7 Natural Foods That Will Clean Your Gut
Having a healthy gut (read: colon) is pretty essential to have an overall healthy body. Gastrointestinal problems are not uncommon in today’s society. We believe this largely due to the fact that the food most of us are eating is lacking in nutrients, and rich with toxins. There are ways to clean your gut, however, so that you can improve your body’s health and wellness, as well as improving your body’s immune system.
Clean Your Gut With 7 Natural Foods
It always feels like the time of year when everyone gets sick is just around the corner. When you combine a slow digestive system with a poor diet and stress, your body takes a beating during cold and flu season. Is it time for you to clean your gut and rid your colon of waste and toxins? Let’s talk about 7 Natural Foods you can add to your diet to help you feel better.
Prebiotics
Our gut contains about 100 trillion microorganisms, and they really play a crucial role in helping our digestive tract function, as well as protect against infections, absorb nutrients and even build our immune system. Holy cow! That is a lot of responsibility for our gut, and now I bet you’re feeling a little guilty for not treating it better.
Prebiotics are basically a type of fiber. They are indigestible plant fibers that those microbes in our gut feed on. The more prebiotics, the more efficiently the microbes work, and the healthier your gut will be. Try eating more leeks, apples, onion, bananas, sweet potatoes, and almonds.
Probiotics
You’ve probably heard this before, but probiotic foods are foods that contain healthy and beneficial bacteria. When trying to clean your gut, these foods can also help curb your cravings. Foods like greek or natural yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, and kefir all help add good bacteria to your gut so that it can function better and grow stronger.
It’s also a great idea to take a probiotic supplement and to give the body a decent variety of these healthy bacteria strains.
Dark Leafy Greens
The list of benefits that these fibrous plants have is almost ridiculous. They are a great way to clean your gut, and they are full of minerals and antioxidants to help our bodies protect themselves from all of the toxins we expose them to.
Leafy vegetables like spinach and kale are great options for helping the colon digest and also helps detox your liver. But there are other veggies that are great choices too, like asparagus, cabbage, brussel sprouts, celery, and even peas.
If your gut is in really bad shape, cook your vegetables first, as they are easier to digest. We recommend trying simple soups or steaming them. We also suggest that you add healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, butter) and some sort of acid (lemon juice or vinegar) to help your body properly absorb the vitamins in the greens!
Flax and Chia Seeds
They might be tiny but they have some great “clean your gut” power! Both flax and chia seeds contain fats and fiber that promote a clean colon and overall healthy digestion. They are rich in omega-3 fatty acids that have been shown to reduce inflammation and stabilize cell walls.
Add them to your smoothies, sprinkle them on your salads, add them to your oatmeal, add to a glass of water and drink it down! There is even a pudding recipe that includes chia seeds, coconut milk, and vanilla!
Cayenne
We all know cayenne to add that extra kick to your meals, but it does so much more than that! Cayenne is also a mucus dissolver, which basically just means it loosens up the mucus build up in your body. Your body, the stomach specifically, uses mucus and stomach acid to ease digestion and boost your digestive tract.
Cayenne has also been said to fight symptoms of indigestion, help stop stomach pain, and can even lower high cholesterol!
Green Tea
If your aim is to clean your gut with a detox, green tea is great for that because it helps cleanse your body and some of the side effects can be weight loss (bonus!). Green tea also contains lots of antioxidants and can improve your bowel functions.
It is especially popular because of its antioxidants, and because it is rich in vitamin C. Drinking peppermint tea, ginger green tea, or pretty much any other herbal green tea is just a great colon cleanser.
Fruit
This might seem obvious, or maybe you’ve never thought of it, but fruit is an essential part of a healthy gut. Fruits have a rich fiber content and are chock full of antioxidants! Plus they are full of other great nutrients our bodies crave and taste amazing!
Fruit is a great way to add flavor to things that might not be so tasty (looking at you, Kale) and help mask flavors of really strong foods like ginger.
Clean Your Gut Conclusion
That’s it! That is our least of foods that are guaranteed to help you clean your gut! Let your colon be the foundation of your healthy self, so feed it what it needs to stay strong! If you’re having issues maintaining a diet of foods to help keep your gut clean, stop by the store today! Everything we have on the menu is great for staying healthy and well, and we would love to see you.
