5 BEST AND 5 WORST NUTRITION HABITS FOR GUT HEALTH
Jun 29, 2022Gut health is imperative to our overall health and wellbeing so today I wanted to jump into five of the best habits you can adopt, as well as touching on five of the worst habits that could in fact be affecting your gut health!
The Best
1. Diversity
The key word when it comes to gut health! Our gut microbiome flourishes when it is exposed to a range of foods and nutrients. We should be aiming for 30 different plant foods per week to support the bacteria in our gut to flourish and maintain balance. So make sure you are mixing up what you are putting in your shopping bag! My favourite way to do this is by shopping seasonally because it means as the seasons change so does the produce you are consuming and therefore it’s an easy way to ensure diversity but also the cheapest way to eat too!
2. Fibre
Fibre is the indigestible part of plant foods, which is found in vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, legumes, nuts and seeds. Essentially, fibre is fuel for our gut bugs. It allows them to thrive by improving our gut lining and can stimulate the growth of further beneficial bacteria.
Find out 12 great sources of fibre here and don’t forget to up your water intake if you increase the amount of fibre in your diet as this can help to minimise the chances of decreased or increased bowel movements.
3. Plant Based Diet.
Eating a variety and abundance of plant foods is key to maintaining and building a healthy gut flora. This does not mean you can’t include any animal products, but having your diet based around mostly plant foods is extremely beneficial for our gut microbiome (you can read more about why plant based doesn’t have to mean no animal products here). We should be eating a minimum of 5 serves of vegetables per day and if you can achieve this it is a guaranteed way to consume a mostly plant based diet. You can read more about plant based diets and what is considered a vegetable serving here.
4. Fermented Foods
Fermented foods are rich in probiotics which essentially means they are full of beneficial bacteria to support your gut. In particular, including kefir and fermented vegetables are a convenient way to add some food-based probiotics regularly to your diet. Some other fermented foods include yoghurt, kim chi, sauerkraut, miso, tempeh and kombucha. Learn more about the world of probiotics and cultured foods here.
5. Polyphenols
Polyphenols are powerful phytonutrients and a class of antioxidants. Polyphenols are broken down into metabolites in the large intestine, which are believed to be responsible for many positive effects like being protective against cancers. It is believed that both polyphenol compounds plus their metabolites can alter the population of gut flora present in our microbiome to favour beneficial bacteria and inhibit pathogenic bacteria. A fantastic way to include polyphenols in your diet is to use an abundance of herbs and spices. Find out some more sources here. And yes this is part of the reason I eat dark chocolate every day
And the worst…
1. Restrictive Diets
Diets that eliminate food groups can essentially starve our gut bacteria of important nutrients. As we discussed above, diversity is key to a healthy gut flora. Restrictive diets like keto or carnivore movements can be extremely restrictive and often lack the fuel that our gut bugs need. Stick to a whole food diet that is rich in a large variety of plant foods.
2. Creature of Habit/Eating the Same Things all the Time
It can be quite easy to settle into a pattern of buying the same foods and cooking the same meals again and again. Whether it’s due to comfort, habits or convenience, however doing this means we are limiting our diversity across the week and likely not allowing out microbiome to flourish. Ina case you haven’t picked it up by now, diversity is key!! A good way to mix things up is each week pick a new vegetable and a new fruit to try. Eventually expand this to new nuts, seeds or legumes you don’t have often. Head to my recipes and pick something new to try this week!
3. Less than 10 Plant Foods per week
Now we know that 30 different plant foods per week is the gold standard for gut health, research has also shown that those who consume less than 10 plants per week can lead to compromised microbiomes. This is mostly due to the lack of fibre you would be consuming which we know is the main fuel for our gut bugs. In fact, some research has shown that if inadequate fibre is provided our gut bags may begin to eat away at the protective mucosal layer that lines the gut and acts like a body guard so that we don’t get any unwanted substances entering the gut that shouldn’t be. If this happens, it can create all kinds of complications from IBS to autoimmune responses.
With only 7% of us currently eating the recommended servings of vegetables, which is a pretty scary statistic, it’s likely that you may fall into the category of having less than 10 plant foods per week. If that’s you, don’t stress, just give your gut some loving with an abundance of fresh seasonal veggies, fruits, herbs, wholegrains, nuts, seeds and legumes and each week try and increase until you reach 30 different plant foods per week.
4. Processed/Junk Food
Okay let’s be real here, I want you to know that I am not expecting you to have a diet with no junk/processed food. If you have been following me for a while you will know that I believe in an 80/20 balance and sometimes we can eat for reasons other than nutritive value, like enjoyment, socialising or connecting with others. However I think it’s important to point out that processed/junk food has INDEPENDENT negative effects on gut health. That means that it’s not just because you aren’t eating the beneficial wholefoods, it means that even if you are eating the beneficial wholefoods but also eat processed/junk foods, these foods can still have a direct negative impact on your gut health. So what does this mean? Keep the processed/junk food to no more than 20% of your overall diet and the 80% of beneficial wholefoods will outweigh the negative impact of the processed/junk food.
5. Stress
This is a topic that could have it’s own article entirely (keep your eyes peeled), but the link between mental health and gut health is showing some fascinating results in the current research. We’ll keep things basic here but know that mental health issues like anxiety and depression can compromise your gut health, and visa versa. I present about this a lot in my workshops, and I will be posting an article that goes more in depth soon but for now I want your takeaway message to be that anything you do to help manage and minimise stress, will be doing wonders for your gut health also.
So, there we have it 5 practical ways to optimise gut health and 5 habits to watch out for! No expensive supplements and no strict diets, just every day foods which really, we know we should be trying to consume a lot of anyway but now you know the link to your gut health, hopefully it’s more motivation for you! I hope this has been insightful, if you are interested in more gut health resources, check out these articles below.
