Simple ways to boost your microbiome, for a healthier happier gut
By Dr Marissa Kelaher
If you want to know what the science REALLY shows on how to improve your gut health, this blog is for you!!
It's part 2 of our gut health series, if you haven't read the first one please do so, as it covers all the basics 😊
Part 1 was all about how and why our gut microbiome is so important for wellbeing - part 2 focuses on practical ways to help it!!
Plus if you’d like to learn more about gut health and how to optimise it in detail, please check out our Transform your nutrition or Reboot your health courses, where we take a deep dive into how gut health works, and practical ways to improve it.
What makes a healthy gut?
So when we talk about' gut health ', this refers to two main areas :
the health of our gut tissues (our intestinal cells, which are the main barrier between our food and our blood stream; the mucus layer that protects them; and the immune and nervous system contained in our outer gut wall)
our gut microbiome (the bugs that live in our gut, and can either be 'good' or 'bad')
These two things are closely interconnected, as our gut microbiome maintain the health of our gut wall, and help keep our gut immune and nervous system in balance.
The main way they do this is via 'postbiotics' - chemical compounds produced when bacteria break down food we eat but have not digested. Postbiotics are like superfood for our gut wall cells - they are absolutely vital for keeping them healthy!
(we explained how our gut microbiome works in our previous blog post if you want more info)
Postbiotics
Did you know, we have literally thousands of different species in our gut, and trillions of actual bacteria (there have been up to 30,000 different species of bacteria found in human gut microbiomes!)
Different bacteria produce different postbiotics, and this helps determine if bacteria are considered ‘good’ or ‘bad’
'good' bacteria produce 'good' postbiotics (these keep our gut healthy, and help the rest of our body stay well, such as our heart, brain, and even metabolism and weight)
'bad' bacteria that either release endotoxins (such as salmonella, campylobacter, clostridium) which damage our gut and can sometimes 'leak' "into our circulation etc; or 'bad' postbiotics (ones that harm our health, by increasing levels of inflammation, and harming our heart, brain etc)
The main 'good' postbiotics are a group of molecules called short chain fatty acids (SCFA), in particular one called butyrate.
What do short chain fatty acids do?
Short chain fatty acids are INCREDIBLY important to health.
They:
feed our gut cells
help us absorb nutrients from our food
suppress the growth of 'bad' bacteria
keep the gut mucus barrier intact and protect our gut cells from damage
reduce inflammation in our gut
travel around our bloodstream helping other parts of our body. improve how well our gut muscles contract
alter pain signals in our gut wall, reducing bloating and discomfort. help feed other good bacteria, (meaning the more we have, the more good bacteria we can grow)
They are absolutely vital for our well-being, and the more we learn about them, the more they appear to be at the root of many health issues - as Hippocrates famously said over 2000 years ago..
‘All disease begins in the gut’.
So how can we boost our SCFA levels?
SCFA are ONLY produced when we eat plants, and mostly from the fibre in these plants.
This is why eating a big variety of whole plant foods is so important for gut health!!
In our Transform your nutrition and Reboot courses, we explore how to eat to feed your gut bacteria, more about what fibre does, and tips to optimise fibre intake, plus a 6 week fibre rich plant based meal plan to make it easy.
In addition to fibre, some other plant compounds such as polyphenols and anti oxidants also act as prebiotics, releasing beneficial postbiotics when we digest them. But fibre plays the biggest role by far…
The coolest thing is, we have a HUGE impact on what gut bacteria live in our gut, and therefore on how they affect our health. This means we have so much power to improve our gut health, and overall wellbeing ❤️
Research shows that our gut microbiome starts to change within just 24 hours of altering our diet, and responds very rapidly to anything we do in our day to day lives. And eating more whole plant foods and fermented foods is the only scientifically proven way to improve our gut microbiome health and diversity!
For example, when we eat more fibre or fermented foods (as we teach in our Nutrition and Reboot courses) this creates a measurable improvement in our gut microbiome health and diversity in just a matter of weeks.
In contrast, when we cut fibre out of our diets (which can occur with low carb or keto diets, or even low fodmap diets), our good gut bacteria start to die off at an equally rapid rate….
Within 48h of going on a low fibre diet, we can lose up to 50 different types of good gut bacteria.
And within 2 weeks, this can cause measurable damage to our intestinal lining 😳.
Our bacteria literally are what we eat - each different strain feeds on a different type of fibre!!
So the best way to optimise gut health is to eat more plants, more diversity of plants, more fibre, and more fermented foods.
Diet is absolutely key to good gut health.
So, what exactly can we do to support and improve our gut microbiome and gut health?!
