How To Support Gut Health and A Healthy Gut Microbiome

January 13, 2022
Written by Dr. Rashel Tahzib

In this article about you and your gut microbiome, we deep dive into you taking the right steps and get on the path to optimize your health and well-being in the new year. Your gut is the gateway to health and disease and your gut health literally dictates every other aspect of your health. Optimizing your gut health is the best investment you can make in your overall health and well-being.

A new year has begun and with resolutions made, new aspirations, new plans, new beginnings and a new you, there is no better time than now to take the right steps and get on the path to optimize your health and well-being. There is no better way to do that than by embracing and nurturing your gut health. Your gut is the gateway to health and disease and your gut health literally dictates every other aspect of your health. Optimizing your gut health is the best investment you can make in your overall health and well-being.

1. Recognize Symptoms Of Imbalanced Gut Flora

Your gut is the gateway to health or disease because of the billions of beneficial bacteria that live in it, communicating with your genome and affecting outcomes for either health or disease. Most people today have some degree of imbalance in their gut microbiome known as Dysbiosis, either as a decrease in beneficial flora alone or along with overgrowth of imbalanced and even pathogenic bacteria or yeast.

The holiday season is the perfect setting to feed these imbalances and many times make them worse. Medications like antibiotics, birth control pills, anti-inflammatory drugs, steroids, impure water, stress, toxins, GMO’s, pesticides, and poor diet are some of the other reasons why your gut may go off track. It’s important to pay attention to symptoms that can be warning signs that your gut health may be off track.

Many may even think that symptoms like bloating, gas, constipation, reflux, burping, are normal because they are common.

The truth is that these symptoms are not normal or healthy no matter how common they may be and are clear signs that the gut is off track and there is likely gut microbial imbalance. It may be surprising to learn that aside from these symptoms, problems like acne, eczema, hormone imbalance, mood issues, autoimmune disease, intense food cravings, can all be symptoms of imbalanced gut bacteria and signs that that gut health is off track.

Symptoms of Imbalanced Gut Bacteria Include:

Constipation or Loose Stool
Bloating
Flatulence
Deficiency of B12, Iron, Zinc or Magnesium
Acne or Eczema
Joint Pain
Brain Fog
Depression, Anxiety
Difficulty Concentrating
PMS

The sooner you address these symptoms from their root cause the faster you can heal or just avoid problems like Leaky Gut that result from these imbalances and leads to autoimmunity and chronic disease.

If you have most of the gut related symptoms and want to tackle whole gut health and address problems like Candida, SIBO, GERD, IBS or gastritis you can get the support you need with Health Restore Total Gut Repair Kit that includes everything you need for comprehensive gut healing and support.

2. Address Underlying Gut Microbial Infections

A healthy gut lays the foundation for great health and well-being! Now that the new year has started, and the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is behind us, it’s the perfect time to begin addressing any underlying chronic gut infections. After all the elaborate meals and dessert indulgences, your gut microbial balance can get off track and problems like Small Intestinal bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and Candida Overgrowth can surface. The problem doesn’t stop there, if gut microbial balance is not restored and imbalances like SIBO or Candida overgrowth are left unchecked, more serious conditions like leaky gut can come about.

Leaky Gut is a gateway to autoimmune diseases including Hashimoto’s, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Psoriasis Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and other chronic diseases.

A perfect way to address these issues and take control of your gut health in the new year is Health Restore SIBO Clear Kit and Candida Clear Kit that provide you with targeted, completely natural, and research-based supplements that will help you address these problems naturally and restore your gut health. You can further support your gut health by tackling Leaky Gut (intestinal permeability) when you add Leaky Gut Restore and Collagen Peptide Powder (Grass-Fed) that can repair permeability in your intestinal lining, help control chronic gut infections like SIBO and Candida and help you avoid problems like food sensitivities and autoimmunity. Learn more about Candida Overgrowth and SIBO Elimination Here.

If you’re ready to take this opportunity to take control of Candida Overgrowth and want full support and guidance you can benefit from my Candida Clear Program and get the supplements plus my Health Restore Candida Clear Guide, Protocol, Diet, and Shopping List that will give you everything you need to tackle candida overgrowth and start the year off right.

