Your Weekly Gut Checklist
The practical version, before the mechanisms
If you want the practical version before the underlying science, this is it. Everything here is explained and cited properly in the sections that follow.
The Two Weekly Targets
2–4 servings of fermented food per day — plain live yoghurt, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, miso, or low-sugar kombucha. Start slowly and build variety over a few weeks (Section 2 covers why).
30+ different plant foods per week — herbs, spices, nuts, seeds, legumes, vegetables, and fruit all count toward the target (Section 3 covers why).
Everything Else, Briefly
Prebiotic fibre (garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, oats, bananas) feeds your existing beneficial bacteria — distinct from probiotics, which introduce new bacteria.
Limit artificial sweeteners, particularly saccharin and sucralose — evidence suggests they can negatively alter gut bacteria composition.
After a course of antibiotics, rebuild deliberately with fermented foods and diverse fibre over several weeks, rather than a probiotic supplement — see Section 5 for why.
The core reframe
Eat 2–4 servings of fermented food daily, aim for 30 different plant foods per week, and include prebiotic-rich vegetables. This costs nothing extra beyond what most whole-food diets already involve, and has a disproportionate effect on gut microbiome health.