Where do we start?
Many aspects of your lifestyle can result in this outcome, but the one that is the most direct is your eating style.
What you eat will have a profound effect on your guts, particularly if what you are eating is devoid of the fiber that your gut bacteria thrive on and micronutrients like the plethora of phytochemicals such as flavonoids, phenols, anthocyanins, tannins, and carotenoids, which The National Institutes Of Health point out positively alter the gut microbiota and Nutritarian Joel Fuhrman MD., point out are the cornerstone of what makes a healthy food “healthy.”
If your diet is also limited in the most well know micronutrients, aka vitamins and minerals, or the high water content your body depends on for its operations and the digestive process, it can all have a serious impact on your microbiome.
All of that implies a diet that is based on harder-to-digest animal protein, for instance, which is associated with lower abundances of beneficial bacteria because, in animal meat, there are no fermentable fibers, no phytochemicals, no water, and the vitamins and minerals are both limited. They have also passed through the animal metabolism, changing their impact on your health.
Now factor in the fact that many people eating an animal product-based diet are probably also eating many refined foods despite the trend to “drop the bun.” Now you have a nutrient-poor and nutrient-barren diet depleting your microbiome of all it needs to be healthy.
So, to improve your gut, an essential component of your overall health is to eat whole “nutrient-rich” foods that deliver are good for your gut and serve you on so many levels.
You see, there are three classes of foods, nutrient-rich, nutrient-poor, and nutrient barren.
First Class
Nutrient-Rich foods are the “Superfoods.” They don’t contain substances your body doesn’t need. Plant foods are rich in micronutrients, including phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, fiber and water, and macronutrients—health-promoting protein, real-food carbohydrates, and healthy fat, to function, stay healthy, and perform well.
Recommendation: You eat 90% or More Whole Food, Nutrient-Rich meals, and menus for the best results.
Second Class
Nutrient-poor foods are animal foods rich in some nutrients like protein but are missing whole nutrient categories like essential phytochemicals and fiber. They contain cholesterol and saturated fat the body does not need from dietary sources.
Recommendation: even though you can still eat some animal foods and still eat “nutrient-rich” on a total dietary intake basis if you eat them, it’s best to maintain a diet of 10% or fewer animal foods.
Third Class
Nutrient-Barren Food “Stuffs” that are humanmade of both plant and animal origin, refined and stripped of their nutrients. These are highly concentrated pleasure-stimulating substances that addict you and leave you fat and sick, even though some nutrients are added back for nutritional and marketing purposes.
Recommendation: You eat these foodstuffs rarely or avoid them altogether.
People who live a healthy, Performance Lifestyle and regularly come to REGENUS CENTER, for instance, learn how to eat whole foods, a nutrient-rich eating style.
To learn more, and build a genuinely healthy eating style into the way you live while getting your energy back and optimizing the way you live, visit us at the Center,
John Allen Mollenhauer is the creator of the Performance Lifestyle, a leading Performance Lifestyle Coach, and the founder of REGENUS CENTER – Unlock Your Body’s Resilience to bounce back from stress, pain, and fatigue.