3. Eat A Whole Food Diet Rich In Nutrients for a Healthy Gut Microbiome

It’s not uncommon to fall off track during the holiday season and overindulge, but there’s no time like now that the holiday season is over and the new year has begun to get back on track. It doesn’t take long to feel the after-effects of overindulgence, holiday treats, drinks, desserts and meals.

There’s no better time than now to seize the moment and start the year off right with a nourishing, health-promoting diet. Do your best to stay away from processed foods whenever possible, and stay away from processed oils, preservatives, and food additives.

Avoid gluten, most grains, corn, soy, beans, sugar, and conventional, pasteurized dairy products. Instead eat whole foods, meaning real food with ingredients you can clearly recognize, keeping your plate colorful with vegetables that are rich in phytonutrients. Include beneficial fats like olive and avocado and flax, and stay mindful of the essential nutrients your body needs to survive like zinc and B12 that are plentiful in pasture-raised, organic, grass-fed meats, eggs, wild shellfish and so many are very deficient in.

If eating grains try to keep it to organic sprouted rice or quinoa, using the whole grain rather than the flour whenever possible. You can find ideas for delicious recipes in my website, that incorporate Health Restore Plan foods to nourish your gut and health in the new year.

4. Add Foods That Feed Your Healthy Gut Bacteria

One of the most important ways you can promote growth of your healthy gut bacteria is by nourishing them with foods rich in compounds that help them grow. By choosing the right foods you can feed your beneficial gut bacteria in turn facilitating their production of nutrients that nourish and protect the health of your colon cells, decrease inflammation and infection and promote more optimal overall digestive health.

4.1 Eat Foods Rich In Polyphenols

Polyphenols are antioxidant-packed micronutrients that naturally occur in some plants. They have many health benefits, including promoting gut health, decreasing inflammation, blood pressure, cholesterol, insulin and oxidative stress. They are digested in the colon by your healthy gut bacteria and promote beneficial bacteria growth. Foods rich in polyphenols include:

Almonds
Cocoa & Dark Chocolate
Blueberries
Broccoli
Grape skins
Green tea
Onions
Red Wine

4.2 Eat Prebiotic Rich Foods

Prebiotics are foods that promote growth of your beneficial gut bacteria. They are not fully digestible and are digested when they reach the colon by fermentation by healthy gut bacteria that use them as fuel for growth, and nutrient production, producing nutrients like short-chain fatty acids that in turn promote the health of your colon cells, making your digestive system healthy. Prebiotic foods have many health benefits including healthy metabolism, colon health, keeping inflammation and infections at bay, and decreasing cholesterol and insulin levels. Some prebiotic-rich foods include:

Apples
Asparagus
Bananas
Dandelion
Garlic
Jerusalem
Artichoke
Jicama
Leeks
Onion
Flaxseeds
Konjac Root
Chicory Root
Jicama Root
Yukon Root
Seaweed

5. Address Stress And Adrenal Health

The gut and the brain are very closely connected, known as the gut-brain axis. This connection makes your gut very susceptible to stress. You have probably heard of the term ‘gut feelings’, well gut feelings are an actuality because of the gut-brain connection explaining intuitive feelings you may have.

This communication between your gut and brain ensures proper gastrointestinal balance and digestion but also effects your mood, motivation, higher cognitive functions and intuitive decision making. The luxuries and demands of our modern world can come with chronic daily stressors that make the gut more susceptible to gut issues because of stress.

Stress can be acute and immense like death of a loved one or chronic and on a smaller scale like poor sleep, inappropriate diet, toxin exposure, traffic, work demands and deadlines and fatigue. Stress takes a huge toll on your gut and overall health and causing symptoms like overeating and obesity, and leading to problems like leaky gut, bacterial imbalance and overgrowth, yeast overgrowth, IBS, food allergies, reflux, peptic ulcer disease, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune disease, heart disease and more.

