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Feed Your Immune System Well

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In these unprecedented times, having a robust, intelligent and fast acting immune response is more important than ever. There is a plethora of articles and posts circulating with recommendations on how to keep well during the pandemic with high dose vitamin C supplementation being the most commonly given piece of advice. Vitamin C is certainly a critical aspect of good immunity but it is not all the only thing we should be focused on.

If you are choosing to take vitamin C supplements, here are a few things to consider: the body cannot store vitamin C, so it should be taking daily. Everyone’s need is different. If you are a smoker, if you are highly stressed, your need greatly increases; to know how much you body can absorb, increase your dose daily until you notice you are stools are becoming looser than usual. Then reduce your dose by 1; not all vitamin C is equal. Look for a supplement that is made from citrus pulp / wholefoods containing the bioflavinoids that assist in your body’s use of vitamin C; ensure you have vitamin C rich foods at every meal – bell peppers, green leafy veg, broccoli / purple sprouting, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, kiwi fruit and citrus fruit are all good sources. Steam your veg rather than boil as vitamin C is water soluble so gets lost in the cooking water. Goji berries are also a great option.

There are many other immune-boosting foods and nutrients that we should be focused on: vitamin D is hugely important for a smart immune system and the vast majority of people who live in the UK are known to be at the low end of the recommended range, or below range. Being only just in range is not really sufficient to be functioning optimally. Due to our limited and weak sun in the UK, getting enough of the sunshine vitamin is virtually impossible. Relatively few foods contain vitamin D. It is a fat-soluble vitamin meaning is it found in the fat of foods and critically if supplementing, needs to be consumed with foods that contain some fat. Vitamin D rich foods include oily fish like mackerel and sardines, egg yolks some cheese and organ meats. It is advisable to get a vitamin D test (easily doe with an online kit these days) before taking a supplement to be sure you do need some, as it is possible to have too much, but it is incredibly rare. If your levels are right at baseline or lower than the recommended range, it’s worth taking a vitamin D3 supplement that also contains vitamin K (it will be more expensive) as vitamin K greatly enhances how well your body uses vitamin D.

Zinc and selenium are 2 minerals often lacking in the diet and also key to string immune systems. Zinc is found in pumpkin seeds, eggs shell fish, red meat and beans and selenium is plentiful in Brazil nuts – just 3 Brazil nuts a day should give you a good daily dose.

A little know in the UK super, super-food is black cumin seed oil  (nigella sativa). It is quite bitter tasting, this bitterness coming from antioxidants with amazing health-giving properties.  It is believed that the antioxidants in black seeds may help discourage certain viruses from spreading within the body by making it difficult for viruses to duplicate within the cells. Black seed oil can also boost your body’s natural killer cells, a type of white blood cell that seek out and destroy viruses. Black seed oil must be kept cool, never heated. Ideally buy one in a dark bottle, keep it in the fridge and buy the best quality you can afford i.e cold pressed, organic. It can be used as a culinary oil in salad dressings or take off the spoon like a medicine. 1 – 2 teaspoons daily.

Garlic is well-known to be great for immunity. To ensure your garlic is fully activated and super-charged, get in to the habit of chopping or crushing your garlic when you start your cooking. Leave it exposed to the air for at least 10 minutes. As the broken garlic cells react to the oxygen in the air, the garlic makes large amounts of the active compound much studied for it’s immune-boosting qualities, allicin. You can now cook with the garlic and it will retain its powers. 

Do not forget the importance of a healthy gut for a strong immune system. Around 80% of your immune system lives in the lining of your digestive tract. It can be very tempting to turn to sugary, processed ‘treats’, have some extra  alcohol, chocolate and snacks during times of turmoil and uncertainty. However, these foods and drinks can compromise the gut microbes that are helping to keep us strong and well. Feed your gut microbes with fibre rich foods like brightly coloured and green leafy vegetables, onions, leeks and garlic, nuts and seeds, berries, kiwi, beans and lentils. All these foods contain prebiotic fibre, your gut microbes favourite food. Boost your gut microbes with fermented foods like live, natural yogurt, mature cheeses, fermented vegetables like raw sauerkraut and kimchi and non-alcoholic fermented drinks like dairy, coconut and water kefir and kombucha. These all contain a range of beneficial microbes to help support gut health and immune response.

