The first step in maintaining a healthy gut is to avoid all of the things listed in the ‘Why is the GUT so important’ article e.g. avoid taking antibiotics and pharmaceutical drugs. Sometimes these are necessary, so when you do take them, take a good quality probiotic supplement, especially during and after for a few weeks. However, at times this is not so simple; especially in the case of chronic stress and infections.
Another thing to consider is whether our mothers had healthy guts when they gave birth to us or whether we were breast or bottle fed.
It is not all doom and gloom; there are still steps you can take to restore your gut flora:
- Remove all food toxins from your diet
- Avoid processed foods, sugar and manmade chemicals
- Eat plenty of fermentable fibres e.g. starches like sweet potato, yam, broccoli, beans
- Eat fermented foods as they are full of our friendly bacteria, like kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi – there are many books you can buy with recipes on fermenting food (or ask us here at Kangaroo Point Naturopaths).
- Take a high quality probiotic on a daily basis
- Treat any intestinal pathogens (such as parasites) that may be present
- Take steps to manage your stress
By taking care of your gut flora you will avoid our modern day diseases.