What Can You Eat to Restore Gut Flora?
When most people hear the word ‘bacteria,’ they tend to think of something that is detrimental to their health. However, there is good bacteria that our bodies need in order to function properly, such as those that are essential to intestinal or gut flora.
Bacteria called lactobacillus acidophilus and lactobacillus bifidus are vital and beneficial to gut flora. Plus, they prevent harmful bacteria from multiplying and causing problems in your body.
These bacteria can also prevent diseases like irritable bowl or distended colon, which can appear if the bacteria protecting the body are too few in number.
In this article, we’ll take a look at how to restore them when they’re not healthy.
Read: Why Healing Your Intestines Also Heals Your Skin
Foods that Restore Gut Flora
There are several foods you should eat in order to restore your gut flora naturally. Let’s take a look at a list of them.
Studies have demonstrated that ginger helps maintain healthy intestinal flora, as well as aiding in the digestion of dietary fats, and calming and easing the digestive tract.
- Apple cider vinegar
- Ginger root
- Berries and fruits with plenty of fiber
- Vegetables
- Lean protein
- Black tea
- Raw Almonds
- Flax seed oil or meal
- Fish Oil
- Ground cayenne pepper
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Furthermore, you should stock up on fermented foods like the following:
- Cottage Cheese
- Greek Yogurt
- Kefir
- Sauerkraut
- Pickles
- Pickled Radishes
- Pickled Beets
- Miso
- Yogurt with active cultures
- Tempeh
- Tofu
In addition to eating these foods, you should also consume around 25-35 grams of fiber a day, and add prebiotics or lactobacillus acidophilus in capsule form to your diet. You must also try your hardest to resist the temptation to eat fatty foods, like sauces and fried foods.
You should also be very careful not to self-medicate. Antibiotics are already a major factor in the destruction of intestinal flora. The best thing to do is to increase your consumption of all the foods we’ve recommended, since they not only restore the gut flora, but also contain natural forms of pre-biotics.
Out of the foods previously listed, your body can benefit the most from the fermented foods, vegetables, and fruits rich in fiber.
However, all the foods we’ve recommended help restore gut flora and provide essential nutrients that greatly benefit your overall health.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Lozupone, C. A., Stombaugh, J. I., Gordon, J. I., Jansson, J. K., & Knight, R. (2012). Diversity, stability and resilience of the human gut microbiota. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11550
- Heiman, M. L., & Greenway, F. L. (2016). A healthy gastrointestinal microbiome is dependent on dietary diversity. Molecular Metabolism. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2016.02.005
- Ramnani, P., Gaudier, E., Bingham, M., Van Bruggen, P., Tuohy, K. M., & Gibson, G. R. (2010). Prebiotic effect of fruit and vegetable shots containing Jerusalem artichoke inulin: A human intervention study. British Journal of Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000711451000036X
