Looking After Your Gut Made Easy

Gut health is a hot topic at the moment for good reason, most people will suffer some sort of gut symptom at some point in their lives and many will have ongoing problems. The research is showing more and more that our gut health is very much linked to our overall health and wellbeing, even our long term health and risk of disease so it is an important part of our health that we need to look after! If you do suffer with ongoing gut problems, definitely seek the advice of your specialist or head to your GP if you haven’t spoken to anyone yet to make sure you get the individualised care that you need. Here are my easy top tips to promote a healthy gut that everyone can include:

Eat a variety -Eating a range of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats and protein is the easiest way to support your gut and encourage a healthy, diverse range of gut bacteria.

Watch for gut irritants – If you are prone to gastrointestinal symptoms, look out for caffeine, alcohol, spicy foods and very fatty foods as these can be quite irritating to our gut and may make your symptoms worse!

Focus on the fibre -Fibre is the best thing you can do for your gut! Not only does it help keep us regular, it is also our gut bacteria’s favourite food and helps to keep them nice and healthy which keeps you and your bowels nice and healthy! Eat plenty of veggies and swap some of your white carbs for brown options.

Try some fermented foods – Foods such as kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, miso and kombucha all contain live bacteria. Try using kefir in place of your normal milk for an easy introduction!

Watch your mental health! – Our brain and our gut are highly linked and feelings such as stress and anxiety can have a big impact on our gut and really can cause symptoms to flare up. Try and find ways to help remove that stress from your life or ways to manage it – this includes stressing about your diet and what you eat! Exercise, meditation and hobbies are all good options.