267: How To Maximize Gut Health Naturally With Fiber: A Guide to Plant-Based Vitality

Speaker 1: 0:58

Hey there, sunshine. When you want to feel better, the truth is your gut health. It really matters. This is super important. So today we're talking about what are prebiotics, why do they matter and what is the best way to get them for optimal health. Let's go. Hey sister, welcome to the power on plants podcast. Are you tired of staring into the fridge wondering what to eat so you can just feel better? Do you want to avoid spending hours in the kitchen making complicated meals in the name of health? Would you love to leave fatigue behind and finally have the energy to do all the things you want to do? Hi, we're shared in an eatery cell Christ followers, healthcare professionals, parents of four and big fans of great tasting food. We, too, tried exercising more, eating natural and clean foods, but we still found ourselves struggling with what we thought were changes that come with age or bad genes, and we weren't finding answers to traditional routes. So we dug into the research and created our secret nutritional weapon sustainable plant based living. The truth is, you can eat more whole plant foods and it's not hard. You just need the way. That's realistic and delicious so you never feel deprived If you're ready to enjoy your meals, no longer be held back by your health struggles and actively live your life, then you're in the right place. So grab your favorite plant based cup of happy pop in those earbuds and let's get started.

Speaker 2: 2:28

I don't know about you. I don't know where you are right now, but as for Anita and I, it is cold down here, so cold Florida. It does get cold, especially over in the panhandle, and I joked with somebody not too long ago that it's summer in Florida, but we're just having cold summer right now.

Speaker 1: 2:46

Now, if you're up north, please don't hate us.

Speaker 2: 2:48

Don't hate us.

Speaker 1: 2:49

yes, I mean we're talking 40 degrees. We're in the 40s.

Speaker 2: 2:51

That's freezing bad 70s a bit chilly. Now. You just get adjusted to the heat. Even though it's cold and you may not feel like going outside, you still have the opportunity for community.

Speaker 1: 3:03

So that's true, that is so true.

Speaker 2: 3:06

Yes. So if you have not joined us in our podcast Insiders Experience, please do so. We love all the people coming in. It's been just such a wonderful experience and the only thing it's missing is you. We need you to join us.

Speaker 1: 3:20

And being a part of pie is going to warm your heart. See what I did there. See what I did there. I really mean that we have I'll turn to Jared the other day and I said we have the best group of people. I mean the best plant based group that I know of. I've been a part of a lot of them and it's like you can come in here and share a life and you don't have to be on social media. By the way, if you don't like social media, you've totally found your fan. We don't either we don't love social media, and if you do love it, that's okay too. We're not going to judge you. You just probably won't be with us there. So we really are all about getting you results in social media. It can be so distracting. It can so easily pull you away from what's really important in your life. I think our enemy uses social media to distract us. Along with many other things, it's one of its primary tactics. When you're in a group like this and you can stay inspired and encouraged and gain the ideas that you need, you are going to go farther and so much faster too, and that's what we're here for.

Speaker 2: 4:25

Okay, you're probably asking I want to be a part of this. How do I do it? Go to poweronplantscom P-I-E. That's slash. That's poweronplantscom slash pi Podcast Insiders Experience.

Speaker 1: 4:38

Yes, poweronplantscom forward, slash P-I-E and we will see you there. We can't wait to get to know you more. And today we are talking about what are prebiotics, why do they matter and what is the best way to get them into your life for optimal help? If you've known us for long, you know we're all about making things simple. So this is the Making Prebiotics Simple episode, and we want to start out by making sure that you know that your gut is inhabited by trillions of bacteria Trillions. You might have heard them referred to as your gut microbiome. Some of these bacteria are good and some can be harmful to your body, and your health is determined in large part by the ratio of these bacteria that are found in your gut. So everyone's gut microbiome is different. It's made up of different ratio of these bacteria good versus bad, beneficial versus harmful. So the goal here is for the good gut guys we call these the beneficial gut bacteria to thrive, and the other goal is to starve the bad guys. This shows that the composition of your gut bacteria is greatly affected by what is on your fork and goes into your mouth. So your diet matters a lot here. Now I'm not talking about dieting when I say diet. We mean what you're eating. Yes, the way you're eating. What you eat travels directly through your digestive tract. So the question is what do the good gut bacteria eat? What do they thrive on? What's their food? Their food is fiber. Have you heard of prebiotics before this episode? Have you heard of prebiotics? Well, that's what fiber is. Fiber is a prebiotic. Prebiotics are not Digested by the body, but instead they act as food for the beneficial bacteria in your gut. Your good gut bacteria feast on these prebiotics, this fiber, and then, as a result, they make short chain fatty acids. You might have seen them written as SCFAs short chain fatty acids. Now, what are short chain fatty acids that are being made by these good gut bacteria? They can be used by our intestinal cells for energy, but, even more importantly, they have anti inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. Now, when you're talking about fighting inflammation, this is going to affect so much of how you feel and what you're able to accomplish in life, because you know how you feel when you're inflamed You're hurting, things aren't working right. Inflammation that's chronic, that goes on and on day after day can cause many different Diseases. So when you have the good gut bacteria, they're eating these prebiotics, this fiber, on a regular basis, that you're feeding them through the food you eat.

