Gut health has a lot to answer for! Poor gut health could be the answer to many unwanted symptoms that are killing our confident summer vibes. We don’t just mean smelly gas and bloated belly (although these symptoms are bad enough) but it can also effect are skin, mood and even breath!

Having a good gut, can make us shine from the inside out and there’s nothing better than going for that satisfied one or two fully evacuated number 2’s a day, which we’re informed by Master of Nutrition, Kelly Jones, is the number one sign of a good gut.

We caught up with Kelly to get her top 5 recommendations for looking after our guts this Summer.

1. Less Stress, more sleep

Gut bacteria does not like stressful situations; you may have experienced the nervous belly syndrome. There are nerve ends in our gut that send direct signals to the brain. When we feel stressed or anxious hormones in our bodies send us into a fight or flight mode. During this the digestive system temporarily shuts down and can lead to the dumping sensation in your stomach.

As well as stress, lack of sleep can also play havoc with our hormones effecting the gut; not getting enough zzzz, increases the hormone ghrelin, or as we like to call it the hunger gremlin, leading to poor food choices; why a ham and cheese toasty looks a lot more appealing than are pre-made salads when we’re tired.

Kelly recommends that aim for 7-8 hours of sleep a night. If you struggle with sleep here are a few tips:

- try setting a sleep routine, including switching off phones, taking a shower & reading a book

- have a quiet, cool sleep environment

- Try a little soothing lavender oil

- 5-10 mins of mindfulness a day can help level our stress hormones

There are tonnes of great apps that offer guided mediations, some of our fav’s include Calm, Head Space and Deliciously Ella.

2. Mindful Eating

Where do you eat your food? What do you eat your food with? What time do you eat? What are you doing when you eat?

We could be having the healthiest lunch, but according to Kelly how we think about eating our food can also be crucial to a healthy gut!

Like most things in the body, our gut is connected to the five senses; the more we use all five senses when eating the better our digestive system works. For example, smelling and looking at our food can produce saliva in the mouth. Saliva along with properly chewing our food, creates enzymes that break down our foods before it hits our stomach and intestines.

A few ways we can become more mindful at mealtimes are to:

1. Eat away from your desk/workspace – make sure you take a dedicated lunch time even if it’s 15-minutes

2. Eat at the dinner table – this will increase our likeliness of looking at our food rather than the TV, plus being in a nice upright position for easy digestion

3. No phones at mealtime – A high culprit nowadays, give the brain a break from the endless scrolling and give your gut 15-mins of love to enjoy your meal!

4. Plant-based Variety

Kelly says that a sign of a healthy gut is to be able to eat a wide variety of foods comfortably, including nuts, seeds, lentils, legumes, meats, dairy and natural gluten.

If you find that you’re having trouble digesting certain foods, and you haven’t been diagnosed with an intolerance, it may be because of the quantity that you’re eating, or that your gut bacteria aren’t used to breaking down certain fibres. Kelly’s tip is to start small and slow, a tablespoon of lentils or beans at a time, rather than a whole meal. If you are persistent your stomach will adjust, and your gut bacteria will be thankful.

Anything plant-based is great for the gut. They not only have their own fatty acids which reduce inflammation, are packed with vitamins, and minerals, but they are also full of gut loving fibre.

Think of fibre as big road sweepers for your digestive system. The more fibre you have, the bigger the clear out! Fibre is also energy for our gut bacteria, from that energy gut bacteria produces fatty acids that again reduce inflammation in the body. It’s inflammation that can causes bad skin, achy joints, anxiety, and illness.

Other thing that feed out gut bacteria is pre-biotic foods, these foods include fermented foods like kimchi, kefir, sauerkraut, sourdough, miso and kombucha.

Here’s some tips form Kelly you can follow right now to increase your variety and fibre:

- Aim for one Plant-based meal a day that contains a lentil or legume (remember start small). Kelly stocks lots of plant-based meals at her café the Wholesome Kitchen or reach out to her for some recipe inspo.

- Mix up your Pantry. Okay this may drive a few pantry enthusiasts a bit crazy, but we say the less containers the better! Mix all your nuts and seeds in one and add a tablespoon to salads, smoothies, or yogurt. Mix up your grains; wholegrain rice, quinoa, cous cous and bulgur wheat can all be cooked and eaten together. Try mixing pasta grains including chickpea, bulgur and wholegrain.

- Stick a couple of fermented treats into your next food shop! Add a spoon full of sauerkraut or Kimchi in your salads, swap to kefir yogurt or opt for a sourdough bread – all great gut bacteria fuel!

5. Reducing alcohol

Okay, we know summer hails the silly season; from Melbourne Cup Day all the way to Australia Day, we’re pretty much on a booze fest. However fun it may be, our guts really don’t love alcohol, or the morning after fry up!

We’re level with you, we all love a sunshine Rose, and there are ways to still enjoy a couple of drinks and to try and keep our guts feeling good.

Firstly, looking at the amount we’re having. Have you ever tried measuring your wine pours? This can be a great way of being a bit more mindful of a small 125ml compared to a large 250ml. Another go to tip is to remain hydrated; dehydration will leave you feeling of bloated, can cause loose bowls and dull skin. Try drinking 200 – 500ml of water between every alcoholic drink.

Having a night-time magnesium and water ready before you go to bed can help rebalance the electrolytes and reduce the feeling of inflammation the morning after a boozy sesh.

Manage what you’re eating during, and the morning after a few drinks. Maybe opt for a gut loving avo and sourdough, rather than deep fried foods for brekkie and when choosing off Christmas Party menu’s, try opting for the vego or fish options, over big portions of meat!

6. More natural/less disinfectant!

In the world of post-pandemic, everyone’s loves to keep the disinfectant at hand, and we don’t blame you, who wants to get sick AGAIN! Kelly does warn us to disinfect with caution, as disinfectant doesn’t know the difference between good and bad bacteria and unfortunately kills it all.

So, with constant exposure to disinfectant and not enough exposure to the odd germ, we can kill the good bacteria in our guts.

Kelly recommends a few ways that we can keep it natural including:

- Getting barefoot in nature

- Owning a dog

- Growing our own herbs or veggies

- Using natural cleaning products

- Using natural beauty products

If you’d like more information on gut health or are suffering from prolonged and problematic symptoms, you can book to see Kelly for a consultation here: www.thegourmetnutritionist.com.au

5 Tips to Health Summer Gut

Staffed Hours