How To Fix Gut Health Naturally – 5 Proven Ways

Why Your Gut Health Is so Important?

“It is in the gut where all disease starts.” This was what was said by Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, more than 2,000 years ago, but it is just beginning to be understood by modern science(1).

It is not only your gut that helps to digest food, but it is a strong system that affects almost every feature of your health. It affects the strength of your immune system, the amount of energy you have, and your mental well-being, and how your skin looks, whether you are gaining or losing weight, and even the health of your hormones, all of which are influenced by your gut microbiome, a community of trillions of bacteria.

It might even take you unawares that your gut is having a hard time until the symptoms (which could be bloating, constipation, fatigue, sugar cravings, brain fog, acne, or even anxiety) begin building up.

And the good news is, you don’t need anything special in order to heal your gut, not fancy supplements or a best-selling detox tea. Thanks to science, these days we know that you can transform your gut microbiome, which can help improve your health in just a few weeks, by adopting simple and regular changes to your lifestyle, such as eating this or that food, sleeping better, and stressing less. You can fix gut health naturally.

Here, you will discover 5 of the best science-based and practical solutions to fix gut health naturally. They can be easily applied, are effective, and the best part is that they do not involve gimmicks that will only serve short-term recovery; they will fix gut health naturally for the long term.

What is Gut Microbiome?

Gut microbiome is a living ecosystem and could be compared to a command center of most of the vital functions in your body. The microbiome of any individual is personal and, in some sense, a fingerprint, and it starts to develop at birth. With time, it becomes molded according to what you eat, how much you sleep, your stress signs, drugs, surroundings, and even how you are born(2).

A collaboration of these microbes aids the following:

• Digest food and take nutrients into the body.
• Take vitamins such as vitamin B12 & K.
• Have control over your immune system.
• Guard against dangerous germs(2).

Learn to talk to your brain through the gut-brain axis

A healthy and diverse composition of this inside ecology will make you more likely to find yourself with more energy, concentration and resistance. However, when it is compromised (when it is in a state called dysbiosis), then your well being may be impacted in ways both big and subtle(2).

Symptoms That Your Intestinal Health Is Unhealthy

The malfunctioning of the microbiome is reflected in the following:

• Gas, bloating, constipation, or diarrhea
• Food intolerances or food sensitivities
• Catching colds or infections regularly
• Skin disorders and ailments, which include acne, eczema, etc.
• Mood issues, e.g., anxiety, depression; or brain fog
• Weight gain without an apparent reason or weight loss is never attained
• Propensity to want to eat sugary food or energy spikes and valleys

These are not just coincidences; on the contrary, they are red flags that your intestines give you.

What Kills Gut Microbiome?

Lots of routines that one does quite unintentionally harm the state of their gut, including:

• Consumption of a low fiber and ultra-processed food diet
• Excessive use of antibiotics or antipainful drugs (NSAIDs)
• Excessive and chronic stress
• Poor or absent sleeping patterns
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Environmental toxicoses

With time, these conditions destroy the useful bacteria and permit the harmful microbes to flourish, resulting in inflammation, a poor immune system, and chronic diseases.

5 Proven Ways To Fix Your Gut Health Naturally

Here are 5 science based and practical solutions to fix gut health naturally:

1. Eat More Fiber Rich Whole Foods

Among the most sound and simple strategies of starting to fix gut health naturally, fiber solution tops as one of the most effective ones. However, it is not just any kind of fiber, a great abundance of whole-food plant fiber that feeds your body with good bacteria and makes your digestive tract run like a well-oiled machine(3).

Why Fiber Is so Necessary In the Health of Having a Good Gut

Food that feeds the gut bacteria is fiber(3). To make it slightly more exact, the kind of fiber available to the good bacteria as food in your bowel. When exposed to these microbes, the fiber in your colon breaks down to form short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) like butyrate(3), which:

• Enforce the intestinal lining
• Low inflammatory processes
• Boost the immune system
• Blood sugar appetite control
• Help to prevent chronic diseases as type 2 diabetes and colon cancer
• Fiber, in a nutshell, gives the bowel energy to make you fuel up
• Fiber-Rich Best Foods to Enhance the Health of Your Gut

The point is that the trick is diversity. Your aim will be to consume 25-35 grams of fiber food daily to fix gut health naturally. The higher, the better, the number of different food sources. Some of the perfect whole foods to be included are:

Vegetables

• Brussels sprouts, sweet potato, broccoli, spinach, and carrots
• Artichokes (a super food of the gut)

