So
how to promote more diversity, boost levels of good bugs and reap the health,
weight and wellbeing benefits? Here, distilled from the latest research, is a
practical five-step guide to rebuilding and recalibrating your healthy gut
bacteria, and being healthier and happier as a result.
1
Veg out
Eating
lots of veg is a key recommendation from all the new healthy gut plans. In The
Gut Makeover, Hyde recommends having at least seven handfuls of produce a day
(five veg, two fruit, 20-30 different varieties per week), while Chutkan
suggests implementing a 3:2:1 regimen for mealtimes – one portion of veg at
breakfast, two at lunch and three at dinner. The reason? ‘A helpful way to
think about the relationship between eating plants and gut bacteria is that the
plant fibre that can’t be broken down and absorbed by your body ends up feeding
your gut bacteria instead, explains Chutkan. ‘That means less food for you
(think easier weight loss) and more for your microbes.’
2
Select gut-friendly carbs
In
essence, that’s any of the whole grain or unprocessed, types (the fibre
advantage again). But to really turbo charge your good bugs, it’s important to
include carbohydrates with prebiotics in them (prebiotics include inulin,
fructo- and galacto-oligosaccharides and in horticulture terms are like giving
your gut bacteria a big dose of organic fertiliser). Foods highest in prebiotic
carbs are onions, garlic, leeks, asparagus and Jerusalem artichokes, but you
can also find them in bananas (the greener the better) and chicory coffee
replacement. Another food with prebiotic properties is the ‘resistant starch’
which forms in significant amounts when starchy carbohydrates are chilled after
cooking. To harness the benefits of resistant starch for your bacteria means
plumping for chilled potato salad over baked potato, and cooking your pasta and
rice ahead, and then reheating (thoroughly) for dinner the next day.
3
Include fermented foods
Different
experts have their different takes on which fermented foods to consume, but
they all agree that by eating them you can introduce important probiotic
(friendly) cultures into your system that help keep the microbiome alive and
kicking. The most familiar fermented food is natural probiotic (or ‘bio’)
yogurt, while at the more delightful end of the scale, a smelly Roquefort, good
strong Cheddar or chunk of Parmesan will also give your good bugs a boost. For
a more hardcore (and potent) option, try whizzing kefir into a smoothie
(Mlekovita Kefir, £1.39 a litre, tesco.com), a helping of freshly made
sauerkraut (from £3.99, theculturecellar.co.uk) or kimchi (from £6.49,
theculturecellar.co.uk). Chutkan gives a detailed account of how to ferment
your own veg, kimchi-style, in her book.
4
Don’t graze
Giving
your gut some down time looks likely to benefit your biome, with a study from
the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California showing that when mice
were only allowed an eight-hour window in which to eat they absorbed fewer
calories from their food. The eight-hour access groups also had more diversity
of bacterial species in their guts than the ad lib groups. Previous research has
shown that a period of fasting or calorie restriction beneficially alters gut
bacteria, perhaps by avoiding a constant stream of sugar into the bloodstream,
which raises insulin levels and might give less healthy bugs the upper hand. If
an eight-hour window seems a bit undoable, Hyde recommends giving your gut at
least a 12-hour break – in practical terms, not eating until eight in the
morning if you finished dinner at eight the night before. Professor Tim Spector
goes further, suggesting that skipping breakfast may actually be a healthy
strategy for some people (he’s also a fan of the 5:2 regimen). Whatever
approach you take, it seems at the very least, it’s important to eat
substantial meals that reduce the need to snack in between.
5
Dial down the sugar
The
health of your microbiome is yet another good reason to cut down on the sweet
stuff. ‘Simple carbohydrates found in soft drinks, baked goods and other
processed grains cause undesirable shifts in microbial composition, and can
lead to the proliferation of yeasts,’ says Chutkan. Unfortunately, sweeteners
such as saccharin and aspartame may not be your microbiome’s friend either –
although the significance of the findings to humans have been disputed, a study
published in the journal Nature in 2014 identified gut bacteria changes and
associated glucose intolerance in mice who were given high levels of
sweeteners. For your gut, as well a your general health, when it comes to
drinks, it seems water is best.
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