The holiday season although fun and enjoyable can add stress upon stress with all the gift purchases, wrapping, parties, cooking or even if you don’t partake in that it can be a stressful time for those who are away from or don’t have much family which can further throw gut health off track. Quality, refreshing uninterrupted sleep and healthy adrenals are two of the most important ways you can become resilient to the stresses of our modern world. It’s very important to take care of your adrenal health and incorporate stress-reducing techniques into your everyday life and regimen that can include:

Mindfulness
Yoga
Meditation
Listening To Music
Talking A Walk In Nature
Reading A Book You Enjoy
Sipping A Cup Of Tea You Enjoy
Dance
Tai Chi

You can learn more about Stress Reduction Techniques Here. You can support your adrenals and increase your resiliency to stress with Health Restore Adrenal Optimizer Kit that includes everything you need to optimize adrenal health. Quality, uninterrupted, refreshing, rejuvenating sleep is also key to a balanced immune and inflammatory response and stress resiliency resulting in success with tackling problems like SIBO or candida and healthy, balanced gut. Health Restore Sound Sleep Kit includes the most complete, natural sleep health support available, that ensures you get quality, healing sleep that also lets you wake up energized ready to face the day.

6. Support Your Gut Microbiome With Targeted And Nourishing Supplements

One of the most important supplements you can take for gut health is a high-quality probiotic, with live, beneficial bacteria that can support your gut flora and health. About 100 trillion bacteria live in your digestive system, which includes 100 billion bacteria that make up your beneficial flora that carry and code for millions of genes.

This can be over one pound of bacteria living in your gut, that literally dictate our health and reside in and on every organ system including being responsible for more than 70% of your immune system that lies in your gut. An immense amount of research supports probiotic use but what many tend to overlook is that not all probiotics are the same and just because the bottle or advertisement looks good does not mean the probiotic actually does what it says it will do. Remember there is no FDA regulation of supplements.

It is very important to use the highest quality probiotics if you are looking to actually get any benefits. Therbiotics Supreme Daily DF is a high CFU (colony forming unit), acid stable, multi-strain, research-based, physician formulated probiotic that will not only help balance abnormal bacteria and yeast overgrowth in your gut and help heal leaky gut, but will support a healthy metabolism, weight, skin and immune system.

7. Do Your Best To Avoid Toxins

Environmental toxins can hurt your gut health and get in the way of healthy gut function, causing imbalances in healthy gut bacteria, leaky gut, and that can then cause autoimmune disease. Your healthy gut bacteria play a tremendous role in keeping you healthy but they are very susceptible to being hurt by environmental toxins that can prevent them from performing their functions. Exposure to environmental toxins fuels the development of chronic disease causing symptoms such as hormone imbalance in women, infertility, low testosterone in men, obesity, allergies, insulin resistance, gastrointestinal disease and autoimmunity. Some environmental toxins to be on the lookout for include:

Triclosan
BPA
Pesticides
Glyphosate
Chlorpyrifos
Heavy Metals (Mercury, Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium)

It is increasingly challenging in our modern world to avoid these toxins. You can increase your awareness of them and just do your best to stay clear of toxins when possible. Triclosan is a chemical added to many consumer products and can be found in personal care products such as antibacterial soap and body washes, deodorants, acne medications, mouthwashes, toothpastes, wound disinfection solutions, cosmetics, clothing, kitchenware, furniture, toys, medical devices. Triclosan is found in 75 percent of liquid hand soaps. Triclosan has been shown to alter gut bacteria and causing diseases like eczema, thyroid dysfunction and cancer.

Glyphosate is the most used herbicide in agriculture, although its widespread use is cause for great controversy in the scientific world because of its likely carcinogenic effect on human cells in addition to causing imbalanced gut bacteria, leading to leaky gut and autoimmunity.

Pesticides are found on conventionally-grown produce and include chlorpyrifos the most widely-used pesticide on crops, corn, soybeans, broccoli, and apples, is also widely used in settings like golf courses and is linked to many chronic diseases, including immune and gastrointestinal disease. Bisphenol A or BPA found in hard plastic water bottles and the lining of canned foods, alters normal gut flora and disrupts the body’s hormonal system by mimicking the hormone estrogen.

