Restore Your Gut Flora: How to Bring Your Gut Back into Balance

Most people know the feeling: a bloated stomach, energy at rock bottom, and digestion that just isn't right. This can be linked to an imbalance in your gut flora, also known as the gut microbiome. While the body is generally good at finding its own balance again, there is a lot you can do to help it along and get your gut flora back on track.

What Happens When The Gut Flora Falls Out of Balance?

The gut microbiome responds to what you eat, how you sleep, and the strain you put on your body. When the balance is disrupted, it can show up in different ways: bloating, irregular bowel movements, fatigue, and in some cases skin problems or frequent infections.

The most common causes of gut imbalance are:

• Antibiotics - a course of treatment can significantly reduce microbial diversity and throw the gut off balance
• Chronic stress - triggers the body's stress response, which through the gut-brain axis suppresses the growth of beneficial bacteria
• A one-sided or ultra-processed diet - gives harmful bacteria the upper hand, because the beneficial ones are starved of the fiber they need
• Illness and infections - can in serious cases nearly completely collapse the flora

The upside is that the same factors that disrupt the gut are also the ones you can use to restore it. Diet, sleep, and movement are the foundation.

Diet That Helps Restore Gut Flora

Diet is the most powerful tool you have when it comes to restoring your gut flora. The starting point is cutting back on ultra-processed foods, sweeteners, and alcohol, all of which actively suppress microbial diversity.

From there, it is about giving the beneficial bacteria what they need:

Fermented foods are particularly effective. Research shows that fermented foods increase microbial diversity, especially in combination with a high-fiber diet.

Prebiotic fiber is the fuel for the bacteria you want to encourage. You will find it in onions, garlic, leeks, asparagus, oats, green bananas, and chicory root.

Plant diversity is the factor research keeps returning to: the more different types of plants you eat each week, the greater your microbial diversity. This includes herbs and spices.

Learn more in our podcast, where researcher and associate professor Dennis Sandris Nielsen from the University of Copenhagen talks about the connection between fermented foods and gut health.

Lifestyle Factors that Support The Restoring Process

When working to restore your gut flora, it is worth looking at the bigger lifestyle picture, because the gut responds to more than just what you eat.

Sleep is perhaps the most underestimated factor. The gut microbiome follows the body's circadian rhythm, and research shows that sleep deprivation noticeably disrupts microbial composition. The recommendation is 7–9 hours of good-quality sleep.

Stress management is equally important. The gut-brain axis runs in both directions: the brain affects the gut, and the gut affects the brain. Chronic stress raises cortisol levels, which inhibits the growth of beneficial bacteria and can amplify inflammatory processes in the gut lining.

Exercise is a tool in its own right. Endurance training in particular - running, cycling, and swimming - is associated with greater microbial diversity, independently of diet.

Taking a holistic approach to restoring gut flora, addressing all these areas at once, creates the best possible conditions for the gut.

How do Probiotics and Supplements Help?

Probiotics and supplements play different roles in restoring gut flora. Probiotics are live microorganisms that are temporarily introduced to support the gut's bacterial composition and help it find its footing again.

Supplements, on the other hand, provide the body with nutrients that support gut wall function and the immune system, but do not directly influence bacterial composition.

Both can be useful in supporting the work of restoring gut flora, though neither should stand alone. They are best used as a complement to a healthy diet and lifestyle.

The market for probiotics and supplements is vast and can feel overwhelming. You can get a better grasp of it in our podcast, where Adam Baker, director at Science for Future Labs from Novonesis, discusses how the industry works with supplements and gut health.

How Long Does it Take to Restore Your Gut Flora?

When you are dealing with gut discomfort, you want results quickly. But how long it actually takes to restore your gut flora depends on both the cause of the problem and the steps you take.

For some people it takes days or weeks. For others, it can take months. The important thing to understand is that restoring gut flora is not a linear process.

There will be good days and bad days - that is not a sign that you are doing something wrong, but a sign that a complex system is working its way back into balance.

Improvements like better digestion, more energy, less bloating, will happen gradually, not overnight.

Check Your Own Gut Flora

A healthy gut flora is an ongoing balance you actively maintain. It starts with diet, sleep, and movement, and is strengthened by understanding what is actually going on inside your gut.

If you are curious to take a closer look at your own gut health, you can gain insight with a microbiome test from Unseen Bio.

You can also explore the podcast Mikrobiomet ("The Microbiome"), where we team up with experts to dig into everything science knows about the gut and your health. Or read our other articles on how the gut flora impacts the health. 

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By Johan Hartmann (Co-Founder)