Love Your Gut
By Clarissa Lenherr, Registered Nutritionist
Our gut is more than just a digestive organ; it’s a powerhouse of wellness that impacts nearly every aspect of our health. From energy levels to immunity, mood to skin health, your gut is a vital hub that deserves some TLC. If you’ve been neglecting this incredible system, it’s time to change that—because when you love your gut, it loves you right back.
Why Your Gut Deserves Love
Inside your digestive system lives a bustling community of trillions of microbes, collectively known as the gut microbiome. These tiny organisms help break down food, absorb nutrients, and even produce essential compounds like vitamins and neurotransmitters.
Here’s the jaw-dropping part: around 70% of your immune system resides in your gut, making it a critical barrier against harmful pathogens. Additionally, your gut plays a key role in mood regulation, producing 95% of your serotonin, the “feel-good” neurotransmitter, and about 50% of your dopamine, which influences motivation and reward. So, it is pretty clear that your gut is not just about digestion—it’s a central player in your overall health and happiness.
When your gut is out of balance—a state often caused by stress, poor diet, or overuse of medications—it can lead to uncomfortable symptoms like bloating, fatigue, and skin issues. Worse still, chronic gut imbalances have been linked to more serious health conditions, including autoimmune diseases, depression, and metabolic disorders.
How to Show Your Gut Some Love
The good news is that simple, intentional steps can transform your gut health. Here are some of my top tips to try today:
1. Feed Your Gut Bugs
Your gut microbes thrive on fibre rich foods, particularly those found in plants. Aim to eat at least 30 different plant-based foods each week.
Why 30? A landmark study from the American Gut Project found that people who consumed a wide variety of plant foods had a more diverse gut microbiome, which is associated with better digestion, improved immunity, and overall health. Diversity is key because different types of fibre and polyphenols in plants nourish specific strains of beneficial bacteria, helping your microbiome flourish.
So, how can you hit this magic number?
- Mix It Up: Avoid sticking to the same ingredients each week. Swap spinach for rocket, courgettes for aubergines, or chickpeas for black beans. Rotating your grains—like quinoa, farro, or millet—can also boost diversity on your plate. And remember spices count too!
- Eat the Rainbow: Nature’s most colourful foods are brimming with polyphenols, which act as antioxidants and prebiotics, feeding your good gut bacteria. Anthocyanins in blueberries, lycopene in tomatoes, and quercetin in apples all support a robust gut microbiome. By eating a variety of colours, you can nourish different strains of beneficial bacteria.
- Seasonal Eating: Eating with the seasons ensures fresh, nutrient-rich produce while encouraging natural variety in your diet. For instance, winter offers parsnips, Brussels sprouts, and leeks, while summer brings courgettes, strawberries, and tomatoes.
2. Add Fermented Foods
Fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha and miso are rich in live beneficial bacteria. These probiotics help populate your gut with friendly microbes, supporting balance and diversity. Fermented foods also increase the bioavailability and digestibility of nutrients, making it easier for your body to absorb essential vitamins and minerals. What’s not to love?
To include more fermented foods in your diet:
- Add kefir to smoothies or use it as a base for salad dressings.
- Include a spoonful of sauerkraut or kimchi as a side to your meals.
- Swap regular soy sauce for miso paste in cooking.
- Try fermented vegetables, such as pickled carrots or radishes, for a crunchy, gut-loving snack.
- Swap alcohol or traditional fizzy drinks for a good quality kombucha.
Just make sure to start small, especially if you’re new to them, to avoid any initial digestive discomfort!
3. Chew and Eat Mindfully
Good digestion begins in your mouth. Taking time to chew your food thoroughly allows your digestive enzymes to start breaking it down properly, reducing bloating and indigestion.
So how can we eat mindfully? Pick one meal a day to begin with. Take your meal time away from screens and distractions – TV and phone scrolling including— and take time with your food and focus on the flavours, textures and aromas. This practice also helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is key for digestion.
4. Manage Stress
Stress is a major disruptor of gut health, and the gut-brain connection is largely mediated by the vagus nerve, a key communicator between the two. Chronic stress can impair the vagus nerve’s function, leading to symptoms like bloating, indigestion, and even food sensitivities.
To support your vagus nerve and manage stress try one of these top tips:
- Practice Deep Breathing: Just five minutes of slow, diaphragmatic breathing can stimulate the vagus nerve and shift your body into a calm state.
- Engage in Yoga or Meditation: These activities lower cortisol and improve vagal tone, supporting gut health.
- Cold Exposure: Splashing your face with cold water or ending a shower on a cold setting can activate the vagus nerve. This one might need some willpower!
Radiance Cleanse - Calming Breath Sequence
5. Limit Gut Disruptors
And finally, we have to talk about the things to be mindful of consuming. Certain foods and habits can wreak havoc on your gut microbiome. Excess sugar, alcohol, and ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are the common culprits. These disruptors can feed harmful bacteria and reduce microbial diversity.
So where to begin? It doesn’t need to be an all or nothing approach or perfection, but try over time to transition to the below:
- Cut Back on Sugar: Refined sugars promote the growth of harmful bacteria. Swap sugary snacks for whole fruits, lower sugar products, flavour with spices such as cinnamon and vanilla and opt for dark chocolate – my personal favourite as it also includes polyphenols and antioxidants that your gut loves!
- Limit Alcohol: Alcohol irritates the gut lining and can reduce beneficial bacteria. Opt for alcohol-free alternatives or stick to moderate intake.
- Avoid UPFs: Ultra-processed foods are loaded with additives, preservatives, and emulsifiers that can disturb your gut microbiome. Instead, when possible, choose whole, minimally processed options and try cooking as often as you can from scratch and from home.
Loving your gut is not about perfection; it’s about progress. Start small by incorporating one or two of these habits into your routine, and pay attention to how you feel. When you invest in your gut, you invest in your health. So, take a moment today to check in with yourself and ask, “How can I show my gut a little more love?” Trust me, it’s worth it.
For bitesize nutritional tips by our in-house nutrition coach Harriet, visit our digital studio below.
