Maintaining a healthy gut isn’t as easy as popping a magic pill. “If you’re going to use probiotics, then drink, smoke and eat badly, that’s not going to cut it,” says Georgianna Donadio, PhD, nutritionist and founder of the National Institute of Whole Health. “The entire system must be in sync; the flora is just the tip of the iceberg.”

To take a big-picture approach to your gut, consider these steps:

• Eat several small meals during the day instead of pigging out at dinner. “Cramming in all your food at the end of the day stresses the gut by giving it too much food at once,” says Leslie Bonci, a registered dietitian and director of the Sports Nutrition Center at the University of Pittsburgh. And don’t forget to drink plenty of water to keep the
food moving.

• Prioritize whole foods. That means stocking up on vegetables, fruits, nuts and legumes. If the food on your plate looks like food in the wild (e.g., grapes, not grape roll-ups), you’re off to a good start.

• Eat probiotic foods. Shoot for at least one daily serving of a food with probiotic or “live” cultures. Try yogurt, kefir (a fermented dairy drink), miso or tempeh. Look for the phrase “contains live cultures” or “active cultures” on the label.

• Bulk up on fiber. The more fiber you have in your diet, the more diversity you’ll have in your ecosystem. Aim for 25 to 38 grams of fiber a day, says Bonci. “Most people are still shy of their fiber intake.”

• Cut back on sugar. Refined sugars acidify the system and prompt the body to make more bile — and some types of bad bacteria feast on sugar and bile acids. Therefore, too much sugar may tip the bacterial balance toward the dark side. “With all the sugar we throw down these days, it’s no wonder our bacteria colonies are out of whack,” says Bonci.

Seven Ways to Tame Your Sweet Tooth

• Relax. In a 1999 study published in the international journal Gut, people in gastrointestinal clinics cited severe life stress as a precursor to their gastrointestinal problems. Although the connection isn’t clear, scientists do know that stress breeds inflammation and also upsets the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls the contractions of the intestine, thereby changing the speed at which food moves through you. Stress affects our biochemistry at many levels.

• Get seven to eight hours of sleep every night. Sleep not only regulates hormones in the gut that contribute to feelings of hunger and satiety, it also shores up the immune system. When the body is deprived of sleep, even for one night, the immune system suffers, says Bonci.

Like tending a vegetable patch, maintaining a balanced microflora environment requires daily attention. Need more good reasons to give your bacteria the respect they deserve? Consider this: “If a freeze, flood or nuclear explosion destroyed all the humans on Earth, bacteria would survive,” says Gregor Reid, PhD. “They are definitely going to have the last laugh.”

Related:

• 10 Benefits and Uses for Miso
• Eating Animalcules

As well as insulation and energy efficiency, there are other innovative heating ideas to keep your home toasty warm for the winter.

Eco Home Tip #31 – Seal up draughts – Put snakes under door jambs, get weather stripping for your windows. Heavy curtains also help keep in the heat and keep out the cold. You’ll be amazed at how cosy a room can be without any heating at all.

Eco Home Tip #32 – Look beneath your feet – the soil beneath you home acts as a natural insulator, keeping the ground warm all year round. By employing a geothermal heat pump, your home can be take advantage of this natural heat during the colder months. In a geothermal system, liquid is circulated in pupes that run beneath your home. As the liquid gets warmer, it is pumped up to a heat condensor where the heat is released into your central heating system.

Eco Home Tip #33 – Keep it low – Switch your thermostat down a single degree. When we come in from the cold, we’re very likely to crank the termostat up much higher than necessary. Remember that every degree lower on your thermostat can potentially save up to 10 per cent on your heating. Throw on a jumper instead.

Eco Home Tip #34 – Cut your system down to size – as with air conditioning, don’t go overboard with your heating. You’ll be amazed at what a single space heater will do.

Eco Home Tip #35 – Look for the Energy Star – As with all appliances, energy star ratings give a good indication of the energy efficiency of the appliance. Energy star rates furnaces, boilers and heat pumps for central heating in your home.

For more green ideas for your eco home, visit the Green Pages at www.thegreenpages.com.au