Discover the importance of gut health and how a balanced microbiome influences your overall well-being. Learn about dietary choices for optimal gut function

Published: November 19, 2024 | Updated: December 16, 2024

Aloe vera juice? Olive oil? Sweet potato soup? Maybe, but quick fixes likely aren’t the best route for long-term gut health.

If you have blood in your stool, a fever or unexplained weight loss, talk with your primary care provider about your symptoms.

Diarrhea, bloating and abdominal pain are signs that your gut health may be out of balance. Maintaining a healthy gut benefits your body far from your gastrointestinal tract. Gut health influences your immune system, brain function, weight and more.

“A healthy gut is really a healthy gut microbiome. The microbiome is a liquid organ in your digestive tract that needs a diversity of gut bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microorganisms to help break down food and metabolize it into energy while supporting the immune system and influencing the gut-brain axis,” said Joshua H. Brandon, M.D., family medicine physician with Norton Community Medical Associates primary care.

Gut dysbiosis happens when the gut microbiota — the microorganisms that make up the microbiome — are out of balance. For example, there may be too little good bacteria or too much bad bacteria.

An unhealthy gut microbiome can hamper your immune system, making you more susceptible to infection. Digestive system issues such as irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhea and bloating can arise from an unbalanced gut microbiome. And the gut-brain axis — the network of nerves sending signals between your gut and your brain — chiefly controls digestion and can affect mood, including anxiety and depression.

The basics of good gut health start with eating right, exercising and drinking plenty of water.

Healthy eating

Eating a healthy diet with fiber and fruit while avoiding processed foods and too much alcohol contributes to a healthy gut. Look for foods that contain fiber, prebiotics and probiotics.

Keep in mind that processed food includes chemical processing and mechanical processing. Packaged food often has large amounts of saturated and trans fat, added sugar, salt, and food additives that affect the gut.

Even mechanically processed foods can have an impact. Smoothies, with lots of fruit, might seem like a good choice. But in a liquid, the sugar in the fruit hits your system faster than whole fruit and produces a blood-sugar spike. That prompts your pancreas to send out insulin and sends a pleasurable signal to your brain, prompting you to crave more. And since the liquid passes through your system quickly, you may get hungry sooner, even though the smoothie was high in calories.

Here are some examples of foods that promote a healthy gut microbiome:

• Fibers: Whole grains like oatmeal and beans help food move through your digestive system. An important role of dietary fiber is to prevent constipation and support the movement of food through your body. Fiber adds bulk and absorbs water, which makes stool softer and easier to pass. Fiber can help you feel full, slow digestion, clear out your colon and improve gut health.
• Polyphenols: These are found in plants, so vegetables, fruits and whole grains have polyphenols. Particularly good sources of polyphenols are certain berries, herbs, spices and nuts.
• Naturally fermented foods:  These introduce probiotics, or healthy bacteria, into the digestive system. Examples of fermented foods include sauerkraut, kimchi and yogurt with live cultures.
• Healthy fats: Unsaturated fatty acids increase microbiome diversity. Examples of foods rich in unsaturated fats include avocados, almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and olive oil.

Exercise

Moderate and intense exercise, combined with a healthy diet, has been shown to improve digestive health. Exercise has a positive influence on how the cells in our body regulate energy production, expenditure and food intake. Metabolism, or how your body converts food into energy, is an important role for your gut microbiota.

The exact cause of the link between exercise and healthy gut microbes is being researched. High-intensity exercise brings more oxygen into the bloodstream, and this may help good bacteria flourish in the gut. Low intensity exercise may help the gut by encouraging the digestive tract to move food through faster.

A study found a link between a healthy microbiome and motivation to exercise (in mice, at least).

Water

Adequate hydration is important to overall health as well as the growth of a healthy gut microbiome and may contribute to diversity in the gut microbiota. Drinking water during or after a meal aids digestion and helps food move through the digestive tract.

In addition to water, hydrating foods include watermelon, cucumbers, oranges and berries Caffeine and alcohol, however, are diuretics that increase fluid loss.

Your urine should be a pale, light yellow. Darker urine suggests you need to drink more water.