Supporting Gut Health After Antibiotics: Essential Strategies for Recovery
So you had to go on antibiotics…. I get it, sometimes it’s unavoidable.
Per the research, it can take anywhere from 2 weeks and up to 1 year for your gut microbiome to fully recover (1). The sooner you support your gut when going on antibiotics, the better.
A PSA On Antibiotics:
Restoring gut health after antibiotic use is crucial as the medication is notorious for wiping out beneficial bacteria and causing overall digestive inflammation(2).
Furthermore, chronic or repeated use comes with more risks - I’m talking things like antibiotic resistance (2) and bacterial overgrowth of bad guys like C difficile (3).
Keep reading for my post-antibiotic-use gut health tips…
Strategies To Support Your Gut After Antibiotics (PS: ideally, start these the day you start the antibiotics):
Probiotic Foods: Incorporate probiotic-rich fermented foods into your diet. Examples include things like sauerkraut, full fat, organic yogurt or kefir, and kimchi or pickled vegetables. Ideally, I like to go for those that are in a salt-based brine (vs. vinegar) that are in the refrigerator section of the store - this is to ensure live and active cultures. A little goes a long way - shoot for a forkful before 1 meal, once daily. What are they doing? Probiotic foods help to gently replenish the beneficial bacteria in your gut - a key component to optimal gut health(4).
Prebiotic Fiber: This is a biggie! (IMO the most important!) Consume prebiotic-rich foods like garlic, onions, leeks, greenish bananas or plantains, asparagus, and oats (make sure glyphosate free). Prebiotics serve as the '‘food” for the beneficial bacteria in your gut, promoting their growth and colonization (5). This therefore helps your body produce the short chain fatty acid - butyrate - one of the most important SCFA’s for rebuilding the gut barrier, stabilizing the immune system, fueling the epithelial cells lining the intestines and improving microbial diversity. A deeper dive on prebiotic foods can be found here.
Cooked Fiber Foods In General: Diversity of plants is the key to the castle here guys! Our gut loves a variety of fruits and veg BUT stick to forms of foods that are easier to digest and absorb after coming off of a blow of antibiotics. Some examples include those that are easy to digest and/or cooked. Foods like banana, cooked apple/pear, kiwis, avocado, cucumber and cooked forms of all of the following: dark leafy greens, carrot, green beans and potatoes are good options. If you’re struggling with an increase in diarrhea post antibiotics, limit things like nuts and seeds and stick to ‘pre-digested forms'‘ like nut/seed butters, sprouted nuts/seeds or blended forms in something like a smoothie.
4.Gut Repair Foods - you can check out my top recommended foods in this blog here
Spark notes: Gelatin gummies, bone broth, bone-in meats and licorice tea are some of my reccos for soothing and repairing the lining of the gut after the irritation caused by antibiotics.
5. Two Pronged Hydration: Adequate hydration includes both optimizing water intake (~1/2 your body weight in ounces at a minimum) + foundational macro mineral support every single day. Think of minerals as the key to true hydration at the cellular level! My OG mineral mocktail recipe is a great starting ground along with topical magnesium (like magnesium oil/lotion/epsom baths) and calcium-rich foods daily like raw or grass fed dairy, bone broth and dark cooked leafy greens.
6. Consider Probiotic Supplements: Consult with your health care practitioner about probiotics before taking - there are specific strains that specifically can be benefical post-antibiotics, including Lactobacillus (6) and Bifidobacterium species (7) along with Saccromyces Boulardii in cases of severe diarrhea (8).
7. Limit Gut Irritants: Limit/avoid ultra processed foods, fried foods, seed oils, alcohol and any sort of artificial sugars, sweeteners or sugar alcohols. PS: Watch the food additives! We now know that additives like stabilizers and thickeners can cause increased inflammation, reduced bacterial diversity and leaky gut (9). Examples of these foods include: mono and diglycerides, soy lecithin, carrageenan, gums and any sort of artificial colors. Stabilizers are super common in dairy free milks/yogurts/ice creams!
