Four Types of Foods the Gut Loves Most

Introduction: Food affects health through the gut microbiome. To "take care" of your gut, provide it with ample nutrition, avoid constipation, and maintain a strong intestinal function, we can achieve a healthy body. In fact, the gut has its own food preferences, which we should pay more attention to in our diet.

Coarse Grains: Replace half of your white rice and flour with coarse grains.

To keep your gut comfortable, you must first boost the population of intestinal probiotics. Probiotics love foods rich in dietary fiber and oligosaccharides, with whole grains and coarse grains being at the top of the list.

But look at our bowls; they are almost all white rice and white steamed buns. The dietary fiber we get from our staple foods cannot compare to what we consumed two or three decades ago. According to statistics, the average dietary fiber intake of Chinese residents in recent years is around 15 grams, which fails to meet the recommended amount of 20-30 grams.

Replace half of the white rice and flour in your home with whole grains and coarse grains. Choose several varieties at a time and cook them into porridge in an electric pressure cooker—it's simple, time-saving, and nutritious. Alternatively, soak beans for 8-12 hours and coarse grains for 2-4 hours before cooking them into a coarse grain porridge, which will be softer and easier to digest.

Stir-fried Coarse Grain "Cat Ears"

Starchy Vegetables and Legumes: Use dried beans as a staple and fresh beans as a side dish.

Both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber are abundant in sweet potatoes. If you're not used to coarse grain rice, chop sweet potatoes, potatoes, and other starchy vegetables into small pieces and steam them with rice to avoid a nutritionally monotonous staple diet.

Legume foods like green beans, red beans, and soybeans contain even more dietary fiber than starchy vegetables. Soybeans, in particular, are not only rich in dietary fiber but also contain oligosaccharides that promote probiotic growth. Fresh legumes such as tender peas, fava beans, and edamame also contain a good amount of dietary fiber and make for excellent side dishes.

Root Vegetables: Use burdock and carrots in vegetable soups.

Root vegetables like celery, burdock, and carrots are also foods that the gut prefers. Burdock, in particular, is known as "Oriental ginseng" for being rich in coarse fiber. It not only relieves constipation but also helps prevent various chronic diseases. For a vegetarian soup, burdock and carrots are excellent ingredients. Simply simmer them lightly and season for a clear, delicious broth.

Don't forget fruits either. Apples, oranges, dragon fruit, kiwis, and others contain relatively rich dietary fibers such as cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, and gum, which have a positive effect on gut health and cancer prevention.

Kinpira Burdock

Seaweed: Serve it cold as a salad or in a soup for a delicious and nutritious meal.

Wakame is very inexpensive but is an excellent seaweed that is high in dietary fiber and protein, low in fat, and rich in minerals and vitamins. Sea lettuce has a tender and smooth texture, is rich in trace elements like magnesium, calcium, and iodine, and also contains soluble dietary fibers like algin. Agar-agar has a very high content of plant gum, which absorbs water and expands in the intestine, making it very helpful for relieving constipation. Middle-aged and elderly people can eat more of it.

Sea lettuce and other seaweeds have a high sodium content. Soak them in water for a while, blanch them in boiling water, squeeze out the excess water, chop them up, and mix with salt, soy sauce, minced garlic, and sesame oil. Additionally, seaweed soup, nori soup, and sea lettuce egg drop soup are also excellent choices.

Pork Bone and Kelp Soup