Eating Right: A Singapore Nutritionist’s Guide To Nourishing Your Gut

The food that we consume everyday supplies our body with nutrients that enable our organs to function properly and gives bursts of energy to do our daily activities. Nowadays, there is a surge of food products in the market that claim to be healthy but are, in fact, laden with harmful ingredients. Consuming these foods can do more harm to our digestive system than good. Hence, it is important that we are mindful of everything that we are feeding our body.

Follow these essential tips from a nutritionist in Singapore to enhance your gut health:

Maintain a diet that is high in fibre. Fruits, legumes, vegetables, and whole grains are rich in fibre that help keep the digestion process problem-free. There are two types of fibre that the body needs to enhance the movement in the digestive system. These are soluble and insoluble fibres.

• Soluble fibre: This type of fibre helps in slowing digestion once it gets dissolved in water and turns into a jelly substance inside the digestive system. Soluble fibres aid in managing the levels of blood sugar, keeps cholesterol low, and promotes satiety. It is an excellent helper when you want to maintain your weight at a healthy level. The best sources of soluble fibre are apples, beans, citrus fruits, lentils, and oats.
• Insoluble fibre: Unlike soluble fibre, this type of fibre does not dissolve when combined with water. Rather, these fibres help the process in your digestive system to move continuously by adding bulk to stool, which prevents constipation. Whole grains, nuts, wheat bran, as well the skins of fruits and vegetables are full of soluble fibres that are good gut health.

Add probiotic and prebiotic foods to your diet. Having a strong gut microbiome is essential to keep your holistic health in its best shape.

Probiotic foods contain good bacteria that can balance your gut’s health and fight harmful bacteria, resulting in improved digestion and an immune system boost. Probiotic foods with live bacteria that are beneficial to the gut can be found in fermented food, such as kefir, kimchi, kombucha, miso, tempeh, sauerkraut, and yogurt.

Prebiotic foods is another kind of fibre found in food that feeds and helps the growth of the good bacteria present in the gut. In simple terms, they are food for probiotics. Foods like asparagus, bananas, chicory root, garlic, Jerusalem artichokes, leeks, oats, and onion are great prebiotics.

Avoid inflammation by consuming healthy fats. Not all fats present in food are harmful to your body. In fact, there are healthy fats that have anti-inflammatory properties that strengthen your gut and help improve its microbiome. In particular, Omega-3 fatty acids help in minimising inflammation in the intestines’ lining and increase the multiplication of bacteria probiotics in the digestive system. When more beneficial bacteria are thriving in your gut, your whole body becomes protected from developing “leaky gut,” which can cause inflammation. Omega-3 fatty acids can be found in avocados, chia seeds, fatty fish, flax seeds, nuts, and olive oil.

Eat foods packed with Polyphenols. Plants have antioxidant properties that occur naturally, called polyphenols. Polyphenols promote the development of more good bacteria in your gut while curbing the growth of bad ones. You can get an ample serving of polyphenols from blueberries, cocoa and dark chocolate that are equal or greater than 70%, extra virgin olive oil, red wine taken in moderation, nuts and seeds.

Drink plenty of water. There is a reason why we are always told to drink at least 8 cups of water everyday. Keeping your body well hydrated is highly important in gut health as it helps keep the food that you consume to move through your intestines and help keep your bowel movements regular. Water also supports digestion and plays a key role in dissolving soluble fibres.

Of course, it is not enough that you incorporate nutritious and fibre-rich foods into your diet to nourish your gut. You also need to break certain habits that have a negative impact on your gut health. By this, nutritionists recommend that you should avoid unhealthy foods and habits, such as:

• Alcohol abuse: The gut’s lining can be irritated by too much alcohol drinking. Alcohol is also harmful to your microbiome’s health.
• Artificial sweeteners: Artificial sweeteners can contain ingredients that disrupt the balance of the gut’s microbiome. It is best to be mindful about the products and sweeteners that you use and avoid those containing aspartame or sucralose.
• Consumption of highly processed foods: Foods that are highly processed can have high levels of additives, sugar, and unhealthy fats that are harmful to the gut’s microbiome.
• Excessive use of antibiotics: As its name suggests, antibiotics are against bacteria whether they are good or bad. When used in excessive dosage, these medicines can be harmful to your digestive system, so remember to only take what is prescribed
• Too much stress: Being exposed to chronic stress can intervene and alter your body’s digestion process.

Now that you have an idea about how to nourish your gut, here is an example of a healthy meal plan:

• Breakfast: Start your day with overnight oats. Add banana slices, chia seeds, and strawberries to include fibre and good bacteria. Down this with a cup of green tea.
• Lunch: A bowl of quinoa salad mixed with bell peppers, chickpeas, kale, onion, and drizzled with olive oil vinaigrette will make your tummy happy and healthy. Eat this alongside a serving of sauerkraut for your probiotic boost.
• Snack: Slice an apple and dip it in almond butter. For additional crunch, snack on a handful of your preferred nuts or seeds, such as walnuts or sunflower seeds.
• Dinner: Prep dinner with foods that are high in fibre and healthy fats like grilled salmon paired with steamed sweet potatoes and broccoli. Include a bowl of miso soup to improve your gut’s microbiome.
• All throughout the day: Chug down at least 8 glasses or 2 litres of water. If you are located in a hot and humid place like Singapore, you may need to increase your water intake to more than the recommended amount to keep your body hydrated.

Final word

A full diet overhaul is not necessary if you want to improve your gut health. You can always start with small adjustments that you can commit to on a daily basis like adding more fruits and veggies to your diet to increase your fibre intake. If you have unhealthy habits, try avoiding them to help your gut heal. As you get used to practising this overtime, it would be a lot easier for you to make nutritious choices when planning for your daily meals, resulting in a healthy gut microbiome and a well-nourished body.