The 3 Foods to Avoid for a Healthy Life

Trillions of microorganisms living in your digestive tract may seems not be the sexiest subject, but it’s a hot topic in the health world lately. And for good reason: Over the past decade, research has brought to light how your gut (a tube by which bilaterian animals (including humans) transfer food to the digestion organs) plays a role in almost every aspect of health, including digestion, immunity, fat storage, and the heart.

Studies suggest a healthy gut may even help clear up skin conditions, such as eczema and acne, and may make you less susceptible to stress, anxiety, and depression. Like most things in life, it’s all about balance: You want the “good” bacteria (like lactobacillus) to outweigh the “bad” bacteria. If this balance is thrown off, it can lead to a compromised immune system, inflammation, more fat storage, and other adverse effects.

Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as simply letting the good bacteria flourish. There’s a lot out of your control that affects your gut life such as where you live, where you were raised, and personal lifestyle. But there is one major way to influence your gut health that’s 100-percent in your control: what you eat.

Certainly, there are foods you should be eating to boost gut health and also there are also foods you must avoid to help your gut life. The top three foods are listed herein

1. Conventional Meats and Poultry

At some point, we’ve all taken a course of antibiotics, which are designed to do pretty much what it sounds like: kill bacteria. But antibiotics don’t discriminate they go after good and bad bacteria alike. While you shouldn’t refuse the meds your doc prescribes, research shows consuming antibiotics when unnecessary can do serious damage to your gut flora.

If you’re eating meat from livestock that’s been treated with antibiotics, you may be exposed to extra antibiotics without realizing it, studies suggest. While the use of some antimicrobial drugs in livestock to treat diseases is approved by the FDA, there are concerns when they're used to help animals gain weight or when drugs intended for human consumption are given to animals, which has been linked to antibiotic resistance in humans. These concerns have prompted some of the biggest poultry producers to resolve to curtain antibiotics use in their chickens.

2. Artificial Sweeteners

If you thought fake sugar was a miracle sent from heaven to make all things sweeter sans calories, think again, Alpert says. Researchers suggests that sucralose—the main ingredient in Splenda—can significantly alter the balance of bacteria in the microbiome. In one small study, after consuming artificial sweeteners for just one week, many of the participants began to develop glucose intolerance—the first step on a path to metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and a host of other health issues. “It’s scary that one food additive can have that big of an influence on your gut,” Alpert says.

3. Genetically Modified Soy

While fermented soy is good for you, it may be wise to cut back on soy products that have been genetically modified. The point here is that the herbicide used on soy crops has been shown to kill off many species of beneficial gut bacteria in animals (but not enough evidence conclusively shows the same for humans). While research in this area is still ongoing, there aren’t many good reasons to choose to eat soy. It also contains phytic acid, which messes with digestion and has been linked to gastric issues, such as gas and bloating.