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November 17, 2021 — 10:01 AM
The perfect gut health routine looks different for everyone, but incorporating nutrient-dense foods is a surefire way to get the ball rolling. Of course, food lists can become overwhelming quite quickly—there are tons of gut-healthy fruits and veggies to choose from—but integrative gastroenterologist Marvin Singh, M.D., tends to stick to 10 favorites in his regular meal plan.
“These are my favorite foods that have a high nutritional benefit, a combination of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, omega-3s, and things like that,” he says on this episode of the mindbodygreen podcast. “These are things that most people should be able to eat or integrate into their diet.” And, of course, they’re stellar for gut health.
So we’ll dive right into it. Below, find Singh’s top 10 staples:
“I love adding it onto a salad or mixing it on any kind of dish,” Singh says. It’s a member of the bitter greens family, he continues, “and bitters are also good with digestion and bloating.” Plus, they’re rich in calcium, potassium, folate, and a host of other vitamins and minerals; arugula is also a cruciferous vegetable, which means it’s packed with fiber and prebiotic material to sustain gut health.
“It gives a little spice to your food, a little flare to it,” Singh continues. “People say, ‘Oh, my salad is monotonous,’ well, do something different. Put some cilantro in there, put some arugula in there, and all of a sudden you’re eating something different, even though it’s really still a salad.”
On that note, Singh raves about cilantro. In fact, “I consider cilantro a super-herb,” he says, mainly because of its ability to support detoxification and balance blood sugar. (It does the latter by activating enzymes that remove sugar from the blood.) Not to mention, cilantro is chock-full of immune-supporting antioxidants, like vitamin C, vitamin A, and quercetin.
“I love this as a garnish to salad or any kind of dish. You can just throw some cilantro on there; it’s a very flavorful herb,” Singh adds.
Plus: “It’s packed with vitamins, it’s a good source of fiber, and it can be used in a lot of different ways. You can grill it, you can sauté it, you can steam it, you can even chop it into small pieces and throw it in a salad. It can be pretty versatile,” says Singh.
Another cruciferous veggie to add to the list, bok choy contains a class of gut-healthy vitamins and minerals. Says Singh, “It’s a good source of manganese and folate, and it’s also a good source of sulforaphane.” Remember, sulforaphane activates the protein Nfr2, which in turn activates certain antioxidant genes in your body. But it doesn’t just stabilize free radicals the same way consuming vitamin C might—it activates the body’s natural detoxification and antioxidant enzymes.
“Ginger is probably one of my personal favorites,” says Singh. In addition to helping when you feel queasy, “ginger can be good for bloating; it can be a prokinetic, meaning it helps with your motility.” Its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties make it an age-old botanical used for GI comfort (read all about ginger’s benefits here).
“If I told you, ‘Hey, I have a plant here that can help you with nausea, bloating, motility, joints, inflammatory response, and blood sugar balance,’ would you take it? You would say, ‘Hell yeah, I would take it!’ And it’s just ginger we’re talking about here.”
Of course, Singh had to include a fermented food on the list. “We should try to eat fermented foods in our diet regularly,” he says. “Not only do you get the benefits of eating the food itself, but you’re also getting a dose of probiotics when you eat it.” This could be helpful in modulating your immune system, inflammatory pathways, and helping you feel better digestively in your belly as well, he notes.*
He touts kimchi as a wonderful, spicy side dish, plus it includes all the benefits from healthy spices, like garlic, ginger, and chili powder.
These are not your average sweet potatoes (which are vitamin-packed in their own right, of course). Okinawan sweet potatoes (which have a rich purple color) have a sky-high antioxidant profile. “It has more antioxidants than even blueberries,” Singh says. In test-tube studies, antioxidants in purple sweet potatoes were shown to aid in the growth of a specific type of gut bacteria that have been linked to improved digestion and gut health.
That doesn’t mean Singh ignores his blueberries. See, these berries contain blue-purple pigments, called proanthocyanidins, that are superb for brain health, and they’re also packed with fiber. “You can get [around] 6 grams of fiber per cup,” says Singh. “It’s a lower glycemic fruit, and if you eat the right amount, it’s considered a low-FODMAP fruit as well.”
“There’s so much data on turmeric. It’s definitely a superfood,” Singh notes. Specifically, turmeric inhibits the production of pro-inflammatory genes, blocking the inflammatory response pathway—this, in turn, has a ton of full-body benefits, from supporting immunity to promoting gut comfort. Plus, says Singh, “it gives some nice flavor to dishes.” See here for all the ways you can use this golden spice.
Of all the healthy nuts and seeds, Singh would say his favorite is the mighty walnut. “They are a good source of vitamin E, they have polyphenols, and they can be a source of omega-3s,” he says.
Aside from their rich nutritional profile, they’re pretty versatile: “You can eat it as a snack, you can throw it on a salad (which I like to do a lot of times), you can pair it with an apple as a snack,” says Singh. “Instead of going for a bag of chips and a soda, you can go for an apple and a handful of walnuts with a green tea instead. That’s a totally different profile of nutrition you’re giving yourself.”
You can find tons of gut-healthy foods to add to your daily meals—this list only scratches the surface, but they are Singh’s all-time favorite staples. And with a load of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, their health benefits go way beyond gut health, too.
