BENGALURU: Your gut feeling is always right”, this saying holds good both literally and metaphorically. Food breakdown includes ingestion, digestion, absorption, assimilation and excretion. Absorption and assimilation are the crucial steps which decide our intestinal strength. Hence, paying heed to the kind of food you ingest is important. Bloating, constipation, heartburn, flatulence, nausea, and diarrhoea are common indicators of an unhealthy digestive tract. It also depends on your lifestyle that includes your meal-timing pattern, sleep timings and your activity level. Thus, an active lifestyle and a diverse and balanced diet taken in small quantities at frequent intervals, is the key to a good gut.
Five super foods for your diet
A traditional meal (rotisabzi or rice-rasam or ragi ball-sambar or jowar roti-brinjal bharta): A combination of a cereal and a pulse (or legume) gives the best of amino acids, thus giving you a good quality complete protein along with satiety, giving you the required amounts of fibre.
Monkey jack fruit (or lakucha or vate hannu; can be consumed in fish sambar or eaten as a fruit): A hyper local fruit that is usually found in the Malnad region (tropical and warm climate) is sour and tangy. It contains copper, zinc, vitamin C and flavonoids, which are good for your skin and are an immunity booster. When dried for 3-4 days under sunlight, it can be used as a flavoring agent in fish sambar/curry.
Garlic: Inulin is the compound that is present in garlic apart from allicin which is a good prebiotic which feeds the existing micro flora of the gut. It also increases bowel movements and improves overall digestion. Research also says that it increases calcium absorption. Hence include garlic in your chutneys/curries/tadkas.
Kokum: Used frequently in Maharashtrian, Konkan and Gujarati cuisine, it is a good antioxidant and a powerful digestive aid. Kokum can be consumed as a sherbet, as a fruit, or as a substitute for tamarind in curries. It’s a natural coolant which comes with a good amount of fibre, giving you early satiety.
Mangoes: The King of Fruits comes with a lot of inherent advantages. It is high in fibre, short chain fatty acids and other bioactive compounds which prevent gut dysbiosis (imbalance in the gut bacteria) that is brought about by high fat feeding. Include a mango (fruit/curry/pickle) in any form on a regular basis.
There are other options too like home-set curd/buttermilk, tender coconut water that are easily available and help in maintaining a healthy gut. Any abnormal symptoms in the body related to digestion should be consulted with a medical practitioner and dealt with through proper treatment. (The author is a dietician at Apollo Spectra Hospital, Bengaluru)