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How to Achieve A Healthy Gut and Immune System
4 Ways to Success!
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For a very long time, we have under-estimated the importance of our gastrointestinal tract and its impact on our immune system function.
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But we now know that approximately 80% of our natural defense mechanism is located precisely there, in our gut.
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Therefore, it’s only natural that we’d want our diet to be gut-friendly and ensure that we make our gut bacteria happy.
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This will ensure that our overall health and immune system are in mint condition.
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So, before you yield to your cravings, reach for an extra piece of cake or keep drinking sugary sodas instead of water, you might want to give your nutrition plan a once-over. Make sure you eat healthily each and every day!
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Start feeding yourself healthy food so that your gut will make optimal use of what you consume every day. And ultimately, keep you happy and healthy!
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1. Eat Real Food: Cut out Refined and Processed Foods
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Yes, processed foods are convenient, easy to find, take the least time to prepare (if any time at all). And they are often more tempting than their traditional, unprocessed siblings.
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And since most people lead hectic lives, it makes sense to eat some pastry and drink coffee to-go than spend hours in your kitchen making every meal of the week yourself.
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But if you do want to keep your gut healthy and feed the friendly bacteria, you need to reduce, and if possible, eliminate all the processed foods and refined sugar from your diet. Go for REAL food.
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The majority of your plate should consist of diverse vegetables, fruits, lean protein sources and healthy fats. Steamed, cooked, raw or baked, you take your pick, but make sure to choose local, seasonal produce over imported goods.
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#2. Think Probiotic Thoughts
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Another way to send some reinforcements to your first line of defense is to eat more probiotic-rich foods, such as fermented goods. These goody foods do a great deal too, for weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight in the process!
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Think yoghurt, kefir, kimchi and kombucha, among a whole slew of other tasty dairy products that are teeming with healthy bacteria.
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They contain live cultures of these gut-friendly bacteria and they are a perfect way to restore balance to your GI tract. However, store-bought options typically go through several levels of processing, so you might want to consider going to a local farmer or making your own fermented foods at home.
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#3. Focus on Resistant Starch
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One of the main purposes of your GI tract is to absorb nutrients from your food and feed the rest of your body. This further boosts your immune system, repairs and builds new tissues, and maintains basic functions of your body.
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To perform this role, your bowels need resistant starch foods, which are packed with fiber that your gut will love. When you maintain a proper level of resistant starch in your diet, you help your gut bacteria reduce overall inflammation in your body, flush out toxins more effectively and they allow the perfect environment for nutrient absorption.
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You can find this type of starch in foods, such as potatoes (especially roasted and cooked), green bananas, cashew nuts, and uncooked oats.
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#4. Find Your Zen Zone
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We all know how stress can affect our well-being, from causing anxiety, depression, ruining your immune system and contributing to a whole range of chronic degenerative illnesses including cancer and heart disease.
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Stress and mental distress are the silent culprits of numerous issues that are difficult to cope with. And your gut health is intricately connected to your stress levels. It can also be affected by cortisol and other stress-induced hormones and bodily reactions.
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High levels of cortisol, lack of sleep and other stressful circumstances lead to our sugar cravings. They tend to create a vicious cycle in poor lifestyle choices that compromise our health.
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To prevent and become more resilient to stress, you should consider introducing more physical activity into your life. Try relaxation techniques such as meditation. Of course, a consistent sleeping schedule to regulate your internal clock is a very wise course of action.
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All of these holistic lifestyle habits will help you keep your gut healthy for years to come! Adopt one or other, or all of them.
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Post by Olivia Williams Jones
Editor at High Style Life
w: https://highstylife.com/ e
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