Ways to Improve Gut Health

The human body is host to tens of trillions of microbes and the largest population of these live in the gut – our gut microbiota. The right balance of these healthy bacteria is vital to feeling your best every day. As studies on the microbiota expand, we are learning how closely gut health can influence our metabolism, immune system, cholesterol levels, and possibly brain functions.

The good news is there are lifestyle changes we can make that will help promote a healthy gut and improve our overall wellbeing. Understanding the effects that poor eating habits, lack of sleep and stress have on our gut health can empower us to take action and give ourselves a serious gut check. Here are 5 daily habits than can enhance the health of your gut:

Make fiber your friend

Make sure to eat high fiber foods at every meal. While all fiber is important for digestive balance, prebiotics are certain fibers that feed the healthy bacteria in your gut. Sources of prebiotics include onions, garlic, leeks, asparagus, soybeans, apples, bananas, beans, and lentils, oats, flax seed and wheat bran.  Follow these tips to ensure you consume plenty of prebiotics:

• • Incorporate prebiotic fruits and vegetables into daily meals.
  • Add ground flax and wheat bran when baking.
  • Incorporate 3 cups of beans into your meals each week. Try black bean tacos, lentil/bean soup, or chili with kidney beans.

Note: Adding more fiber to your diet may cause some initial gastric distress. To minimize this, gradually increase your fiber intake.

Add powerful probiotics to your meals

Probiotics, the healthy bacteria that live in your gut, can be consumed in certain foods. Choose fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, miso, kimchi, and kombucha. Look for options that contain at least 1 billion CFU of healthy bacteria like lactobacilli and/or bifidobacteria. It’s important to have a source of probiotics every day to gain the health benefits. Click here for a list full of gut nourishing options available at Buehler’s store and when shopping online at Buhlers.com.

Buehler’s yogurt parfaits are a convenient way to add probiotics to your daily eating habits. Visit our yogurt parfait case for a healthful meal or snack to go!

Forget the fad diets

Avoid diets that eliminate whole food groups. Diets should include diverse food choices, in moderation. Research is showing that the microbiota has a great range of needs that a diet with a variety of foods can help provide.

Get your ZZZZs and avoid stress

Not getting enough sleep can have unhealthy impacts on your gut health. Try to prioritize getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night and talk with your physician if you are having trouble sleeping. Lack of sleep can also lead to higher levels of stress which is hard on your entire body, including your gut. Try meditation, walking, diffusing essential oils, decreasing caffeine intake, laughing, or yoga to help relax.

Consider supplements

Adding a prebiotic or probiotic supplement to your daily habits may be a great way to improve your gut health. As mentioned, prebiotics provide “food” to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut, while probiotics are live healthy bacteria. It’s best to consult your healthcare provider when choosing a probiotic or prebiotic supplement to ensure the best health benefits. Buehler’s offers a wide selection of high-quality supplements

5 Tips to Make your Gluten-Free Lifestyle Delicious & Nutritious

If you follow a gluten-free lifestyle, you know that grocery shopping and meal preparation can often be frustrating. Searching the supermarket for the right products and coming up with easy, tasty meal options isn’t always easy. Let Buehler’s be your personal shopping assistant! Our stores strive to meet the individualized dietary needs of our shoppers and we provide expert advice along with an exciting selection of new and unique products that will add taste, nutrition, and diversity to your gluten-free meals. Whether you’ve just started following a gluten-free eating plan, or you’ve been going gluten-free for a while, we’ll help you make fun, flavorful meals that will satisfy both your taste buds and nutrient needs. Registered Dietitian, Shari Steinbach, provides the following tips to help you shop for and prepare tasty gluten-free meals that are delicious and nutritious:

Emphasize nutrient-rich choices

Start by loading your cart with fresh foods that are naturally gluten-free such as fruits and vegetables, milk, unprocessed cheese, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, beans/legumes, eggs, nuts and tofu. The next step is to search out gluten-free sources of grain such as rice, corn tortillas and grits. These foods can comprise the basics of your eating plan. Then it’s time to discover the wide variety of special gluten-free items available at Buehler’s like baking essentials, snack foods, condiments and more.