8. Manage Stress: Chronic stress in all its forms can impact gut health by altering motility, increasing inflammation and hindering digestion. Prioritize stress-reduction techniques such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, yoga, or spending time in nature. Better yet, try out my Breath Work For Gut Health Starter Pack; it features guided calming breath work and meditation videos designed to soothe your nervous system and create a bodily environment that accelerates healing. PS: make adequate sleep (where your body REALLY does your gut restoration/repair) a priority!
9. Test Vs. Guess If you're experiencing persistent digestive issues or symptoms you’ve never experienced before after taking antibiotics (especially weeks->months down the road) I highly recommend digging deeper with a gut health expert and getting some functional stool testing. We can chat about working together and doing testing via a free clarity call here.
References:
McDonald LC. Effects of short- and long-course antibiotics on the lower intestinal microbiome as they relate to traveller's diarrhea. J Travel Med. 2017 Apr 1;24(suppl_1):S35-S38. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taw084. PMID: 28520993; PMCID: PMC5728355.
Patangia DV, Anthony Ryan C, Dempsey E, Paul Ross R, Stanton C. Impact of antibiotics on the human microbiome and consequences for host health. Microbiologyopen. 2022 Feb;11(1):e1260. doi: 10.1002/mbo3.1260. PMID: 35212478; PMCID: PMC8756738.
Mullish BH, Williams HR. Clostridium difficile infection and antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. Clin Med (Lond). 2018 Jun;18(3):237-241. doi: 10.7861/clinmedicine.18-3-237. PMID: 29858434; PMCID: PMC6334067.
Wastyk HC, Fragiadakis GK, Perelman D, Dahan D, Merrill BD, Yu FB, Topf M, Gonzalez CG, Van Treuren W, Han S, Robinson JL, Elias JE, Sonnenburg ED, Gardner CD, Sonnenburg JL. Gut-microbiota-targeted diets modulate human immune status. Cell. 2021 Aug 5;184(16):4137-4153.e14. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.06.019. Epub 2021 Jul 12. PMID: 34256014; PMCID: PMC9020749.
Yoo S, Jung SC, Kwak K, Kim JS. The Role of Prebiotics in Modulating Gut Microbiota: Implications for Human Health. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Apr 29;25(9):4834. doi: 10.3390/ijms25094834. PMID: 38732060; PMCID: PMC11084426.
María Remes Troche J, Coss Adame E, Ángel Valdovinos Díaz M, Gómez Escudero O, Eugenia Icaza Chávez M, Antonio Chávez-Barrera J, Zárate Mondragón F, Antonio Ruíz Velarde Velasco J, Rafael Aceves Tavares G, Antonio Lira Pedrín M, Cerda Contreras E, Carmona Sánchez RI, Guerra López H, Solana Ortiz R. Lactobacillus acidophilus LB: a useful pharmabiotic for the treatment of digestive disorders. Therap Adv Gastroenterol. 2020 Nov 24;13:1756284820971201. doi: 10.1177/1756284820971201. PMID: 33281937; PMCID: PMC7692339.
Lim HJ, Shin HS. Antimicrobial and Immunomodulatory Effects of Bifidobacterium Strains: A Review. J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2020 Dec 28;30(12):1793-1800. doi: 10.4014/jmb.2007.07046. PMID: 33144551; PMCID: PMC9728261.
Song JH, Kim YS. Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection: Risk Factors, Treatment, and Prevention. Gut Liver. 2019 Jan 15;13(1):16-24. doi: 10.5009/gnl18071. PMID: 30400734; PMCID: PMC6346998.
Whelan K, Bancil AS, Lindsay JO, Chassaing B. Ultra-processed foods and food additives in gut health and disease. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2024 Jun;21(6):406-427. doi: 10.1038/s41575-024-00893-5. Epub 2024 Feb 22. PMID: 38388570.
