Arguably, gut health is one of the most important parameters to look into when one considers an individual’s overall health and well-being. A healthy gut ensures proper digestion and absorption of nutrients from foods consumed and therefore, regulates other body functions. Dr. Peter Attia elaborated on this in a detailed account.
In his conversation with podcast host Chris Williamson, he listed some of his gut health essentials, along with non-negotiable foods to keep in mind. These included consuming good quality probiotics and insoluble fiber to help the gut bacteria flourish.
Dr. Attia began by addressing some issues with the quality control of over-the-counter probiotics and how the live bacteria present in them often didn’t survive by the time they got to the consumer. Since the very point of consuming probiotics is the intake of live good bacteria, it renders them useless.
Meanwhile, Williamson asked Dr. Attia to reveal one crucial nutrient that people needed to include in their gut-friendly diet. The physician recommended insoluble fibers without skipping a beat.
“This is the most important thing you feed your gut. So you know for all the arguments why, you know, vegetables in particular matter, this is the most important.”
One could argue that consuming greens in the form of supplement powders can be enough since it was meant to replace veggies. However, Dr. Attia pointed out that they couldn’t account for the fiber content that would otherwise come with whole vegetables.
“We can all drink those things and we’re getting a lot of the vitamins that come in the vegetables…but the fiber you can’t get in volume in that.”
Insoluble fiber from various sources is necessary to feed the gut and is beneficial since it helps keep one satiated. Dr. Attia once talked about a similar situation concerning the consumption of red meat.
Dr. Peter Attia had some bold takes on red meat consumption
With talks of red meat’s links with cancer going around, Dr. Attia felt the need to explain the context and reveal his take on the subject. He clarified that unless the meat in question was highly processed and of questionable quality, he didn’t feel it had any direct relation with the disease.
Furthermore, he revealed that the context of consumption was crucial in such cases since people’s poor dietary choices were likely causing more trouble than consuming red meat. Particularly, the absence of insoluble fiber in one’s diet could lead to several issues in the long term.