Other things to consider: keep well hydrated. Making lime and ginger tea is a great way to hydrate while also getting vitamin C from the lime and lots of further health benefits from root ginger. Simply put a few slices of root ginger in a teapot along with a few slices of fresh lime. Pour on hot water and leave to steep for at least 10 minutes. Drink hot or cold throughout the day; get plenty of sleep, your immune system will be compromised if you are tired; try not to be too worried and anxious. Stress can suppress the immune system. Do not be tempted to obsessively follow the news regarding Covid19, it can be overwhelming; keep moving, even if isolating. You are allowed to go outside for a walk, assuming you go somewhere fairly isolated. Sunshine and the outdoors is great for mental and physical health. Be well. Be safe. Be kind.

Hello, I’m an HSP, please be gentle with me.

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Ok, so not a nutrition post but today, Feb 1st 2020, I am feeling the pain of the UKs exit from Europe and it prompted this post on being an HSP.

Have you heard of the term HSP, Highly Sensitive Person? It’s estimated that 20% of the UK population are HSPs and I know myself to be one of them. I’m no expert in this but I did find some comfort in discovering I was not the only one who was battling with the over-whelm of being incredibly susceptible to taking on the pain of the world. It could be the suffering of other people; the plight of the planet inflicted by us humans; the abject horror and bemusement of how people can be so cruel, mean, thoughtless, vicious even to others, to animals, and not seem to care. It scares me and hurts me, literally.

HSPs often have their particular areas of susceptibility, their specialty suffering so to speak. They will no doubt have been told “don’t be so sensitive”, “pull yourself together”, “get a grip”  like it’s a failing, a weakness and a personality flaw to be so tuned in. I like to think of it as a superpower, but probably like most, if not all superpowers, it comes at a cost.

For me the flagrant abuse of mother nature is a constant challenge but more so, the suffering of animals. I am so easily engulfed by emotion when I see, even hear of animals in pain. I can’t watch wildlife programs despite loving the wonder and awe that mother nature inspires, because all too often they will show a wounded animal, a mother that has lost her young, even a wild hunt, which of course is the natural order of things, but I struggle to witness a lion taking down a zebra or such like.  I can certainly no longer casually scroll through social media sites like Facebook because all too often there will be a photo of a wretched, abused or abandoned animal., cat, dog, horse, donkey –  whatever, it literally hurts my heart.  This is not sentimentality, although I’m perfectly capable of that too, this is deep, visceral, chest tightening, gut wrenching, tear-inducing pain that I cannot escape. Once that image is in my mind it haunts me, often at night, as my heart clenches, my breath stops short and I am ridden with feelings of what feels like trauma. It is tugging on the heart stings to a point where is utterly unbearable.

I feel so porous, so raw and exposed so often and despite many a training offering skills to protect oneself from all of those invasive, negative energies, nothing has ever helped me. Being so porous, there are always dents, tears, giant holes that leave me vulnerable. To be able to turn off, even turn down this emotional overload would be a relief but I don’t know how. I understand totally the desire to escape into alcohol, drugs, food. It is only my dogged self-discipline and commitment to being good to my body and brain that stops me succumbing. Exercise is my way of managing, it saves me.