Our gut microbiome starts at birth (or even potentially before), so things that help it include
Vaginal delivery
Breastfeeding (human milk contains special compounds called human milk oligosaccharides that exist solely to feed our gut bacteria)
Avoiding environmental toxins such as cigarette smoke, car fumes, pesticide residues on food, and potentially other household chemicals such as BPA and phthalates
Eating a diverse diet rich in plant foods and high in different types of fibre (the 30+ a week rule - people who eat more than 30 different plant foods each week are shown to have the best gut microbiome diversity). Learn more about this in our Nutrition and Reboot courses.
Deliberately including plant foods high in prebiotic fibre, such as artichokes, leeks, onions and garlic, which all contain high levels of inulin (a prebiotic fibre)
Aiming to eat at least 40g of fibre per day (most western diets contain less than half of this!) . We cover how to get enough fibre, plus top tips to boost it, in our Nutrition and Reboot courses
Choosing foods high in polyphenols, these are antioxidants that act as extra fuel for microbes. Examples are nuts, seeds, berries, olive oil, brassicas, coffee and tea – especially green tea
Avoiding snacking, and consider trying time restricted eating - ideally try wait at least 3-4h between each time you eat, and at least 12h overnight. This gives your microbes a rest and helps promote a healthy gut microbiome. It's also when your gut has time to heal and repair. We also take a deep dive into fasting and how to do it safely in our Nutrition and Reboot courses
Steering clear of artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose and saccharine - these disrupt the metabolism of microbes and reduce gut diversity – in animal studies this has led to obesity and diabetes. Try avoid ultra processed foods too, as these can promote the growth of unhealthy bacteria
Limiting or avoiding red and processed meats (these can damage our gut health, mostly through production of an inflammatory postbiotic called TMAO produce when we eat them). Some research shows eating more brassicas may also reduce TMAO production
Avoiding emulsifiers in food wherever possible (these damage the gut wall lining, as well as having a negative impact on our gut microbiome)
Limiting animal protein, as this produces a postbiotic called hydrogen sulphide when we break it down, which can damage DNA, and create inflammation (high levels of hydrogen sulphide is linked with a higher risk inflammatory bowel disease)
Eating foods high in fibre and starch with meals helps suppress hydrogen sulphide production - so if you choose to eat animal protein, adding lots of fibre rich foods to meals containing is a great idea!
Including fermented foods in our diet, such as kefir, kombucha, miso, sauerkraut, kimchi, tempeh, yoghurt etc. These are a rich source of good probiotic bacteria and yeast, and have been shown to significantly improve our gut microbiome diversity in just weeks
Getting regular exercise (this actually helps improve both our gut wall health, and our gut microbiome!) . Check out our Activity and Reboot courses if you want to learn more, or need help to get moving
Managing stress and getting enough sleep (these both also have a surprisingly large effect on our gut health and gut microbiome) . Find out more about how to reduce stress, and improve sleep in our Stress course, Sleep module, and Reboot courses.
Avoiding antibiotics unless absolutely necessary, and only use other medication when needed (even common medicines like ibuprofen or reflux medicines can harm gut health)
Try avoid disinfectant and anti bacterial products where possible, and use soap and water to wash hands if you can safely do so
Don't rely on supplements - there is very little evidence for most of these, it's far better to spend your money on good food!! There is some evidence for probiotic supplements, however again it's far better to get your probiotics from fermented foods, and by feeding your own gut microbiome (probiotic supplements pass right through our gut, and do not actually colonise our gut microbiome)
Spend time outdoors in nature and around animals and pets (exposure to gardens, dirt, farm animals and dogs all increases our microbiome diversity)
Out of all of these areas though, fibre is by far the most important!!
Things like the type of birth we have are often out of our control, and breastfeeding is not possible for everyone.
Similarly, antibiotics can be lifesaving, medications are sometimes necessary, and the diet we have as kids again is reliant on our upbringing.
Yet if we deliberately include a diverse range of fibre and plant foods in our diet, it's entirely possible to recolonise our gut microbiome, and help it to heal!!!
So if we had to pick a few golden rules for gut health, these would be:
aim for at least 30-40g of different types of fibre per day (apps such as cronometer are great to track intake)
remember the 30+ rule (trying to include 30 different whole plant foods in your diet each week), and try boost your fibre diversity
aim for a diet that's mostly based on whole plant foods, and include fermented foods on a regular basis
avoid antibiotics unless necessary
don't forget the basics (sleep, exercise, and managing stress)
And most of all - don't sweat the small stuff, you don't have to do everything perfectly to have a healthy gut!!
It's the 80% of things we do right on a day to day basis that have the biggest impact, not the fine details of what kind of fermented foods you eat….
Food is there for enjoyment as well as nourishment - let's focus on both, its all about balance ❤️
We cover gut health, fibre, how to include more plants in your diet, ways to improve plant diversity and much much more in our nutrition focus module and full Reboot your health courses.
Plus over 60 original plant based recipes to make eating more fibre and diversity easy and tasty.
Please take a look if you'd like to learn more!!