How Does Exercise Improve Your Gut Health?
Exercise improves gut health and your overall health, as well as working hand in hand with a healthy diet. Here are some tips about both.
Exercise Builds a Strong Gut
If you’re asking yourself how exercise improves gut health, the simple answer is – in multiple ways.
One recent study showed that exercise improves gut health by promoting the growth of good bacteria which produce the fatty acid, butyrate. Butyrate works to repair the gut lining and reduce inflammation. It can potentially prevent diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and insulin resistance, both of which can lead to Diabetes among other diseases.
Why is that the case?
First, keeping our bodies moving keeps our guts moving. Exercise makes our intestines naturally contract, passing waste out of our bodies. Among the best ways to get moving – cardiovascular workouts, yoga, weight lifting, stretching, and regular walking.
Second, exercise keeps sickness away. By improving our gut health, consistently exercising also improves our immune system. You’re not just making your body look fitter, you are helping your body to be more fit to fight off illness.
Third, regular exercise improves your microbiome and overall gut health after only six weeks and 30 minutes of physical activity each day.
Nutritious Diet Builds Gut Health
Together with exercise, a nutritious diet builds your gut health, too. It’s teamwork!
A diet made up of a variety of different types of foods leads to a more diverse gut microbiome. A more diverse microbiome is the healthiest kind. While traditional Western diets are high in fat and sugar, choosing a diet with a greater emphasis on plants and whole grains is key.
A diet that is both diverse and filled with whole foods is ultimately the most beneficial for your health.
Eat healthy vegetables, fruits, beans, and legumes
Eat fiber rich foods such as raspberries, blueberries, artichokes, broccoli, beans, lentils, apples – fiber promotes beneficial gut bacteria growth like health-helpful bifidobacteria
Eat fermented foods such as yogurt, kimchi, kombucha, tempeh, and sauerkraut which are rich in health lactobacilli bacteria – yogurt is especially helpful, and also decreases symptoms of lactose intolerance
Eat prebiotic foods such as certain fruits, veggies, and whole grains, and which can reduce levels of insulin, triglyceride, and cholesterol
Eat whole grains to increase healthy bacteria and reduce inflammation
Eat a plant-based diet to reduce body weight, inflammation, and harmful levels of cholesterol
Eat foods rich in polyphenols such as dark chocolate, red wine, almonds, blueberries to increase healthy bacteria and reduce triglycerides and C-reactive protein, markers of inflammation
Eat more probiotics which benefit your health by changing the microbiome to a healthy state if compromised due to health conditions or medications
And most importantly of all – remember to combine your healthy eating with healthy exercise. 30 minutes of exercise a day, like the proverbial apple, keeps the need for doctors away.
Learn More About Longevity Herbs
Because our gut bacteria is important for good health overall, the best way to improve your gut bacteria and gut health is to exercise, as well as by consuming a healthy diet and taking healthy supplements.
If you’d like to learn more about Longevity Herbs, browse our product selection online or contact us today.
