3 Steps To Heal Your Gut
Hello and Namaste. Welcome back to Fabulous Body. I’m Akash, and today I am going to explain a process, a protocol rather that will help you heal your gut.
But first the key question: Why heal your gut? Whats so special about it?
Let me explain it using an analogy.
https://youtu.be/tczBw1F5rco
Why Heal Your Gut?
Imagine your body as a magnificent tree. Your gut is the root system, drawing nutrients from the soil, while your nervous system is the sturdy trunk, supporting and connecting every branch and leaf.
Your gut isn’t just for digestion – it’s the cornerstone of your health. Here are 3 powerful facts about your Gut:
1. 70% of your immune system resides in your gut in the form of GALT: Gut-associated lymphoid tissue. There are more immune cells in your Gut than anywhere in your body.
2. Gut is often touted as the Second Brain: The gut contains over 200 million neurons.
3. Your gut Produces 95% of your body’s serotonin, the ‘feel-good‘ hormone, serotonin. Serotonin affects your mood and well-being, and the right balance is vital to regulate mood, appetite, and overall health.
How Strong Is Your Gut?
So I want to ask you this: How deep are your roots? How strong is your Gut?
If you still haven’t taken our free gut health quiz, I strongly urge you to pause this video, and take that quiz. It takes only a few minutes. You will get a clear picture of your gut’s strength.
Your mission if you choose to accept is to have a score of 5 or less, ideally between 1-2.
I believe in free/low cost methods to optimize your health. I can easily point you towards a Gut Microbiome test that is going to cost you a LOT of money!
You don’t need that.
Instead, the Free Gut Health Quiz can tell a lot about the condition of your digestive health. I strongly urge you to take this test multiple times and at regular intervals.
Remember,, like a majestic tree, your health grows from the ground up. By focusing on your ‘roots’ (gut), you’re laying the groundwork for vibrant, lasting health.
In the next few weeks, you will find many articles on my website and videos on my Youtube Channel in our Gut Health Playlist.
If you have some spare time, make sure to watch all these videos. This will give you a pretty darn good idea about how powerful your gut is and steps you can take to heal it.
So now that we have somewhat established the importance of taking care of your gut, let me explain the 3 step process to heal your gut.
Steps To Heal Your Gut
Step 1: Avoid or absolutely minimize everything and anything that harms your gut
Enough evidence supports the fact that a high-sugar diet can negatively affect the gut microbiome. 1
These not-so-healthy foods can play havoc with your gut flora:
-Fast and junk food like pizzas and burgers
-Vegetable oils like sunflower, soy, canola etc., which turn rancid when heated
-Conventional Dairy, including related products like cheese, ice- creams etc –
Bakery products: Breads, muffins, donuts, pastries etc.
-Processed Meats: Salami, bacon, hot dogs etc.
-Commercial Sauces- Pasta Sauces, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce etc.
Beverages: Alcohol, energy drinks, fruit juices
Step 2: Replace Junk Food With Gut Healthy Foods
Of course when you remove junk and fast food, you need to replace it with powerful functional gut health foods.
There is ample research that concludes that plant-based foods are very good for our GUT.
The first category of foods that your gut loves are legumes.
Legumes: Dal (Lentils) and Beans
Dietary fiber is sorely missing from people’s diet. And this category will help you easily satisfy your fiber requirements. Any type of dal is a wonderful addition to your diet.
It’s a very good idea to soak your dal for at least 12 hours or overnight. This helps reduce antinutrient content and also increase the bioavailability of nutrients.
Try and consume 300-400 calories from this category.
Gluten-free Grains
The top gluten-free grains are Oats, Rice, Millets that includes Jowar, Ragi & Bajra. You will be required to also consume 300-400 calories from this category.
Fruits & Vegetables
The focus will be more on vegetables. You can juice them, eat them raw or sautéed or cook them into stew or subzi. 1-2 units of fruits are a good addition and we can consume them as a standalone snack, eat them post meals as desserts or add them to your smoothies.
Please note, these three categories are loaded with fiber, prebiotics, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients like carotenoids and flavonoids. A common question that comes to people’s mind is this:
“Even thought these foods are super-healthy, but aren’t they high in carbs and low in protein?”
