The focus on good gut health has increased dramatically in the last few years.
That is because there is a greater awareness about the benefits of having a healthy gut.
So, what does a healthy gut look like?
A healthy gut contains healthy bacteria and immune cells that help prevent your body from being impacted by infectious bacteria, viruses and fungi.
Your gut is also connected to your brain through nerves and hormones, so can help you maintain total body health and wellbeing.
So, it stands to reason that it’s not only what you eat, but when you eat that has a big effect on your gut microbiome.
We’ve been looking at how intermittent fasting (IF) and drinking black tea may positively impact our gut health. Let’s explore the concept now.
Intermittent Fasting For Gut Health
The Gut Micro-What?
Before we dive into how drinking black tea can positively impact your gut health, let’s learn a little bit more about the gut microbiome and intermittent fasting.
The microbiome is essentially all the microbes (bacteria, bacteriophage, fungi, protozoa and viruses) that live inside and on the human body. We have about 10 times as many microbial cells as we do human cells, and 38 trillion microbes in the gut microbiome alone.
Animal studies on Intermittent Fasting’s effects on the gut microbiome suggest this eating pattern could be beneficial for human guts, too. Potentially as a treatment for diabetes, a way to boost immunity, and a way to transform ‘bad’ fat to ‘good’ fat.
While there’s strong evidence that certain kinds of fasts can help with preventing heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, regulating blood glucose, and helping blood pressure, it’s not clear exactly how – or to what extent – the microbiome is involved in all this.
But we’ve had some encouraging insights.
Looking Into Fasting For Gut Health
Studies of individuals participating in fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan showed increased levels of beneficial gut bacteria. Fasting also increased the number of different species in their microbiome, and how diverse and evenly spread those species were. All these factors are associated with a healthy gut microbiome.
Other fasting studies have shown fasting to lead to a decrease in the amount of harmful bacteria in the gut. When fasting, our body’s cell cleaning processes (autophagy) can really get going: fasting activates the body's own “garbage disposal”.
The change to our intestinal flora caused by fasting speaks for itself: our diet influences the bacteria in our intestines.
Fast For Better Immunity
It would make sense that there could be a connection between a healthy gut microbiome and a healthy immune system. And it turns out approximately 80 per cent of your immune system is found in the gastro-intestinal tract. The gut bacteria work with your immune system so that your body is able to recognise the difference between a foreign invader and your body’s own tissues. This is crucial in order for your immune system to recognise when to fight.
Finding: we should be doing anything we can to keep our bacteria in prime fighting condition. So, what do our gut microbes want?
Feed The Good, Eliminate The Bad
Gut microbes help us metabolise food, protect against pathogens, and bolster our immune system. Although the science linking gut microbes to health and disease still has a way to go, researchers are learning that beneficial gut bacteria have nutritional preferences of their own. Appealing to our gut microbes by including foods they prefer in our diets can expand communities of beneficial gut microbes.
This is where probiotics and prebiotics come in. Probiotics are beneficial live bacteria found in certain foods or supplements. Prebiotics are types of fibre that feed the friendly bacteria that are already in your gut, helping them to thrive.
The Prebiotic Benefits Of Black Tea
Black tea is one of the most consumed beverages on the planet. And with good reason, it has some amazing health benefits. Apart from the general anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, black tea is also fantastic for promoting good gut health.
The polyphenols present in black tea promote the growth of good bacteria and inhibit the growth of bad bacteria. Beyond that, black tea contains antimicrobial properties that can improve your immunity. It is thought that they work by killing off harmful substances in your gut, which can improve your gut bacteria and assist in repairing the lining of your digestive tract.
When you combine black tea, particularly fermented black tea, with Intermittent Fasting there are some great gut health benefits. Some people also find this combination to be an effective weight-loss method.
Discover The Easy Way To Get Your Prebiotics
The best time to feed the good bacteria in your gut with health-boosting prebiotics is during – and post – fasting period. An empty stomach is optimally prepared to absorb prebiotics for maximum positive impact on your gut microbiome.
The simplest way to get your prebiotics is to incorporate them into your diet on a regular basis. What could be simpler than drinking tea? Several Yah Cha teas focus on gut health. Try:
Yah Cha Signature Tea – containing fermented Pu’erh, an ancient prebiotic tea tonic supporting healthy digestion and providing calm energy.
Yah Cha English Breakfast – your secret, prebiotic weight-loss weapon, rich in fat-busting polyphenols.
Yah Cha Ginger Kick – a gut-health superstar to improve digestion and fight nausea.
Yah Cha Detox – soothe your stomach, restore digestive health and reduce bloating.
Drinking tea to nourish your body is a simple, pleasurable healthy habit to adopt – incorporate Yah Cha teas into your fasting for gut health ritual and show your gut some love.