A healthy gut is crucial to our overall health and all too often, having too many bad microbes in our system makes us ill. Improving our gut health improves not only our digestive health but also stimulates our immune system to function effectively.
Prebiotics : Dietary Fibre for The Gut
Plant fibre promotes the growth of "good bacteria" (the healthy microbes in our body that fight against infections) in our system. Prebiotics are a specific form of plant fibre that benefits the gut. Although, prebiotics should not be confused with probiotics, which we will discuss as we continue.
How prebiotic foods work to improve our gut health is fairly simple: these foods are carbohydrates that the body cannot digest, so they end up in our lower digestive tract where in turn, ferments, and becomes food for the probiotics (the good microbes) living in us. Prebiotics basically work like motivators to the good soldiers protecting our bodies.
Some of the best natural prebiotic foods are garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, barley, oats, beetroot, green peas, watermelon, dried fruits, burdock root and pistachio nuts. Incorporating prebiotic foods into our daily diet supports a robust gut microbiome and subsequently, strengthens the immune system.
Probiotics : The Force Within
Probiotics are live microorganisms living in us, keeping our bodies thriving. They are the force within that helps fight against pathogenic organisms that enter the body. Promoting a good array of probiotics in our system prevents the overgrowth of harmful bacteria. There are many strains of bacteria living in us. Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Saccharomyces, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Escherichia, and Bacillus are some of the microbial organisms typically used in commercial probiotic products.
According to the National Institute of Health (Maryland, USA), there are natural sources of probiotics in fermented foods such as kimchi, cheese, sauerkraut, miso and pickles. Despite the fact that they are commonly known to bear live cultures, these foods are not proven to contain probiotic microorganism and if they do, the live microorganism might not survive the transit through the stomach.
As probiotics are only beneficial to the body when they are consumed alive, it is important to bear in mind that some live bacteria die during their shelf life and that many live microorganism, especially those of natural sources, do not survive the intestinal transit.
Studies have shown that the efficacy of our immune response relies heavily, although not entirely, on the probiotics mechanism in our bodies. Our gut health and immunity are closely connected. By encouraging a flourishing network of gut bacteria, we are lowering the risks of the development of infectious diseases.
Bone Broth: Liquid Health
Bone broth is a nutrient-dense clear stock made by simmering connective tissues and bones together with few other nutritional ingredients. Healthy bone broths can be made with just about any animal.
What makes bone broth so beneficial? Let us begin with collagen. Collagen is a type of protein that our body naturally produce but its production declines as we age. Humans need collagen for our body to repair, develop and function. Collagen safeguards bone health, digestive health and protects connective tissues. Connective tissues are high in collagen content. Boiling meaty joints turns the animal collagen into gelatin and yields significant amino acids for our body. Amino acids stimulates collagen synthesis, which is our body’s natural process of collagen production.
Bone broths made with marrows are also especially rich in iron, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin K2, selenium, calcium just to name a few. Many of us do not consume enough of these vitamins and minerals in our daily lives, so we are more likely to improve our nutrition intake by incorporating bone broths in our diets.
Our overall health is conjoined with our gut microbiome. Abundant in vitamins and minerals, bone broth is easy on our digestive system and the glutamine content in bone broths protect and maintain the functions of our digestive tracts.
Besides being highly anti-inflammatory, bone broths improves sleep and enhances brain function. A type of amino acid called Glycine found in bone broths is known to promote deep sleep and has relaxing properties.
Rich in vitamins and minerals, bone broth is essentially one of the most natural ways to promote gut health and to improve overall well being.
The information contained in this website is provided for informational purposes only. All recommendations are not intended to provide diagnosis, medical advice, or treatment. Please consult with your healthcare professional regarding any medical or health related issues. Information and recommendations represented in this website are information extracted through researches conducted on said topic based on professional references and materials and all information are not in any way organically produced by Leap Health.