A change in diet is a very vague behavior change and can have huge impacts on gut heath and microbial communities. For example, if you start eating more yogurt, you can ingest new types of healthy microbes. These microbes can act individually and with the other microbes in your gut to have better bowel movements, increased metabolism and more. Changes in diet can also have negative impacts on your microbial health. For example, animal protein can lead to inflammation and disease of the gut. Fried foods can also alter the microbial community and lead to gastrointestinal problems, liver disease and more. Almost all food and all diet change can change your gut health and microbial community.
Another way you can change your microbial community is when you eat your food. It is said it’s better to avoid snacking for better microbial health. Constant food in your stomach means that inflammation can occur in your stomach. This inflammation can also lead to diseases and cancers.
Avoiding unnecessary antibiotics can also help your microbial health. Antibiotics target bacteria in your body. Sadly, there is no way to tell the difference between good and bad bacteria in your gut. Antibiotics can help you, but they can also kill good bacteria leading to digestive problems and a lot of other complications.
Another good habit is to drink a little bit of alcohol. This sounds counter intuitive, but a beer (which has a lot of microbes) or a glass of wine can increase the diversity of the microbial community in your gut. However, too much alcohol can have a very negative effect and kill off some of the microbes.
