What’s so important about boosting your gut health? Balancing the body’s microbiome should be a main goal for each person’s nutrition. Why boost gut health? Because a person’s microbiome has an influence on every other system in the body, from the immune system to the endocrine system. Therefore, nutrition should support the “good bacteria” to keep pathogenic bacteria from overgrowing.

There are many things that contribute to bad gut health. These things include too much sugar and refined carbohydrates, too many antibiotics, high stress, alcohol consumption, and oral contraceptives. These types of things feed the candida population and contribute to general dysbiosis. This can eventually damage the intestines, lead to widespread inflammation in the body, and cause leaky gut syndrome. Conditions of dysbiosis, such as yeast overgrowth, can produce toxic byproducts that can go throughout the body and contribute to anything from brain fog, skin rashes, digestive issues, and depression.

Food to Avoid

It is important to avoid food that leads to problems with our guts. The following is a list of the most common foods that can feed candida overgrowth and lead to dysbiosis. Avoid these foods so you can heal your gut.

• Cashews
• Corn (including, corn tortillas, corn chips, popcorn, corn on the cob, corn oil, high fructose corn syrup)
• Dairy
• Gluten
• Grains
• Peanuts
• Pistachios
• Mushrooms
• Refined sugar (including honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and agave syrup)
• Sauerkraut (for first four weeks)

Now, let’s look at the food we can eat!

Nutrient-dense Food to Enjoy

Eating a nutrient-dense diet helps to heal our gut’s lining. And it helps to increase the amount of diversity of beneficial bacteria in the gut. The more diverse population of beneficial bacteria we have in the gut, the better equipped our gut is to prevent yeast overgrowth from occurring in the future. Here are some easy foods you can eat to boost your gut health:

• Meat you can enjoy includes free range chicken, free range ground turkey, free range eggs, wild caught salmon, grass fed bison, grass fed beef, grass fed liver, and grass fed oxtail.
• Bone broth can be used to heal the lining of the gut. Homemade is best. Make it ahead of time and freeze it in ice cube trays for easy access.
• Garlic cloves are important to your microbiome diet. Mince one or more cloves of garlic and let them sit on a cutting board exposed to air for about five minutes. This activates a component in garlic known as “allicin,’ which has potent antibacterial and antifungal and properties. Use this raw minced garlic on one of your meals every day.
• Consume at least one prebiotic fiber with every meal. Prebiotic fiber food includes apples, artichokes, asparagus, avocados, blackberries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celery, garlic, leeks, and onions.
• Coconut oil can be used liberally in your cooking. You can even take 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in between meals 2 times every day. Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid and caprylic acid, both of which have strong antifungal properties.
• Use herbs and spices in your cooking. To help fight candida, improve immune function, and minimize inflammation. The herbs to consider are Cinnamon, Ginger, Oregano, and Turmeric.
• Use stevia powder, preferably with inulin, as a sweetener.
• Use 1 cup of low sugar fruit such as berries, cantaloup, green apples, kiwis, lemons, limes, and oranges.
• Limit starchy vegetables Like beets, parsnips, sweet potato, and winter squash to 1 cup daily.
• Non starchy vegetables can be eaten freely.

Fermented Food

After two to four weeks of having nutrient dense food and avoiding food that feeds candida overgrowth, you can add raw, unpasteurized fermented food such as sauerkraut or kimchi into your food rotation. Start with one tablespoon per day and then increase the amount by one tablespoon daily until you consume 5 tablespoons altogether. Unsweetened yogurt is another fermented food you can incorporate.

Action Step

The human gut is complex. The gut microbiome impacts whole-body health, so enjoy food that boosts your gut health, and you will enjoy a better sense of wellness.

May God bless you on your wellness journey!

Joni

P.S. What experience do you have with gut health- good or bad?