If you're wondering how to improve gut health, the answer isn't one single fix; it's a set of daily habits that, together, shape the trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi living in your digestive tract. This community is known as your gut microbiome, and it does far more than digest food. It helps regulate immunity, inflammation, and even mood.
That last part surprises people. Jun Huh, an associate professor of immunology at Harvard Medical School, has spent his career studying how the gut, immune system, and brain communicate. He compares it to the way your skin, eyes, and ears send constant signals to your brain. When that gut-brain communication breaks down, he explains, it can affect far more than digestion.
Below are the 10 simple daily habits that you can follow to support your gut microbiome.
Key Takeaways
✔ Fiber feeds beneficial bacteria
✔ Fermented foods may increase microbiome diversity
✔ Sleep and exercise influence gut health
✔ Stress affects gut-brain communication
✔ Consistency matters more than quick fixes
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How to improve gut health: 10 ways, at a glance
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How To Improve Gut Health: 10 Best Ways
1. Add More Fiber
Fiber acts as a prebiotic food for the beneficial bacteria living in your gut. Eating plenty of fiber is associated with increased microbial diversity and a reduced risk of gastrointestinal issues like constipation and Crohn's disease, and it helps keep the colon healthy by reducing inflammation.
Reviewed by Robert H. Shmerling, MD, Senior Faculty Editor at Harvard Health Publishing, the guidance is direct: most people don't get enough fiber and should aim for 21 to 38 grams per day. You must focus on including the following in your diet:
- Legumes, whole grains, and avocados
- Sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts
- Berries, leafy greens, nuts, and seeds
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Worth noting: a 2021 Stanford Medicine clinical trial published in Cell found that high-fiber diets didn't move the needle on microbiome diversity over a 10-week window, unlike fermented foods. Erica Sonnenburg, PhD, a senior research scientist on the study, noted that increased fiber intake alone over a short time period appeared insufficient to increase microbiota diversity. That doesn't make fiber less important long-term; it just means it isn't an instant fix. |
2. Stay Hydrated
Water is critical for healthy digestion; it helps the body absorb and transport nutrients, aids in the production of mucus that protects the digestive tract, and helps prevent constipation. When you become constipated, your gut microbiota changes and becomes less abundant.
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Target: roughly 11.5-15.5 cups of water per day for most adults
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Watch for dehydration signs: thirst, headache, dry mouth, fatigue
If you ask How much water should you drink for gut health?
There is no universal amount that works for everyone, but maintaining adequate hydration supports digestion and helps prevent constipation. Fluid needs vary based on activity, climate, diet, and health conditions.
3. Manage Stress
The gut and brain are in constant two-way communication — what's known as the gut-brain axis. Jun Huh explains that "just like our skin, eyes, and ears send messages to the brain, the gut and the brain are also constantly talking to each other", and disruptions in that signaling can affect everyday health.
Physiologically, stress causes hormones like adrenaline and cortisol to spike, which can lead to diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, and heartburn. To manage stress, you must focus on the following:
- Belly breathing
- Relaxation therapy
- Meditation
4. Get Enough Sleep
Research published in Frontiers in Microbiology that gut microbiome composition is associated with sleep quality and sleep-related pathways. It has been found that certain gut bacteria may impact sleep in several ways, from insomnia risk to how long you stay asleep at night. Most people should aim for seven to nine hours of sleep a night.
5. Stay Physically Active
A systematic review published in National Library of Medicine found that 150 to 270 minutes of moderate- to high-intensity exercise per week, sustained for at least six weeks, had a positive effect on gut microbiota, particularly when aerobic exercise was combined with resistance training.
6. Include Fermented Foods
This is one of the best-evidenced items on the list. A 2021 Stanford School of Medicine clinical trial (published in Cell, co-led by Justin Sonnenburg, PhD, Erica Sonnenburg, PhD, and Christopher Gardner, PhD) put 36 healthy adults on either a high-fiber or high-fermented-food diet for 10 weeks.
