How to take care of your gut; the simplest and the easiest way taught by KINS

Many media outlets have covered the topic of intestinal health, and there are many different ways to maintain your gut health.

However, some of you may feel depressed by the amount and complexity of information about gut care.

In this article, we KINS the specialist of the microbiome, will introduce the simplest and easiest ways to take care of your gut.

 

How is gut health important? The function of intestinal flora related to constipation and rough skin

Have you ever heard of the term "intestinal flora"? This refers to the approximately 100 trillion microbiome that lives in the intestines. It was given this name because it looks like a flower garden when looked under a microscope.

The role of this intestinal flora, or more specifically, the role of the microbiome, is to feed on what is in our body and produce something else.

For example, lactic acid bacterium, a representative of the good bacteria, produces lactic acid when it eats oligosaccharides. The lactic acid keeps the intestines acidic and prevents the rise of bad bacteria.

The intestines are connected to all the organs of the body. Recent studies have shown that constipation and rough skin have been improved by regulating the intestinal environment.

In other words, gut care means "maintaining the balance of the intestinal microbiome and achieving physical and mental health."

The intestinal flora can be classified into the following three types.

1)Good Bacteria: Microbiome that does good work for the body

2)Bad Bacteria: Microbiome that does bad things to the body when they increase too much.

3) Opportunistic pathogen: Microbiome that becomes allies of the dominant bacteria.

Simply put, it is crucial to maintain the good bacteria dominant in intestinal flora at all times.

Now, let's take a look at some specific ways to do gut care.

The first step to good gut health is “taking in” the microbiome

I can almost hear you saying “Wait, there are already 100 trillion microbiome in our gut, and you're still taking in?"

But the important thing for gut health is to create a situation where the good bacteria predominates in the intestines.

 

Unfortunately, some people do not have enough so-called “good bacteria." In such a condition, efforts to grow the microbiome are unlikely to be fruitful.

It is why the so-called "probiotics" method of taking in the microbiome to our body becomes significant.

 

There are two main ways to take in the microbiome: supplements or fermented foods.

With supplements, you can easily inoculate a large number of lactic acid bacterium.

There are more than 250 types of lactic acid bacterium, and the microbiome that suits each person is different.

Therefore, it is more effective to take in as many kinds of them as possible.

 

Fermented foods, on the other hand, can be incorporated into your daily diet.

 

Since each fermented food has a different microbiome used for fermentation and substances produced, it is key to take in a variety of kinds in moderate amounts.

 

Below are the five fermented foods we KINS recommend.

 

[Top 5 Fermented foods For Microbiome Care]

1. Miso (Japanese fermented bean paste): You can take in koji mold and lactic acid bacterium. Also, a large number of amino acids and vitamins are contained by fermentation.

2. Nukazuke(Japanese vegetable pickles fermented in rice bran): In addition to the lactic acid bacterium, there are a wide variety of microorganisms such as yeast and various microbiome.

3. Natto (Fermented soybeans): Bacillus natto is called "transient flora" which does not settle in the intestines. It promotes the increase of Bifidobacterium and inhibits the growth of bad bacteria.

4. Kimchi(Korean side dish): Vegetable lactic acid bacterium derived from kimchi are resistant to stomach acid and can easily reach the intestines alive.

5. Soy yogurt: Soybeans are fermented with lactic acid bacterium. It also contains isoflavone, which is good for women's health. Excessive intake of dairy products causes acne, but soy milk doesn't.

 

Do you want to know more about the power of fermented foods? Click here.

Why Fermented Foods Can Make Your Skin Beautiful

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How to massage and stretch your body to make your gut care more effective

There is also another way to care for intestinal flora besides diet.

Recent studies showed that having moderate exercise to improve blood circulation is also effective for intestinal health.

  

According to one study, the intestinal microbiota of active people who exercise are rich and diverse in the kinds of microbiome that have a positive impact on health. (*1)

 

We KINS encourage our customers to do any kind of exercise, e.g. yoga, walking, and stretching for 30 minutes a day.

 

But if exercising is not your thing, we recommend "intestinal massage".

It's easy, relaxing, and makes you feel good. It would also be nice to give it a try after taking a bath.

 

Here are its easy steps; 

1) Small Intestine Massage

First, warm up your oil, cream, or milky lotion in the palm of your hand.

After blending it in your palm, apply it along the navel area.

Then use the soft part of your fist to lightly press and stimulate.

 

2) Small intestine acupressure

Push following two pressure points;

Chūkan: Midway between the midrib and the navel.

It is an acupuncture point for the stomach and activates the large and small intestines.

Tensu: An acupuncture point for the large intestine. It is located about two lateral fingers from the navel to the left and right.

It is said to be an effective point for improving the digestive system and the flow of bowel movements.

3) Relax the iliopsoas muscle

Since the iliopsoas muscle is not a surface muscle, rub it with both hands as if you were peeling it off.

4) Strengthen the iliopsoas muscle

Lie on your back and move your left and right legs alternately as if you are pedaling a bicycle.

 

Try each step above ten times a day.

Intestinal massage is especially effective when the body is warm and relaxed, such as after a bath.

 

 

For advanced: How to grow and protect the microbiome

We have already mentioned that taking in the microbiome is the first step in gut care, but there are other two steps you need to do to regulate your intestinal flora.

 

Please keep in mind that there are three important things in gut care.

And other two are; growing the microbiome and avoiding things that disrupt the microbiome.

 

The principal function of the microbiome is to take in substances from the body as food and produce other components. In other words, what we mean by "growing microbiome" here is to provide them with food to take in. Soluble fiber, oligosaccharides, and resistant starch are the best food sources for this purpose.

 

In addition, we must avoid inhibiting the microbiome as much as possible by increasing bad bacteria or damaging the good bacteria.

The sweets, meat, alcohol, bread, artificial seasonings, etc., that we eat regularly also contain substances that are undesirable to the microbiome.

We at KINS recommend taking care of your intestines by focusing on the microbiome.

In this article, we have introduced an effective way of gut care for everyone interested in intestinal health.

Just by regulating your intestinal flora, you may be able to solve your whole body's problems. The intestines and microbiome have such potential.

 

Understand the function of the microbiome. Take care of the microbiome throughout the body. These are the two what we KINS call "microbiome care."

Daily microbiome care is the simplest and most effective way to care for your intestines' health.

Why don't you spend more comfortable days with KINS?

References：
・（※1）「Exercise Modifies the Gut Microbiota with Positive Health Effects」
Vincenzo Monda, Ines Villano, Antonietta Messina, Anna Valenzano, Teresa Esposito, Fiorenzo Moscatelli, Andrea Viggiano, Giuseppe Cibelli, Sergio Chieffi, Marcellino Monda, Giovanni Messina