Five best foods to eat for your stomach and intestines to keep your digestive system healthy and in good shape. Your stomach and intestines depend on just the right balance to digest your food and prevent infection and inflammation.
What is stomach and intestines health?
When your stomach and intestines are not in good condition, this affects your mental health, blood sugar, weight, and liver. Therefore, prebiotic foods such as whole grains, bananas, leafy greens, garlic, onions, soybeans, and artichokes promote healthy stomach and intestinal bacteria. Also, probiotic foods like yogurt are full of good bacteria. At the same time, it’s also important to avoid 5 bad foods that can disrupt your digestive system, such as red meat, fried foods, foods with antibiotics, alcohol, and caffeine. Read more below about the 5 Best Foods to eat for your stomach and intestine health and 5 bad foods to avoid.
5 best foods for stomach health
Fermented foods
Fermenting is a method of preserving foods with bacteria and yeast. When you eat fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, kimchi, and sauerkraut, you get the live bacteria in them. This makes them a great source of probiotics.
Bananas
Bananas are excellent for your stomach and intestines because they are easy to digest, help soothe inflammation, and act as prebiotics to fuel healthy stomach bacteria. They are low in acid and rarely trigger acid reflux or stomach upset. Bananas supply your gut with inulin, a type of fiber that helps good bacteria grow. The fibre in ripe bananas regulates bowel movements and softens stool, which eases constipation.
Leafy green vegetables
Spinach, kale, cabbage, collard greens, and watercress are the best leafy vegetables for your stomach and intestines. They’re an excellent choice because they’re high in fibre and a special carb, both of which feed helpful gut bacteria.
Whole grains
Whole grains like oats, quinoa, brown rice, barley and bulgur are rich in dietary fibre, which adds bulk to stool, prevents constipation, and acts as a prebiotic to feed healthy stomach bacteria. This is how it works. Your body can’t break down fibre on its own. So, when it gets to your large intestine, your stomach bacteria get to work fermenting it. This creates acids that feed cells in your intestines while helping to protect your stomach from harmful bacteria.
Polyphenols
These compounds in foods protect your cells from damage while fighting inflammation and infection. Colorful foods are rich in polyphenols, as are tea, coffee, and red wine. Polyphenols in green tea may help fight “bad” bacteria like E. coli and calm symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and peptic ulcers. Polyphenols can also promote the growth of good stomach bacteria.
5 bad foods for your digestive system
Fried foods
Fried foods are very bad for your digestive system because they absorb large amounts of unhealthy fats and oils, which can damage healthy stomach bacteria. Also take much longer to digest, often causing bloating, stomach pain, cramping, and acid reflux, particularly if you have a sensitive stomach or conditions like IBS.
Alcohol
Alcohol, especially if you’re a heavy drinker, can disrupt the balance of bacteria in your gut and help bad bacteria grow. Moderation is key, which is defined as consuming up to one standard drink per day for women, and up to two standard drinks per day for men.
Red meat
Red meat can trigger the growth of stomach bacteria that lead to clogged arteries. So stick to lean protein sources such as fish or plant protein like beans and tofu. If you can’t give up beef, pork, and lamb completely, choose leaner cuts with names that include round, loin, or sirloin.
Foods treated with antibiotics
Antibiotics can’t tell the difference between “good” and “bad” bacteria, so they kill them all. Often, farmers treat animals with antibiotics to keep them from getting infections. If you eat these animal products, you can kill the healthy bacteria in your stomach and intestines. And because some bacteria become antibiotic-resistant over time, you might end up with a hard-to-kill superbug.
Caffeine
Coffee, for most healthy adults, is not inherently bad for your stomach and intestines. But it can increase stomach acid production, speed up bowel movements, and trigger acid reflux, heartburn, or diarrhoea in people with a sensitive stomach or pre- existing conditions. Coffee, soda, and even too much chocolate can up the caffeine in your body, which ramps up your intestines and causes diarrhoea.
