Keeping Our Gut Happy

We now know that our gut bacteria (also known as the microbiota) are vital to our health: they enable us to digest food, manufacture vital B vitamins and brain chemicals such as serotonin which maintain mood and interact with our immune and nervous systems. They also seem to be crucial in maintaining a healthy weight.

Factors that impact on the gut bacteria are various. The modern Western diet (high in processed foods, sugar and refined carbohydrates, with low fibre and nutrient intake) is not good for the gut. A course of antibiotics can wipe out the good gut bacteria. Farmed fish, meat and dairy products often contain antibiotic residues that can also damage the gut bacteria.

Week 1: Prepare

• Record your typical eating for 1 week. How much is fast/processed/sugary foods?
• Try going veggie or at least cut out meat for a few days to increase the range of foods you eat. 
• Try the 5:2 diet as long as you eat a balanced high-fibre diet for the non-diet days. Short term fasting is good for microbes.
• Stop snacking. Increasing the time between eating may be better for you and beneficial for weight loss.

Week 2: Replace

• Use your food diary to identify whenyou eat unhealthy fast/fatty food options and replace them with hralthy options.
• Replace sugary foods with natural alternatives. Avoid artificial sweeteners as research suggests they can trigger changes that may lead to more calories being extracted from food.
  (See other posts for more information on the dangers in sugars: ~~ Artificial Sweeteners ~~ Beat Sugar Cravings ~~ Fructose Facts and More Fructose Facts ~~ Sugar facts (1) and (2) ~~ Sugar by any Other Name ~~).
• Extra virgin olive oil contains polyphenols in the oil encourage the growth of beneficial bacteria and microbes break down the oil to produce substances that help your immune system and lower blood fat levels.
• Eat whole fruit instead of fruit juice as it contains beneficial fibre.
• Avoid low fat yoghurts as they tend to contain sugar or sweeteners to replace the fat, which stops beneficial microbe activity. Yoghurts act as 'friendly tourists' in the gut; while few stay permanently, the live bugs they contains stimulate the rest of the gut bacteria to be healthy by helping to initiate anti-inflammatory processes and altering out metabolism and the way we break down other foods. (Follow the advice to avoid low fat versions of other foods, as they too will be sweetened to replace the fat.)
• Go for traditionally produced cheeses (ideally unpasteurised) such as aged Cheddar, ripened Brie or blue cheeses such as Stilton or Roquefort, which are full of beneficial bacteria and fungi.

Week 3: Rebuild

•  Add new ingredients to your diet. The more diverse the foods you eat, the more diverse your gut microbes.
• Eat plenty of plant foods: vegetables, nuts, pulses, fresh herbs and fruit. Aim for at least seven small portions a day.
• Include prebiotic foods: Jerusalem artichokes, leeks, onions, asparagus, garlic, wheat bran, broccoli, tomatoes and bananas. Most gut microbes are found in the large intestine and these foods contain non-digestable fibre, which provides food for these beneficial bacteria.
• Eat probiotic foods: traditionally produced cheeses and yoghurts, and other fermented foods (e.g. sauerkraut, kefir, miso, kimchi and tempeh) daily.

Week 4: Consolidate

• Eat mindfully and don't rush. The first stage of digestion happens in the mouth, so chew properly to help digestion and absorption.
• Studies suggest that regular moderate drinkers have greater microbial diversity than non-drinkers. (But ignore this if you are a recovering alcoholic.)
• High levels of stress may be harmful to gut bacteria, and the number and diversity of the microbiota may also affect our stress responses.
• Vary your protein, eating beans, pulses, seeds and nuts as well as meat and fish. Limit meat intake; organically farmed is more likely to be hormone and antibiotic free.
• Drink coffee as it is a good source of beneficial plant compounds called polyphenols, so a good food for gut bacteria.
• Get active as research indicates that exercise stimulates the microbes to produce a chemical called butyrate, which has a beneficial effect on the immune system.
• Eat 70% chocolate as gut bacteria break down the polyphenols it contains to produce anti-inflammatory substances that reduce stress on the blood vessels. Researchers also found that when volunteers ate cocoa extracts, their levels of beneficial stomach bacteria rose.

Source: Advice from Professor Spector Gut Makeover feature in Good Housekeeping, April 2017.