By Lola Berry, nutritionist, podcaster and author.
Did you know that your gut is the key to overall wellness? It’s often the first thing we look at before treating symptoms. Think about it, we need your gut to be happy to assimilate and make the most of any supplements. Not only does your gut work to process food and absorb nutrients, but it can also affect your immune health, as well as your mood. They say that over 90% of your serotonin receptors (that’s the happy neurotransmitter) are actually located in your gut. After all, how many of us feel mentally strong when we are suffering from a stomach ache or awkward symptoms?
Statistics show that 50% of Australians suffer from digestive problems, with 1 in 7 experiencing distressing symptoms. So, with Gut Health Month coming up, it makes sense for us to look into what we can do to improve the health of our gut. Here are some of my top tips for improving your gut health.
Consider your intake of Tribiotics
This will sound like a new concept to many people, but hear me out.
You’ve probably heard about the many benefits of prebiotics and probiotics. Prebiotics are found in fruits and veggies that contain fibre and starch. They work to feed the microbes in your gut and to stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria, but they are not living organisms. Probiotics however are live organisms that are found in fermented foods such as yoghurt and kimchi. To put it simply, the prebiotics act as a food source for the probiotics.
But have you heard of post-biotics? Research is starting to show that individuals may benefit from consuming post-biotics too.
Our bodies naturally produce post-biotics as a result of the probiotics essentially eating the prebiotics. They’re quite literally the waste products of probiotics. These guys are the new kids on the block and they range from being amino acids, enzymes, liposaccharides, exopolysaccharides, to short chain fatty acids and loads more health giving bioactive compounds. This is the best gut health supplements that is rapidly gaining popularity, and you can even find combo supplements with the trifecta: containing prebiotics, probiotics, and the all-new postbiotics.
Eat the rainbow
The more colour you can get onto your plate the better, the body loves a range of different foods. Think fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes and throw in your good fats and proteins too. But it’s a the plant fibre the gut loves, the more variety the more access to phyto-nutrients, and therefore health benefits.
By including a diversity of plant foods into your diet, including fruits, veggies, nuts, legumes, herbs and spices, you will be helping to improve your gut microbiome. By “eating the rainbow” you are filling your gut with a tonne of nutrients.
Eat low-processed foods
It can be hard to avoid processed foods these days, but keeping your processed food intake to a minimum can be very helpful when it comes to digestion and a healthy gut microbiome. Some processed foods can cause inflammation in the gut, which can impact the health of your gut. Sugar is the big baddie when it comes to inflammation and it sneaks into more things then we realise like sauces, dips and even healthy looking muesli bars. Become a detective, read the label and kick processed sugars to the curb if you can.
Drink water
A very simple tip, but one most of us should be doing more of. Make sure that you consume water throughout the day, both to keep hydrated and to benefit the health of your gut. I always say aim for 1 litre for every 22kg of body weight per day, now i know you’re probable doing the maths now and thinking “far out Lola, thats loads” but just gradually increase day by day so the body becomes used to it.
Eat slowly
Eating fast or while distracted can affect how we digest our food. And it can lead to stress eating and autopilot eating. Try to eat slowly and notice the texture of the food, the sounds and smells around you and who you’re with, really connect. this is called mindful eating and it has a huge impact on not only our digestion but our levels of calmness.
By Lola Berry, nutritionist, podcaster and author.
Did you know that your gut is the key to overall wellness? It’s often the first thing we look at before treating symptoms. Think about it, we need your gut to be happy to assimilate and make the most of any supplements. Not only does your gut work to process food and absorb nutrients, but it can also affect your immune health, as well as your mood. They say that over 90% of your serotonin receptors (that’s the happy neurotransmitter) are actually located in your gut. After all, how many of us feel mentally strong when we are suffering from a stomach ache or awkward symptoms?
Statistics show that 50% of Australians suffer from digestive problems, with 1 in 7 experiencing distressing symptoms. So, with Gut Health Month coming up, it makes sense for us to look into what we can do to improve the health of our gut. Here are some of my top tips for improving your gut health.
Consider your intake of Tribiotics
This will sound like a new concept to many people, but hear me out.
You’ve probably heard about the many benefits of prebiotics and probiotics. Prebiotics are found in fruits and veggies that contain fibre and starch. They work to feed the microbes in your gut and to stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria, but they are not living organisms. Probiotics however are live organisms that are found in fermented foods such as yoghurt and kimchi. To put it simply, the prebiotics act as a food source for the probiotics.
But have you heard of post-biotics? Research is starting to show that individuals may benefit from consuming post-biotics too.
Our bodies naturally produce post-biotics as a result of the probiotics essentially eating the prebiotics. They’re quite literally the waste products of probiotics. These guys are the new kids on the block and they range from being amino acids, enzymes, liposaccharides, exopolysaccharides, to short chain fatty acids and loads more health giving bioactive compounds. This is the best gut health supplements that is rapidly gaining popularity, and you can even find combo supplements with the trifecta: containing prebiotics, probiotics, and the all-new postbiotics.
Eat the rainbow
The more colour you can get onto your plate the better, the body loves a range of different foods. Think fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes and throw in your good fats and proteins too. But it’s a the plant fibre the gut loves, the more variety the more access to phyto-nutrients, and therefore health benefits.
By including a diversity of plant foods into your diet, including fruits, veggies, nuts, legumes, herbs and spices, you will be helping to improve your gut microbiome. By “eating the rainbow” you are filling your gut with a tonne of nutrients.
Eat low-processed foods
It can be hard to avoid processed foods these days, but keeping your processed food intake to a minimum can be very helpful when it comes to digestion and a healthy gut microbiome. Some processed foods can cause inflammation in the gut, which can impact the health of your gut. Sugar is the big baddie when it comes to inflammation and it sneaks into more things then we realise like sauces, dips and even healthy looking muesli bars. Become a detective, read the label and kick processed sugars to the curb if you can.
Drink water
A very simple tip, but one most of us should be doing more of. Make sure that you consume water throughout the day, both to keep hydrated and to benefit the health of your gut. I always say aim for 1 litre for every 22kg of body weight per day, now i know you’re probable doing the maths now and thinking “far out Lola, thats loads” but just gradually increase day by day so the body becomes used to it.
Eat slowly
Eating fast or while distracted can affect how we digest our food. And it can lead to stress eating and autopilot eating. Try to eat slowly and notice the texture of the food, the sounds and smells around you and who you’re with, really connect. this is called mindful eating and it has a huge impact on not only our digestion but our levels of calmness.
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