What’s destroying your gut health is a popular question. So many people now realize that gut health is foundational to our overall health. It’s even been called our second brain!
Your microbiome is a complex ecosystem, home to an estimated 38 trillion living microorganisms and comprising over 10,000 types of bacteria and other microbes. These contribute more to your survival than your DNA. They digest food, supply vitamins, support the immune system, and create neurotransmitters.
Most of the bacteria in your gut help support your body. But, about 15% of the bacteria in the gut can have some negative impacts on your overall health. Most of the time this isn’t a problem, because as long as the good bacteria outweigh the bad (by about six times) things tend to work pretty well. If the balance of bacteria shifts, the undesirable bacteria can start to have more of an effect, leaving you feeling less than your best.
Here are 10 of the most common things NOT supporting your gut health:
1. Gluten
Gluten is a type of protein that’s found in many grains, including wheat, rye, and barley. It gives foods good texture but can wreak havoc on your gut. While it’s true, some people are more sensitive to gluten than others, research has shown that even if you’re not gluten-sensitive, eating gluten can have significant, long-term effects on your gut bacteria. In turn, it can affect pretty much any part of your body. Go gluten-free, God’s way, naturally, with fruits, vegetables, and greens. Along with nuts and seeds that have not been cooked in oil. Packaged gluten-free products are made mostly of junk grains such as white rice, potato starch, or tapioca.
2. Sugar
This one includes sugar and sweeteners in all forms: white sugar, brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, etc.
You may be asking, why is it so bad for your gut bacteria?
Well, just like you, your bacteria have to eat. They get their food from the food that you consume. While some foods are prebiotic, meaning that they break down into substances that feed the good bacteria in your body, others, including sugar, feed the bad guys. The more sugar or sweeteners you eat, the more they can grow, and eventually start crowding out the good bacteria, which has all kinds of effects on your body.
Try this instead: There are lots of natural sweeteners that you can use to replace sugar; honey is one of the easiest to find and use. It is also a potent prebiotic to boot. Plus organic monk fruit powder and organic stevia are also options. Pay close attention to wine as the residual sugar can be high (especially in whites). Buy organic when possible or obtain wine from other countries as grapes in the U.S. are heavily sprayed with pesticides.
3. Fried and Processed Foods
We know that fried and processed foods contain trans fats. They’re detrimental for the same reason as sugar: they break down into components that feed the less hospitable bacteria in your gut. In one memorable experiment, professor of genetic epidemiology, Tim Spector found that when his adult son ate strictly fried foods and junk foods for a week, he lost about a third of the species of bacteria in his microbiome, including many beneficial ones. Among the species that stuck around, one linked to problems with weight really flourished. Similar results have been found in other studies.
Besides the obvious issue with the inhospitable bacteria, the reduction in species of bacteria in the gut––aka gut diversity––is a huge deal. You see, the more diverse your gut microbiome is, the better your health is likely to be. While part of this comes down to easing up on our modern overzealous notions of cleanliness, another part is making sure that the foods we’re eating aren’t devastating bacterial populations. Switch up your probiotic, variety is key!!
Try this instead: if you’re just dying for some french fries, try having some oven-roasted organic potatoes or even prebiotic-rich jicama fries instead. Make fried foods somewhat healthier by changing the oil that you cook them in, so try using coconut oil or avocado oil instead of canola or vegetable oil. Unlike many other oils, these don’t break down into harmful components (transfats) when heated, making them a better choice for anything you’re frying at home.
4. Dairy
Like gluten, some people are going to be more sensitive to dairy products than others. But research has shown that a diet rich in dairy products has significant negative effects on your gut microbiome.
Another issue with dairy? The possibility of consuming antibiotics in it. Antibiotics can’t tell what bacteria are good or bad, so they kill beneficial and non-beneficial bacteria alike. Throwing your microbiome out of whack.
Since antibiotics can show up in our food, many of us are exposed to more antibiotics than we realize. While FDA regulations in the U.S. state that lactating cows can’t be given antibiotics (since they leach into the milk), a small percentage of farmers have been found to violate those regulations. Your dairy products might not be as antibiotic-free as you’d think.
Try this instead: Make sure you get the highest quality, organic, grass-fed, rBGH-free, and preferably raw dairy you can. Some people take an “organic and raw or not at all” approach and although it’s hard, it’s worth it.
5. Soy
You would think that soy would be one of the healthier foods. After all, so many of the foods we consider to be healthy are made with it, and it’s an incredibly common substitute for meat. But here’s the thing—while soy that’s made in very traditional ways can be healthy, most of the soy we consume today is genetically modified and processed in ways that make it less-than-ideal for our bodies.
Studies have shown that a diet high in soy products can have rapid, large-scale negative effects on gut bacteria, particularly Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria, two strains of bacteria that are incredibly important for microbial health.
Try this instead: Organic soy can be healthy, especially when it’s fermented (as in the case of natto, tempeh, or miso). Just be sure to read the label carefully for the NonGMO label to avoid GM soy.
6. Red Meat
While having the occasional organic, grass-fed, responsibly farmed steak isn’t likely to throw your whole system off, eating a diet that’s heavy in meat can be tough on your body. Especially if it includes a lot of red meat. While research is ongoing, it’s been shown that eating high amounts of red meat affects your gut bacteria rapidly, increasing the bad guys and decreasing the good guys.
Another thing to consider is unless you’re getting high-quality, responsibly produced meat, chances are that it contains antibiotics, steroids, and GM grains in it. Fact: 80% of antibiotics used in the U.S. are given to livestock!