Fruits

• Bananas (particularly slightly green), apples with skin, berries, and pears
• Kiwi and pomegranates

Prebiotics: Feed For Good Bacteria of Gut

There are even some high-fiber foods that contain prebiotics, which are special kinds of fiber that are particularly good food sources for the beneficial microbes and to fix gut health naturally(2). These include:

• Garlic
• Onions
• Leeks
• Asparagus
• Chicory root
• Green bananas
• Jerusalem artichokes

Include them on a regular basis in your meals by adding them to your weekly menu, and you’ll be able to fix gut health naturally(2). Here you can buy the best quality fiber supplement:

The Hacks to Increase Fiber without Bloating

Take your time entering a high fiber diet when you are not accustomed to a high diet. Overdoing it too fast may leave you gassy and bloating. These tips can be tried:

• Additional fiber slowly in a few weeks to fix gut health naturally.
• Avoid constipation by taking lots of liquid water to ease passage of fiber in intestines.
• Vegetables should be boiled a bit to make digestion easier.
• Eat fiber with good fats (e.g. olive oil) to facilitate nutrient absorption.
• It helps digestive enzymes by chewing well.

Eat the Rainbow: The Value of Diversity

Research indicates that individuals with a more diverse microbiome of the gut consume 30+ plant food varieties per week. That consists of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and herbs. Each plant introduces a different fiber type and the greater the range of plant foods you eat, the greater the range of microbes. It will also helps to fix gut health naturally(4).

2. Add Fermented Foods In Your Diet

So, when your good gut bacteria eat the food they live on (fiber), it can be said that fermented foods can be considered best friends of your gut- it must be rooted with live bacteria, which regrow your microbiome and restore it to its place fully. In other words, improved digestion and fix gut health naturally. Such probiotic foods were consumed by conventional cultures long ago, hundreds of years ago, before we had ever heard the word microbiome!

What are Fermented Foods?

Fermented foods are foods that undergo a natural lacto-fermentation process during which healthy bacteria (mostly Lactobacillus) are used to break down the sugars or starch in the food(5). In such a process, not only is the food preserved, but also probiotics, enzymes, and other bioactive compounds, which turn out to be fantastic and fix gut health naturally.

Reframing fermented foods as simply healthy probiotics supplements (but with none of the side effects), more affordable, and more delicious than pills.

The Advantages of Fermented Foods on the Gut Health

Incorporating fermented foods in your daily food routine will:

• Improve the diversity of microbes in your intestinal tract.
• Re-mediate good bacteria after using antibiotics or an infection.
• Stimulate Immune and anti-inflammatory effects.
• The gut-brain axis plays a role in improving mood and cognitive processes.
• Enhance absorption of nutrients and digestion(5).
• Decrease bloating, gas, and constipation.
• Improve and fix gut health naturally.
• Assist crowd out the bad bacteria and yeast (such as Candida).

Best Fermented Natural Foods to Consume Every Day

You do not even need to consume all of them to give the gut health a natural fix; simply select a few of them and rotate the others separately each week:

Dairy Based

• Unflavoured, not sweetened yogurt with live cultures.
• Kefir (a delicious drink composed of fermented milk, which has high levels of probiotics in relation to yogurt)(5).

Vegetable-Based

• Sauerkraut (cabbage eat no cooked or prenatalized cabbage).
• Kimchi (Korean spiced fermented vegetables, usually cabbage, plus radish).
• Pickles (not the ones that include vinegar in them).

Soy-Based

• Miso (fermented (mature) bean paste, tastes nice in soup).
• Tempeh (fermented soy cake with a nutty taste and a lot of protein in it).
• Natto (Japanese probiotic champion: Fermented sticky soya beans).

Other Options

• Kombucha (Tea with natural bubbles- take low-sugar quantity brands).
• Dairy-free yogurt, coconut or cashew-based cheese, and Fermentation.

Hint: Sometimes you can make your own sauerkraut or yogurt and it is cheaper than you would imagine. You can also make it yourself with ease, more than you can imagine.

Gut-Brain Bonus

According to many research, consumption of fermented foods at regular intervals has the potential to lower anxiety and stress levels, most probably because of influencing the gut-brain axis in a positive manner(9). This not only makes them good for the digestion and good for gut health naturally, but also good for mood, concentration, and even mental health.

3. Stay Away From Sweet and Processed Foods

When it comes to the healing of your gut naturally, to fix gut health naturally, one of the most significant steps is not only about adding items to your diet but also about eliminating them. At the head of that list of things to be gotten rid of? Sugar and highly processed food.

