How To Eat For a Healthy Digestive System
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How To Eat For a Healthy Digestive System

prebiotic foods vegetables

A healthy digestive system is one of the most important ways to have a strong immune system and good health. Without a healthy digestive system, we cannot digest food properly, have stomach disorders and be one of the main reason for weight gain and obesity. Building a healthy digestive system is not hard to do and it could mean the difference between ill health and good health.

Do You Always Have a Stomach Ache?


Many Americans complain of health problems that are associated with the digestive system. And television ads act as if these health problems are part of normal everyday life, and they are not. Americans tolerate these health problems that occur because of poor digestion as nothing to be concerned about.

Television ads constantly tell us to go ahead and eat more junk food and if you get indigestion, heartburn, diarrhea, and constipation or a number of other health problems, no problem, just take one of our medicines and feel better and go ahead and continue to eat all of that fast food, junk food, and processed food.

These medications have their own side effects and mask the real health problem, which is an unhealthy digestive system, to begin with. And it all starts with unhealthy foods or possibly foods your body cannot tolerate well. 
 
You have to listen to your body. If you feel sick every time after eating pizza, doesn’t it make sense that your body doesn’t want pizza or something on the pizza.

The Digestive System is Part of the Immune System


When we hear of a strong immune system, most people think it is because of vitamins or genetics and how the immune system keeps us from getting sick. A healthy digestive system is very important to our immune system and they work together.

A good part of our immune system is actually located in our digestive system or gut. There is a thin wall between the intestines and the rest of your body, so it is important that the bad bacteria and pathogens remain in the gut and are disposed of properly so they cannot enter the rest of your body and make you sick.

Our gut or digestive system plays an important role in keeping us healthy by detecting pathogens that enter our body and getting rid of them before we get sick. 

The intestinal tract has a very large surface area and is exposed to all kinds of bad bacteria, parasites, and pathogens that can make us sick and can be one of the first lines of defense against certain pathogens. This is why it is so important to have a healthy digestive system, gastrointestinal tract or gut.

The Causes of an Unhealthy Digestive System


There are numerous digestive problems that are caused by an unhealthy digestive system including:

 
There are over 200 over-the-counter drugs for gastrointestinal and digestive problems in the United States that costs Americans billions of dollars each year. For most, these digestive problems can be cleared up by building a healthy digestive system.

An unhealthy digestive system can also lead to or cause other health problems including:

 
There are a couple of ways that can cause an unhealthy digestive system. A poor diet is one way that we create an unhealthy digestive system. Eating highly processed and junk foods that are void of nutrients and fiber create a poor digestive system. 
 
So much of what is called the Standard American Diet is low in fiber, poor nutritional value and far too high in sugar.


Meat has no fiber and white flour products have very little if any dietary fiber. This is one main cause of a poor digestive system. 

A diet low in vegetables and whole grains is another reason since they have a lot of vitamins, minerals, and fiber that build a healthy digestive system. So diet is a major factor for an unhealthy digestive system.

Another way to create an unhealthy digestive system is sometimes beyond our control but we need to be aware of this. Taking antibiotics, which we all have to at times in our lives, can destroy the good bacteria in our guts. 

The gut is full of bacteria, both good and bad bacteria and taking antibiotics will kill both the bad and the good bacteria. You can rebuild a healthy digestive system again after you are finished taking the antibiotics. 

How to Build a Healthy Digestive System


The key to building a healthy digestive system and gut is to build up the good bacteria. It is estimated that there are 500 species of bacteria, both good and bad, that weigh three pounds in your gut and digestive tract. 
 
One important key to building a healthy digestive system and gut is to have more good gut bacteria than bad bacteria. There are ways to build up the good bacteria.

Prebiotics


Prebiotics are a type of fiber that is non-digestible found only in carbohydrates and act as food for probiotics. These fibrous foods pass through the small intestine undigested and enter the large intestine where they are fermented and digested. This is how prebiotics feeds the good bacteria in our gut.

There are many new products on the market today that claim to be prebiotics, but they all might not meet the criteria to be a healthy prebiotic. 
 
According to the International Scientific Association for Prebiotics and Probiotics (ISAPP), consumers should look on the prebiotic label for FOS, inulin, and GOS or TOS (transGOS). Inulin is now found in various supplements multiple vitamins.

The best way to get prebiotics to feed the good bacteria is to get them from our foods. Great prebiotic foods include:
  • Bananas
  • Apples
  • Asparagus
  • Onions
  • Artichokes
  • Avocado
  • Whole grains
  • Oats
  • Lentils
  • Black beans, red beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans and other types of beans

In other words, carbohydrates are very healthy for us and our good gut bacteria. Plant foods have a lot of fiber, and fiber is one of the best prebiotics for healthy gut bacteria.

You cannot get any prebiotics from animal foods like meat, chicken, turkey, fish, etc. You have to get prebiotics from whole plant foods. The best diet for building the healthiest gut bacteria is a whole food plant-based diet.

Probiotic Foods


Probiotics and probiotic foods are the health rage now in ads for many products, even though many of them are so high in sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial colors that they are actually junk food. Probiotics are good bacteria that heal and build a healthy digestive system and a strong immune system.

Greek yogurt is a good source of probiotics if the product was made correctly. Pasteurization can kill all of the beneficial bacteria, but by law in the US, these foods have to be pasteurized. Better quality yogurts can make their products without killing the good bacteria. 
 
Make sure the label says “live bacteria”. A good Greek yogurt is Fage. A good vegan yogurt made from almonds is from Kite Hill.

Fermented foods are a good source of probiotics and include foods like:

  • Good quality yogurt both with dairy and non-dairy vegan
  • Miso
  • Kefir
  • Sauerkraut
  • Kimchi
  • Tempeh
  • Natto
  • Kombucha
 
If you rarely or never eat any of the above foods, you can always get a good quality probiotic, like one of the numerous probiotic supplements from Ultimate Flora.

Looking at probiotic foods and probiotic supplements, the bacteria listed can be confusing because some companies have copyrighted their own names for bacteria in their product. Some common bacteria that will be listed on yogurt should include.

  • Lactobacillus species (L. and species name) with the most common L. acidophilus
  • Bifidobacterium species (B. and species name)
  • S. Thermophilus

Eat a Healthy Diet


The best way for a healthy digestive system is to eat a healthy diet, which in many cases just means saying no to unhealthy foods and avoiding processed foods, junk foods, fast food, white flour products, and too much sugar.

A healthy diet should include plenty of vegetables, leafy greens, and whole grains. You do not have to eat a vegetarian diet or vegan diet. Just eat smaller portions of meat and a lot of vegetables, legumes, and whole grains like whole wheat bread, quinoa, and brown rice.

Conclusion


As you can see, it isn’t hard to build a healthy digestive system and not expensive either. It would cost less money avoiding junk foods and eating a healthy diet than it costs to buy all of those medications.


About the Author

Sam Montana is a certified Food Over Medicine instructor from the Wellness Forum Health Center and certified in optimal nutrition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Copyright © 2012-2022 Sam Montana
How To Eat For a Healthy Digestive System

 
Author: Sam Montana
Labels: Health Issues, Supplements