When you think about gut health you might picture uncomfortable
symptoms like bloating and gas and going to the
look too often but it turns out that yourgut health doesn't just affect your
digestive system it also affects your physical health like your immune system
and your mental health including how well you can concentrate in focus and
your general productivity this means that if we want to live healthier
happier lives which is what we're all about here on this channel then it might
actually involve getting our guts into better shape now as a doctor I've
learned a lot about the specific diseases and pathologies that can affect
the gut but in medical school we learn a lot less about nutrition and the basics
of how we can look after our gut day to day so to learn more about this
connection between the gut and the body.
I interviewed one of the UK's leading experts on gut health Sophie Medlin is a
consultant dietitian specializing in gut health chair of the British dietetic.
Association and a lecturer in King's College London and she regularly
features on TV here in the UK so in this post we're going to be summarizing a
bunch of evidence into actionable recommendations and I hope that by
applying these tips you'll not only be pooing better but you'll also be
sleeping and focusing better as well so,
What is gut health?
let's start with the basics what the hell is the gut the gut as you might
know is short for gastrointestinal external tract and this is the long tube
that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus where our poo comes out and the
primary function of the gut is to break down the food that we eat to absorb
nutrients and to get rid of waste but it's actually a lot more than that the
gut is also home to trillions of microorganisms collectively known as the
gut microbiome and this includes all of the bacteria fungi and viruses that live
in our digestive tracts and these traps help to break down the food that we eat
turning it into the nutrients that our body needs and how that works is that
when we eat various different foods so let's take plant fiber as an example you
eat some fruits and vegetables they travel the bits of it that you can't
digest the bits we can't break down travel through to our colon where
they're fermented by different species
of bacteria and yeasts and other types
of microorganisms and in that
fermentation process they produce some
gas and they produce other things but
they put really importantly produce some
metabolites some things that interact
with our bodies so what does having a
healthy gut actually mean well basically
it means having a well-balanced and
diverse range of microorganisms bacteria
viruses fungi and so on in our digestive
Why does your gut health matter?
tract and so if a healthy gut is a
healthy and balanced gut microbiome then
the next question is why should we care
about this at all and the most obvious
reason why your gut health matters is
that it affects digestive disorders like
when you've got microbiome is imbalanced
it can lead to digestive problems like
bloating and constipation and diarrhea
and irritable bowel syndrome
but the story doesn't stop there and in
the last 30 years scientists have
discovered that the effects of our gut
health goes way beyond our digestive
well-being because our gut has a massive
impact on our mental health and on our
physical health and our risk of loads of
different diseases and disorders and
actually the one we look at gut health
the more we realize that it isn't
impacting every part of our body and
every system in our body and the way
scientists know all of this is that
there's now a bunch of evidence that the
microorganisms in our gut that are used
for digesting food interact with other
parts of our body let's first take a
look at how our gut affects our mental
health you might have heard the gut
being referred to as the second brain or
you've probably heard the phrase
butterflies in the stomach which is kind
of describing the feeling of being
nervous and there's actually a good
reason for this so there is a very
strong line of communication between
your gut and your brain which we refer
to as the gut brain access and the
chattiest organ between your brain and
your gut is your gut your gut is
constantly telling your brain all sorts
of different things and throwing
messages up that it's got to deal with
so how does this gut brain access work
well it turns out that there are three
connections between the gut and the
brain that create this strong link first
there is a chemical connection the gut
microbiome produces neurotransmitters
like serotonin and dopamine which are
chemicals in our brain that make us
happy and help regulate our mood and
behavior and actually 95 of the body's
serotonin which is the happy hormone is
produced in the gut secondly there is a
hormonal connection through a link in
the brain called the HPA axis the HPA
axis is the hypothalamus pituitary
adrenal axis it's a complex set of
interactions between the hypothalamus
and the pituitary gland in your brain
and the adrenal glands which are just
above your kidneys and Studies have
shown that the bacteria in our gut
affect the stress response of our HPA
axis and thirdly there's actually a
physical connection between the gut and
the Brain through the vagus nerve the
vagus nerve is the main nerve of a
parasympathetic nervous system this
system controls specific body functions
like digestion and heart rate and the
immune system generally things that are
outside of our conscious control next up
let's talk about how our gut effects are
physical health and one really important
connection between the gut and our
physical health is through our immune
system the complex network of organs
cells and proteins that defend the body
against infection while protecting the
body's own cells so 70 of our immune
cells live in our small in our bowel in
our colon and your gut bacteria are
constantly interacting with them there's
a bunch of studies showing how your gut
affects your immune health and generally
what these studies do is take germ-free
animals like mice that are completely
free of any bacteria or other
microorganisms including those that we
normally find in the gut the scientists
then change the composition of bacteria
in these mice intestinal tracts and see
how their immune system responds yes it
is a little mean but it's the findings
from these studies that show a clear
link between the gut microbiome and our
ability to produce and develop immune
cells and antibodies so by now we should
know what gut health actually is and why
How do I get a healthy gut?
