The best foods for a super healthy digestive tract – and they taste so good

Nutritionist Nila Oppedisano, founder of low-carb delivery service Naked & Fresh, is a firm believer that optimal gut health starts in the food aisles.

9Kitchen caught up with her to get a full rundown of the best and most delicious ingredients for good gut health – because being healthy should also taste great. Here's what she had to say.

Gut health 

To gain the full nutritional benefits from foods, they must be digested and absorbed properly in the gut. Fermented foods are by far the best foods to improve overall gut health, increase gut-friendly bacterias, and aid in digestion. Here are some of my top picks and why I like them so much.

Apple cider vinegar

Drinking apple cider vinegar in water will help fuel and improve your digestion. The vinegar stimulates gastric juices, helping your body breakdown the foods you are consuming. When choosing apple cider vinegar, always go for the organic brands that contain the "mother".  The mother is full of prebiotics and other beneficial bacterias.

9Kitchen note: you can also use it in salad dressings and as a replacement for other types of vinegar.

Fermented foods including sauerkraut or kimchi

These tangy fermented vegetables are full of probiotics. The fermentation process converts sugar into lactic acid. Lactic acid will help restore and promote growth of healthy bacteria in the gastro intestinal tract. Cabbage, which is commonly used in fermented products, also aids detoxification and increased bowel movement due to the fibre content.

9Kitchen note: try Momofuku's Napa cabbage kimchi or Kimchi and crab pancake with banchan.

Kefir

If you suffer from irregular bowel habits, constipation/diarrhoea, or irritable bowel syndrome, kefir is something that you should add to your diet on a daily basis. Dairy-based kefir is a type of yogurt that has undergone an extensive fermentation process to increase the probiotic content of the yogurt. Unlike other supermarket yogurts, kefir is supercharged with healthy bacteria, vitamins, and minerals. It also contains a unique strain of bacteria—lactobacillus kefiri—which has been found to fight against harmful bacteria such as salmonella, helicobacter pylori and E. coli.

9Kitchen note: buy the grains online and ferment it yourself, or buy it pre-made from health food stores. 

Sourdough

Sourdough is extremely easy to get your hands on these days. Happily, it can also be seen on almost every breakfast menu in town. Unlike other breads, sourdough undergoes a long fermenting process, making it much easier to digest. The bacteria/yeast combination helps to predigest starches and grains. Sourdough bread is made with a lactic acid starter that contains strains of lactobacillus, a friendly type of bacteria that promotes the growth of other healthy bacteria. The better quality breads usually have a rich, sour-like taste, which indicates that they have been fermented for longer. 

9Kitchen note: try it in our chicken salad with sourdough croutons, raisins, almonds and capers, or poached eggs with avocado and feta smash on sourdough.