Many HSPs are creatives and  / or therapists. It helps to have that diaphanous layer between the world and your emotions in both professions. Being an HSP can bring about the most awe-inspiring music, art, poetry. As a therapist, I have am so incredibly blessed to be able reach in and connect with the people who come to me for help. When I first studied psychotherapy I was very struck by the idea that it matters little what specific disciple a therapist is trained in. The success, or not, of a therapist and their patient  is so much more about the therapeutic relationship, the personal connection that is made rather than what the therapist actually practices. This is absolutely about the ability to have empathy with the patient, but after 30 years of working in the field of human health, I think it is more than being empathic. It’s about a deeper, more visceral, inexplicable connection that comes from just a few words, or no words but a look, a bolt of feeling from to another. This is weakness and a strength. It’s also why I continue to work in human well-being. When a patient and therapist connect on that level, healing happens. For both parties. What a gift. But it’s exhausting. It is why I chose not to be a full-time psychotherapist, I’m not tough enough. When I was a teenager I wanted to be a vet – not a chance, watching Lassie was too much for me!

I feel like I am carrying wounds that are my own and those of many others. I am so profoundly honored that people are willing to show me their pain and look to me for help. I also know that by the end of the day, although ecstatic and often hugely elevated by my work, I come home and quickly crash in to a dark and complex place where I can’t be with anyone else. I guess it’s my way of processing the energies of all those people I am blessed to share time with, but there is a price.  I look at my peers and wonder how they can have some much life outside of their work. I work and I recover. Then I work and then I recover. I don’t get in to arguments, I hate conflict of any kind, I don’t tolerate crowds or loud noise well, shopping malls exhaust me within minutes and I need a lot of alone time.

Sometimes I get intensely embarrassed when I feel the prickle of the first tears. It can be something seemingly so innocuous but if I am triggered, it is so hard to stop myself crying. It’s often music, which can truly break me; it could be something on TV, it’s often witnessing a moment of kindness or hearing of someone’s personal struggle. I can be out running with the dogs crying to the thank you’s on Radio 4s Saturday Live show or simply be caught off guard by witnessing a moment of tenderness between two humans, more often human and animal.

I was telling a great friend and colleague about something I had read in the awe-inspiring book Wilding by Isabella Tree about how, as oak trees age and their trunks become hollow, they will drop a limb to the ground to stabilise themselves. This blows my mind – the majesty and brilliance of nature.  Relaying this information made me cry! I know – ridiculous, embarrassing…. but my dear friend, another HSP, she got it, it was ok that I was choked up because she felt it too, Thankfully I am married to an HSP. He says I do his crying for him. He feels it, he’s male, he’s learnt to suppress it.

Are the HSPs of this a world a conduit to the pain of the world? I appreciate this may sound high-falutin and pretentious, but if you are an HSP and find yourself exhausted by the every day, maybe you too have times of feeling that it is a burden that is hard to bear. If you’re not, then please understand that you might not understand why some people you meet seem to have a totally different filter to the world and their filter may be letting in very different information to your own that you find ridiculous, irritating, even infuriating, it’s not a choice so please be gentle with us.

If you too are an HSP, let me know how you manage the world.

Leaky Gut – It Really is a Thing!

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You may have heard about leaky gut as something some people suffer with or maybe it’s been suggested that you have it. Leaky gut is a condition that is increasingly being diagnosed in the world of nutritional medicine and integrative health and is associated with many chronic health conditions, so what is it, why does it happen and what does it mean to have leaky gut?

The correct term is intestinal hyper-permeability and it describes an issue with the digestive system where the lining of the small intestine become overly porous. The small intestine is designed to be permeable. It is how we are able to absorb the nutrients from our food within the intestine, into the blood stream, where the nutrients then get circulated around the body to nourish our cells.

Due to numerous diet and lifestyle triggers,  these tiny openings within the gut wall can become too large, allowing far more than just nutrients to pass into the bloodstream. Poorly digested proteins, for example gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley and other food particles and  pathogens can pass through the gut wall and once in the bloodstream, the immune system detects foreign invaders are present in the blood and initiates an immune response against them. Put simply, this immune response puts the body in a state of high alert and inflammation, and if this is sustained over a long period of time, symptoms can be extensive and debilitating. From extreme fatigue to skin conditions; joint pain; bloating and/or disrupted bowel function / IBS; food cravings; weight gain; fluid retention are all commonly experienced. If this situation continues, it may also lead to allergies and food sensitivities to the very foods you are eating regularly as particles of these foods are in the blood, triggering the immune system to produce antibodies against these foods. Hence, food intolerance testing may be more helpful at highlighting leaky gut rather than an issue with specific foods per se.

