4 Tips On How to Increase Good Bacteria in Your Gut and Be Happier

Share the knowledge if it was easy to understand

If you have happy bugs, you’re going to be a healthy person.
Warren Peters MD

In this article, I will discuss how to increase good bacteria in your gut.

The 100 trillion bacterial cells in your bowel need looking after to keep the balance of good greater than bad. ¹

Table of Contents

Why is it important to keep your gut bugs happy?

Your bowel microbiome has many responsibilities. ¹

Assisting bowel movement
Aiding digestion and nutrient absorption
Helping with metabolism
Boosting immune function
Allowing the gut to talk to the brain

When your gut flora is out of balance, it can lead to depression and other mood disorders, obesity and diabetes, and autoimmune diseases.

My four tips on how to increase good bacteria in your gut

1. Avoid antibiotics

“Antibiotics don’t only kill the bacteria you want them to destroy, but a whole bunch of essential gut flora that you need.”

Don’t take antibiotics for every sneeze or sniffle. Most infections are viral and won’t respond to antibiotics anyway.

A big issue is that 70% of antibiotics used in the USA are given to animals, says Dr Peter in the included TED talk. This increases the possibility of unintentionally consuming antibiotics, which can alter your microbiome. ¹⁰

2. Sleep more

Your gut flora needs to rest just like we do.

Sleep deprivation negatively affects the quality and balance of your microbiome. Taking melatonin or restoring healthy sleep patterns helps restore the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio to normal.⁷

3. Exercise sufficiently

Exercising is a lifestyle change that studies show increases the number of good-quality gut bacteria.⁹

Eight weeks of moderate to high-intensity exercise, 150 to 270 minutes per week, improves the microbiome. ⁸

4. Eat the foods your gut flora love

Diet is the single most important factor influencing your gut microbiota. ¹¹

You have control over what you eat.

Read below about probiotics, prebiotics, and omegas.

how to increase good bacteria in your gut

Probiotics

These living organisms help restore good balance in the gut flora; they increase the number of beneficial bacteria. ^1,2 Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium spp. are particularly useful. They produce lactic acid, which provides an excellent environment for good commensal bacteria to flourish. ⁶

Potential sources of probiotic foods are anything fermented.

Examples are ⁵

yogurt,
kimchi (a Korean fermented cabbage dish),
kombucha (a fermented tea),
sauerkraut (fermented cabbage),
miso (a fermented soybean-based paste),
pickles, and
raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar made from fermented apple sugars.

You can also swallow probiotic-loaded capsules.

Prebiotics

Prebiotics are foods that our intestinal enzymes cannot digest. Instead, our good bacteria, like lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, feed on them and break them into functional components for us to absorb. These good flora then thrive and increase in numbers. ^2,3

Focus on a fiber-rich diet. Eating whole, unprocessed, mainly plant-based food is an excellent prebiotic source.

Examples are fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), pectin, and inulin.

Inulin also prevents the growth of infection-producing bacteria. ⁴

FOS-containing foods include onions, garlic, tomatoes, bananas, and whole wheat. ³
GOS-rich sources are whole wheat, onion, garlic, and legumes.³
Inulin is in onions, garlic, wheat, Jerusalem artichokes, and bananas. ⁴

Generally, fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains like wheat, oats, and barley are good sources of prebiotic fibers. ⁴

Fish and omega-3 fatty acids

Fish and omega-3 fatty acids improve the growth of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium spp. ²As you learn under the probiotic section, these are bugs you want in your bowel.

How to increase good bacteria in your gut with diet easily

So, what does this mean in practice? How do you get this right?

Avoid a typical Western diet.

This type of eating involves low-fiber, fast foods, refined carbohydrates, unhealthy fats, processed meats, excess red meats, added sugar, and salt. All these lead to a harmful imbalance in the gut flora. ¹¹

Eat food based on Mediterranean and traditional Japanese diets

Some of the healthiest regional diets are the Mediterranean and traditional Japanese diets. They incorporate many probiotic, prebiotic, and fermented foods. They are also anti-inflammatory; meals contain inflammation-fighting foods and have little refined carbs or sugar.²

The Japanese diet comprises vegetables, fish, fruit, sweet potatoes, seaweed, mushrooms, soy, and fermented products.

Many Westerners find Japanese cuisine an acquired taste. Here are some recipes for inspiration from Taste.com.

Mediterranean diet includes fruits, nuts, vegetables, grains, legumes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and seafood.

Read Suzy Karadsheh’s food blog page on the Mediterranean diet. She also has great recipe ideas to inspire you and advises you on how often to eat different ingredients. Remember, eat wholewheat pasta and bread where possible.

References

Guinane, C. M., & Cotter, P. D. (2013). Role of the gut microbiota in health and chronic gastrointestinal disease: Understanding a hidden metabolic organ. Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology, 6(4), 295-308. https://doi.org/10.1177/1756283X13482996 PREBIOTICS
Kumar, A., Pramanik, J., Goyal, N., Chauhan, D., Sivamaruthi, B. S., Prajapati, B. G., & Chaiyasut, C. (2023). Gut Microbiota in Anxiety and Depression: Unveiling the Relationships and Management Options. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland), 16(4), 565. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16040565
Fructose oligosaccharide. Fructose Oligosaccharide – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. (n.d.). https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/fructose-oligosaccharide
Inulin. Inulin – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. (n.d.). https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/inulin
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2023, November 3). Office of dietary supplements – probiotics. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Probiotics-HealthProfessional/
Kailasapathy, K., & Chin, J. (2000). Survival and therapeutic potential of probiotic organisms with reference to Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium spp. Immunology and cell biology, 78(1), 80–88. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1711.2000.00886.x
Sun, J., Fang, D., Wang, Z., & Liu, Y. (2023). Sleep Deprivation and Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis: Current Understandings and Implications. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24119603
Boytar, A. N., Skinner, T. L., Wallen, R. E., Jenkins, D. G., & Nitert, M. D. (2023). The Effect of Exercise Prescription on the Human Gut Microbiota and Comparison between Clinical and Apparently Healthy Populations: A Systematic Review. Nutrients, 15(6). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15061534
Monda, V., Villano, I., Messina, A., Valenzano, A., Esposito, T., Moscatelli, F., Viggiano, A., Cibelli, G., Chieffi, S., Monda, M., & Messina, G. (2017). Exercise Modifies the Gut Microbiota with Positive Health Effects. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/3831972
Ghimpețeanu, O. M., Pogurschi, E. N., Popa, D. C., Dragomir, N., Drăgotoiu, T., Mihai, O. D., & Petcu, C. D. (2022). Antibiotic Use in Livestock and Residues in Food-A Public Health Threat: A Review. Foods (Basel, Switzerland), 11(10), 1430. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11101430
García-Montero, C., Fraile-Martínez, O., Gómez-Lahoz, A. M., Pekarek, L., Castellanos, A. J., Noguerales-Fraguas, F., Coca, S., Guijarro, L. G., García-Honduvilla, N., Asúnsolo, A., Sanchez-Trujillo, L., Lahera, G., Bujan, J., Monserrat, J., Álvarez-Mon, M., Álvarez-Mon, M. A., & Ortega, M. A. (2021). Nutritional Components in Western Diet Versus Mediterranean Diet at the Gut Microbiota-Immune System Interplay. Implications for Health and Disease. Nutrients, 13(2), 699. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020699