Behold: An Integrative Gastroenterologist's 3 Daily Gut Health Habits

Look, gut health is complicated. Your gut impacts so many bodily functions, after all (mood, skin, metabolism, etc.), and your microbiome is home to trillions of species of bacteria; it makes sense that there's still so much we don't know about the ever-evolving world of gut health.

But that doesn't mean caring for your gut requires an overly complex routine. In fact, the best gut-healthy habits are actually quite straightforward! "My three ride-or-die [habits] are really simple," shares integrative gastroenterologist Robynne Chutkan, M.D., author of The Anti-Viral Gut, on this episode of the mindbodygreen podcast. "Dirt, sweat, veg." 

First up: Spend time outdoors. "[Get] exposure to nature, soil, microbes," Chutkan explains. "That can be you sitting outside hugging a tree, or it can be [that] the food you eat is grown in microbially rich soil." 

According to Chutkan, exercise is also super essential for gut health. "If we're not moving, neither are our bowels," she notes. (Namely, increasing your metabolism increases your intestinal motility, or intestinal contractions that allow you to poop.) "Our digestive tract is a main organ of elimination. We want to be eliminating things, not just products of digestion but also viruses that may get into our bodies. We want to keep it moving." 

That may seem like a lofty goal, but according to Chutkan, it's not totally unattainable. "You get credit for that 30 with fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, grains, herbs, spices… It all counts," she says.

Simply eating more plants is already a step in the right direction, but if Chutkan had to play favorites, she recommends getting enough MACs (or microbiota-accessible carbohydrates2). "Think beans and greens for the MACs," she explains. "Things like oats, chickpeas, lentils, split peas—all of those are fantastic… Leafy greens are important, too, but really the kind of stringy, fibrous greens, so broccoli with a stem, asparagus [with] the stalk, celery, all that stringy fiber." 

Caring for your gut doesn't have to feel like a giant undertaking; in fact, you can easily incorporate gut-supporting habits into your daily routine. Even if you do nothing else, a "dirt, sweat, veg" mindset should help kick-start your journey to stellar gut health.