Many people also suffer with frequent headaches, brain fog and mood disorders, a sign that the toxins leaking through the intestinal barrier are passing across the blood brain barrier, which can also become ‘leaky’. It is also becoming increasingly accepted that many, possibly all auto-immune disorders, are at least in part triggered by a leaky gut, where the immune system becomes so overwhelmed by the toxic ‘leaking’ into the bloodstream that it can become confused and begin to attack healthy tissue by mistake.

What is happening within the lining of the gut is an opening up of the tight junctions, the gate keepers of the cells that line the gut. There are many potential causes and this is an area of on-going research and understanding but common factors known to trigger gut hyper-permeability are:

• Eating quickly / when stressed: we can only digested and assimilated well when we are in a calm and relaxed state. Poor chewing, eating quickly and on the go, eating when stressed and rushed over long periods of time can result in a weakened and damaged gut lining.

 • Gluten:  For some people gluten, found in high levels in wheat, but also rye, barley, spelt,  is a major trigger, even if there is no actual allergy or obvious sensitivity to gluten. Gluten appears to increase levels of a protein we make in the gut called Zonulin, which controls the opening and closing of the tight junctions. The more gluten consumed, the more Zonulin produced, the more openings of the tight junctions.  

• Lectins & Glyphosate: lectins are proteins in many natural foods but especially high and therefore problematic in grains (esp. gluten-containing grains), soy and cow’s milk. Lectins are hard to digest and thought to be common triggers for leaky gut. These foods are more of a problem now than in the past because they have high residual levels of a chemical used in their production, called glyphosate, a chemical that is used as a weed killer and crop desiccator (drying out the crop just prior to harvest) but is actually an antibiotic, which is known to not only negatively affect our vitally important healthy gut microbes but also triggers the tight junctions to open excessively.

• Sugar: With sugar being so ubiquitous in the modern diet,  it can also be a culprit for triggering leaky gut as sugar can facilitate an over-growth of sugar and yeast- loving microbes that upset the pH balance and function of the intestine, leading to a damaged gut wall.

• Refined cooking oils: often still hailed as healthybut widely accepted as inflammatory and damaging to the gut, cooking oils such as sunflower, corn, rapeseed, vegetable and soy oils are best avoided as much as possible.

• Other Factors: Poor sleep, excess alcohol, infections, diabetes, malnutrition and many other factors could cause this , but mending a leaky gut is not, by any means, an impossibility. Certain medications taken long-term and antibiotics are also potential triggers as can food additives, emulsifiers, flavor enhancers.

To heal a leaky gut, here are some dos and don’ts:

  • Stay off all gluten and ideally all grains and soy for at least 12 weeks
  • Greatly reduce or avoid sugary foods and artificial sweeteners
  • Attempt to practice time-restricted eating on an on-going basis, having at least 12 hours every night from last calories to first calories the next day, working up to 16 – 18 hours of no food at least 2 consecutive days a week
  • Eat foods rich in gelatin / collagen. As well as Head-Cheese (see previous post), drinking bone broth regularly and use in soups and stews is very helpful. You can also take collagen supplements / add good quality collagen powder to foods and drinks
  • Consume coconut-based foods as coconut contains special fatty acids that can aid in gut healing
  • Eat a wide range of raw fermented foods
  • Eat plenty of foods containing healthy fats from oily fish, avocados, soaked and /or sprouted nuts and seeds, coconut, grass-fed meat
  • Avoid milk but do have fermented dairy products esp. made from raw and/or goat and sheep milk. Dairy kefir is especially helpful
  • Grass-fed butter: full fat dairy products made from milk of grass-fed animals contains good levels of a short chain fatty acid call butyric acid. This is also produced by our healthy gut bacteria and is essential for healthy gut wall function.

If you think you may have leaky gut, there are tests available to measure compounds in the blood that should not be there and must have come from a leaky gut. Lipopolysaccharides

are large molecules produced by our gut bacteria and should only ever exist in the gut. If they can be detected in the bloodstream, it shows your gut lining is porous enough to let these big, toxic nasties get through.  Also, you can drink a solution of large sugar molecules and these can then be detected in the bloodstream if your gut is leaky. However, before you go down this route, it is really worth putting in to practice my recommendations above, as all of them will not only help heal a leaky gut, but will aid in your overall well-being – so nothing to lose and potentially so much to gain.

Managing Your Body’s Inflammation

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I recently had the very great pleasure of recording a podcast with the author and science journalist Maria Borelius. Her book, ‘Health Revolution’ has been translated from Swedish, her mother tongue, in to English, and it is selling like healthy hot cakes! The book chronicles her journey from being tired, unwell, menopausal and overweight, with sugar cravings and brain fog to being fabulous, fit and mentally so fired up that she has since written another book called ‘Bliss’.

Maria’s enquiring mind demanded that she undestood why she was feeling so low and so began her quest, traveling the world from India to LA, from Canada to the English countryside (that’s where I come in) and many places inbetween to ask experts in their field to help her help herself get well. In the process she came to realise that all of the places she went to and the specialists she spoke to, believed the same thing – that managing inflammtion in the body is fundamental to being able heal and thrive mentally, physically and spiritually.

The book is personal, often she is staggeringly honest and vulnerable and she never becomes virtiolic or preachy. There is struggle, failure and ultimately understanding and resoluton that certain dietary and lifestyle interventions, when done well and in a balanced way for the longterm, allow the body to beocme less inflamed and therefore more able to heal, renew and restore.

Unbenownst to me at the time, I play a small part in Maria’s quest for health. Maria came to Grayshott Medical Spa where I run a 7 day gut health regime. We discussed what gut health means; the microbiome; the influence of what we eat on our gut microbes and how they have a phenominally far reaching effect on every system in the body, not least managing our inflammatory responses. We discussed how every time we eat, or choose not to eat, we are having an influence on our health and therefore, choosing to feed the gut micorobes and our cells well, along with good sleep, stress management, appropriate exercise and regular relaxation, all contribute to our total, longterm well-being.

You can listen to the podacast HERE to find out not only what we talked about. There is also a podcast with a dermotologist, who talks about nurturing your body, and therefore your skin, before going for cosmetic enhancements, and a professor of psychiatry talking about inflammation in the brain.

Have a listen, read the book or simply consider that our day to day actions can be inflaming or de-flaming our bodies and brains. Inflammation is an essential acute reaction to injury or infection that saves our lives. Chronic inflammation, associated with poor diet, lack of sleep, chronic stress etc. is profoundly depleting. It is so very important to understand that while the body is inflamed, it is being damaged and it cannot heal.

My Essential Tips for Reducing Systemic, Chronic Inflammation:

  • Eat better – reduce all sugars and grains and avoid as much as possible refined cooking oils such as sunflower, corn, vegetable and soy etc.
  • Reduce your eating window to increase your fasting window i.e. 16:8 as often as possible
  • Feed your gut microbes with a wide range of fibre-rich foods (vegetables, berries, kiwi, lentils, beans, nuts and seeds (esp. if soaked); eat live, fermented foods such as raw sauerkraut, kimchi, live yogurt, traditionaly made cheeses and drink kefir and kombucha
  • Use raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar in dressings and as an anti-inflammatory and digestive aid by adding a little to some water and drinking at the start of your main meal
  • Have lots of good quality olive oil. The more peppery the better as this is a sign of polyphenol content, a type of antioxidant that your gut bugs love
  • Sleep more
  • Take time to stop, reflect and relax more
  • Walk in the countryside
  • Develop a daily practice of meditation or mindfullness in some form that suits you
  • Exercise in a way that you love, not loathe and allow recovery time in between. Too much exercise is inflammatory
  • Be inspired
  • Have gratitude

Maria and I are planning to run some weekends at Grayshott Spa late autumn, where we will give a talk together, host an exclusive lunch and take those who have signed up on a walk and talk around the beautiful grounds. If you are interested, let me know.

Carbs Are Not The Answer

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Thank you to the very lovely Polly of msmugs.com for my gift of this fabulous mug. Indeed, carbs are not the answer, certainly if they are highly refined and processed, but let’s not make an enemy of all carbs. The carbohydrate food group is huge. It includes all vegetables, fruit and grains as well as sugars. There are carbs in nuts and seeds, there are carbs in beans and lentils, there’s lots of carbs in milk. In fact, the only foods that contain very little to zero carbs are meat, fish, eggs, pure fats and oils and some forms of dairy foods such a mature cheeses and butter.

So the big conundrum is about how many carbs should we be eating and which forms of carbs are best. I am really opposed to using apps for counting food grams of any kind as this inevitably makes choosing what to eat an intellectual process rather than an instinctive, intuitive one. We need to think less and feel more about what to eat and when. Everyone has different needs based on many factors, not least activity levels, muscle-mass, gut bacteria and to a certain extent, genes.

The simple answer is to eat carbohydrate-based foods as they appear in nature, or as close to as possible; eat then in conjunction with a balance of other natural foods that contain protein and fat – think eggs, meat fish, cheese, and if they are foods that contained high levels of concentrated carbs, such as potatoes, grains (wheat, rice, corn, oats etc.) or something that contains sugars, keep them to a minimum.

Many of you know that I choose to avoid GPS foods (Grains, Potatoes and Sugars/Sweet Tasting Foods), as these are all high carbohydrate foods that convert very rapidly in to the blood stream as glucose (sugar). This can be a problem if your body doesn’t manage blood glucose levels well. The reality is that the majority of adults in the UK, indeed around the world, struggle to maintain healthy levels of glucose in the blood. We should be averaging around 1 teaspoon of glucose in the full 5 litres of our blood. This level will go up after foods, but the less it goes up and the more quickly it returns to base-line, the better for our health. To have chronically high blood glucose levels is so very bad for the brain and the body. It is something we all need to be aiming to avoid if we are to age well. Therefore, reducing or avoiding GPS foods serves that purpose.

Chronically high blood glucose levels can not only result in type 2 diabetes, it can cause fatty liver, fatty pancreas, general body fat increase, inflammation throughout the body, plaque accumulation in the brain, hardening of arteries and so many more life limiting illnesses, so it really is prudent, even if you have no apparent symptoms of ill health, to eat fewer of the foods that cause blood glucose to rapidly rise – the GPS foods.

If you are feeling tired, low, upset, bored, happy or all of the above, it can be so tempting to indulge in a doughnut or have a few biscuits with a cuppa because of the momentary pleasure a high carb food can bring. But refined grains, sweet foods, even potatoes very rapidly become sugar in the blood, triggering all sorts of reactions that can lead to wanting more to eat, to energy crashes, to insane sugar cravings and over the long term, serious health issues.

So no, Carbs Are Not The Answer however quick, convenient, cheap, available or desirable they may be. The longer you go without, the easier it is to continue to go without. Try 14 days of nothing sweet or starchy, not even fruit or artificial sweeteners (they are evil), stay off bread, crackers, pastries and biscuits; avoid processed foods as they will almost always contain some degree of grain flour, potatoes and / or sweetening agents, and notice how quickly you start to appreciate the joy of more subtly flavoured, natural foods. Use natural seasonings, herbs and spices to add nutrients and intertest and explore the joy of great quality natural fats and oils like butter, extra virgin olive oil, black seed oil, avocado and coconut to bring texture, flavor, unctuousness and ultimately satisfaction to your meals rather than going for a quick sugar hit. The long-term benefits are endless energy, clarity of mind, reduction in body fat and now more food monster moments…so why would you?

New Year, Same You?…..

