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Simple Steps to Improve Gut Ƶ and Feel Your Best

Simple Steps to Improve Gut Ƶ and Feel Your Best

Ever feel bloated, sluggish, or just “off” after eating? More people are starting to realize that these everyday digestive issues might be signs of something deeper—gut health.

Why Gut Ƶ Matters

Your gut is home to trillions of microbes—bacteria, fungi, and other tiny organisms—that help digest food, absorb nutrients, and support your immune system. This community of microbes is called the gut microbiota, and it plays a big role in how you feel, both physically and mentally.

“It’s important to think about the gut as a central location in our bodies,” says Amiko Uchida, MD, a gastroenterologist and physician-scientist at Ƶ of Utah Ƶ. “It's a unique environment where foods are interacting with microbes, which are interacting with our own immune system and gut lining. They are all in an orchestra, producing different things like metabolites and hopefully working together. Those metabolites can be absorbed and travel to different places in the body, like the brain, and can have beneficial or anti-inflammatory effects depending on the situation.”

The Fiber Fix

One of the easiest ways to support your gut is to eat more fiber. But here’s the catch: up to don’t get enough of it in their diet.

Fiber feeds microbes in your gut—it can be one of their favorite foods, helping them thrive and produce helpful compounds that can support overall health. You can find fiber in:

  • Fresh fruits and vegetables
  • Whole grains
  • Beans and legumes
  • Nuts and seeds

But Uchida points out that access to these foods isn’t always easy.

“Eating enough fiber can be challenging, especially when we think about cities and communities that are food deserts,” she says. “In those places, nutrients in general can be hard to find while the foods that are available are highly processed or ultra-processed.”

In fact, about 65% of the food available in the U.S. is ultra-processed. And the price on fresh foods is much higher, which creates barriers that affect the country’s health.

What You Can Do

Improving your gut health doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are a few simple steps:

Add more fiber to your diet

  • Chia seeds, flax seeds, and oats are easy ways to add fiber to your breakfast staples. Mix these in with plain Greek yogurt and honey, overnight oats, or smoothies.
  • Include beans and lentils in your home-cooked meals for a boost of protein and fiber.
  • Looking to supplement? Uchida recommends psyllium husk fiber to her patients who want a supplemental boost.

Stay active

  • Adults need at of moderate physical activity a week (30 minutes a day) for five days a week, along with two days of muscle-strengthening each week.

Manage stress

  • play a role in the gastrointestinal tract.

Keep hydrated

  • Drinking water plays an important factor in shaping the human gut microbiome, .

Get enough sleep

  • Sleep plays an important role in overall wellness, impacting your too.

The amount of fiber you need in your diet depends on age and gender. Generally, recommended amounts are about 25-35 grams a day.

If you experience abdominal pain, weight loss, blood in your stool, or changes in your bowel movements that interrupt your daily life, it’s time to see a gastroenterologist.

The Future of Gut Ƶ

At Ƶ of Utah Ƶ, Uchida and other researchers are studying the link between gut health and its impact on allergic diseases, such as eosinophilic gastrointestinal (GI) disease and inflammatory bowel disease. Programs like the are helping scientists understand how to use gut microbes to improve health conditions, including chronic inflammatory diseases, cancer, and allergies.

“As a society, we really need to value science so that we can get better information and care for our patients,” Uchida says. “We continue to try our hardest and push forward to provide them with the best care possible by bringing together our clinical knowledge with new high-quality research.”

At a time when scientific support and funding are facing considerable threats, Uchida hopes people will see the value in scientific and medical research and push for its support.