5 dirty habits that disrupt your gut and tips to fix it

Did you know your gut is home to 100 trillion microbes?

These microbes are collectively known as your “gut microbiota”.

They live in harmony with your body and have a HUGE impact on your health.

They help promote everything from the movement of food through your intestines, to helping you absorb nutrients and even protecting you from infection.

Poor gut health, on the other hand, has been linked to conditions like obesity, metabolic issues, anxiety, depression, heart disease, autism, and much more.

What disrupts a healthy gut?
Keep reading to find out the 5 dirty habits that disrupt your gut as well as tips on how to fix it!

Dirty Habit #1: Processed and inflammatory foods

Think refined carbohydrates and industrial seed oils.

These types of foods increase your risk for gut dysbiosis – or the unequal balance of good bacteria and harmful bacteria in the gut.

This causes inflammation and lays the foundation for other adverse health effects to occur.

Dirty Habit #2: Not eating enough fiber

The helpful bacteria living in our gut depend on dietary fiber to fuel all of the important things they are in control of.

If you’re not eating enough fiber, you’re depriving those essential bacteria of fuel which leads to an overall reduction of the beneficial bacteria in your gut.

Dirty Habit #3: CHRONIC stress

Takes a toll on your gut by altering the microbiota, which is more than likely one of the main mechanisms stress is able to contribute to many chronic health conditions.

Dirty Habit #4: Antibiotics and even non-antibiotic medications

Like birth control pills and NSAIDSs also significantly alter the diversity of your gut bacteria.

It can take up to a year after completing one round of antibiotics to get your gut back on track, so repeated rounds of antibiotics and non-antibiotic meds are significant risk factors that contribute to an unhealthy gut.

Dirty Habit #5: A disrupted circadian rhythm

Causes imbalances in the gut microbiome and unhealthy sleep patterns also compromise the integrity of your gut barrier.

Now let’s talk about what you can do to heal your gut because let’s be honest, it’s not entirely possible to completely steer clear of all of those contributing factors.
So I’m going to give you my top 3 tips to heal your gut naturally and improve your overall health while doing so:

Tip #1: Remove and add

REMOVE the processed and inflammatory foods that riddle your diet and ADD whole-foods that are nutrient-dense to your eating template.

Tip #2: Emphasize healthy sleep habits and manage your stress levels

Aim to get seven to eight hours of high-quality sleep a night, maintain a regular sleep schedule, and avoid blue light exposure before bed.

And incorporate practices like yoga and meditation into your daily life to better overcome stressful situations.

Tip #3: Develop a healthy movement routine

To help keep your gut microbes in tip-top shape. Just a reminder, you want to stray away from heavy bouts of cardio because that can actually set the state for gut dysbiosis.

Those are my top three simple, daily habits you can start implementing TODAY to give your gut microbes a helping hand.

If you want even more guidance to getting your (gut) health in order – check out my free downloadable Align Wellness Guide for even more insight and ideas.