All things can help improve your gut health, including exercise, stress reduction, eating foods that support your microbiome regularly (looking at you, leafy vegetables, avocados, and foods high in prebiotics and probiotics ).
Of course, being able to recognize the signs of poor gut health will help you measure your progress. But perhaps just as useful is the ability to detect signs of a healthy bowel. Below are three that a gastroenterologist says are green flags that things are moving in the right direction.
3 positive signs of a healthy gut that you can ignore
1. Your morning routine includes a normal BM
Everyone’s emergence and glow rituals look different – maybe start your day with meditation or a warm glass of water with lemon (or lime) to hydrate. But one thing everyone should have in common is emptying, says gastroenterologist Mark Pimentel, MD, an associate professor of medicine and gastroenterology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. “People often do not know what ‘normal’ is when it comes to bowel movements, but in an ideal world you should wake up in the morning and do it,” he says. “It’s absolutely crucial. We call it a daily pattern, that is, it is on the clock. The physiology of the intestine is designed in such a way that when you wake up in the morning, the colon wakes up, contracts and takes all the material from yesterday in a place where it can be removed.
Are you not in this circle? Consider adopting some of these golden rules for consistently healthy evils, according to doctors. (And BTW, if you do badly regularly, but at a slightly different time of day, that’s great too.)
2. You get the murmurs
It is a common misconception, says Dr. Pimentel, that the sounds of your snoring stomach always indicate that you are hungry. Instead, he says, it is also often a sign of a healthy gut in what he calls a “dishwasher operation”.
“These murmur sounds are called the migratory motor complex,” explains Dr. Pimentel. “Every 90 minutes, when you are not eating, this wave of cleansing comes. So when you hear it, do not be ashamed. It’s a beautiful thing. “
According to Dr. Pimentel, the human gut is designed with two computer programs: the nutrition function and the cleansing function. “You need time to clean like a dishwasher. If you eat all day, you do not leave time for the “cleansing” portion, which the intestine needs to prepare for your next meal “.
3. You feel full of energy and carefree
It turns out that not needing an afternoon nap (or coffee) can just be a sign that your gastrointestinal tract is well on its way. The science behind this, according to Dr. Pimentel, is simple: Whether we know it or not, the digestion process requires significant energy. “When you are busy with digestion all the time or have problems with digestion, most of your energy reserves go to your stomach and not necessarily to your brain, lungs and other internal systems. “When digestion is normal, you will probably feel less tired, because your energy can be used elsewhere in the body.”
Oh Hello! You look like someone who loves free workouts, discounts on modern wellness brands and exclusive Well + Good content. Join Well +, our online wellness community and unlock your rewards right away.