A Healthy Gut Part 3. Foods to Avoid

So far in the gut health series, you have learned the importance of gut diversity. You have also educated yourself on snacks to maintain this diversity. It is important to know what snacks are beneficial but it is also valuable to know tips on what foods to avoid. You can see below what foods may be detrimental to your gut diversity and overall gut health. See below for five Western Diet trends to avoid.

1. Sugar-Free Gum: This may come as a surprise, especially when you are trying to keep those pearly whites free from cavities, but chewing sugar-free gum too often can lead to bloating and stomach cramping.
2. Fast-Food Meals: When you are on the go, fast food can be an easy fix. When you eat fast food too often, it can lead to inflammation in your gut by the overgrowth of bad bacteria.
3. Fatty-Rich Foods: Foods that are high in fats can lead to inflammation and malabsorption. These foods can lead to poor gut diversity. You can read your food labels and check for saturated fats, some foods may surprise you. Label reading has many benefits and keeping your gut health in check is one of them.
4. Soda & Juice: Sugary drinks can change and unbalance the bacteria in your gut. Your gut needs diversity to maintain overall health and when you overdrink and overeat sugars such as sodas and juice, you are unbalancing this bacterial growth.
5. Pantry vs. Fridge: Grabbing a bag of processed chips from your pantry over the chilled carrots or other vegetables in your refrigerator can be gratifying when you are looking for a quick snack. This is ok in moderation, just remember that over-processed foods often have little nutritional value. Foods that are over-processed frequently lead to gut inflammation and do not have any benefits with gut diversity.

Having a healthy gut with a diverse diet will protect you from chronic diseases, infections and keep your immune system boosted. Remember some of these items above can affect that fine balance. The last article in this series will cover how exercise positively affects your gut health. Stay tuned!