The connection between gut health and overall well-being is tightly linked, as the foods you consume can determine various things, from immunity levels to your mood. Therefore, it is important to pick the foods you consume wisely. Some foods are known to nurture your well-being, like fermented foods. While they might not suit everyone's palate, these foods play great role in conserving good gut health. On this week's journal, we will be explaining some health benefits when you consume fermented foods regularly. Read on!
1. Improve digestive health
Consuming fermented foods exposes your gut to good bacteria and conditions it to nurture a better gut flora. Eating fermented foods on a regular basis also helps balance your digestive tract and makes it function at higher levels of efficiency. This means you obtain higher absorption of nutrients as well as better digestion of the food you eat.
2. Maintains immune levels
Gut health has a significant impact on our immune system, as the gut lining in our intestines acts as a natural immunity barrier which helps ensure a strong immune system. It also plays an important role in body metabolism and mood. Therefore, maintaining the right balance of the good and bad bacteria in our gut is very important. A diet high in refined sugars will favour the bad bacteria in your gut, allowing them to flourish and may cause inflammation. Consuming fermented foods that are rich in probiotic bacteria help to restore this balance by adding good bacteria to your gut which in turn, supports a healthy gut microbiome.
3. Rich in nutrients
Loaded with several vitamins and minerals, fermented foods are enriched with B vitamins, B12, omega-3 fatty acids, as well as vast antioxidant properties. They also help in producing digestive enzymes, lactase and lactic acid. All these dietary foods are great for your weight loss journey. Health experts also say that fermented foods helps in fighting harmful bacteria and fight against cancerous cells. Include fermented foods in your diet and gain various health benefits.
4. Promotes weight loss
Fermented foods help in aiding weight loss because these foods contain intestine-friendly bacteria. Moreover, fermented foods are mostly made from vegetables, which are packed with natural fiber. Fiber has a role in cleaning up your digestive tract, making your digestion smoother. Over time, you will be able to absorb more of the nutrients that are contained in your foods. Fiber is also filling, able to keep you full for longer and crave less food, leading to weight loss.
5. Helps curb sugar cravings
Consuming refined sugars on a frequent basis can actually send your body into a mild nutrient-deficient state. While those refined carbs and sugars taste good when you consume them, they also feed bad bacteria in your gut.
Adding fermented foods to your diet helps you limit sugar cravings, by helping your taste buds adjust to a more bitter/sour flavor, as well as regulating gut flora. Fermented foods contain lactobacillus bacteria, which weed out the pathogenic flora in your gut and add lactic acid, which is food for the good bacteria that help you digest foods. When you eat enough of of those fermented foods, your gut will soon become an non-ideal breeding place for bad pathogens.