Foods like yogurt, kefir, fermented cottage cheese, kimchi, other fermented vegetables, and kombucha led to an increase in overall microbial diversity, with stronger effects from larger servings. Justin Sonnenburg called the result "one of the first examples of how a simple change in diet can reproducibly remodel the microbiota" across a healthy adult population.
You should eat more of:
- Yogurt and kefir
- Kimchi and sauerkraut
- Kombucha and fermented vegetable brine drinks
7. Reduce Processed Food and Sugar
A 2025 review in Nutrients found that ultra-processed foods are associated with microbial imbalances and increased intestinal inflammation, while diets rich in fiber and minimally processed foods promote greater microbial diversity.
However, fiber added to ultra-processed foods doesn't behave the same way as fiber naturally present in whole foods, since it's isolated from the vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that come packaged with it in produce.
8. Use Beneficial Herbs and Spices
A peer-reviewed analysis of culinary spices found measurable, targeted effects on gut bacteria. Ginger shows antibacterial activity against inflammatory gut species like E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, while both ginger and turmeric enhance the growth of beneficial Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus species.
- Ginger supports gastric motility
- Turmeric (curcumin): under study for inflammatory digestive conditions
- Peppermint: among the best-studied natural options for digestive comfort
9. Avoid Harmful Habits
Dr. Stephanie Rutledge, gastroenterologist and transplant hepatologist at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, explains that an unhealthy microbiome can lead to a leaky gut and even liver disease — and that alcohol is one of the more direct disruptors.
A peer-reviewed review notes alcohol causes depletion of anti-inflammatory bacteria in the small intestine and colon, eventually resulting in intestinal damage with "leaky gut"; the same review found smoking modifies the gut microbiome in ways linked to worse outcomes in Crohn's disease. To maintain a healthy gut microbiome you must:
- Limit excess alcohol
- Avoid smoking
- Use antibiotics and NSAIDs only as directed by a doctor
10. Eat Slowly
Digestion involves a complex series of hormonal signals between the gut and nervous system, and it takes about 20 minutes for the brain to register fullness. Eating too quickly means satiety may arrive only after you've already overeaten.
This isn't just theory: psychologist Jean Kristeller at Indiana State University ran an NIH-funded randomized controlled study of mindful eating for binge eating that found measurable declines in binging and depression compared to standard treatment.
For a healthy gut you should:
- Chew thoroughly before swallowing
- Put utensils down between bites
- Eat without screens or distractions
Conclusion
There's no single fix for gut health and every credible source agrees on that point. A set of small, repeatable habits: eating more fiber and fermented foods, moving your body, sleeping enough, managing stress, and cutting back on ultra-processed food. None of these require perfection. Even modest, sustained dietary changes were enough to reproducibly reshape the gut microbiome of healthy adults in just 10 weeks, which is a genuinely encouraging finding for anyone looking to start.
Where you start matters less than that you start somewhere consistent. For a lot of people, that means picking one or two habits from this list say, adding a fermented food to a daily routine, or simply slowing down at meals and building from there. What you drink day to day is one of the easiest habits to adjust, and it's part of why gut-conscious ingredients have found their way into more everyday drinks, Glint Beverages included.
FAQs
What is the quickest way to improve gut health?
The quickest way to improve gut health is to cut down on ultra-processed foods, added sugars, and artificial sweeteners. You must also add a source of fermented food (like plain yogurt, kimchi, or kefir) to one meal a day to introduce beneficial live cultures.
Which 7 foods naturally boost gut health?
The 7 foods that naturally boost gut health include kefirs, banana, yogurt, kimchi, whole grains, legumes and berries.
What are the 7 signs of an unhealthy gut?
The 7 most common signs of an unhealthy gut include persistent bloating or gas, irregular bowel movements (diarrhea or constipation), new food intolerances, constant fatigue, sleep disturbances, sudden mood changes, and frequent infections or low immunity.
What is the 7 day gut reset?
A 7-day gut reset reduces inflammation and restores your microbiome by eliminating processed foods and focusing on whole, fiber-rich meals, hydration, and probiotics. Instead of drastic juice cleanses, the goal is to gently nourish the gut lining and calm your digestive tract.