Restoring your gut health is a top goal, and natural methods ‘proven to work’ exist in multitudes. However, it’s difficult to know which methods will actually help and work for you, versus which methods will keep you spinning your wheels.

That’s why we’ve compiled our best tips for improving gut health naturally in one easy & convenient list. No complicated methods here, either: everything is easy to understand and follow, no matter if you’re busy or on a budget.

What does natural gut healing mean anyway?

Put simply, using food, exercise, and other non-pharmaceutical methods instead of prescribed medications is the key to natural gut healing. Our bodies have the power to literally grow and replace bad bacteria with beneficial types, simply by consuming foods comprised of prebiotics and probiotics (like vegetables, yogurt, sauerkraut, and more).

Natural healing can also come from using supplements — like rmdy’s Daily Digestive Essentials — made with clinically tested ingredients (including probiotics and prebiotics, along with digestive enzymes). Daily Digestive Essentials is a gut booster that works best along other healthy lifestyle habits to improve gut and overall health through consistent use.

Improve vs restore gut health

We tend to use the words “improve” and “restore” interchangeably when referring to our gut health, but there’s actually a big difference between the two.

You can improve your gut health — and reduce bloating and gas — in short order by consuming probiotic foods, taking supplements like Daily Digestive Essentials, and eliminating the source of your discomfort.

Restoring gut health, like after a strong course of antibiotics, is a longer process you work hand in hand with a professional on, likely your prescribing doctor. The reason: Rebalancing the delicate system of beneficial bacteria in your gut isn’t something that happens overnight. It takes work, but it can happen if you’re committed.

And if you’re looking to improve your gut health naturally, make sure you’re starting from a healthy point. If you have issues that affect your everyday life, you should also be starting with the guidance of a healthcare professional.

How to improve gut health naturally

Unfortunately, you can’t just snap your fingers and expect to feel an improvement in your gut health. But that doesn’t mean you have to accept the discomfort you’re feeling — not by a long shot. While you can eliminate gas and bloating fast, building better gut health for the long haul requires you to be proactive with lifestyle changes, like those outlined below.

Eat fermented foods

Try to work at least one serving of fermented foods like kimchi, yogurt, sauerkraut, and kefir into your diet on a daily basis. The reason: Fermented foods contain live bacteria that can help balance out the good-bad bacteria balance in your gut.

Daily Digestive Essentials is also formulated with probiotics to help restore gut flora. The five strains of probiotics included in each chewable are clinically proven to help strengthen your GI tract and immune system for enhanced wellness.

Eat foods with prebiotic fiber

Fiber is uniquely tied to our gut health. Some types of fiber — especially fiber found in plants like onions, garlic, asparagus, and bananas — are prebiotics, meaning they help “feed” good bacteria so they grow in the gut to reduce inflammation.

You can also lean on Daily Digestive Essentials to help get your prebiotics, thanks to inulin, a type of soluble fiber shown to help improve digestive health.

Reduce stress

Stress affects more than just your mental health. The brain is directly connected to the gut — so much so that scientists often refer to it as our “second brain.” Research shows that we actually have more neurons in our stomachs than in our spinal cords.

These neurons impact numerous functions that happen in our guts, including swallowing and digestion, and stress can throw those functions off balance. The reason: It activates our “flight or flight” response, which causes the release of the stress hormone into our guts, causing everything from nausea to diarrhea.

Keep the stress up long enough and it could even cause a decrease in oxygen and blood flow to the gut, leading to an imbalance of gut bacteria, inflammation, and cramping.

While we know it’s not always possible to eliminate the stress in your life, you should try to alleviate some of the worry in any way you can (yoga and meditation are two methods proven to help reduce stress).

Eat foods rich with polyphenols

Want an excuse to indulge in a glass of wine and a little dark chocolate? You’re in luck, because both of those foods — along with other fruits, vegetables, and nuts — are rich in polyphenols.

Polyphenols are plant-based antioxidants shown to help reduce inflammation and protect against the free radicals that can damage cells, leading to disease. They can even help to naturally increase two types of beneficial bacteria, Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus.