it matters so let's discuss how to
actually get a healthier gut now
recently social media has become a hub
for all things related to health and
nutrition and while there's some helpful
information out there there's also a lot
of fake news that can be misleading and
potentially even harmful and this is
particularly true when it comes to gut
health where people are often searching
for quick quick fixes and miracle cures
so with all that I also see a bunch of
questions about some recent diet and
nutrition Trends and she gave some solid
advice about what to follow and what not
to follow so we're going to be going
through five things that we can add and
five things that we can remove from our
diet to improve the balance and
diversity of bacteria in our gut which
as we all know by now is what makes up a
5 things to add
healthy gut tip number one aim for 30
different plants per week then the most
important thing for your gut health is
that you're eating 30 different plants a
week so trying to eat loads of variety
of different types of plants so eating
many different types of plant food
improves our gut health by encouraging
the growth of different species of
bacteria that live there especially the
healthy good bacteria now plants doesn't
just mean green leafs plants includes
all fruits and vegetables legumes like
peas and lentils and tofu and candle
dried beans grains like rice and corn
and barley and oats and wheat milks made
from nuts or grains like oat milk and
almond milk and nuts and seeds like
cashews and pumpkin seeds and pine nuts
now when I first heard this I was
thinking like how on Earth am I going to
get 30 different plants into my diet
every week but Sophie's tip is to break
this number down into days so over seven
days a week that's about 4 or five
different plants a day and then that
actually makes it feel a lot more
manageable for example for breakfast you
can have a whole grain cereal or oatmeal
topped with some seeds and nuts and then
some dried fruit on top and then you
already have three four or five of those
plants in there for the whole day and if
you have some fruit as a mid morning
snack and just make sure you have some
amount of veg with your lunch or your
dinner then you've covered your bases as
far as that goes tip number two aim for
variety of diet rather than consistency
of diet so a lot of diet advice aims for
consistency especially if you're trying
to lose weight or build muscle it's a
lot easier to just eat the same things
every day but if we want to optimize our
gut health what we should do instead is
to aim for variety rather than
consistency and this is very much in
line with the Whole 30 pounds per week
tip and if you have this Variety in your
diet then that encourages more diversity
and variety of the gut microbiome which
as we've already discussed is how we get
a healthy gut tip number three aim for
30 grams of fiber every day most people
in England eat less than half of what
they actually need in terms of fiber
every day so fiber is a type of
carbohydrate that we don't break down
and instead of being digested and
absorbed it travels to the larger
testing the colon and when it's in the
large intestine it acts as a Prebiotic
and Prebiotic means basically food for
the good bacteria in the body now it's
pretty hard to tell how much fiber
you're getting in your diet unless
you're a nutrition Pro so here are some
tips so the first day is a Rough Guide
aiming for five servings of fruit and
veg and having whole grains with two of
your three meals per day and including
things like seeds and nuts and dried
fruits for snacks will get you most of
the way there to getting all of the
fiber that you need secondly you can
find ways to swap out Foods in your diet
for a high fiber Alternatives so for
example whole grain rice is more high
fiber than white rice and thirdly if you
really want you can actually calculate
the amount of fiber in your diet and get
to the 30 grams and here are some
options of like different foods
throughout the day that would add up to
that 30 grams tip number four aim to
take a probiotic now probiotics are
foods or supplements that contain live
microorganisms that are intended to
maintain or improve the good bacteria in
the gut now this point is a little bit
controversial because the evidence is
not like wholeheartedly in favor of a
probiotic but there have been a bunch of
studies showing that they have good
effects so there's some great research
on probiotics and both the gut brain
axis so how when we're stressed we have
these gut symptoms and how probiotics
can help to control those gut symptoms
so one of particular there's 55 healthy
volunteers given probiotic another group
are given a placebo so we can measure
the difference the ones who have the
probiotic have a significant reduction
of psychological stress significant
reduction in cortisol so these like
chemical parameters of Stress and
Anxiety that we can measure so it's not
just how people say they're feeling it's
these objective measures now when it
comes to taking probiotics there's a few
different options out there they either
come in the form of tablets or in the
form of bottles but you've got to be
aware of what the manufacture and expiry