Here’s a thing: The carbs in them are good carbs. They are very low on the glycemic index and does not spike your sugar rapidly. So even a type-2 diabetic can safely consume foods in the above category with the exception of fruits.
This is a fruit recommendation chart for people with blood sugar issues:
As far the protein in concerned, you can eat close to 1g/kg of bodyweight of protein.
When trying to cleanse and heal your gut, you should not load up on protein too much. 1g is a good amount of protein and for all the gym bros, you won’t lose muscles.
As you are already aware, that muscle building is a painfully slow process, so lowering your protein slightly for a few weeks won’t cause muscle loss. In fact, by strengthening your gut, you are ensuring that nutrients will be better absorbed and this means more muscles in the long term.
And for your information, legumes, grains and vegetables, nuts and seeds contain good amount of protein enough to satisfy the protein requirements of any individual with any health and fitness goals.
Moving on, the best type of fats that your gut love are Cold Pressed Coconut Oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Cold-Pressed Mustard Oil & Desi Ghee
It’s very important to avoid any type of seed oil like cottonseed, soybean oil, canola, corn, & saffola etc.
You will be required to consume 100-200 calories from this category.
Make sure to watch this You tube video, Best Cooking Oil for Health | 11 Cooking Oils from BEST to WORST , where I have ranked about a dozen oils from Best to Worst and provided detailed explanation.
The next category of healthy fats are:
Nuts & Seeds:Walnuts, Almonds, Cashew, Brazil nut, Chia Seeds, Flaxseed,Pumpkin Seeds
You will be required to consume 100-150 calories from this category.
Step 3: Now, we’re taking it a notch further by actively repopulating your gut with beneficial bacteria.
Reinoculating your gut is crucial for restoring balance to your microbiome. We’ll do this in two ways: through prebiotics and probiotics.
Let’s start with prebiotics. These are special types of fiber that feed the good bacteria in your gut.
Think of them as fertilizer for your internal garden of microbes. I’ve identified 21 foods that are particularly high in prebiotic content, and it’s important to include these as part of your diet during this phase and beyond.
While prebiotics feed the good bacteria, probiotics are the good bacteria themselves. In this step, it’s a good idea to eat more probiotic-rich foods.. Some excellent sources include:Yogurt, Kefir, buttermilk or lassi, Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Kombucha, Miso and Tempeh.
Remember, diversity is key when it comes to gut health. Try to include a variety of both prebiotic and probiotic foods in your diet during this phase.
As always, listen to your body. If you experience any discomfort when introducing these new foods, start with small amounts and gradually increase. Some mild bloating or gas is normal as your gut adjusts.
Make sure to watch the entire gut health playlist, which will help you master the foundational knowledge on gut health. Remember mastering the fundamentals is what makes you advanced.
Once again,
Step 1: Remove or absolutely minimize junk/fast food from your diet. This also includes junk and unhealthy lifestyle like late nights, alcohol, smoking, and taking too much stress.
Step 2: Eat a Plant forward diet. I am in the process of creating a masterclass titled: Create your own Plant-forward diet in a few easy steps.
Please note, healing your gut is not just about making changes in your diet. Yes eating a gut healthy diet is a significant step towards strengthening it, but what is equally important is an active lifestyle, stress management techniques like meditation, mindfulness which includes mindful eating and deep restful sleep.
Step 3: Is to Reinoculate your gut with prebiotics and probiotics.
Remember, taking care of your gut is an ongoing process, but by incorporating these simple habits into your daily routine, you’ll start to notice big changes in how you feel, both physically and mentally.
By the way, overtime, I have identified 18 sign and symptoms that manifest as a result of poor gut health. I have created a free gut health quiz. Higher your score, weaker your gut. Thounsds of people have taken this quiz and figured out their current gut health status.
Click here to take the Free Gut Health Quiz
If you have any questions please let me know in the comments below.
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About Akash Sehrawat
Akash is a creator of 25+ programs and certificate courses in which more than 200,000 students have enrolled both on Udemy and Fabulous Body's native platform. Akash is also an author of three books that can be found on Amazon. His answers on Quora have gathered more than 12 million views in less than a year.