What to Eat, Avoid, and How to Support Your Gut Naturally
Dr. Paul Deglmann
Meghan Feir Walker
Your gut is a window into your overall health. If you have gut issues, you either already have developed issues elsewhere in the body, or you likely will. This is because the gut directly impacts other areas of the body in a number of ways. While the state of your gut is of dire importance, if you have digestive issues, don’t worry; in this article, we’re focusing on what to eat, what to avoid, and how to support your gut naturally through a gut-healing diet and helpful lifestyle choices.
What is a gut-healing diet?
One of the most, if not the most important, aspects of gut health is the fact that the gut makes up about 70-80% of your immune system, which means it’s highly involved with the inflammatory process. Do you have food, animal, or environmental allergies? Your gut health can impact the severity of those. Are you experiencing skin issues like psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis, or others? The state of your gut directly impacts those skin manifestations. Do you have problems with your mental health? Your microbiome directly impacts brain health and neurotransmitter levels.
Your gut directly impacts how your immune system functions, and inflammation is connected to all forms of chronic disease, so getting a handle on your gut health can improve every other area of your health.
Other important roles of the gut include:
- Digesting our food
- Absorbing the nutrients from our food
- Manufacturing several nutrients for our body, like B vitamins and vitamin K
- Reabsorbing electrolytes and water in the colon
- Housing the microbiome, which is roughly made up of 100 trillion bacteria
- Producing SCFAs like butyrate, which is really important for gut and brain function
- Producing neurotransmitters and 90-95% of your serotonin.
- Highly impacting the brain through the gut-brain axis
- Playing a major role in detoxification and elimination
- Impacting metabolism
- And more
Choosing to eat a gut-healing diet is a little different than just eating healthy in general. Because there are specific foods that especially help promote healing, along with practices that can make the gut-healing process faster, this is much more specific than just making healthy-ish choices in general.
Best foods to support gut healing
With a gut-healing diet, the goal is to eat foods that can contribute to healing the gut and avoid the foods that can compromise gut health.
Some of our favorite foods for natural gut support include foods that are organic and full of fiber, prebiotics, probiotics, and polyphenols. Bone broth is another major player when it comes to healing the gut lining, a crucial step for those dealing with leaky gut.
Organic, high-fiber foods
High-fiber foods can be incredibly beneficial. Fiber is a great way to carry toxins out of the body and usually helps people have regular bowel movements. Fiber also helps regulate blood sugar levels.
Some of our favorite high-fiber foods include:
- Legumes: Beans, lentils, and chickpeas offer soluble and insoluble fiber
- Leafy Greens: Spinach and kale provide fiber and nutrients
- Fruits, such as:
- Apples
- Berries (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries)
- Pears
- Bananas
- Avocados
- Vegetables, such as:
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Artichokes
- Sweet potatoes
- Nuts and Seeds, such as:
- Almonds
- Chia seeds
- Flax seeds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Other:
- Psyllium husk
- Ground flaxseed
Prebiotics
Prebiotic foods are foods that are commonly rich in fiber. Prebiotics provide fuel for the beneficial bacteria in the gut to help promote diversity and balance within the microbiome.
- Asparagus: Contains inulin, a prebiotic fiber that feeds good bacteria
- Peas: A source of fiber and prebiotics that help feed good gut bacteria
- Onions, leeks, and Garlic: High in prebiotics that support beneficial microbes
- Bananas: Provide resistant starch, promoting healthy gut bacteria
- Other fruits and veggies
- Dandelion greens
- Jerusalem artichokes
- Apples
- Avocado
- Cabbage
- Chicory root
- Konjac root
- Burdock root
- Jicama root
- Cocoa
- Flaxseeds
- Seaweed
- Nuts
- Other fruits and veggies
Important notes: Grains, such as oats and wheat, are considered high-fiber foods and may support digestion and microbiome diversity in some people. However, we commonly remove grains from the diet when addressing gut health issues because they can be extremely inflammatory for certain patients.
Also, some patients have difficulty tolerating fiber or foods like onions and garlic, depending on the state of their gut. As always, talk with your healthcare practitioner to figure out what foods are best for you.
Probiotic-rich, fermented foods
Many fermented foods can serve as a probiotic in the gut.
- Yogurt: Rich in probiotics that support beneficial gut bacteria
- Kefir: A fermented milk drink packed with diverse probiotics
- Kimchi: A Korean dish made from fermented vegetables, enhancing gut flora
- Sauerkraut: Fermented cabbage providing essential probiotics
- Kombucha: A probiotic-rich fermented tea that supports digestion
Polyphenol-rich foods
Polyphenols are a group of plant-based compounds that serve as a prebiotic in the gut. They stimulate gut bacteria and can be fermented by gut bacteria, which can increase the beneficial bacteria in the microbiome.