date is because if it's been seeing on
the Shelf rages then it might not be as
effective as it was when you first
bought it and actually conveniently the
company Heights has actually made a
smart probiotic which I take every day
and they are very currently sponsoring
this post now I've been taking Heights
the brain care smart supplement for over
two years now and what I love about
height the company is that they're very
very evidence based in what they do and
I like them so much that I've actually
become friends with the founder of the
company and I've personally invested in
the company because I was a customer and
then I thought hey this is actually some
really good stuff therefore I want to
invest in the company too and a few
months ago they released their smart
probiotic which is live bacteria for
your mind and your microbiome and the
idea is that you take a capsule every
day and it contains a few you different
strains of evidence-based bacteria which
are sourced from really high quality
labs and anecdotally I found that taking
this myself for the last few months have
meant that my poos are much more
consistent than they once were and if
you look on the heights website you'll
find like a ton of blog posts and
scientific papers and stuff summarizing
the evidence behind them and actually
Sophie was the one who helped formulate
the heights smart probiotic so if you
want to check this out you can use the
link in the post description and if you
use this code at checkout then that will
give you an extra 15 off the already
discounted quarterly subscription so
thank you so much Heights for sponsoring
this post and let's move on and tip
number five is to aim for two portions
of oily fish per week now oily fish
contains long chain omega-3 fatty acids
and our gut loves omega-3 it helps to
promote the population of good bacteria
that helps control inflammation in the
body we need two portion of oily fish a
week for our brain health it's really
really important for controlling
inflammation in the brain the structure
of your brain if you don't eat oily fish
it's a bit like taking out 25 of the
bricks of your house and replacing them
with polystyrene 25 of your brain wants
to be made from oily fish so salmon
mackerel and sardines count as oily fish
but unfortunately tuna and cod and sea
bass do not count as oily fish and if
you're vegetarian then you can replace
the fish with vegetarian sources of
Omega-3 so for example flaxseed or
flaxseed oil or canola oil or soybean
oil those sorts of things or you can
just take a supplement for omega-3 and
actually the heights drain care smart
supplement not this but actually has
omega-3 in it so that's nice and easy as
5 things to avoid
well okay let's now move on to five
things that we should avoid and to be
honest for most of these things it's
going to be hard to completely eliminate
these foods from our diet so generally
aiming to reduce our intake of them is
probably more realistic and more
sustainable in the long run tip number
one cut down on red meat so if like me
you're trying to get henshin built to
muscle then you've probably been told
that red meat is a great source of
protein you might have also heard of
people like Jordan Peterson claiming
that the carnivore all meat diet cured
him of his various health problems but
this diet seems to have stopped all of
that I don't have psoriasis all of the
pouches have gone yeah my gum disease
which is incurable I had multiple
surgeries to deal with it it's
completely gone but if we look at these
scientific evidence behind this it turns
out that too much red meat is not in
fact good for our gut health and the
main reason for this is that the
metabolites the breakdown products of
generally red meats those metabolites
are associated with a higher risk of
cardiovascular disease and other nasty
things like cancer so the world cancer
research fund says we should only have
three portions of red meat per week and
that's 500 grams 350 to 500 grams in
total otherwise we're putting ourselves
in total in total not every day no about
350 to 500 grams total a week otherwise
we're putting ourselves at higher risk
of bowel cancer tip number two is to
avoid processed food now this is
basically anything that comes in a
packet like sausages or bread or crisps
unfortunately piso
uh no thank you and the reason why
processed foods are generally bad is
that they contain a lot of additives and
preservatives and these things make the
food last longer but the way they work
is that they stop the natural bacteria
inside the food from making the foods go
off and so when we eat these
preservatives we also stop the good
bacteria from growing in our gut because
the preservatives generally inhibit the
bacteria one example of this is
emulsifiers which is actually found in
loads of processed foods including plant
milk emulsifiers that are in lots of
processed foods and also in lots of
foods that I've got a bit of a health
Halo like protein shakes and protein
products that kind of stuff emulsifiers
we think are disrupting the lining of
people's bowels so when we have too much
of those kinds of things the tight
junctions between the cells in your
bowel wall we think are being disrupted
