You may be surprised to learn that your body contains more bacteria than human cells. These bacteria are key to you having a healthy microbiome. Yes, certain bacteria can lead to disease. However, many are very beneficial for you, and even essential. This is why staying on top of your gut health is important.
Understanding Your Gut’s Microbiome
In your gut, there are all sorts of bacteria and other microorganisms that call it their home. Most of them reside in your intestines, as well as your skin. The bulk of these microbes are situated in an area of the large intestine known as the cecum.
With around 40 trillion bacterial cells and 30 trillion human cells, it’s vital to ensure you have a healthy gut. Each one of the 1,000 species of bacteria does its part in keeping you healthy, while some may do the opposite. Together, they are essentially acting like a distinct organ, and even mimic functions that your brain has. This gives new meaning to the phrase “Go with your gut.”
How Your Gut Affects Your Health
Humans have been evolving alongside bacteria for a very long time. Over time, both humans and bacteria have learned to play important roles in each others’ lives. It has led to a situation where, today, you may be unable to survive without good bacteria living on you and inside of you!
You begin collecting microbes within the womb, and then gather up more when going through the birth canal and throughout life. As time goes on, you start amassing quite a diverse collection of bacteria. The more diverse your microbiome, the healthier you will be.
The more your microbiome grows, the more you become affected by it. This includes being able to digest breast milk and fiber more effectively, responding to infections better, and even improving brain health.
The Connection Between Gut Health and Weight
There are thousands of different types of bacteria that contribute to being healthy. If your body starts having too many of the bad kinds of microbes, you start having health problems like unwanted weight gain. A state of dysbiosis can result in you becoming overweight, which can result in having a number of health issues, including arthritis.
Studies have found that the kind of gut bacteria that a healthy person has versus an overweight individual will vary drastically. This was even a study replicated in identical twins, indicating genetics are not a factor in this major difference. Another study even found that when gut bacteria was relocated from an obese twin to a mouse, the mouse started gaining more weight, even though nothing else changed. This all demonstrates that gut bacteria has a hand in weight gain.
Weight can also be reduced when your body has enough good bacteria, such as probiotics. However, the amount of weight loss thanks to taking probiotics is usually small (around 2 pounds). Still, it shows how gut bacteria can also positively affect weight if you are looking to shed a couple of pounds.
How to Improve Gut Health
Given how important it is to have a healthy gut, you will want to make sure you are doing what you can to have the healthiest microbiome possible. Here are some of the ways you can do exactly that:
Eat Plenty of Fruits and Vegetables
You will get a very diverse microbiome when you get plenty of fruits and veggies into your diet. The best foods to have to increase gut health include legumes, beans, and fiber-rich fruits.
Eat Lots of Fermented Foods
Fermented foods have plenty of good bacteria that will improve your health. Foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, and others contain bacteria that are great for your gut health.
Fermented Foods
Reduce Artificial Sweetener Intake
There are artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, that will shoot up your blood sugar due to encouraging bad bacteria to grow within your gut. That is why you should reduce or completely eliminate such products from your diet.
Eat Foods With Prebiotics
Prebiotics are not bacteria but encourage the healthy kind to grow within your gut. Prebiotic fiber can be found in bananas, oats, and apples, as well as other foods.
Eat Whole Grains
There is a lot of fiber in whole grains, as well as carbohydrates like beta-glucan. These become digested in your gut by bacteria that help regulate your weight, reduce your risk of cancer, and help prevent diseases like diabetes.
Go Plant-Based
Switching over to a plant-based diet will help lower the amount of bad bacteria you have within your body, such as the dreaded E.coli, along with bacteria that cause inflammation.
Ingest Polyphenol-Rich Foods & Beverages
Foods and beverages like red wine, green tea, whole grains, olive oil, and dark chocolate will help your body get more good bacteria growing. Red wine has an added benefit for arthritis sufferers due to the antioxidant resveratrol.
Take a Probiotic Supplement
Probiotic supplements contain helpful bacteria that are still alive and will quickly reverse dysbiosis talked about earlier. Healthy microbes are able to get restored to your gut and lead you to better health.
Take a Joint Supplement
Another supplement that is worth adding to your daily health regimen is a joint supplement like JointFuel360. This all-natural supplement contains powerful antioxidants like resveratrol, which we have already covered, spurs your body to grow more healthy bacteria. There are also a few potent anti-inflammatory compounds like black pepper extract and turmeric, which will help reduce inflammation that can be caused by bad bacteria and excessive weight gain.
Conclusion
It is important to have a healthy gut for all of the reasons mentioned in this article. Trillions of good bacteria are the reason why you are alive and in good health. When you have increasingly more bad bacteria, your health starts to deteriorate in a number of ways. Eating healthily and taking supplements to support a healthy gut microbiome are smart choices to make if you want to have the healthiest gut possible.