BPA even accumulates in utero in maturing gut and liver and is known to cause imbalanced gut bacteria and contribute to chronic inflammation in the colon as well as systemic inflammation. Heavy metals, such as mercury, cadmium, lead, and arsenic, decrease levels of good bacteria in the gut increasing intestinal inflammation and chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Heavy metals are common in soil, drinking water, fish, chicken, rice, glazed pottery, personal care products due to industrial pollution.

You can protect your healthy gut bacteria from environmental toxins by using organic products whenever possible including organic body products and cleaning supplies, eating organic produce, reading labels diligently and looking for any chemicals in products then staying clear of that product, limiting your use of plastics, using stainless steel water bottles and glass pyrex containers for storage rather than plastic.

Investing in a great water filtration system, and safe cookware are also key to reducing your exposure to gut disturbing environmental toxins.

You can find more information on helpful products that are clean-sourced and chemical-free from seafood, to organic meats, beauty products, safe cookware, the best water filtration systems at drrashel.com/helpful-products. You can also learn more at The Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database as a great resource for body products that are free of chemicals that disrupt microbiome health and balance.

The Environmental Working Groups 2021 Shoppers Guide is a great resource to use for a list of which types of produce have the highest pesticide content and best to avoid unless organic.

No matter how careful one may be exposed to environmental toxins is hard to avoid and most people have a degree of toxin exposure. Healthy, gentle detoxification can help restore balance to your microbiome and help rid your body of toxins. A healthy gut and liver are essential for promoting optimal detoxification and one of the best and simple ways to detox is the Health Restore Detox kit, which gives your body all the supplement support it needs to detoxify safely and gently. If you want to fully tackle toxins and want complete guidance and support Health Restore 6 Day Detox Program is the perfect way to support healthy detoxification and renew whole-body health and well-being.

8. Optimize Your Sleep

Sleep is what the body uses to keep you healthy and well functioning. It allows your brain and body to restore, repair, rejuvenate and reenergize when the day is complete. A good night of Sound Sleep is essential for a healthy body and mind and without it your immune system is not regulated, inflammation is not kept in check, your gut microbiome and gut health are impaired, and healthy metabolism and cardiovascular health are negatively affected leading to problems like obesity and high blood pressure. Sound Sleep is not just not having insomnia or a sleep disorder, but having a healthy sleep pattern every night without interruption. Research shows that both too little and too much sleep can negatively effect health, and health is best supported when you get 7-8 hours of continuous sleep per night.

As your gut health is tied to every other aspect of health, so too is gut health interconnected to healthy sleep. You need healthy sleep patterns for a healthy gut and a healthy gut for healthy sleep patterns. Poor sleep negatively affects your microbiome decreasing microbiome health and diversity which leads to disease. Studies show a clear association between sleep health and healthy gut microbiome diversity. Healthy sleep-gut relationship is also connected to a healthy integrated immune response. Keeping your gut microbiome healthy is a great way to support healthy sleep patterns, and Sound Sleep helps keep your gut microbiome healthy and supports your entire health. To support better sleep you can:

Avoid sugar, caffeine, and alcohol
Avoid overeating or underrating
Use high quality protein or collagen before bed to keep blood sugar stable
Manage room temperature avoid feeling too hot or too cold
Avoid electronics one hour before sleep
Create a restful room environment
Avoid red or blue lights in the room, keep room dark
Incorporate an exercise regimen to your daily routine
Try to go to bed the same time each night
Leave 7-8 hours time for sleep

How To Support A Healthy Gut microbiome In The New Year

If there’s one thing you can do that best supports your entire health and paves the way for the best year yet when it comes to your health and well-being it’s supporting your gut health and microbiome with Health Restore gut nourishing and healing nutrients. You will feel and live the amazing difference. Wishing you health and may all your dreams come true.

Article Resources

Dr. Rashel Tahzib

Dr. Rashel Tahzib is and a Functional Medicine specialist, certified by the Institute for Functional Medicine and a board-certified Family Medicine Physician. With nearly 20 years of experience, her evidence-based scientific approach and knowledge of Functional Medicine, combined with her personal experience with the health and disease process leads to the evolutionary personalized medicine she offers that works remarkably with her patients.

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