I consider gut health to be one of the three main pillars of skin health (along with mindset and lifestyle). If you’re living with a chronic skin condition, paying attention to your gut health is absolutely crucial. The trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms that call your gut home impact your skin in many different ways – from modulating your immune system function to producing compounds that help your skin maintain a healthy barrier at its surface.
Unfortunately, this factor commonly gets overlooked in traditional medical settings. Even though there’s a ton of research linking the gut microbiome to skin health, this information hasn’t entirely filtered its way through the medical system yet, so even many doctors aren’t yet aware of how important it is.
To help keep your microbiome healthy, it’s important to ensure that you’re feeding the healthy species of bacteria – instead of the potentially harmful ones. To do this, you need to eat prebiotics.
What are prebiotics?
Basically, prebiotics are food for your healthy gut bacteria.
When many people think about having a healthy gut microbiome, they think about taking probiotics. These are supplements that contain healthy bacteria. In some cases, taking probiotics might help to seed your gut microbiome with healthier species. But in order for those healthy bacteria to really make a difference in your health, they need to get established in your gut. To do that, they need a food source. Otherwise, the healthy bacteria you take in might stick around for a little while, but they’ll be gone very quickly.
In fact, many people actually already have healthy species in their gut – although these might not be the dominant ones. Even if the potentially harmful species are currently more common, it’s likely that you do have a few of the healthier species inside your gut. You just need to make sure that you feed them so that they can grow.
That’s where prebiotics come in. When you eat prebiotics, you’re feeding the healthy species of bacteria that you want to promote. The more prebiotics you eat, the more healthy bacteria will be able to grow inside your gut.
In general, prebiotics are forms of fiber – carbohydrates that your body can’t digest on its own. They move through your stomach and small intestine without being broken down, and enter your large intestine, where your gut bacteria live. They’re able to digest the prebiotic and get energy from it. Some specific prebiotics include inulin, oligofructose, resistant starch, pectin, and beta-glucan.
Foods that are high in these types of compounds will help to promote the growth of healthy species of bacteria, which in turn can have a huge number of health benefits.
Which foods are high in prebiotics?
So it’s clear why it’s important to make sure that you’re getting plenty of prebiotics in order to have a healthy gut microbiome. Here are 9 foods that are high in prebiotics. Focusing on including these foods in your diet is a great way to encourage a healthy microbiome.
Asparagus. This lovely green vegetable, abundant in spring, contains high levels of inulin.
Apples. These delicious fruits, which are virtually synonymous with fall but can also be found in other seasons, contain high levels of pectin. The majority of the pectin is in the skin of the apple, so it’s better not to peel it before you eat it.
Jerusalem artichokes. Also known as sunchokes, this tasty root vegetable is very high in inulin.
Onions. Besides adding wonderful flavor to virtually any savory dish, onions also contain high levels of inulin, along with many other beneficial compounds.
Avocados. Avocados are high in pectin. They also contain healthy fats, which are great for your skin.
Leeks. Like onions, leeks are high in inulin, and offer a fantastic way to add flavor to savory dishes while also supporting your gut health.
Oats. Oats contain high levels of beta-glucan, making oatmeal a great choice for breakfast – or any other meal. There are also other grains that contain beta-glucan, including barley.
Bananas. Green bananas are high in resistant starch and pectin, so for best results, try to eat them while they’re still a little unripe. But a ripe banana is still a prebiotic food – bananas also have some inulin, even after they ripen.
Dandelion greens. Pretty much any type of green leafy vegetable has health benefits, but dandelion greens are particularly high in inulin. You might even have some in your own yard – but if you decide to pick your own, make sure it’s from an area where there aren’t any pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers used. You may also be able to buy dandelion greens at the farmer’s market or grocery store.
You certainly don’t have to eat all of these foods every single day – that would be challenging! Just think of ways that you can start to incorporate these foods into your diet as often as possible. For example, you could try oatmeal with apples and cinnamon for breakfast. Ideally, try to eat at least one prebiotic food every day, to support the healthy bacteria inside your gut.
Supporting your gut and skin health
If you’re living with a chronic skin condition, focusing on your gut health could be the missing link that helps to support healthier skin and reduce flares. Besides eating probiotics, there are lots of other ways to help support a healthy microbiome. For example, processed sugar is almost like a reverse prebiotic – it promotes the growth of unhealthy species. And while your eating habits are an extremely important factor, other aspects of your lifestyle can also impact your gut microbiome, from sleep to stress to exercise.
If you’re looking for more support as you work towards better gut and skin health, I offer a variety of online courses that are designed to help you support your skin health and your overall well-being in a holistic way. I’m also just about to open my integrative medicine clinic, so stay tuned for that!
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