These fresh “foods” are one of the greatest offenders of gut imbalances, inflammation, and chronic health problems. They nourish the bad types of microbes lining your bowel and initiate the most terrible storm of bad eating, bloated stomach, cravings, and even mood changes(6).

How Sugar Causes Inflammations In Your Body

• Interrupts sugar and insulin levels, causing sugar levels to collapse and cravings to occur.
• Undermines the immune system, which is mostly controlled by your intestines.
• Even seemingly healthy-sounding sweeteners, such as agave, brown rice syrup, and fruit juice concentrates, can cause dysbiosis (imbalance of the microbe population) when taken in large quantities(6).
• Here you can read the article: How to stop sugar cravings permanently (science-backed).

What Are Ultra-Processed Foods, And Why Are They So Bad?

Ultra-processed foods are the industrialized foodstuffs that have been greatly processed beyond their natural form. They mostly consist of:

• Straightened flours
• Added sugar
• Sweeteners Artificial
• Preservatives
• Emulsifiers
• Flavor supplements
• Unhealthy fat (such as trans fat or too much omega-6 oils)

Such ingredients do not benefit your body or your microbiome. As it turns out, most of them are demonstrated to impair gut barrier, allow bad bacteria to flourish, and augment chronic inflammation(6).

Examples are common:

• Convenience food (chips, cookies, crackers)
• The sweet cereals
• Soft drinks and sweetened drinks
• Instant noodles and ready meals
• Candy, pasties, and ice cream
• Fried food and fast food
• Sugar has Sneaky Label Names

What is required to actually stop sugar craving is to be a label detective. There are 60+ names that mask sugar, including:

• High-fructose corn syrup
• Sugarcane sugar
• Maltodextrin
• Glucose/fructose/sucrose
• Evaporated cane juice
• Solid corn syrup
• Dextrose

Hint: Whenever one or more of the first 3 ingredients are made up of sugar (or its countless aliases), avoid them.

Substitutes to Processed Foods – Gut-Friendly Versions

Instead of	Try this
Flavored yogurt	Unflavored Greek yogurt + berries
White bread	Sprouted grain/sourdough bread
Candy bars	Dark chocolate (85 per cent) or dates + nuts
Chips	Air-popped popcorn, or roasted chickpeas
Sugary beverages	Floral infused or herbal tea, or kombucha
Ice cream	Banana nice cream

Processed Foods Effect on Gut-Brain

It is not only that processed foods can disturb the digestive system; they also cause harm to mental health(6)(9). Researchers have associated eating high sugar and processed food with:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Brain fog
• Poor incentive
• A healthy diet leads to a clear mind

Reducing the amount of sugar and processed food is not a restriction, but a relief, I would say, of being free of fatigue, bloating, and the blood sugar roller-coaster. When you feed your gut quality, whole, real food, everything turns around: your energy, your skin, your mood, and it will help to fix gut health naturally.

4. Stress Management Gut-Brain Based

To fix gut health naturally, most people only consider food, which is a plus, but there is this persistent, elusive undertaker they have never thought about, and it is stress(9). It has the ability to unwind your gut health inside out, even though you are feeding yourself with all the proper foods.

It is here that the gut-brain connection, the so-called gut-brain axis, also comes in. It is an intense two-way communication network between your brain and your digestive system(7). Feel stress in your brain, you feel stress in your gut, and vice versa.

What is the Gut Brain axis?

The brain and the gut have a connection via:

• The Vagus Nerve: A significant nerve that relays signals in both directions.
• Hormones: e.g., cortisol (stress hormone) affecting gastrointestinal activity.
• Neurotransmitters: Such as serotonin and GABA, are mainly produced by the gut.
• Immune signaling: The inflammation of the gut can interfere with the brain.

And this implies that your thoughts, feelings, and stress have a direct influence on the digestive tract and the integrity of its lining, along with the microbiome balance. And that is why you may encounter the butterflies in your stomach when you are feeling anxious, or you may feel bloated or have constipation or IBS flare-ups when you are going through a stressful emotional period.

The Ways that Stress Affects Gut Health Adversely

Chronic stress not only leaves you in a state of anxiety, but also physiologically harms your gut as time goes by:

• A delay in the digestive system results in bloating and constipation
• increases bowel permeability (leaky gut)
• Distorts bacteria within the gut with a leaning towards harmful strains
• Lowers the acid and enzymes in the stomach that make nutrient absorption impossible
• Lowers the immunity, thus exposing you to infection
• Activates or exacerbates IBS, IBD, GERD, and other digestive disorders.
• Symptoms such as gas, cramps, or urgency may be provoked even by short-term stress, such as a deadline or an argument. Then just think what constant stress can do when it lasts for months or years.

