Your gastrointestinal system digests what you consume, absorbs nutrients, and disposes of waste. The gut is a fairly efficient machine — at least most of the time. If that machine isn’t performing well, you may suffer a variety of conditions from bloating to fatigue to anxiety and more.
In order to keep your gut functioning its best, you need to maintain a healthy gut microbiome. That’s those bacteria, fungi, and viruses that help you properly break down food into nutrients your body needs.
Eating a well-balanced diet may not be enough to get your gut firing on all cylinders. But there are dietary supplements that may do the trick. Here are some you might want to try to get your gut flora blooming again.
Super Greens
A healthy gut needs vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and phytonutrients. Super greens are all those grasses, algae, seaweed, and vegetables packed full of them.
Kale is incredibly nutrient-dense. There’s also broccoli, spinach, Swiss chard, asparagus, parsley, collard greens, bok choy, barley, and wheatgrass. A diet built around these staples will give your gut what it needs to work well.
But getting sufficient amounts in your daily diet can be tough to do. To get the benefit of super greens without all the chewing, try adding a healthy green powder to water, a smoothie, or juice. These can easily boost your consumption, giving your gut what it needs.
That said, make sure you avoid powders that contain artificial flavors, added sugars, alcohol, dairy, or eggs and opt for ones with only natural ingredients. Not everyone wants to eat a pound of super greens every day. That’s OK, as long as you take a different route to get the nutritional benefit. Just get your green on.
Probiotics
Probiotics are a great way to add good flora to your gut. They’re actually live microorganisms — yeast and bacteria — that add to what’s already in your body. These microorganisms are fighters. They battle to boost immunity and fend off more destructive ones that may be in your gut. Two examples of those are e coli and staph.
Probiotic foods include yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, fermented pickles, kombucha, cottage cheese, aged cheeses, and sour cream. But you can also take supplements, in capsule, powder, or liquid form, to get your daily dose. Just make sure our supplement contains sufficient amounts of colony forming units or they won’t benefit you.
Probiotics bolster the immune system, improve cardiovascular health, and help with conditions like diarrhea and constipation. They even help ward off depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders. A daily dose might cure whatever’s ailing you.
Prebiotics
That microflora you’re generating in your gut needs to be fed to work. That’s what prebiotics are. They’re food for flora.
Whole grains, soybeans, bananas, artichokes, garlic, onions, leeks, and those super greens contain prebiotics. It’s the fiber content they share in common. To get enough to feed your gut, though, you might want to take supplements.
Supplements are available in several forms, including powders, chewables, gummies, and capsules. They typically contain inulin, a soluble plant fiber, or fructooligosaccharides, which is a non-digestible sugar. Psyllium husk fiber is a popular prebiotic supplement.
It’s common to find supplements that contain both probiotics and prebiotics. However, you should know both can cause bloating and gas. If you suffer from IBS, acid reflux, or other digestive issues, make sure you talk to your doctor before you start adding them to your routine.
Collagen
When most people hear the word, “collagen,” they think about skin elasticity, shiny hair, and strong nails. Collagen is also known as a component of good joint health. But collagen is a key factor in digestive health as well.
Collagen is a protein containing amino acids. In fact, it’s the most abundant protein in the body. Although you can consume collagen by eating meat and fish, our bodies produce less and less of it as we age. Fortunately, supplements can help.
Collagen breaks down proteins and carbs as it moves through the gut, aiding in absorption of nutrients. But perhaps its greatest benefit is building gut wall strength and repairing the lining of the digestive tract. It can help heal IBS and leaky gut syndrome.
When looking for a collagen supplement, check for a high absorption rate, which means they’re easy to digest. And don’t forget to drink plenty of water, which also helps the gut lining. Collagen may make you pretty, inside and out.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants fight those free radicals that play a role in the development of chronic disease. Among them are cardiovascular disease, anemia, inflammation, cataracts, and some forms of cancer. Radiation, UV rays, smoking, fried foods, alcohol, and pollution are all free radicals that damage the body’s cells.
Antioxidant molecules neutralize free radicals by attacking them with electrons. While your body produces some antioxidants, most come from consuming vegetables, fruits, and grains. And if you aren’t consuming enough, you should consider supplements that put those antioxidants where they belong.
Beta-carotene, lycopene, as well as vitamins A, C, and E are antioxidants. So are the phytochemicals in green tea and the curcumin phytosome from the turmeric plant. Selenium is an antioxidant, but be warned that it may cause more harm than good in people with diabetes or pre-diabetes.
Antioxidant supplements can improve gut health along with a healthy diet. But they can actually harm absorption of nutrients in some cases. Just make sure you consult your doctor before adding them to your daily schedule.
Supplement a Healthy Gut
Although diet is the best way to maintain a healthy gut microbiome, most people don’t eat everything they need. If you’re among them, consider supplementing your intake with an appropriate powder, pill, gummy, liquid, or capsule.
Most of your body’s immunity comes from the gut, so keep it in shape. You may find yourself aging more slowly, feeling and sleeping better, and having more energy. Think of supplements as a healthy gut punch.
Lynn Martelli is an editor at Readability. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University and has worked as an editor for over 10 years. Lynn has edited a wide variety of books, including fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, and more. In her free time, Lynn enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with her family and friends.