Speaker 2: 7:28

They are, in turn, making for you these anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer short chain fatty acids and this has ramifications not just for your gut, which it does help there because it helps to reduce inflammation, which allows your body to heal that one cell layer thick lining in your intestines that helps to separate the food from your body, because what we don't want are food molecules that are too big to be absorbed. Then the body sees it as something foreign and then may create an allergic response or at least an inflammatory type response. But those are absorbed into the bloodstream, travel all around the body and even can impact your brain. It can help to lower inflammation and the brain.

Speaker 1: 8:11

So it really? What are you talking about there? Are you talking about the short chain fatty acids? Short chain fatty acid yeah okay, that makes perfect sense to me. So when that happens and that affects your body in a positive way because they can then be, absorbed by your body and travel Around, and they're affecting different areas, not only your digestive tract.

Speaker 2: 8:29

Right and a common one is called butyrate. So if you've ever heard of butyrate, that is a short chain fatty acid.

Speaker 1: 8:35

Well, here's something that's very important for you to remember when your goal is having a body that feels good. Animal products do not contain any prebiotics.

Speaker 2: 8:47

Okay, no fiber at all and a muscle fiber, which is simply a term for a muscle cell. They call it fiber because they're very, very long cells, but that is absolutely not the same thing as Fiber found in plants that is not a prebiotic.

Speaker 1: 9:04

Just think about that for a moment. I want you to wrap your mind around what you just learned about prebiotics, how they use their food for your good gut bacteria. And if you're not eating the foods that contain them, or you're eating a lot of the foods that don't, you're fueling the poor gut bacteria because the good gut bacteria are not thriving and the bad ones can get out of control. So remember, animal products contain no prebiotics, no fiber at all. And the second most important thing to remember here is that plants are Filled with prebiotics, they are full of fiber and that's going to feed your good gut bacteria. It's what they're down there crying out for right now. I need food, feed me fiber. I need my prebiotics because that's what they eat. Now, of course, they don't have lingo, they don't know what they're called. These are names We've given these things right, but we know that's what they're fueled on. And so if we want to have our good gut bacteria flourish so we don't have high inflammation, so we reduce our risk of cancer, so we, our body, can be making the short chain fatty acids that travel all over our body and they help to find inflammation and fight disease, then we want to be eating the foods that are filled with prebiotics.

Speaker 2: 10:20

Now you might be asking okay, you've got me convinced, I want to eat more prebiotics. What's the best one that I can get? Well, really, there is not just a best one. I mean, what they know in the research is that there are a lot of them and that different bacteria feed on different ones. So if you were to try to isolate it to one specific one, like a popular one, it's called Inulin Now it looks like the word insulin without the S, but it is called Inulin and certain foods like vegetables, asparagus our favorites garlic, onion leeks these are good sources of Inulin. If you were to go out and buy it in a commercially available form, we would get a supplement. Yes, you're getting just that one and certain one. Certain bacteria in our guts may love that, but then others may not and you're going to get an imbalance and that's not good.

Speaker 1: 11:13

It can be dangerous. Not only to do that, to buy one off things like that and it could be a waste of your money because you're buying these expensive prebiotic supplements and you're not getting as many as you could get if you spent that money on food. I mean, I think about all the great food you could buy, what you could be getting and everything else. They're packaged with right. God made these things in packaged. He didn't make them to be eaten one by one, like I've got this amount of this prebiotic on my plate and this amount of this prebiotic on my plate. It's not that complicated. God's ways just are not that complicated.

