Your digestive system breaks down the foods you eat into the nutrients your body needs.
If you neglect your digestive health, your body could run into problems digesting foods and absorbing those nutrients. For some of us, digestive discomfort has become a fact of life. We complain about everyday ailments such as occasional gas, bloating and irregularity but they don’t have to be.
Research has shown that our gut microbes play a significant role in regulating our health and weight. And more research has suggested a way we might mend this imbalance: by eating foods full of probiotics and loading up on prebiotics.
What are probiotics and prebiotics anyway?
Probiotics are “good” bacteria that help keep your digestive system healthy by controlling growth of harmful bacteria. Prebiotics are carbohydrates that cannot be digested by the human body. They are food for probiotics. The primary benefit of probiotics and prebiotics appears to be helping you maintain a healthy digestive system.
If you suffer from gut trouble probiotics and fibre supplements are typically used to treat digestion and elimination problems. Probiotics can help balance your intestinal flora, the healthy bacteria in your intestines. Many people rely on probiotics if they take antibiotics, which can destroy gut bacteria. Fibre supplements can alleviate constipation and pass stools through your intestinal tract. They may also help with irritable bowel syndrome, haemorrhoids and even diabetes.
Why Fibre Is Important To Your Health
Most people know that dietary fibre, sometimes referred to as roughage helps to keep you regular, but often don’t know just how important fibre is to your overall health. The fact is that fibre is one of the foods necessary to keep you healthy, and without it you can suffer everything from constipation to Irritable bowel syndrome to increasing your risk for colon cancer. The problem is that most people don’t get enough fibre to maintain proper health, leaving them with an unbalanced digestive system that may wreak havoc on the rest of their health.
The Role of Fibre In Digestive Health
Fibre plays a huge role in your digestive health. There are two different kinds of dietary fibre: insoluble fibre and soluble fibre – and both are necessary for your digestive health. Insoluble fibre moves through your digestive system absorbing excess fluid and regulating the removal of waste. Soluble fibre is the prebiotic fibre that helps to strengthen the good bacteria in your digestive system and keep it strong and growing, so it can defend your digestive system from the bad bacteria that can cause infections and other health problems.
In addition, both insoluble fibre and soluble fibre help your body absorb the vital nutrients it needs to keep every organ and system in the body healthy and functioning. This means that fibre plays an important and essential part in maintaining not just good digestive health but, good overall health as well.
By paying attention and making a few simple changes, you can help your digestive system do the job it was made to do – absorbing nutrients and keeping things running smoothly.
Tips for Good Digestive Health
Good digestive health starts with making healthy food and lifestyle choices. Here are some effective tips to improve your digestive health:
Eat a high-fibre diet: Consuming a diet that is high in fibre will keep foods moving through your digestive tract. It can also help prevent a number of common digestive issues such as constipation, IBS, and others. Fruits like passion fruit, pomegranates, pears, persimmons bananas, apples and oranges are one good way to add to the fibre. One downside to some fruits is that they contain a lot of fructose – fruit sugar – that can cause gas. One way to avoid this is to consume high-fibre, lower-sugar fruits that don’t bring on the bloated tummy, like kiwi. One cup of kiwi offers 5 grams of fibre, plus you’ll get other good-for-you nutrients, like more than double your daily vitamin C quota.
Stay hydrated: Always drink plenty of water. Water helps your body dissolve fats and fiber and helps things move through your system more efficiently.
Add probiotics into your diet: Probiotics are healthy bacteria that exist in your digestive tract. Adding more to your diet through food and supplementation will help keep your body healthy. Low fat yogurt, sourdough bread, sour pickles and kimchi are a great source of probiotics.
Cleanse and detox: Performing a cleanse on occasion will help your body refresh and recharge, and allow your digestive system to reset.
Limit consumption of processed foods: It’s always best to choose fresh, high quality food sources such as fruits, vegetables, and lean meats over processed and high fat food options.
Exercise regularly: Exercise helps keep food moving through your system as it uses the food you consume for energy. It also helps you maintain a healthy weight, something else that will improve your digestion.
Eat on a schedule: Your body loves routine. Eating frequent, smaller meals and snacks will keep your digestive system working effectively and efficiently.
Getting the Fibre Your Body Needs
Certain grains, raw vegetables, and fresh fruits are excellent sources of dietary fibre. Unfortunately, in most cases unless you buy organic food, not only are you getting fibre, but you are also getting a lot of chemicals from pesticides – and possibly even heavy metals from areas where there is high pollution, making the fibre you do take in less than healthy for your body and your digestive system.
Good digestion is vital for good health. A stomach that has the correct level of good and bad bacteria is a healthy one. Also, the right level of fibre and water are excellent for assisting the body in eliminating waste. While getting the fibre your body needs is important for your health, it isn’t as easy to get good sources of fibre as you might think. Certain grains, raw vegetables, and fresh fruits are excellent sources of dietary fibre. Unfortunately, in most cases unless you buy organic food, not only are you getting fibre, but you are also getting a lot of chemicals from pesticides – and possibly even heavy metals from areas where there is high pollution, making the fibre you do take in less than healthy for your body and your digestive system.
Taking a good fibre supplement can help give you the good fibre your body needs, without the chemicals you may be getting from those ‘in store’ fresh foods. However, you do have to be careful in choosing a good fibre supplement with probiotics and look at how the supplement is manufactured before purchasing it.
