Food focus: How to love your guts and polyphenols

This week, we are focusing on your guts and how you can love them!

The number of microbes living inside our body outnumbers the number of cells in our body. The gut microbiome weighs a little over 4 pounds, more than the 3-pound human brain, and may have just as much influence on our body and mind. These bacteria are negatively affected by antibiotics, stress, the food we eat, and more, eventually leading to dysbiosis, an imbalance of bacteria that can cause other harmful bacteria to grow in its place.

Living in the culinary capital of the country, I understand the struggle. It would be totally fair to not want to do a complete 180 on your diet. So here are five foods (and some lagniappe because we’re in New Orleans) you can incorporate into your diet, to help your microbiome not just survive but thrive. Next up, we’re looking at polyphenols!

These compounds occur in brightly colored foods rich in polyphenols. These also include tea, coffee, and red wine. Polyphenols may help fight “bad” bacteria like E. coli and calm symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and peptic ulcers. Polyphenols can also promote the growth of good gut bacteria.

Berries and pomegranate
Photo by: Kelsey Kinny