- Eating fiber and fermented foods is good for gut health and overall well-being.
- Fermented foods like kimchi, yogurt, and cheese boost gut microbiome diversity and immunity.
- You can incorporate these foods into your diet in salads, sauces, and cheese boards.
You might have heard by now that eating lots of fiber and fermented foods is good for your gut health.
From our ability to fight off viruses to how we feel emotionally, there's a growing wealth of research to suggest that the state of a person's gut can impact their overall health in many ways.
Most people already consume fiber, which is found in plants such as vegetables, beans, and nuts, but fermented foods such as kimchi and kombucha are less central to the average Western diet. A gut health dietitian shared tk easy ways to add more fermented foods to your diet.
Fermented foods are created when live bacteria or yeast are added to foods like tea, vegetables, or milk. The process produces a range of vitamins, organic acids, and compounds that promote health, Tanzil Miah, a gut health specialist dietitian at The Gut Health Clinic in London, UK told Business Insider.
The gut microbiome, the trillions of microbes that live in the colon lining, contains some "good" microbes and "bad" microbes.
There's evidence that eating fermented foods that contain probiotics (the "good" microbes) makes the microbiome healthier and more diverse, which can be beneficial for digestion, immunity, and overall health, Miah said.
"Essentially what we know is our gut microbiome loves diversity," she said, and fermented foods help the gut digest more foods.
Miah shared three ways she makes sure she eats at least two servings of fermented food a day.
Add kimchi or sauerkraut to salads and sandwiches
Both kimchi and sauerkraut are made from fermented cabbage and sometimes a mixture of other vegetables like radishes or carrots.
Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish that's fermented in a tangy, spicy sauce, while sauerkraut is fermented by lactic acid bacteria.
They both contain probiotics and kimchi might help to lower cholesterol and reduce insulin resistance, according to Healthline.
Miah always has one of these dishes on hand and adds them to salads or sandwiches. "Or just have it as a little bit of a side so you can just mix it in with dishes," she said.
Yogurt as a sauce or marinade
Yogurt is made when bacteria are added to milk. It's a popular fermented food that might already feature in your diet, but if you're limiting it to breakfast time you're doing it wrong.
Miah incorporates yogurt that contains live cultures, such as Greek yogurt, into her diet as a dipping sauce or marinade.
She might marinate chicken in yogurt and spices or use it as a dipping sauce if she's making chilies or curries.
As well as containing probiotics, yogurt is a good source of protein, calcium, phosphorus, and B vitamins.
Make yourself a cheese board
Another easy and luxurious way to get some more fermented foods into your diet is by treating yourself to a cheese board every couple of weeks, Miah said.
Not all cheeses are fermented, but most aged cheeses are. Miah tends to go for Parmesan, Edam, Gouda, but Blue cheese and mature cheddar are good too, she said.
There's some evidence to suggest that eating cheese can boost the diversity of the gut microbiome, but Miah recommended buying a locally produced, high-quality cheese.
"Lots of things are being mass produced at the moment in the fermented food space, and they're not necessarily as good quality. So I would recommend buying if you can, things that are locally produced," she said.