Ill digestion is something no one wants to deal with, yet something we’ve all experienced at some point or another. Digestion can wreak havoc on your mood, your body, and can ruin your social life and sense of well-being. I suffered dramatic digestive problems for years when I ate a diet high in animal products, sugar, and refined foods. Even after I ate healthy foods and gave up processed foods, I still had severe issues that never seemed to go away no matter what I tried. Switching to a plant-based diet was like turning a light switch on inside my body. Within literally days, every negative health issue just sort of dissipated on its own. I felt like a new person and couldn’t believe the difference one simple change had made for my digestive health.

Improving your gut health is important since what goes on inside controls nearly every aspect of your health. Eighty percent of your immune system is located in your digestive tract, which means when your gut is compromised, so is your immunity.

A plant-based diet that’s full of clean, whole foods can improve your digestive health and immunity all in just one week. To get the best results, follow these tips:

1. Start With Non-Starchy Veggies and Greens

Green Superfood Detox Smoothie

Non-starchy vegetables are a healthy mainstay of any diet, but especially important if you’re a plant-based eater. Non-starchy vegetables provide high amounts of nutrients, with low amounts of high-glycemic carbohydrates. This not only makes them friendly to your blood sugar but also easier to digest. Non-starchy vegetables are easier for the body to break down than starchy foods that cause fermentation in the gut. Some great examples include: leafy greens, celery, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, artichokes, bok choy, cabbage,and green beans (which are more like a vegetable than a bean and low in starch and carbs.) Be sure to cook your vegetables well so you digest them even easier.  Making a gut-friendly green smoothie with fresh leafy greens is a quick and easy way to improve your digestion even further, and a delicious one at that!

2. Go Slow With Beans and Legumes

Chickpea Salad Stuffed Avocados

Beans and legumes are wonderful, healthy foods for their nutritional benefits. They contain magnesium, potassium, protein, iron, B vitamins, and are full of fiber to keep you full and to keep you regular. However, as most of us know, they aren’t the easiest thing for a plant-based newbie to eat. I’ve been plant-based for seven years now and still don’t tolerate them too well. However, since they are wonderful choices to include in the diet, I’d suggest you starting slow with beans and legumes instead of going overboard or mixing them altogether. Start with chickpeas, edamame, green peas, lentils, and black beans, all of which are a little more tolerable and easier to digest than some beans like kidney and pintos.

3. Embrace Healthy Fats

Homemade Cocoa Coconut Butter

Healthy fats are necessary on any diet, plant-based or not. Though a low-fat vegan diet may be beneficial in many areas, some healthy fats are needed for optimal digestion and for overall health. Fat helps the body produce bile, which is critical for a healthy functioning digestive system. Bile also helps elimination and can help the body digest food properly. Healthy fats also help your body absorb the nutrients you’re consuming from other foods better, such as those from vegetables and greens. Some vitamins, such as Vitamin A, D, E, and K, are also fat-soluble, which means you have to eat fat for them to be absorbed and metabolized. Include healthy fats from plant-based foods such as: avocado, coconut, hemp, chia, flax, raw nuts, and nut butters. A few tablespoons a day or more is likely all you’ll need to get dramatic results in your digestion. Try making your own coconut butter if you have some time. Coconut is an anti-viral agent to ward off fungus and highly beneficial for your gut.

4. Go for Ancient Whole Grains Versus Refined Grains

Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower With Chickpeas and Quinoa

Even if you’re not sensitive or allergic to gluten, opting for gluten-free, ancient whole grains in place of refined grains that contain gluten. Since highly processed sources of gluten can be a potential problem for digestion, go for gluten-free, ancient whole grains like quinoa, amaranth, millet, and teff instead. These are some of the healthiest grains you can eat and contain no potential allergens like glutinous grains such as wheat, barley, oats, and rye do.

5. Eliminate Most All Processed Foods

Bright Beet Salad With Quinoa and Toasted Pepitas

Processed foods can weaken digestion over time, even if you seem to tolerate them well. Chemicals, methods used to produce food, and extensive exposure to a wide variety of processes make them less than optimal when it comes to making healthy food choices. Even those that seem nutritionally healthy on a label or that are gluten-free, raw, vegan, etc. will still be less optimal than whole, clean, plant-based foods will. If you do have to buy processed foods, be sure to choose those with a short ingredient list and those free of refined and added sugars. Sugar and chemicals reduce your good gut bacteria, so you’ll want to avoid purchasing items that contain them however you can.

6. Eat Foods That Are Good for Your Gut

Cucumber Kimchi

Part of having a healthy gut is eliminating the bad bacteria we encounter from the environment, chemically-based foods, mold, and foods containing harmful yeasts (such as cheese and bread) and replacing them with foods that can help your body produce healthy bacteria instead. This includes fermented foods like kimchi, miso, coconut yogurt, and sauerkraut, which contain plant-based probiotics, along with vegetables, leafy greens, low-glycemic fruits like berries, green apples, cucumber, tomatoes, squash, and avocados. Low-glycemic foods are optimal for gut health since reducing the sugar intake in your diet will keep your gut bacteria healthy and well-balanced. You’ll also want to consume a few other plant-based foods that improve digestive health to assist you even further.

Be sure you know How to Deal With Digestive Difficulties on a Plant-Based Diet and you’ll be on your way to gut bliss in no time!

Recommendation: Download the Food Monster App

If you enjoy articles like this and want more, we highly recommend downloading the Food Monster App. For those that don’t have it, it’s a brilliant Food app available for both Android and iPhone. It’s a great resource for anyone looking to cut out or reduce allergens like meat, dairy, soy, gluten, eggs, grains, and more find awesome recipes, cooking tips, articles, product recommendations, and how-tos. The app shows you how having diet/health/food preferences can be full of delicious abundance rather than restrictions.

The Food Monster app has over 8000+ recipes and 500 are free. To access the rest, you have to pay a subscription fee but it’s totally worth it because not only do you get instant access to 8000+ recipes, you get 10 NEW recipes every day! You can also make meal plans, add bookmarks, read feature stories, and browse recipes across hundreds of categories like diet, cuisine, meal type, occasion, ingredient, popular, seasonal, and so much more!

For more Animal, Earth, Life, Vegan Food, Health, and Recipe content published daily, subscribe to the One Green Planet Newsletter! Lastly, being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!