Eating for Gut Health
Your gut plays an important role in your immunity and disease prevention. Learn which foods may benefit your gut health and those that may not. We'll discuss the importance of a fiber-rich diet, pre- and probiotics, and regularly enjoying a variety of whole foods to keep your gut healthy.
Important Education Takeaways
Gut health is important for more than a healthy digestive system. It also plays a role in metabolism, mental health, immunity, inflammation, and disease risk.
Additional information on inflammation and what foods to enjoy versus avoid can be found in our Ask the RD blog.
Choose gut friendly foods to support a healthy and balanced gut microbiome.
This means eating a plant-forward, high fiber diet that should include a variety of fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans and lentils, nuts and seeds.
Limit your intake of processed foods, animal-based proteins and fats, and dietary or environmental toxins.
Learn more about processed meats in our Ask the RD blog.
Include probiotic-rich fermented foods in your meals! Add yogurt, kefir, miso, tempeh, kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, and sourdough bread to the menu.
Find more helpful information on pre-, pro-, and post-biotics and the various yogurts in our Ask the RD blog.
Focus on your overall health to maintain a healthy gut balance. In addition to eating a healthy diet, stress management, adequate sleep, and regular exercise all contribute to a healthy gut balance.
Our heart health video library shares great information on a variety of these topics. Press play!
Recipes
Recipe of the month: Grilled Artichoke
As always, this recipe is the showcase of our live taught, virtual cooking class. Our chef and registered dietitian bring the recipe to life as they walk you through food prep, swaps to meet dietary or taste preferences, plus tips and tools to support you being your own healthy chef at home.
Bonus recipe: Fruit and Nut Granola
From Jamie’s kitchen to yours, our monthly bonus recipes are published on our website and social media the 4th Wednesday of each month. We invite you to browse our recipe collection and come back often to find more flavorful and heart-healthy recipes.
We invite you to join us for the live taught, virtual nutrition classes each month to gather more information on our nutrition topics. This is also an opportunity to ask topic-related questions of our experts as well as connect socially with attendees for idea sharing. As a registered participant for our In the Kitchen program, you receive a few reminders ahead of each scheduled monthly classes, but here’s an easy to remember schedule: Nutrition Education (30-minutes, 2nd Wednesday, 12pm), Cooking Class (up to 60-minutes, 3rd Monday, 12pm).
Contributing authors: Jamie Libera, RD, LD, CCTD, registered dietitian, Providence.