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episode #57

Steps to Improve Gut Health

September 3, 2021 in Podcast

Intro

Gut health has become a hot topic lately, with research indicating that the state of the bacteria in the intestinal tract influences many elements of health. Poor gut health is revealed by digestive conditions such as constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea, and acid reflux. The gut is home to 100 trillion microorganisms in the form of bacteria and yeast, also called flora. The body depends on this flora to help regulate immune function, digestion, and intestinal mechanisms, and to help defend against infection and inflammation. The immune system in particular depends upon a healthy balance of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract, a state characterized by a predominance of "friendly" bacteria over the "bad" bacteria that can cause illness. What could cause poor gut health? Poor dietary habits (processed foods), environmental stressors (i.e. pollution), and adverse lifestyle practices (too much stress, not enough sleep, etc.) can cause harmful bacteria to override the GI tract. Poor gut health could also cause issues outside of the intestinal tract such as allergies, asthma, acne, migraines, psoriasis, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disorders, and systemic inflammation. This goes to show you the importance of focusing on gut health! Gut bacteria account for approximately 80 percent of the immune system as well, plugging up holes in the gut lining so that pathogens can't enter and spread infection! Steps to take to improve Gut health: Reduce your intake of processed foods Foods such as deli meats, cakes, biscuits, and chips are more likely to contain preservatives, emulsifiers and artificial sweeteners that may contribute to inflammation in the digestive system and have been linked to certain types of cancers such as stomach and colon cancer. Limit alcohol consumption Whilst small amounts of alcohol may have some health benefits, excessive consumption has been shown to harm gut health by causing inflammation in the lining of the digestive tract. Alcohol can also delay the digestion process and contribute to the growth of bad bacteria. Slow down Digestion starts in the mouth! Taking the time to slow down and chew your food properly is a very simple yet important aspect of good digestion and can also help to ensure you are extracting as much of the nutrients as possible from the food you’re eating. Eating in a calm, stress-free state can also help to ensure you’re properly breaking down food, and reduce symptoms such as diarrhoea or constipation. Add Probiotics Healthy intestinal flora is promoted by the consumption of probiotics, which are healthful living organisms present in certain foods that, when consumed, take up residence in your digestive tract. Fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, pickles, kimchi, and fermented soy products (miso, tempeh). Add Resistant Starch to your diet Resistant starch boosts the integrity and function of your gut, flushes away harmful microbes, and even contributes to satiety. Recent research from the University of Toronto showed that supplementation with resistant starch decreased hunger and reduced subsequent food intake.Try taking concentrated sources of resistant starch such as potato starch, tapioca starch, or plantain flour, or emphasizing foods that are very high in resistant starch, such as green bananas, and or Cooked-and-Cooled Potatoes. However, some people (especially those with compromised gut health) may want to proceed with caution, as it's possible to succumb to gastrointestinal distress (gas, bloating, constipation) from the sudden alternation in typical dietary habits. If you experience any digestive distress as you attempt to add potato starch or other resistant starches to your diet, reduce intake for a while. If you love the Get Lean Eat Clean Podcast, we’d love for you to subscribe, rate, and give a review on iTunes. Until next time!

