Here’s Your Gut-Friendly Shopping List!
Jun 23rd 2021
If you have been very keen on the ways as to how to balance your body, then most probably you have been taking preliminary steps for your gut reset – like preparing for your gut-friendly shopping list. While there has been an ongoing notion of gut-healing diets to be expensive, when applied with the right strategies and a little market knowledge, you can actually purchase gut-friendly food even on a tight budget.
Why go for a gut-friendly shopping list? Well, research has shown a strong link between a healthy diet and the quality of gut bacteria. This means that the healthier your diet is, the better gut bacteria you’ll have – that’s why this is deemed as beneficial in preventing chronic diseases and in promoting better digestion and a healthier immune system.1
What to Buy? Here are 3 Items that You can Add to Your Gut-friendly Shopping List
Whether you’re experiencing some issues with your gut or you just wanted to be more conscious of your gut health and be more mindful of your sugar and processed food intake, identifying what goes to your shopping list is essential. So, here we’ve gathered some of the items that you can include in your gut-friendly shopping list:
1. Leafy, Green Vegetables
Leafy vegetables are the real amazing green superfood. These are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and so much more. Adding up kale, spinach, celery, lettuce, and other vegetables like artichoke, beets, asparagus, and the like to your shopping list ultimately help in building probiotics, prebiotics, or symbiotics that are favorable for the intestinal microbiota – which can help in producing various nutrients for the body, preventing infections caused by intestinal pathogens, and strengthening the immune system.2
2. Low-fructose fruits
Aside from vegetables, low-fructose fruits such as apples, mangoes, dragon fruits, and pears should be added to your shopping list as these can help your concerns with regards to gas and bloating. According to a study, mangoes contain anti-obesogenic and immunomodulatory properties and can help keep the good bacteria alive in your gut and has been suggested to prevent gut dysbiosis.3
Dragon fruits have also been found out to contain prebiotic properties which can improve gut health by selectively stimulating the colonic microbiota.4 Berries and citrus fruits (like grapefruit and oranges) also contain an impressive amount of prebiotic fiber that can support your colon health as well as improve your gut microbiome.5
3. Whole Grains
While low-carb diets are becoming more and more popular these days, experts say that totally ditching out the grains may not be so great for the good gut bacteria that thrive on fiber. So, to diversify your gut-friendly shopping list, you may add some whole grains just to provide your body with enough fiber and nutrients. Going for a whole grain diet has also been found to help reduce body weight and inflammation.6
When making your gut-friendly shopping list, also note that some of the aforementioned items may not be in season. To make sure that you still get the recommended 5 – 9 daily serving of fruits and vegetables, you may opt for a more convenient option which is going for superfood powders like pHresh Superblends™,PHresh Greens®,pHresh greens® Raw Alkalizing Superfood that can provide you with an alternative source of vitamins, minerals, and other phytonutrients that can be beneficial to your gut. These superfoods are made from 16 raw ingredients that were meticulously selected to help maintain the pH balance of your body.
To learn more on how you can take better care of your gut, see other health articles here.
References:
1 Yanhong Liu, Nadim J Ajami, Hashem B El-Serag, Clark Hair, David Y Graham, Donna L White, Liang Chen, Zhensheng Wang, Sarah Plew, Jennifer Kramer, Rhonda Cole, Ruben Hernaez, Jason Hou, Nisreen Husain, Maria E Jarbrink-Sehgal, Fasiha Kanwal, Gyanprakash Ketwaroo, Yamini Natarajan, Rajesh Shah, Maria Velez, Niharika Mallepally, Joseph F Petrosino, Li Jiao. Dietary quality and the colonic mucosa-associated gut microbiome in humans.https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqz139
2 Paulina Markowiak, Katarzyna Śliżewska. Effects of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics on Human Health. DOI: 10.3390/nu9091021. PMID: 28914794
3 Babajide Ojo, Guadalupe Davila El-Rassi, Mark E Payton, Penelope Perkins-Veazie, Stephen Clarke, Brenda J Smith, Edralin A Lucas. Mango Supplementation Modulates Gut Microbial Dysbiosis and Short-Chain Fatty Acid Production Independent of Body Weight Reduction in C57BL/6 Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet .https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.115.226688
4 Pissared Khuituan, Sakena K-da, Kanrawee Bannob, Fittree Hayeeawaema, Saranya Peerakietkhajorn, Chittipong Tipbunjong, Santad Wichienchot, Narattaphol Charoenphandhu. Prebiotic oligosaccharides from dragon fruits alter gut motility in mice. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2019.108821. PMID: 30951951
5 Aleksandra Duda-Chodak,corresponding author Tomasz Tarko, Paweł Satora, and Paweł Sroka. Interaction of dietary compounds, especially polyphenols, with the intestinal microbiota: a review. DOI: 10.1007/s00394-015-0852-y. PMID: 25672526
6 Henrik Munch Roager, Josef K Vogt, Mette Kristensen, Lea Benedicte S Hansen, Sabine Ibrügger, Rasmus B Mærkedahl, Martin Iain Bahl, Mads Vendelbo Lind, Rikke L Nielsen, Hanne Frøkiær, Rikke Juul Gøbel, Rikard Landberg, Alastair B Ross, Susanne Brix, Jesper Holck, Anne S Meyer, Morten H Sparholt, Anders F Christensen, Vera Carvalho, Bolette Hartmann, Jens Juul Holst, Jüri Johannes Rumessen, Allan Linneberg, Thomas Sicheritz-Pontén, Marlene D Dalgaard, Andreas Blennow, Henrik Lauritz Frandsen, Silas Villas-Bôas, Karsten Kristiansen, Henrik Vestergaard, Torben Hansen, Claus T Ekstrøm, Christian Ritz, Henrik Bjørn Nielsen, Oluf Borbye Pedersen, Ramneek Gupta, Lotte Lauritzen, Tine Rask Licht. Whole grain-rich diet reduces body weight and systemic low-grade inflammation without inducing major changes of the gut microbiome: a randomised cross-over trial. DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2017-314786. PMID: 29097438