Speaker 2: 11:46

But then you're not getting all the other stuff. So like with garlic and onion. We've talked a lot about all the different health benefits that go with it. So if you're stripping just that one prebiotic off of it, then you're missing all the multiple benefits, whereas you can just cook with the whole foods. But to this point there are even prebiotics that in the research they have acknowledged that there are some that are there. They just still don't know what they are yet. So we've got ones that we know without a doubt are prebiotics. But there are probably others in food that certain bacteria may use that we just haven't been able to isolate or identify. So the takeaway message is just get a good variety of plants. Another popular prebiotic would be pectin. I mean pectins that have been stripped out and used for jellies. Well, why don't you get them in their food? You can find them easily in things like apples, apricots, green beans, raspberries, potatoes, tomatoes. Again, just eat these foods and you're naturally getting them anyway.

Speaker 1: 12:49

If plant foods are filled with these amazing prebiotics which feed your good gut bacteria. Again, like Jared was saying, many of us have our brain go to this point where we say, well then, which plant foods should I be eating? And Jared's named off several different by name and I'm sitting over here going oh, we probably shouldn't even name any, because I know what happens. Then you're making a list of all those different things and you want to have that list of specific foods for the next time you go shopping so you can buy just those foods and start eating those. But that is not going to be to your benefit here. So we could give you a full list of specific foods which contain prebiotic that you should start fretting over eating today. But we want to make this super simple for you so you can stop worrying so much about this specific food or that specific food. When you start worrying so much over one specific food or another to get one specific nutrient you're after, you can easily get sidetracked, miss out on other important nutrients that actually increase its use or absorption or conversion, and even start eating too much of that one thing to the detriment of others. So here's the easy way to be sure that you're getting the prebiotics that your good gut bacteria require so that you can thrive. And that is eating a lot of the five power foods.

Speaker 2: 14:13

Even to what you just said. I gave a list of the different foods. It should have sounded a lot like what's already in your fridge and your pantry.

Speaker 1: 14:21

Let's just say that's true. If you've been listening to us for any amount of time we have over 260 episodes now and growing. You may be listening to this a couple of years down the road and there are way more than that and we give actionable steps every time. So if you're finding your new favorites and you got one and then another and another and you're buying the ingredients for those and you're using those ingredients over and over again and then you're adding a new one that you love and you've got another thing that you love and there's all these wonderful things to eat in your fridge and pantry and freezer, it's like Jared's saying those things are already there for you to enjoy.

Speaker 2: 14:57

You already have them. These are not special, different foods that you have to go out and get.

Speaker 1: 15:01

No, and that is why we love eating this way. It is so very freeing and it can be so simple. But we do believe it is super important for you to understand the why behind it, the science behind it, so you can be freed from all the lies that you believe, from our enemy, the things he uses to keep us distracted. So, right here, you just want to get more of the five power foods. What are they? Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds and legumes. Why? Because all of them yes, even fruit, even a banana, has fiber. There are a couple of different types of fiber, but you need to get all of these. Don't worry about is it soluble, is it insoluble? Just get the fiber, get the nutrients, get these things that you want. So we know now, we've reviewed for those of you who've been here for a while and we've talked about for the first time if you're just joining us for the first time what are the five power foods. Why? Because these are the whole plant foods fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and legumes and within each of those categories, there are many foods for you to enjoy. This is not limiting. This is gonna be the easiest way you've ever eaten when you learn how to make it quick, simple and delicious. So the foods that you would think don't even contain much fiber, like fruit that we just talked about, contain more than you would think. It is there, and fiber is healing. Say that with me. Fiber is healing. Listen, there are so many of us that have spent our lives constipated. Yes, I'm going there. I'm going there. This is super important because there's so many people that will not talk to you about this and it causes a whole host of problems.

Speaker 2: 16:40

Well, this is just a natural process of digestion.

Speaker 1: 16:44

Seriously, it's real life and we're all about real around here. This affects more than you realize If you do not have a healthy gut, and you cannot have a healthy gut if stuff is sitting there rotting in your system for days and possibly even a week or more. That's not normal. So you've got the nasty products that your body's trying to get rid of, trying to flow through and it can't move because there's no fiber. And now your bad gut bacteria are thriving and your good ones can't because they don't have the fiber, and so things move slow because all you're eating is animal products and dairy or that's the majority of what you eat, with your little side of vegetables that makes you feel good. Oh, I got vegetables. You know how I eat my broccoli about two times a week and I ate a little sparrigus here and there. Yeah, you need to be filling your plate with those things every day, and I'm not saying this to make you feel bad. This is no condemnation zone. Just look at getting more today than you did yesterday and finding the way to do that that you actually enjoy, not doing it just because you feel like you need to. You've got to get them in a way you actually enjoy because it works with your real life. It's quick, it's simple, it's delicious. I'm gonna say it over and over again but that's the method, that's it.