Try this instead: Look for organic, grass-fed meat wherever you can, or better yet find a local farmer. It’s not only much tastier, but it’s also much better for your health.
7. Tap Water
Staying hydrated is absolutely fundamental to good health. And no surprise, given that our bodies are 55-60% water. So while we would never recommend you put down your water glass, it might be better to make the switch over to filtered water. While your water is absolutely drinkable when it comes out of the tap, it’s also treated with a number of chemicals, including chlorine, which can have significant negative effects on your gut bacteria.
Don’t forget about the presence of antibiotics and other chemicals. When we consume antibiotics either as medicine or through our food supply, they get processed by our body and released into our wastewater, which is then sometimes recycled for drinking water. While it is (of course) processed before it makes its way back to your tap, the water can still have the residue of antibiotics in it, which in turn affects your gut microbiome.
Try this instead: This one’s an easy fix! You can easily put a filter under the sink or tabletop filter and go for filtered water instead of tap.
8. Eggs & Chicken
Eggs aren’t bad if the chickens were raised responsibly. While eggs that come from chickens who are fed a healthy diet, allowed roaming, and not dosed up with antibiotics are generally fine for your health; your standard factory farm-raised eggs are not. Again, it comes down to the possibility of getting those residual antibiotics, hormones, steroids, and genetically modified components into your food.
Try this instead: Eggs are one of the easiest foods to find healthy alternatives for, so by all means, keep up the omelets––just make sure your eggs are coming from happy, drug-free, free-range chickens. Ask farmers if they use GM grain! Yes, I’ve paid $6-$7/doz (.50/egg) for years. I’m worth it and so is your family.
9. Farmed Fish
Have you been to a fish farm?!
Conventionally farmed fish are often kept in overcrowded pools and fed a diet that’s not ideal for their health. To compensate, the people raising the fish often give them antibiotics directly or in their food, which can then be passed on to you. Also, farmed fish are often fed growth hormones and genetically modified corn that can deplete your beneficial bacteria.
Another potential issue is that some types of larger fish have high levels of mercury in their flesh. Not only is that bad for your overall health, but heavy metals are also associated with lowered levels of good gut bacteria. Consume larger fish (tuna, swordfish, orange roughy) in moderation and stick to smaller fish.
Try this instead: Consume only wild-caught fish and smaller fish (salmon, sea bass, flounder, cod). Don’t be afraid to ask your server when dining out where the fish came from and if it is wild-caught or farm-raised.
10. Genetically Modified (GM) Foods- Are you Roundup-ready?
GM foods were introduced in 1990. One of the main areas of focus is the negative effects that glyphosate (an herbicide used in growing some GM foods) has on the gut microbiome. Other research points to changes in the genes of the microbiome: one study has shown that when humans digest genetically-modified foods, the artificially-created genes transfer into the bacteria of the gut and alter their function.
Try this instead: Look for foods that are grown using traditional methods with non-GMO ingredients.
In our modern Western culture, chances are you’re going to eat some ice cream, (enjoy our cookie dough energy bites), or have a glass of tap water every now and then, so don’t worry if you can’t avoid all of these things all the time. You’re not doomed to poor gut health. Instead, do what you can to live a gut-healthy life by taking the best possible care of your body, and giving your microbiome the support it needs to thrive—like making healthy changes to your diet and taking a premium probiotic to replenish your beneficial gut bacteria.
A healthy microbiome is so fundamental to your well-being, and it’s so easy to get started on your journey to optimal gut health. A switched-out ingredient here, a water filter there, and you’ll have already made some great strides in supporting your gut. We know you can do it- believe us when we say that your gut will thank you for it!
- Bonus: Hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes are notorious for destroying your good bacteria. Stop it! Use essential oil-based products that do not kill good bacteria. We need to be exposed to germs, viruses, etc. Living in a bubble will wreak havoc in the near future. SmartSilver is our favorite! It’s hydrosol, not a colloidal silver so there is no toxicity. To kill viruses you can swab your nose, diffuse it, and more! Ask us to send you a recommendation as it’s a healthcare professional grade.
We understand life is busy! We want simple solutions as much as you. Here are some super simple changes that you can start to make today:
- Probiotics- We’ve all heard of them, right? But did you know that there is such a thing as prebiotics and postbiotics too? These are all great options. Remember to switch it up! Variety is key to supporting all the good bacteria in your body. Here is one of my favorites.
- Digestive Enzymes – These enzymes will help break your food down so your body can digest and assimilate the nutrients.
- Organic Plants- Making sure you are adding in more organic plants, daily, will help your body get more nutrients, naturally. (Did you know the chewing motion stimulates digestive enzymes? So the more you chew your greens, the more your body can actually absorb what they have to offer). Struggling to eat your greens, try drinking them. This powdered produce provides 37 different ones.
- Fiber – We aren’t overweight, we are over-toxic. We NEED fiber to detox. Eat lots of clean plants and add a scoop of clean plant fiber powder to beverages. Conventional retail fiber products contain chemicals and GM ingredients that disrupt our gut.
One thing you can count on from us, we will always talk about gut health and why it is so important to our lives. Our goal is to live disease free and this is how we start! We don’t just suggest others follow these suggestions, we follow them too.
If you are feeling overwhelmed or need help getting started, you can book a free consultation with me. We love hearing what has and hasn’t worked for others. Follow us on Facebook and join our women-only group!
