Ways To Restore Your Gut Microbiome

by Heather David Posted on February 4, 2022

The human intestines are populated by trillions of microorganisms known as the human microbiome. In essence, your microbiome is its very own complex ecosystem. Although the microbiome consists of a wide range of microorganisms such as bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoa and viruses, it’s primarily populated with bacteria located in your gut.

Photo: Shutterstock/Alpha Tauri 3D Graphics

Microbiome 101

Your microbiome communicates, cross feeds, combines, and evolves with you and your environment. Simply put, you depend on your gut microbiome, and your gut microbiome depends on you – one can’t thrive without the other. The micro-organisms living in our gut perform a wide range of useful and health promoting activities; however, they can also be responsible for the development of different diseases.

In today’s world, your human microbiome is often exposed to harmful factors such as poor dietary habits and increased stress levels that impact the effectiveness of your microbiome’s functions. These factors can lead to an increased chance of developing various chronic conditions.

The mechanisms that maintain perfect balance in our gut remain unknown; as each individual’s microbiome is unique, tracking the exact links is problematic. But it’s widely known that when the microbiome is pushed beyond its optimal functioning capacity, the individual enters a pre-disease or a disease state.

Causes Of An Imbalanced Gut Microbiome

As industrialization swept through the world, developing nations began witnessing changes in individuals’ microbiota. Organisms such as H. pylori, and the ratio between Prevotella and Bacteroides species, both of which serve as indicators of a healthy gut, experienced changes that corresponded to altered gut function and poor health.

An imbalanced gut microbiome can be caused by a variety of things such as: candidiasis, dysbiosis, alcohol, stress food allergies and food sensitivities, poor diet, celiac disease, parasites, hypoxia, pharmaceutical drugs, and exposure to toxins.

Dysbiosis

Dysbiosis is defined as a microbial imbalance that most often affects your gut or intestinal tract. The gut is host to many different microorganisms; some good, some bad. An overgrowth of bad microorganisms, including bacteria, parasites, fungi, yeasts, or other organisms, can lead to dysbiosis. Having too many of these intestinal pathogens can cause intestinal inflammation that contributes to digestive diseases, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, irritable bowel disease, and candida overgrowth.

Treating dysbiosis can take several forms. A study on the use of ozonated water and rectal insulation in patients with intestinal dysbiosis confirmed the validity of the treatment with ozonated water combined with rectal insufflation to control the symptoms linked to dysbiosis. This treatment, combined a nourishing diet, a healthy and active lifestyle, and clinically proven strain-specific probiotics can effectively combat dysbiosis. Reducing antibiotic use and the heavy intake of processed foods also plays an important role in treating dysbiosis.

Unfortunately, the standard Western diet lacks sufficient microbiota accessible carbohydrates, which subsequently disrupts the balance of the gut because it can’t feed the beneficial bacteria. Insufficient diets can also contribute to the onset of various inflammatory chronic diseases.

Restoring Your Gut Microbiome

Returning to a healthy and balanced gut microbiome requires a holistic approach and specific steps that can help rebuild its diversity. A microbiome-supporting diet can combat dysbiosis while also improving your metabolism and immunity.

Dietary habits that have been shown to improve microbial diversity and improve overall gut health include:

Avoiding nonnutritive sweeteners
Avoiding highly processed foods
Reducing alcohol intake
Reducing excessive caffeine intake
Reducing red meat intake
Avoiding meat manufactured with antibiotics
Avoiding hormone-enriched dairy products
Drinking filtered water
Avoiding plastics when cooking/heating foods (plastics contain bisphenol A,S, and F, which harm gut microbiota)
Using glass, ceramics, stainless steel instead of plastics

Additionally, you can improve the functioning of your microbiome by making dietary changes, including increasing your intake of the following foods: