When it comes to your gut health, the structure of your meal can matter just as much as what you put in it.
Emerging science has shown that consuming certain foods in certain orders (or, indeed, together) can optimise your digestive system, by increasing the nutrients you absorb and improving your gut health.
Sound complicated? It isn’t. You’ll probably find you’re following many of the rules already, and the others are easy to pick up.
Here’s our simple meal building guide for a happy gut.
1. A spoonful of ferments helps the indigestion go down.
Half an hour before eating, have probiotic foods to kickstart your digestive enzymes. These break down food, meaning your gut doesn’t have to struggle passing through a lot of undigested food (leading to gas and constipation).
Sarah recommends having a spoonful of sauerkraut before a meal, but you can swill back some apple cider vinegar or crack open a kombucha. It’s a lifesaver before a big Sunday roast
2. Fill your plate with vegetables.
So you’ve had your ferments, what next? Load up on veg. Following Sarah’s “crowding out” principle, fill up your plate the good stuff (and crowd out the bad – we’re looking at you, post-dinner donut).
How does this benefit your gut? Veggies contain lots of fibre called prebiotics, which are basically food for your gut bacteria. Yep, the same bacteria you just ate in the sauerkraut or kombucha.
3. Add some fats.
Veggies are nothing without a little butter or olive oil. Essential vitamins A, E, D and K are absorbed best with fat (yes, you can keep the skin on your roast chicken).
Fatty acids (especially omega-3, found in fish and nuts) are also powerful anti-inflammatories, soothing the gut and reducing your risk of chronic disease. And they said fats were bad!
4. Grab a palm-sized serve of protein.
Protein requires more digestive enzymes to break down, so if you have a sluggish gut and are prone to constipation, be mindful of your protein intake. A rough guideline is to choose protein around the size of your palm.
Also, take note of your digestive symptoms after having different portions of protein. If you find you can handle it, increase the protein if you like! It’s good stuff.
5. Finish your plate with starches.
Simple starches like pasta and bread feed your gut bacteria, but they’re already getting that from your pile of vegetables (and we’d rather the nutrient-dense option!). Adding lots of starches to the list could make you gassy and bloated from over-fermentation. Yep, you can have too much of a good thing.
But not to fret, you can have some starches here and there. We’d just recommend adding these last to your full plate so you don’t overindulge.
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