Signs Your Gut Is Unhealthy: 7 Red Flags and Simple Fixes

Spotting signs of an unhealthy gut is the first step toward restoring balance. Common signs of an unhealthy gut include: bloating and gas after meals; irregular stools (diarrhea, constipation, or both); persistent fatigue or brain fog; sugar cravings; skin flare-ups like acne or eczema; sleep disturbances; and mood changes or irritability. Recognizing these seven red flags gives you a practical framework to act quickly and implement easy fixes that support gut health today. Simple fixes you can start today include increasing diverse fiber from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes; adding fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, or kimchi; staying well hydrated; moderating highly processed foods and added sugars; and keeping regular meal times to support steady digestion. To track progress beyond how you feel, you can use data-driven insights that quantify gut health and show where your microbiome is thriving or needs support. This is where InnerBuddies comes in as a game changer for both individuals and organizations, offering a white-label Gut Health Operating System that powers gut microbiome testing products with real, actionable metrics like the Gut Microbiome Health Index (a 0–100 score) based on an exclusive IP deal with EAFIT University in Colombia, plus detailed Bacteria Abundances and Bacteria Functions benchmarked against a healthy cohort. InnerBuddies also brings depth with Target Group analysis to explore the gut pathways most relevant for specific audiences—Healthy Aging, Endurance Sport, Power Sport, Skin & Hair Health, and more—so you can tailor interventions to your goals. Its personalized nutrition advice uses data from three-day food diaries in conjunction with stool samples to tailor recommendations to your unique microbiome, while personalized probiotics and prebiotics advice helps you choose strains that align with your objectives. These capabilities provide a practical, data-backed path from recognizing signs of an unhealthy gut to taking precise, effective actions that fit your lifestyle or brand. Ready to see how a data-driven approach can transform gut health? Learn more about the InnerBuddies microbiome test, or explore ongoing guidance with a gut health membership. If you’re a business exploring partnerships, you can become a partner and offer these capabilities under your own brand.