Work with doctor about antibiotic usage

Does this sound familiar? You go to the doctor with an illness and leave with a prescription for antibiotics. The medication seems to always be the go-to treatment for all types of infections and seasonal illnesses because they typically do a good job of killing the bugs that cause these ailments. However, they also take the good bacteria along with it, leading to a gut imbalance.

Antibiotics are also becoming less effective over time, thanks to the evolution of bacteria into so-called “superbugs” that aren’t affected by the medications.

You can prevent some of these problems by doing your due diligence the next time a doctor tries to give you a course of antibiotics. Be your own best advocate — and if the doctor won’t listen to your concerns, find one who will.

Diversify your diet

Eating a healthy diet comprised of a variety of whole, non-processed foods gives your gut the best chance at cultivating the right kind of bacteria. Adding in plenty of plant- and fiber-based foods gives the bacteria what it needs to grow, while consuming foods rice in probiotics — like yogurt and kefir — helps add in some of those live microorganisms the gut needs to stay healthy. Even adding in servings of fish can help your gut bacteria flourish: The omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish like salmon are shown to be correlated with greater gut microbiome diversity.

Swap your cleaning products

It might seem strange, but there is a connection between cleaning products and gut health. A study published in 2018 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal showed a link between the use of common multi-surface cleaning products and obesity in children. The reason: These antibacterial products are designed to kill bacteria, including good bacteria.

However, the scientists didn’t observe the same pattern in children living in households where eco-friendly products were used.

Exercise in a way that feels good regularly

You likely already know that exercise — no matter if it’s yoga, running, or weightlifting — can have a positive impact on overall mental and physical health, but you might not realize that it can have a positive impact on gut health, too.

Studies show that exercise can increase the amount of good bacteria and improve the diversity of microflora in the gut.

Recent studies suggest that exercise can enhance the number of beneficial microbial species, enrich the microflora diversity, and improve the development of commensal bacteria.

Don’t axe all whole grains — unless you need to

While avoiding gluten — including whole grains — is necessary for people with Celiac’s disease and other sensitivities, the rest of us should keep whole grains in our diet. The reason: Many types of fiber found in whole grains act as prebiotics to help feed the good bacteria in our guts.

Also, whole grains are shown to help improve immune responses in the gut. A 2017 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating healthy whole grains (like rye, quinoa, and oats) increased the Lachnospira in the gut, a type of bacteria that produces short-chain fatty acids important for a healthy immune system. At the same time, a type of bacteria that triggers inflammation decreased.

Try to get enough fiber

We already mentioned that certain types of fiber can literally help good bacteria grow, but all fiber plays a role in overall gut and intestinal health. Women need about 25 grams of fiber a day from a variety of sources, while men need about 38 grams.

Avoid smoking

It’s common knowledge that smoking can cause a whole host of lung-related diseases, including cancer. However, smoking can also have a significant impact on gut health. Smokers are twice as likely to have Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory disease of the bowels. Smoking can also decrease the amount of good bacteria in the gut. The good news: Quitting can help reverse some of that damage. One study found that the diversity of gut bacteria greatly increased after the participants stopped smoking.

Get enough sleep

Sleep and gut health go hand in hand — get enough sleep and you’ll have a healthier gut. Skimp on sleep for long enough and it’s likely you’ll experience gut problems.

A 2016 study found that changes occur to the gut microbiome with just two nights of imperfect sleep. Two types of gut bacteria linked to obesity in other studies — Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes — increased during this time.

Cut down your meat consumption

While we’re not telling you to completely give up your favorite steaks or a hamburger from time to time, there is research that shows cutting down on your meat consumption can help balance out the bacteria in your gut — especially when it comes to red meat. A paper published in the journal Nature showed that a type of bacteria linked to inflammation and intestinal disease in mice thrives in those who follow a meat-heavy diet.

Improve your gut health with Daily Digestive Essentials

Even following all of the best advice won’t always get you 100 percent of the way there. That’s why investing in that little something extra can make all the difference. That “little something extra’ when it comes to gut health is rmdy Daily Digestive Essentials. This chewable supplement can help you fill in the gaps in your diet and lifestyle — and help you find relief you deserve from bloating and other gut health issues.