Speaker 2: 17:53

This is our passion. This is actually what brings healing. So we keep saying it over and over again, because we know that new people may listen to this, but also, too, sometimes we need repetition.

Speaker 1: 18:03

I always need repetition.

Speaker 2: 18:04

Sometimes we need to hear it multiple times so that it can become incorporated into us. We can believe it. It just becomes part of our mindset. It's your new habit.

Speaker 1: 18:13

It's like it redefines your character. It redefines the way you think. Once you have these things that you say, it's like we were talking about on the episode a couple back and we were talking it's such a good episode. We were talking about how many times you say that something is good, a food is good, oh, I love that meal, it's so good. But is it good for you If it causes you to be sick, if it causes the health struggles that are keeping you stuck? Is it good we say all these different things we talked about on that podcast that trip us up, that are not for our good or that are just not true? And so we wanna make sure we're saying those things that are true over and over again. So say to yourself fiber is healing. My gut bacteria need them for their food, my good gut bacteria, and they're not gonna thrive if they don't have it. And so when your digestive system gets stopped up and slowed down because you're either not getting enough water or you're not eating a large amount of whole plant foods, like it's the majority or all of what you're eating, things are going to slow down. They're going to stop up because you don't have the fiber that physically keeps the stuff moving through and the water, and then your good gut bacteria are not getting what they need to thrive, and so the bad ones are out of control, the good ones are worn out and dying off, and then that causes a whole host of health problems. And that is why prebiotics matter, fiber matters, and you just can't get it through meat and dairy. I mean, I was a dairy queen, I understand what this is like. So, look, we're just gonna talk real talk about bowel movements for a moment. Your poop should look like a long, smooth snake. If it looks more like a corn cob, like it's lumpy looking or it's in pieces, that is not normal and you're gonna have problems down the road with your digestive tract. That's just the simple truth.

Speaker 2: 20:04

People develop diverticulitis, where they get inflammation in their digestive tract, or it creates these pouches that develop off of the large intestines, the colon. So the two most common things that come to mind for this type of situation is diverticulosis and hemorrhoids, because you're having to work harder to move something through that shouldn't be, because it's just sitting there. It's not moving. More water gets absorbed from that stool matter, so it gets drier and harder and then your body has to work harder to eliminate it.

Speaker 1: 20:37

But then you think about that one cell thick lining in your digestive tract as you go, and so you've got that one cell lining thick and you've got something that is hard and lumpy, scraping those cells all the way down.

Speaker 2: 20:53

Plus inflammation.

Speaker 1: 20:55

That's causing problems there. It's causing problems. So you get bloated, you get polyped. There's all kinds of problems that happen when your body can't get rid of the waste or when it's difficult to do so. And let's just not even talk about the time that you waste in the bathroom. I'm serious. We have people come to us and they're like Anita Jared I had no idea Like TMI. I know it's TMI, but I had no idea. I had been constipated for so long. I thought having one bowel movement a week or one every other day was normal. This is the low down on what you should be looking for. So if you don't have the long, smooth snake and it's not at least once a day minimum, then you've got problems going on. You need more fiber. That's the sign, that is the warning sign. I need more fiber, I need more water. So up your fiber and water Now. By eating whole plant foods 100% of the time, you're already upping your water. So you're already ahead of the game and you're already upping your fiber because that's where you get your fiber. Well, if you're 100% plant based, I mean you're going to get the daily amount of fiber and there's really no way to increase it unless you just eat more plants Ding, ding, ding, and therefore that should make your job easy and that should bring to mind and jog your memory about what we've talked about in this episode today. You don't need to worry about should I get that food for more fiber and should I eat that food for more fiber? No, you want to get a wide variety of whole plant foods, so you're not going to worry about this food or that food. The best thing you can do for your health right now, today, is to learn one simple, enjoyable way to eat more whole plant foods than you did yesterday, and keep doing that day after beautiful, glorious, delicious day. And if you're not sure how to do that, go right now and join us inside Podcast Insider's Experience, where you're going to get loads of inspiration and ideas for how to walk out this plant based journey in the way that's enjoyable and will fuel your body. Well, that's at powromblantscom forward slash P-I-E, powromblantscom forward slash pi, and we will see you there. Have a great week. Sunshine, music. You.