Top Tips - Gut Health No Nos by Georgie, Founder of Rebound
As a nutritionist with functional medicine training, I help clients get to the root cause of conditions or symptoms and 9/10 times this means starting with the gut so i believe that all good and not so good starts here. It is also our second brain as it uses the same chemicals and cells as the brain to help us digest and to alert the brain when something is amiss and houses 70% of our immune system so it deserves some proper attention.
We are all different but here are some generic gut health No Nos that I often see in clinic:
- Don’t take probiotics unless you have tested and need them - There is such thing as too much of a good thing and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth is becoming rife as a result
- Do not ignore the signs - It amazes me what some people put up. Don’t normalise anything uncomfortable, painful, embarassing or symptoms stopping you from doing your normal activities. Keep an eye on this chart if you need help working out what you should be aiming for too!
- Don’t peel the skin off your organic fruit and veg - no one eats enough fibre and we need this important macro-nutrient to feed the cells of our large intestine to support the breadth and depth of the microbiome, to help keep things regular, for blood sugar balancing and it is also very satiating so helps with weight management and blood sugar control.
- Avoid overeating - the Okinawans in Japan are considered one of the healthiest populuations globallly and they are very strict about eating to 80% full for better heart health, longevity and weight loss.
- Don’t be scared of intermittent fasting - the gut relishes a break from digestion for rebalancing the gut microbiome, detoxification and improving insulin sensitivity and metabolism. At least 14 hours every night is good and a longer stint once or twice/ week is great!