- Berries: Blueberries and strawberries have antioxidant properties
- Green Tea: Contains catechins that are beneficial for gut health
- Dark Chocolate: Rich in flavonoids supporting beneficial gut bacteria
- Olive Oil: Contains polyphenols and healthy fats that help reduce gut inflammation
- Black tea
- Plums
- Cherries
- Black currants
- Apples
- Black olives
- Black tea
- Coffee
- Hazelnuts
- Pecans
- Turmeric
- Cloves
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Cumin
Bone broth
When talking about gut health, the term “leaky gut” often gets brought up. Out of all foods, bone broth is the most well-known type of sustenance that helps promote the healing of the gut lining. It contains several nutrients the gut lining needs for optimal health, such as collagen and amino acids like glutamine, glycine, and proline.
For more information about gut-healing foods, click here.
What foods can slow the healing process?
Just as there are numerous foods that help support gut health, there are also foods that slow down healing and cause damage, even cellular damage.
As much as possible, try to avoid the following foods:
- Highly processed and ultra-refined ingredients, especially grains, GMO foods, and dairy products
- Excess added sugar and artificial sweeteners
- Industrial seed oils (canola, soybean, corn oil)
- Frequent alcohol consumption and low-fiber diets
What is the best food to heal your gut?
MVF (the most valuable foods) for gut healing:
- Bone broth for its soothing compounds
- Sauerkraut for probiotic diversity
- Cooked veggies for easy digestion
- Ground flaxseed or chia seeds for prebiotic fiber
Note: Everyone is different, so what foods work best for one person may be different when compared to what foods work best for others.
Lifestyle habits that support a gut-friendly diet
If you’re ready to start practicing diet and lifestyle changes to improve your gut health, here are some of the fundamentals of living a healthy lifestyle.
Practices that can help heal your gut:
- Eliminate processed foods and sugars
- Incorporate fermented and prebiotic-rich foods
- Eat whole, single-ingredient foods that are organic as much as possible
- Stay hydrated and manage stress levels
- Take your time eating and chew food thoroughly
- Don’t eat too late, give your body time to digest, and have consistent mealtimes
- Get good, restful sleep
- Get daily sunshine
- Move your body daily with a form of exercise that works best for your body
How to fix your gut health ASAP—safely and naturally
If you’re in a hurry to start feeling better (and let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want to start feeling better faster?), try implementing these tips in addition to the diet and lifestyle changes already mentioned.
- Start with what you can remove or change (trigger foods, erratic eating habits)
- Focus next on what you can add (fiber, fermented foods, hydration)
- Make one or two changes at a time
- In addition to changes with your diet, add in healthy lifestyle habits like daily sunshine, deep breathing/meditation, optimizing your sleep, exercising to your tolerance, etc.
- Avoid quick-fix gimmicks that promise overnight results
Should I eliminate gluten, dairy, or other foods?
While we already mentioned some common food triggers that can negatively impact your gut health, it’s always best to work with an experienced functional medicine practitioner who can take a thorough look at your history and conduct specific testing, such as food allergy testing, food sensitivities panels, and stool testing to figure out what foods or diet may be best for you.
However, in general, we recommend that most of our patients avoid grains and dairy, at least for a time during the gut-healing process, because these foods can increase inflammation.
7-day gut reset: A gentle weekly plan
One experiment you can try is to eat whole, organic fruits and vegetables, and grass-fed, pasture-raised meats while incorporating prebiotic, fermented, high-fiber, polyphenol-rich foods, and bone broth every day for a week.
While we recommend doing this on an ongoing basis, you can see if you notice any improvements and changes in your gut health. You can also try implementing our other lifestyle suggestions, such as hydrating properly, having consistent mealtimes, not eating too late, and getting enough sleep, daily sunshine, and exercise.
By implementing these diet and lifestyle changes, you are likely to see a reduction in inflammation and certain digestive symptoms, unless you have unknown sensitivities to one of these typically gut-healing foods.
To find out if a 7-day gut reset is right for you, consult with your functional medicine or healthcare practitioner.
For more detailed information on the specific gut-healing foods, please refer to our blog article.
Building a sustainable gut-healing diet
By integrating this gut-healing diet and these lifestyle practices, you can take proactive steps toward enhancing your digestive health, whole-body health, and overall quality of life.
Are you ready to learn more about your gut health and how to improve your digestive health? Read more on our blog about gut health, or schedule your free 15-minute consultation with Dr. Paul to explore a personalized approach for a helpful and effective path to recovery.
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