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A new year and as usual a mad frenzy of media, TV and articles on the latest must-do extreme diets; extreme exercise regimes; dubious explanations of what works, what doesn’t, ugghh! I find it so wearing and can only imagine that most other people do too? It is no wonder that this overwhelm of largely contradictory information leaves people so frustrated that they give up by mid-Jan and go straight back to previous habits, good or bad.

So I feel now is the time to remind you of my 4 Fundamentals to Good Health which, if you manage to address over time, your body will give back with bountiful energy, stabilized weight, optimal body fat levels and great balance of brain chemistry and hormones – what more could you ask for? Also, if you create the habit of these principles, whether it’s Christmas, Easter, birthday celebrations or commiserations, there will never be a need to ‘blow it’ and then have to claw back your ‘good habits’ and have that gut-clenching feeling of ‘oh no, why I did I do that to myself … here we go again’…..

So here goes with a pared down super-simple reminder of what it takes to help your body help itself and a few new little gems that I have come across since I wrote the book: ….

1/ Keep you blood glucose (the sugar in your blood) under control: You can achieve this by greatly reducing your GPS foods Grains, Potatoes / Parsnips Sugars / Sweet Foods.

Understand the significance of eating foods that significantly increase blood glucose levels:high blood glucose = insulin response = turning on your fat storage system and turning off your fat burning capacity. Depending on how many diets you’ve tried and failed on; how much greater your waist measurement is to your hip measurement; how long you have been eating GPS foods on a daily basis; how long you’ve been on a low fat diet – then you may have a degree of insulin resistance, meaning you are in a high insulin and therefore fat storage state for hours at a time. But this is not only an issue of fat burning, or not, high blood glucose levels are highly inflammatory, trigger issues throughout the body, including in the brain – hence Alzheimer’s being spoken of as type three diabetes.

2/ Nurture & nourish your beneficial gut bacteria on a daily basis: do not underestimate the power and importance of having healthy gut bacteria. From enhanced mood, sustained concentration, reduction in anxiety and better capacity to cope with stress, through to improving insulin sensitivity and fat burning, increasing energy, enhanced digestion and better balanced immune system. Our gut bacteria influence every system in the body, If you look after them, they will look after you.

This means avoiding or greatly limiting the foods that preferentially feed the nasties that are inevitably living in your gut, which funnily enough are largely GPS foods and meanwhile super-charge your beneficial bacteria by following the 3Fs:

F no.1 is Fibre-rich food for their PRE-biotic content:
Plenty of pre-biotic foods to improve the good gut cultures. Prebiotics are fibres that your good bacteria feed and thrive on and in return they produce wonderfully beneficial by-products. Diversity is key, so go for a wide range of fibre-rich foods rather than just lots of one of two kinds.

Prebiotic foods include
• A rainbow of vegetables i.e. a wide range of colours and textures. Different veg have different types of fibre that offer arrange of benefits.

• Nuts and seeds of all kinds contain lovely fibre. To super-charge the power of the fibre, soak nuts and seeds overnight inn water at room temperature with a spritz of lemon or lime juice. In soaking, you are not only make the nuts & seeds more digestible with fewer anti-nutrients, you also have swollen fibres, full of water that goes to the gut to feed your bacteria. Chia and flax seeds are especially good to soak. They attract a lot of water and then create mucilage, a lovey gloop full of gel water – highly hydrating and soothing for the gut.

• Pulses – known to be windy because of the high fiber content that can be challenging digestively if the balance of your gut bacteria favours the less than good. Some people have to limit pulses while some gut restoration goes on, but once assuming beans and lentils do not cause uncomfortable bloating or reactive bowel function, they provide great prebiotic fibres. Make sure they are really well cooked.

• Inulin-rich foods – inulin is a well researched highly soluble fibre that has many gut health benefits. Again, it can be challenging with those with IBS-type issues, so use with caution. Rich in leeks, onions & garlic, under-ripe bananas, plantain, asparagus and Jerusalem artichokes.

