Simple changes can make major difference to gut health, Boston dietician says
BOSTON – A Massachusetts nutritionist has advice for anyone working on having a better diet in 2025. She says rather than restricting what you eat, focus on ways to improve your gut.
How to improve gut health
Gut health has become all the buzz on social media. With so much information and misinformation online, we went to get expert advice with Abigail Hueber.
Hueber is an integrative functional dietician. She runs a virtual practice in the Seaport called Above Health Nutrition. She says the gut is one of the most important factors in improving health.
"I say this to clients all the time, healing the gut is not rocket science," Hueber said.
What does gut health impact?
Your gut impacts your sleep, mood, hormones, skin and energy. Hueber shared simple and free steps everyone can take to re-set.
"Digestion actually starts in our brain. So, when we have a meal, we want to be sitting down at that meal. We want to take three deep breaths before that meal. We're allowing our brain to catch up to the fact that we're about to eat and then we want to chew our food. So, homework assignment, 15 to 30 chews per bite is actually what we're going for," Hueber said.
"Number two would be how we feed our gut bacteria. So right now, in the winter season, we want to think about emphasizing the in-season fruits and vegetables. So this is where we love our apples and our pears and our pomegranates, which would be kind of our winter fruits."
Foods for gut health
Hueber suggested eating foods deep in red color that can impact the body the way Ozempic would.
"It actually activates the GLP-1 pathway, so it really helps even on kind of all the Ozempic craze. We can actually do that with foods themselves," she said.
Hueber also recommended adding starchy foods like squash, sweet potatoes, rice, and potatoes. Resistant starch can feed gut bacteria.
"Number three would be incorporating bitter foods into your meals," she added. "And that's going to help to actually prime digestion. So we're really ready to digest your food."
You can take bitter drops or incorporate cranberry juice into your diet.
"What I like to do, because cranberries again are really bitter flavor, I like to take a little soda water," Hueber said. "this kind of makes a little bit of an almost wine kind of mocktail. We've got ourselves a little mocktail that's going to support our bitters and our digestion. And we're going to feed that beneficial gut bacteria."
Adding a shot of ginger can also help.
"Ginger is not only a stimulant for those bitter receptors, but it's also a tremendous anti-inflammatory."
If you're looking for a really quick fix without the fuss, Hueber also has a supplement recommendation - immunoglobulin.
"It's in the family of colostrum," she explained. "Even in kids it helps to kind of upregulate the GI immune system."
Eating well-rounded meals rather than quick bites will help heal the gut. Be sure to also get enough sleep for the best gut health.
