrointestinal tract, or gut, can experience inflammation like any other part of the body. Just as inflammation can affect the joints and arteries, it can also impact the gut, leading to damage to the intestines and other digestive system components. Given this information, you may wonder how to efficiently and effectively decrease gut inflammation.
What Is Inflammation and How Is It Linked to Gut Health?
Inflammation is generally the body’s immune system response to an irritant. It is a defense mechanism that is vital to our health. The reason that the gut is so intimately linked to inflammation is that up to 80 percent of our immune system lies within our gut.
Our body is home to 100 trillion microorganisms. These bacteria live on our skin and in every orifice of our body. However, the largest number of microbes inhabit our intestinal tract. Numerous studies have shown that the gut microbiome is a powerful driver behind the body’s inflammatory status and how crucial it is to have a balanced whole body microbiota. This is because gut dysbiosis—a broad term that describes an imbalance of the gut microbiota—is thought to trigger inflammatory responses that can lead to chronic gut inflammation,
Strategies to Reduce Gut Inflammation
The significance of gut health in supporting overall wellness and immunity is widely acknowledged. Regrettably, the typical Western diet often consists of refined grains, sugars, red meat, processed meat, eggs, high-fat dairy products, artificial sweeteners and salt, which are likely to trigger gut inflammation. On a positive note, incorporating anti-inflammatory foods like fermented foods and beneficial gut health supplements into your diet can assist in maintaining gut health and minimizing the likelihood of digestive inflammation.
Ready to keep your gut happy? Follow these strategies to cultivate better gut health and reduce gut inflammation.
1- Go back to Basics
There is no point in attempting to heal your gut if you are reversing the process by constantly feeding your gut with toxins. Inflammatory foods such as refined carbohydrates (white rice, pasta and bread), as well as sugar, soft drinks, sugary juices and processed foods, all contribute to inflammation and feed unhealthy gut bacteria to your digestive system.
Similarly, avoid trans-fats from shortening, hydrogenated oils, margarines and any genetically modified foods and meats that have been fed with grains, antibiotics and hormones.
Removing these foods from your diet can reverse gut inflammation, assist in weight loss and promote overall well-being.
2- Heal the Gut With Probiotics
Adding a comprehensive (multistrain) probiotic to your daily routine can support a healthy microbiome by reversing signs of inflammation and helping your gut operate to the fullest.
One study found that probiotics promote a healthy gut environment which enhances the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. Probiotics strengthen the gut lining barrier and help prevent intestinal leakage, which reduces microbial invasion that causes gut inflammation.
Introducing probiotics-packed food, including taking daily probiotic health supplements into your diet, can vastly improve the immune system with their health-boosting micro-organisms.
Consuming foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, full-fat natural yogurt, pickles and gut-loving drinks like kombucha and kefir is the fastest way to boost your immune system, support digestion and contribute to better mental health.
Lastly, probiotics also support the production of B12 and K vitamins and prevent harmful bacteria from wreaking havoc throughout your body.
3- Feed the Good Bacteria With Prebiotics
Another essential component to gut health is prebiotics. This is a type of fiber that the human body cannot digest but feeds the good bacteria in your gut. Prebiotics act as the fuel for probiotics to do their job. They do this by creating an environment where beneficial bacteria can thrive. They can also improve absorption and can help the body process food quicker.
Foods such as bananas, dandelion greens, garlic, onion and chicory root are abundant sources of prebiotics. Additionally, prebiotic supplements, preferably made out of fermented organic whole food, are a handy addition to get the prebiotics that your gut requires.
4- Consider Symbiotic Supplements
Probiotics are beneficial for promoting a healthy microbiome, but they may not be sufficient. Symbiotics, unlike probiotics, are a fermented whole food living culture that offers comprehensive support for the gut environment. This includes aiding the survival and colonization of microbes, enhancing microbial diversity, providing easily absorbable digestive nutrients, promoting a healthy gut environment and more to support your flora. Symbiotics are natural, safe and offer a diverse range of nourishment that surpasses a simple capsule of bacterial cells.
The Right Gut Health Formula
Living Alchemy’s Your Flora Soothe is a 45+ diverse strain of kefir-kombucha fermented soybean symbiotic with probiotics, prebiotics, and postbiotics to support healthy gut flora and helps to reduce digestive inflammation
Through fermentation, the nutrients in this gut health supplement are enhanced with organic, non-GMO fermented soybeans to create a living ecosystem which helps your microbiome thrive and supports digestive health. This formula also contains targeted organic and non-GMO herbal ingredients, including turmeric and ginger, to optimize healthy gut flora and reduce the risk of gut inflammation.
Gut inflammation is the result of a microbial imbalance in the intestinal tract. This imbalance causes an immune response resulting in unchecked low-level inflammation. Over time, this inflammation can lead to a variety of chronic health problems such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), some forms of heart disease or type 2 diabetes. By adopting a few healthy eating habits and taking supplements that promote gut health, you may be able to reduce gut inflammation and potentially help prevent more serious consequences.
Want to learn more about keeping your gut happy? Discover Your Flora, our line of fermented, organic digestive wellness supplements.