5. Prioritize Sleep and Daily Movement

Indeed, a sedentary lifestyle and poor sleep may hurt your gut microbiome, hamper digestive rate, and heighten inflammation(9). On the other hand, regular sleep and daily exercise can actually remodel your gut, inside out, and fix gut health naturally.

How can we break it down?

The Influential Linkage Between Sleep and Gut

Your sleep habits and your gut are interconnected because they have a circadian cycle, or what can be defined as your internal clock, which controls the process of falling asleep and waking up, the release of hormones, digestion, and even the functioning of your microbiome.

Once you have irregular or poor sleep, your bowel flora becomes imbalanced. It has been observed that even two short nights of deprivation lead to a negative change in your microbiome.

How to Improve Sleep to Fix Gut Health Naturally

• Maintain a schedule to sleep (go to bed and wake up at a certain time daily, even on weekends).
• One hour before going to bed, you are not supposed to use screens to limit the blue light intake.
• During sunset time, the light should be dulled to imitate daytime lighting.
• Reduce caffeine after 2PM.
• Make your room cool, dark, and quiet.
• Night routine, something relaxing to try: reading, stretching, writing.
• Do not eat a heavy meal and drink alcohol 2-3 hours before going to sleep(9).
• Sleeping well, even 7-9 hours a night, is really enough to restore microbial balance and enhance the digestion process, the mood, and the immune system.

Magnesium can also help in improving sleep quality. Here you can buy the best magnesium supplement:

Foods That Help Calm the Gut-Brain Axis

Other than lifestyle, certain foods and nutrients can help to relieve stress and promote brain-gut balance and fix gut health naturally(8)(9):

• Foods that are rich in magnesium: Spinach, almonds, dark chocolate, and avocado(8)
• Omega-3s: chia seeds, walnuts, and wild salmon.
• Probiotic food: yogurt, kefir, sauerkrauts (they are useful in neurotransmitter making).
• L-Theanine (Green tea): makes you relaxed and alert.
• Adaptogens: ashwagandha, holy basil, rhodiola (can be used with the advice of the doctor) to fix gut health naturally.

Things to Remember to Avoid Under Stress to Save the Gut

• Caffeine overload: Aggravates anxiety and inflames the gut interior.
• Alcohol: Renders a microbial imbalance and an inflammation surge.
• Making hasty meals or no-special-attention meals – poor digestion(2).
• Negative self-talk: That is what you think can develop a physiological reaction.

The Importance of Daily Movement in Digestion

Exercise does not simply burn calories; it also aids in the process of food passage through the digestive tract and helps to fix gut health naturally(9).

How the Consistent Movement Influences the Health of the Gut:

• Enhances bowel movement (keeps you regular).
• Lessens gas, constipation, and lassitude.
• Improves and fixes gut health naturally.
• Stimulates the development of good bacteria.
• Assists in the monitoring of sugar levels and insulin levels.
• Alleviates inflammation and boosts immunity.
• Decreases stress hormones such as cortisol, which are harmful to the gut.

Conclusion

It is not that your gut is just a digestive system, but rather the epicenter of your health. Whether it is the strength of your immune system and energy level, mood, weight, or even skin tissue, all these are dependent on the type of bacteria and the robustness of the gut lining.

So, in short, this is your game plan to fix gut health naturally:

• Consume more whole foods that are high in fiber to fix gut health naturally.
• Add fermented foods of nature.
• Reduce sugar and processed foods.
• Take care of your stress levels to benefit the gut-brain axis.
• Consider sleep and daily exercise as a priority.
• Stop using things that can cause damage to the gut, such as antibiotics, additives, and artificial sweeteners.

The process to fix gut health naturally is not a Band-Aid system; it is a process.

Note that each meal is a communication to your microbiome. When you take a walk, a deep breath, or go to bed early, that makes you more resilient. Your body simply knows how to heal itself, and all you need to do is provide the tools.

So just relax, have some faith in the process, and start today. A healthier, happier gut is ready to be yours. Start to fix gut health naturally. A probiotic supplement is a good addition in your diet to improve gut health. Here you can buy:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

References

1. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-024-13180-9#Sec27
2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10773664/
3. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9787832/
4. https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/msystems.00115-21
5. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9003261/
6. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/17/5/859
7. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352289516300509#sec6
8. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235293931600004X#sec2
9. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2024.1488841/full