While we are getting back to a more social routine, it does not mean that viruses or colds are gone. Of course we have always had to deal with illness and we all have many ways on how we deal with colds from medical to home remedy. However, we cannot deny that illness and contamination are both on the forefront of our minds at the moment now. While we cannot really control the world around us, we can control the world within us. Believe it or not, our guts are one of our first lines of defense in our bodies. Our gut controls so much of our daily lives besides digestion and food. Your mood, even some forms of depression are linked to gut health. Your gut is often called a second brain due to gut bacteria's ability to produce serotonin and dopamine. The bacteria levels in your gut are integral to your physical and mental health. When they are imbalanced due to poor diet, you will experience various levels of discomfort and poor health.
Since the gut is also linked to our emotional health it is no wonder that our emotions can affect our eating habits, but maybe we do not realize that our eating habits also affect our emotions. When you get your gut bacteria out of whack you can see how it can easily become a downward spiral of emotional eating improper food and feeling worse and eating more food to try to feel better. Once we start this cycle it isn't long before our immunity also suffers. So while we are getting back into the regular routine, let's take a moment to improve our guts defenses to help protect us against all sorts of infections and mental well being. Below are 5 tips to help get our guts back on track!
Probiotics
Probiotics are the number one line of relief for a gut feeling not so great. Probiotics are essential for your gut. They are great to take as a pill form daily or after a round of antibiotics. If you ever feel yourself suffering from your eating; such as mood swings, skin flare ups and so on you can even double or triple up on your dosage. Yogurt is another great way to get your probiotics. Just keep in mind that it must be plain yogurt, the added sugar weakens the natural bacteria in the yogurt.
Snack Well and Snack Often
In our busy lives it is very easy to skip meals and once we get to a certain hunger point we not only are going to eat whatever we can find, we also are going to overeat. You can avoid this by keeping your snack options readily available and healthy. Keep a cache of nuts, dark chocolate, unsweetened dried fruits and the like in your car and desk so you can have a quick and easy snack to tide you over until your meal. Not only does grazing keep your metabolism up but it will prevent you from making regrettable snacking decisions.
Choose your Sweeteners Wisely
Sugar is sugar is sugar. Though honey or raw sugar may have added benefits besides the sweetness, your body reacts to all sugar the same way. If you are looking to cut your sugar intake, artificial sweeteners seem like an obvious solution but they do not always sit well with our bodies. Instead, opt for monk fruit or stevia sweeteners to supplement some of your sugar. I find that a 50 to 75 percent substitution with either of these natural sweeteners mixed with your favorite real sugar provides the sweetness without the stomach upset or peaks in the glycemic index.
Opt for Preservative Free Food Options
We all know that food with a lot of additives are not good for us, but knowing and doing do not always overlap. The best way to combat artificial food is simply not to buy it, opt for healthy variations or fresh fruits and vegetables for your snack options.
Minimize your Salt with Herbs
Even if you have never been told by a doctor you need to lower your salt intake, it is most likely you are consuming too much salt on a daily basis. While you can't do much about your salt intake if you go out to eat a lot, you can remedy your home cooking. Control how much salt you put in your cooking by experimenting with herbal flavors. Herbs and onion and garlic help create amazing flavors with only a little salt needed.
What are your favorite healthy eating tips? Reach out with any comments or questions at info@bullionite.com