Explore the store

You don’t have to go on a lengthy scavenger hunt to find gluten-free products at Buehler’s. We make it easy by having Healthy Living sections and Gluten-free tags in a growing number of our locations and we are continually expanding our offerings with delicious new products. Each time you shop, select a few new gluten-free items to try. You’ll find a variety of exciting choices in the baking, snack, pasta and cereal aisles to name a few. We also have delicious options in our frozen and bakery departments.

Currently seven of our stores are set up with the Healthy Living tags and signs: Ashland, Orrville, Massillon, both Medina locations and both Wooster stores. We hope to expand the program to all 13 stores by the end of 2021.

Find your favorite baked goods and baking ingredients

Buehler’s has a large variety of options to choose from regarding these products so it’s just a matter of finding your favorite. Look for whole grain gluten-free breads and crackers, pasta made with brown rice or bean flours and flour blends that can be substituted equally for wheat flour. The new products in these categories offer more taste and better-for-you choices than ever before and Buehler’s is committed to making them available to our customers. You’ll find many of our favorites on our Gluten-Free Shopping List, and by seeking out the gluten-free tags in the Healthy Living section of our aisles.

Be a label reader

If you are unsure about a product fitting into your eating plan, be sure to check out the label. It will tell you if a product is made with gluten-free ingredients and can serve as a short-cut for finding the right foods. Click here for a list of ingredients to avoid. Some foods also have advisory statements, like “May contain wheat,” or “Made on equipment that also processes wheat.” Some companies use them to warn allergic consumers about a real risk in the processing of a food. On the flip side, you may see statements like “Made in a dedicated gluten-free facility,” or “Made on dedicated gluten-free equipment.” You will learn the ins and outs of label reading faster than you might think.

Stock up on easy meal components

One way to always ensure you have a quick and healthy gluten-free meal on hand is to customize your kitchen those products that help you easily assemble simple meals. Click here for a one-week menu planner featuring gluten-free products from Buehler’s in simple assembly meals.

Join our Dietitians as they discuss Gluten Free Tips!

Teal is the New Orange:

Help Us Create an Allergen-Friendly Halloween

Halloween brings out the kid in all of us as a fun day of dressing up in costumes, telling spine-tingling stories, and going door-to-door collecting tricks or treats. Buehler’s wants all children, and the entire community, to have a safe and happy Halloween, including those managing allergies. A 1 out of every 13 children has a food allergy*, we’re supporting the Teal Pumpkin Project, encouraging our shoppers to offer allergen-free options to trick or treaters.

Steps to Participate

1. Plan to put a teal pumpkin on your doorstep on Halloween. Buehler’s has a variety of options available as well as stencils and pumpkins for you to paint on your own.
2. Register your house on the Teal Pumpkin Project Pledge and receive an official Teal Pumpkin Project Pledge certificate to display on your window or door for the entire neighborhood to see.
3. Offer allergen free options to trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.
4. Spread the word to your family and friends, making Halloween a fun, safe, and positive experience for all!

Allergen Free Treats and Toys

Stock up on the following allergen free options – many of which are on display at Buehler’s stores – for Halloween school events, parties and trick-or-treating.

• Finger puppets
• Bookmarks
• Bubbles or bubble wands
• Spider Rings
• Halloween Pencils
• Stamps
• Erasers
• Stickers
• Halloween stencils
• Temporary monster tattoos
• Glow-in-the-dark stickers
• Glow sticks
• Bouncy balls
• Slime
• Game books (mazes, seek and find, etc)
• Mini boxes of raisins
• Crunchy Rice Rollers
• Free2b Sun Cups
• Enjoy Life Candy Bars
• Wax  lips

Allergen-Free Halloween Snacks

Click here to find recipes for some special Halloween Snack recipes!

Allergen-Free Halloween Ideas

Here are some tips for participating in the Teal Pumpkin project. Our teal pumpkins are available at our 7 Healthy Living stores: Wooster (2), Medina (2), Ashland, Massillon and Orrville.

Blog authors

Annette Maggi, MS, RDN, LD, FAND (left) and Shari Steinbach, MS, RDN are registered dietitians helping Buehler’s Fresh Foods bring Healthy Living to life for our shoppers.

*Reference: Gupta RS, Warren CM, Smith BM, Blumenstock JA, Jiang J, Davis MM, Nadeau KC. The public health impact of parent-reported childhood food allergies in the United States. Pediartrics. 2018; 142(6):e20181235