5 Tips for Great Gut Health

Hippocrates famously said "All disease begins in the gut".

Whilst this isn't strictly true, the evidence emerging is that our gut is super important.

The gut consists of 3 elements

• Structure of the gut
• Mechanics of the gut
• Microbiome in the gut

Whenever there is a surge in a popular health trend, there is a surge in commercial exploitation.

Consequently, there are tons of pills, potions, tests and supplements that cost a bomb 💣 and have very little evidence behind them.

Here are 5 tips that will not cost anything but will improve your gut health:

#1 - Rest

Give your gut a rest in the form of intermittent fasting.

Our gut is not designed to be functioning 18 hours a day. Giving your gut a break is easy and super helpful. This helps with gut motility. The fasts do not need to be long.

Tip 1: Start with a 12 hour fast.

#2 - Remove

Remove the things that are harming the gut.

This includes things that interfere with the gut wall, the gut motility and the gut microbiome. The evidence is clear that Ultra Processed Food is harmful to your gut. The emulsifiers that are in the majority of UPF's are harmful to the tight junctions that connect the cells lining the gut wall.

Artificial sweeteners in UPF can interfere with gut motility often leading to diarrhoea. UPFs often have synthetic fibre in them. Things like polydextrose and sorbitol affect the good bacteria in the gut microbiome and often cause bloating

Tip 2: Remove as many UPF as possible from your diet.

#3 - Re-Inoculate

Create a diverse gut microbiome.

The research suggests that the diversity of the gut microbiome is important. Pro-biotics is the name given to the beneficial microbes we introduce to the gut. Adding fermented foods is a great way to introduce probiotics to your gut. Foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, and yoghurt are all great options as well as drinks like kombucha and kefir. The key with pro-biotics is to start slowly, add a variety of sources and be consistent.

Tip 3: Add fermented foods.

#4 - Replenish

Be careful what you feed your bugs.

The microbiome needs food. Some of the microbiome eg firmicutes loves sugar, so the more sugar you feed them the more they reproduce. Firmicutes are unhelpful gut bacteria and are associated with obesity. The good bacteria need pre-biotics as their food source. Pre-biotics are found in fibre. You can get your fibre from veggies. As low carbitarians, we get all the fibre we need from non-starchy veggies.

Tip 4: Follow our eating plan- Pick your protein, add veggies, add some fat, add some flavour.

#5 - Rebalance

More than food.

Another thing that is great for gut health is stress management. The gut and brain talk to each other via the gut-brain axis. Stress reduction is helpful to the gut and good health is helpful to the brain.

Sleep is also great for our gut (newsflash good sleep is good for everything!). Moving your body is also good for your gut and helpful especially for gut motility.

Tip 5: Destress, Move, Sleep.

With love

Dr Lucy and Dr Mary XX

Dr Mary Barson and Dr Lucy are the founders of Real Life Medicine. They help women who have been on every diet under the sun, optimise their health and achieve long lasting weight loss without feeling miserable or deprived.

They do this with their 3 step framework that

• Improves metabolism
• Develops mindset skills
• Provides tools to implement it easily into busy lives

With this comes increased energy, vitality and confidence.

You can avoid chronic disease and stop living life on the sidelines!