F No. 2 is for Fermented Foods:
Certain foods contain PRObiotic i.e. live, beneficial bacteria. The devil is in the details here, so look at labels to check for unpasteurized and raw. A live food, is a fermented food and if it is still live, it will have to be in the chiller cabinet of a shop, so anything on a shelf with a long shelf life will not be live. All fermented foods should also taste sour as the fermentation removes the natural sugars in the food. Fermented food include:

• Organic natural live yogurt
• Dairy kefir (a potent fermented dairy drink)
• Coconut Kefir -a non-dairy version of the above
• Fermented raw veg like sauerkraut, Kimchi and these days there are some
fabulous raw slaws becoming more readily available.
• Kombucha -a fermented tea (watch for the sugar content)
• Mature cheeses, esp. if made from unpasteurized milk.

F No. 3 is Fasting:
By eat less, or less often, the gut bacteria get a chance to a bit of super-charging and regenerating. The power of intermittent fasting is so significant and far-reaching that it is the third of my Four Fundamentals:

3/ Regular Intermittent Fasting
Allow your body to rest and renew by regularly practicing intermittent fasting:
Throughout all of history there is evidence of peoples all around the world fasting. It may have been for religious reasons, as part of significant ceremonies, to help purify and cleanse. Today many scientific studies have shown multiple and significant health benefits to fasting on a regular basis.

Benefits are very far-reaching if practiced on a long-term, regular basis. They include:

• Helps to heal the gut wall / ‘cleans-up’ mucus lining improving absorption of
nutrients and the environment for the beneficial gut bacteria to thrive.
• Down regulates inflammation
• Encourages better immune function
• Improves hormone sensitivity esp. insulin, leptin & ghrelin
• Increases autophagy activity (the body’s cells dying off once damaged – this is
highly desirable)
• Increases production of growth hormone
• Improves ability to burn fat
• Offers many cognitive benefits including some protection from neuro-degenerative
diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Intermittent fasting is a way of initiating all of the health benefits of fasting using various short-term fasting techniques that makes the process practical for the long-term. One of the most well-known the 5:2 protocol where 2, non-consecutive days a week, you eat about a quarter of your normal food intake. Based on the average female daily consumption of 2000 calories and men, 2,500 then women should aim to eat no more than 500 calories on a fasting day and 600 calories for men. The calories can be split throughout the day or eaten as one meal.

The 5:2 protocol allows your gut to rest 2 days a week as you are putting relatively little load through your system on a regular basis. Having bone broth on these days is highly recommended on fasting days as it is highly nourishing but low in calories.

The 16:8 protocol is what is known as time-restricted fasting. You do not reduce the amount you eat necessarily, but you restrict the time in which you eat. The 8 hour window when you can eat, allows for 2 good meals and a snack in the middle if necessary. The longer you practice this system of intermittent fasting, the less likely you are to need to snack in between, which will further enhance the benefits. If you feel you can exercise towards the end of your fasting period you will also enhance the benefits. Once you get good at this, try for 18:6 a couple of days a week for added benefit.

4/ Move more, exercise less:
Moving regularly, limiting long periods of sitting to no longer than 50 – 60 minutes without getting up and moving around a little. Doing some structured exercise is key, but doing lots and lots of something that is not very demanding has limited benefit.

Short intense and muscularly demanding of big muscle groups is the way to go for triggering the fat burning switch, building muscle and improving overall health. This is known as High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). There are many ways to do it, but classic HIIT exercise include the good but grim Burpees, squat jumps, high knee sprints etc. So much good info on-line about this type of training now, but something that is key to remember is to do short, hard bursts to trigger a metabolic response that goes on for hours and days. It’s the after-effect that counts, the post-training response is where the magic happens, so doing more, more often is not the answer.

So there you go – take it gradually, work through these points and make them part of your life, not something to do like crazy and then stop and once you are comfortable and familiar with each change, then get going on something new.

Getting good sleep, managing stress and improving the quality of your down-time are also massively key to long-term good health, I’ll write more on these soon – here’s to your very best and prolonged health in 2018 onwards.