13 Foods Good for Your Gut Health and Easy Digestion

Listening to your gut isn’t just about intuition — it’s also about physical well-being. Your gut health has a profound impact on your brain, immune system and mood.

When gut health is out of balance — due to factors like poor diet, stress or illness — it can lead to digestive discomfort.

Luckily, the tools to improve your gut health and digestion can be found close by in your kitchen or local supermarket. Choosing foods high in prebiotics (certain fibers, starches and carbohydrates that help feed the gut bacteria) and probiotics (live microorganisms that work to replenish and rebalance “good” bacteria in the gut) can help support the overall wellness of your microbiome.¹

Here are 13 foods that are good for gut health and can help support digestion.

1. Artichoke

Although they may look formidable, artichokes boast high levels of prebiotics, probiotics and fiber.² Whether you steam, boil or grill fresh artichokes or use canned artichoke hearts on salad, pizza or as a side dish, you’ll be giving your gut biome a boost.

2. Asparagus

Find fresh stalks at the spring farmer’s market or enjoy frozen asparagus year-round for a helping of prebiotic fiber. Asparagus is also a good source of an antioxidant called glutathione, which supports the liver in removing waste. Asparagus can be enjoyed chopped and added to sautés, roasted whole or even thinly sliced and eaten raw.³

3. Avocado

Beyond just being a taco topper, avocados are a nutritional superfood offering up healthy fats, fiber and minerals like potassium to promote a healthy gut.⁴ Throw avocados in a brown bag or keep them near bananas or apples if you’re looking to speed up ripening. Once they reach the perfect consistency, store them in the fridge to keep them from spoiling. Add avocados atop salads, to the side of eggs or as a delicious mashed layer on hearty whole wheat toast bread.

4. Berries

Delicate and sweet berries like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries are high in fiber and rich in prebiotics. Berries are also full of flavonoids, which offer anti-inflammatory benefits to soothe the gut and reduce symptoms from irritable bowel syndrome.⁵

While fresh berries can be pricey and hard to find outside of summer, you can give your gut the same nutritional benefits from frozen berries, too.⁶ Add them to oatmeal, smoothies or Greek yogurt for a gut-friendly berry boost.

5. Cruciferous Vegetables

Cruciferous vegetables are a family of hearty vegetables that are traditionally thought to include broccoli, brussels sprouts and cauliflower but also include greens such as cabbage, collard greens, kale and arugula. Cruciferous vegetables are a good source of fiber, can improve the diversity of your gut microbiome and contain phytochemicals that help prevent disease by protecting the lining of the small intestine.⁷ You can enjoy many cruciferous vegetables raw, but their hearty nature makes them suitable for roasting, grilling and sautéing as well.

6. Fennel

Although some people may dislike fennel due to the strong black licorice aroma of its fronds, the fennel bulb itself is relatively mild and good for the gut.² A member of the herb family, the fennel bulb is full of fiber.² It can be enjoyed thinly sliced in a salad alongside apples or roasted as a side dish for fish or chicken.

7. Fermented Foods

Many fermented foods are an excellent source of probiotics. This includes kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt and kombucha. The fermentation process utilizes bacteria to break down sugar in foods, creating lactic acid, which gives fermented food its tangy taste. When consumed, these beneficial bacteria can help improve the diversity and balance of bacteria in the gut.⁸

8. Ginger

Whether brewed as a tea, added to stir-fry or enjoyed as a pickled version often paired with sushi, ginger offers anti-inflammatory benefits for maintaining a healthy gut. Ginger is also effective at encouraging gastrointestinal motility — the speed at which food moves through the digestive system — thus aiding healthy digestion.⁹

9. Leafy Greens

Leafy greens like spinach, kale and Swiss chard are high in fiber and a host of vitamins and minerals. Leafy greens are also known to contain a certain type of sugar that encourages the growth of healthy gut bacteria.⁴

Try spinach or arugula for more tender greens or sturdy kale or beet greens for something heartier. Most leafy greens can be enjoyed raw or cooked.

10. Okinawan Sweet Potato

Okinawan sweet potatoes may look similar to other sweet potatoes from the outside, but they can easily be distinguished by their vibrant purple interior.³ Okinawan sweet potatoes have a nutritional edge over their less colorful counterparts too — while both are a good source of fiber, Okinawan sweet potatoes have been found to have antioxidants that encourage the growth of good bacteria in the gut.³ Enjoy them steamed, roasted, baked or smashed.

11. Pomegranates

While it takes some work to get to the jeweled seeds, pomegranates can offer big gut rewards. They are anti-inflammatory powerhouses that improve the digestive process as they progress through the body, and in one study, were even found to reduce irritable bowel syndrome in mice.¹⁰ Enjoy fresh pomegranate on salads, yogurt or simply by the handful.

12. Root Vegetables

Colorful root vegetables such as carrots, beets and radishes are rich in fiber, which has been shown to help feed good bacteria in your gut, as well as being high in bioactive compounds like antioxidants.¹¹

Root vegetables are readily available and have a long shelf life, making them a year-round gut-friendly option. Some root vegetables like carrots, beets and radishes can be enjoyed raw or cooked, while others like potatoes should be baked, roasted or boiled for easier digestion.

13. Whole Grains

In addition to being a good source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, whole grains — like 100% whole wheat bread, brown rice, oats, quinoa and barley — are full of fiber, which helps to feed good microbes in the gut.⁴

While whole grains benefit the gut on their own, you can amplify the benefits by pairing them with other gut-friendly foods, like serving wheat toast with avocado, oatmeal with berries or quinoa with roasted sweet potatoes.

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Author Bio

Kate Bayless is a health and wellness freelance writer with 15 years of experience. Her work has appeared in Parents, Women's Health, Beachbody and OpenFit.