and opening up a little bit allowing too
much inflammation into the body and
causing all kinds of different problems
but also disrupting that really
important mucosal layer in the bowel
that is the home before our good
bacteria obviously with inflation and
the cost of living crisis and generally
stuff getting a lot more expensive a lot
of people are relying on cheap processed
foods to get by and if you're in that
position then obviously meeting your
basic food requirements is going to be
the first priority before refining the
nutritional value of those food sources
which is kind of priority number two tip
number three avoid artificial sugars now
this one is kind of annoying because
before I had the conversation with
Sophie and we did all the evidence and
stuff for this post my go-to fizzy
drink for everything was a Diet Coke
because I thought hey it's not normal
sugar which is bad it's like artificial
sugar which is good but unfortunately
artificial sugars are not very good for
our gut health but what we do know is
that when we have artificial sweeteners
our body is anticipating having sugar
and things change to get ready to have
that sugar when it doesn't come that has
an impact so there's data to suggest
that it increases our insulin production
for example which makes us ultimately
ultimately a bit hungrier and can have
an impact on our General Health as well
so ideally sweeteners need to go in
there no thank you bucket as well tip
number four avoid diet fats and detoxes
now if you're on social media then
you'll know that there's constantly a
new diet and detox Trend that's supposed
to work miracles and make you look like
a supermodel or whatever in fact on Tick
Tock there is a thing called a gut talk
where people share tips for gut health
and Sophie generally recommends being
very wary of these kind of Trends
because generally they're not coming
from qualified medical professionals so
if you do something like a juice cleanse
you're actually depriving your body of
loads of really really important
nutrients meaning it's going to work
much much harder and in that process of
your body working much harder it's
releasing more things that we might
consider to be toxic like oxidative
stress and that kind of stuff and
another example is actually a
gluten-free diet now there are some
people in the world who are actually
intolerant to gluten or who have celiac
disease and for those people adopting a
gluten-free diet is super important for
their health but if you don't fall into
that one percent of the population with
the condition then there's not that many
health benefits to cutting out gluten
from your diet it's a bit of a fad and
tip number five avoid counting the
calories now if you're trying to lose
weight or get hinged then the immediate
thing that most people do is Count Their
calories but according to Sophie it
turns out it's not very effective when
it comes to gut health in particular and
the reason for this is that calories
don't really reflect the nutritional
value of what you're consuming for
example a medium-sized McDonald's chips
contains around 340 calories and these
other meal options contain approximately
the same number of calories so for
example this meal of chicken breast and
roasted vegetables comes in at about the
same calories this turkey sandwich with
fruit comes in at about the same
calories and this brown rice bowl with
stir-fried veggies and tofu comes in at
about the same calories but clearly they
have very different nutritional value on
top of that food labels with calorie
information is often wrong so food
companies and the people creating these
labels are allowed to be up to 20 wrong
about their numbers so if you're using
any kind of tracking app to count your
calories then you're probably going to
be at least 20 out and even if the food
labels are correct then the calories
that you end up consuming might not
actually be the same as what's on the
packet so for example calories in cooked
celery are different to calories and
uncooked celery and for example nuts
have a very high calorie count if you
look at them on the packet but actually
your body doesn't absorb all of those
calories because some of them are lost
in the process of digestion now this
final tip is one that I'm personally
choosing to somewhat ignore sorry Sophie
because I'm actually counting my
calories to try and get hinged with
macros and stuff but I'm keeping in mind
that calories are just one part of the
story they are not the whole story
ultimately if we could all go away from
the calories and start thinking about
are we physically hungry that would be
the best way to think about things
anyway if you enjoyed this and you want
to check out the full podcast episode
with Sophie where I ask tons more
questions and it's packed with even more
stuff around gut health and really
trying to explain it from a layperson's
perspective then you can check out this
post over here which is the full
episode and you can also find that on
the Deep dive podcast which is available
on all podcast streaming platforms so
thank you so much for watching and I'll
see you hopefully in the next post bye
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