0 (1s): Hello, and welcome to the get lean and eat clean podcast. My name is Brian grin. I'm a certified health coach, trainer and author. And this podcast is for middle aged men and women looking to optimize their health and get their bodies back to what it once was 10 to 15 years ago. I will give you simple, actionable items to get long-term sustainable results. Thanks for listening and enjoy the show. 1 (33s): All right. Welcome to the get lean eat clean podcast. My name is Brian grin, and I hope you had a great weekend. I did. I had my niece's bat mitzvah last night. It was supposed to be last year, then it was pushed till now, but it was well worth the wait and it was a very nice occasion. Yeah, happy Tuesday. We got a great topic to talk about tonight. Actually, a very important topic and that's gut health. It's sort of become a hot topic as a plate in the health and wellness field and rightfully so it can be linked to many different dysfunctions, whether it's within the gut or outside of the gut, and it influences many elements of health. 1 (1m 15s): So it's important to talk about, I mean, poor gut health could cause issues like constipation, irritable, bowel syndrome, diarrhea, acid reflux. I mean your gut health, your gut, excuse me, is home to a hundred trillion microorganisms. That's a lot in the form of bacteria and yeast. That's also called flora. So this your body actually depends on this floor to help regulate immune function, digestion and testable mechanisms and helps defend against infection and inflammation. So the immune system in particular depends upon a healthy balance of bacteria in the GI track. 1 (1m 58s): And so you want sort of this friendly bacteria over sort of the bad bacteria that could cause illness. Well, what could, what could cause poor gut health? Well, let's start with poor dietary habits. Something we talk a lot about on this podcast. Those would be PR like processed foods and vegetable oils and things like that. You've got environmental stressors. I mean, this is pollution. You got adverse lifestyle practices. I mean, this is not getting enough sleep or too much stress. This can all cause harmful bacteria to sort of override your GI tract. Now poor gut health can also cause your shoes outside of the intestinal tract, such as allergies, asthma, acne migraines, even like psoriasis, heart disease, obesity, autoimmune disorders, and inflammation. 1 (2m 53s): So a lot of different areas. It goes to show you how important it is to focus on gut health. So for one thing, gut, how they actually accounts for approximately 80% of the immune system. Okay. So if you're getting sick a lot and you might want to start focusing on the gut because it plugs up holes in the gut lining, so that pathogens cannot enter and spread infection. So now that you know the importance of gut health and what it could be causing, what can you do to promote a healthy gut? For one, you can stay away from processed foods. I mean, this could be anything from deli meats to pastries, chips, biscuits, you know, I'm sure, you know, there's plenty out there. 1 (3m 41s): It can be very tempting at times, but if you can sort of reduce the intake of processed foods, you can help promote a healthy gut because in these processed foods, you have preservers, you have emulsifiers artificial sweeteners, and this could all cause inflammation in your digestive system. Second limit alcohol consumption. I know the summers are coming around and this is something people are outside, everything in moderation, right? So I would just say, you don't want to go excessive excessive alcohol consumption can cause harmful gut health by causing inflammation in the lining of your digestive track. So alcohol can also delay the process of your digestive process and contribute to the growth of bad bacteria. 1 (4m 29s): So number one, decrease processed foods, limit alcohol consumption next, slow down when you're eating and you want to eat in not a stressful state. So maybe don't eat when you're in your car. And you're riding around in a stressful, perhaps even in a stressful state, slow down shoe, your food digestion starts in the mouth. So think of it this way you eat fast. This could cause issues. So eating at a calm stress-free state can help also in the breaking down to the food and reduce, reduce Simpson symptoms such as diarrhea and constipation. So the number three is slow down and number four and five sort of go hand-in-hand to a bed you've heard of probiotics and prebiotics and probiotics, healthy intestinal. 1 (5m 21s): Flora is promoted by the consumption of probiotics. Now you don't have to do this by necessarily buying a supplement. You can do this by maybe adding in some of these foods into your diet. You might like some, you might not, but fermented foods such as yogurt, Keifer like sauerkraut, sauerkraut, pickles, kimchi, you know, anything like fermented soy products as well. It can help. These are all health promoting probiotics. Now some people really believe in these some don't, but I think adding them to your diet couldn't hurt. Another thing that couldn't hurt is adding in some prebiotics resistant starch boots, and, and excuse me, you can get prebiotics from something called resistant starch and this can help promote the integrity and function of your gut. 1 (6m 12s): It also flushes away harmful microbes and even contributes to satiety. So there was a recent research from the university of Toronto showing that supplementation with resistant starch, decreased hunger, hunger, excuse me, and reduce subsequent food intake. So it can also help, like I mentioned, increase the tidy, which is big, especially if you're doing some intermittent fasting and things like that. I will say before I go into some, some resistance starch foods that you, you can try, you just want to sort of start slow with this. Cause sometimes this could cause some gas GI distress such as gas, bloating, or constipation. 1 (6m 55s): So if that is happening, I would just back off of too much resistance starch. But again, this is, these are some ways that you can sort of add in this healthy prebiotic. And what can you add in the Taito starch, tapioca starch, plant our plant, our flour, if I can say it right, these are all high in resistant starch, also green bananas and cooked and cooled potatoes. So if you just eat a cooked, that doesn't count, you gotta cool it and this can help really increase the resistance starts within the potato. 1 (7m 35s): So those are ways to help promote, help promote a healthy gut. I'll repeat them one more time just to give you is reduced processed foods, limit alcohol consumption, slow down when you're eating food and chew your food, and then adding in these probiotics and prebiotics and seeing how that can help affect a healthy gut. So that could be fermented foods for probiotics and prebiotics would be resistant starches. So anyways, I hope yet. I hope you got a lot from this start with gut health and you know, it's, it's known as your second brain. So if you do are having health issues, this is a good place to focus and to work from. 1 (8m 19s): So also even edit, I'll just add a bonus, do some intermittent fasting, okay. Letting your gut heal and not have to always digest food all the time can also promote a healthy gut. So obviously it always comes back to fasting in one sense or the other. So hope you got a lot out of this episode and you're enjoying it. Please write a review if you can. I would love it. And if you have any questions, feel free to message me and enjoy the rest of your day. Thanks so much for listening. Hey, get lean equally nation. Are you a man between the ages of 40 and 60 years old looking to lose inches around your waist have significantly more energy throughout the day and gain muscle all while minimizing the risk of injuries? 1 (9m 5s): Well, I'm looking for three to five people to work one-on-one with in my fat burner blueprint signature program, which I've developed by utilizing my 15 years experience in the health and fitness space. This program is designed specifically for those committed, to making serious progress towards our health goals. Over the next six months, we will focus on sleep stress, nutrition, meal, timing, and building lean muscle. If this sounds like a fit for you, email me@brianatbriangrin.com with the subject line blueprint. That's brian@briangrin.com with the subject line blueprint. 0 (9m 48s): Thanks for listening to the get lean eat clean podcast. I understand there are millions 1 (9m 53s): Of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen 0 (9m 55s): To mine. And I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangrin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode, feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member. Who's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again, and have a great day.

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