Gut health
7 habits that harm your intestinal flora
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Our way of life makes it difficult for our digestion – often unconsciously – to work. These eating habits damage the intestinal flora.
The intestine is often underestimated. After all, he’s “only” responsible for digesting our food, isn’t it? Not correct! For example, around 70 percent of our immune system is located in the intestines. And our mental health is also closely linked to the organ. Stress in particular can have a negative impact on digestion – just think of irritable bowel syndrome. That is why we should make sure that our eating habits are adjusted to the intestinal flora, the intestinal microbiome.
These 7 nutritional bad habits can damage your intestinal flora
1. You eat too much
Anyone who eats very large portions at once usually feels an uncomfortable feeling of fullness afterwards. We then feel limp and without energy. The reason for this is our digestion – because if we eat so much, it has to do a lot in a short period of time. And so there is little power left for the rest of the body and our brain. Therefore, we should be careful not to eat beyond the feeling of fullness if possible. Usually our body shows us how much food it needs – we have just forgotten how to listen to it.
2. You drink too little
Our intestines need enough fluids to work smoothly. If we drink too little, the body pulls the missing fluid out of the large intestine. This can lead to constipation. The digestive fiber from food is also difficult for our bodies to process with too little water.
3. You eat too fast
Unfortunately, when we are in a hurry, we often tend to gobble down the food. We are doing our digestive system a disservice. First of all, we often swallow a lot of air when eating this way – which can cause gas and stomach pain. Second, for a healthy intestinal flora, it is important that we chew food thoroughly before swallowing it. We are already doing important preparatory work. Because the broken down enzymes in the saliva mean that chewing breaks the food down into individual parts – and digestion begins in the mouth, so to speak.
4. You eat too many white flour products
Do you love pasta and bread? Nothing speaks against the delicious grain products at first – as long as you make sure to use whole grains as often as possible. Because the alternative made from white flour not only promotes food cravings and is rich in sugar, it also contains hardly any fiber. This in turn is what our intestines need for healthy digestion.
5. You are consuming too much sugar or sweetener
If you like it sweet, you should be careful: because an excess of sugar not only damages the teeth and can, for example, promote inflammation in the body – it also has a negative effect on our intestinal flora. Have that Researchers from the Canadian University of Alberta found out.
However, artificial sweeteners are not a good alternative either, because they can negatively change the good intestinal bacteria and thus damage the body.
6. You eat too many processed foods
We actually know: Heavily processed foods such as ready-made baked goods, frozen pizzas and the like are anything but good for us. But our intestinal flora in particular suffers from the large amounts of salt, sugar (there it is again!) And the many unhealthy trans fats. The latter can even promote intestinal diseases such as Crohn’s disease or colon cancer.
7. You eat too much sausage
Salami, sausage and otherwise heavily processed meat such as ham also contain a lot of salt and fats, which damage our intestines. In addition, the preservatives that are added to preserve carcinogenic be.
Sources used: fuersie.de, vital.de