Wow, we’re getting to the end of August – Microbiome month at Eat Well Live Well.
We started with a look at what the microbiome is (read the post here if you missed it).
In this video I then explained how your microbiome is different from others.
Last week I explained how your microbiome affects your endometriosis.
So this week we finally get to the good part: I'll give you 3 ways to improve your microbiome with food.
Because here’s the thing: the bacteria in your gut eat what you eat. And the different bacteria thrive on different types of food. Which means you can starve the bad bacteria by eating none (or less) of the foods they love, and grow the colonies of good bacteria by eating more of what they love.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
I’m a realist though, and know that you’ll disagree with me once you see what you should stop eating and what you should eat more of. But even slow, small changes will start to make a difference in your microbiome.
Let’s start with foods to remove from your diet so the bad bacteria starve:
Sugar, sugar-containing and simple carbohydrates
Bad bacteria absolutely love sugar! And that’s not just actual sugar, soft drinks and lollies. We’re talking:
- biscuits,
- low fibre, commercial bread,
- crackers,
- pasta,
- white rice
- even most peanut butters (check the label, they’ve got sugar!),
- fruit juice (unless you juice yourself, and include the whole fruit)
- honey (the supermarket, run of the mill version)
- flavoured yoghurts: the yoghurt may contain good bacteria, but the flavouring will undo their benefit
- artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame
- alcohol
Some of these foods contain sugar, and some are easily turned into sugar by your body. Have a look at the label of some of your favourite foods and find out how much total sugar it contains per serve. When it comes to a healthy gut microbiome, reducing your sugar intake is a key step.
Now, let’s see what you should eat to increase the numbers of good bacteria.
Probiotic foods
Probiotic foods are foods that contain good bacteria. By eating more of them, you add more to your gut.
Any food that has been fermented contains good bacteria. The fermentation process involves bacteria to change the sugars in the food.
Examples of probiotic foods are:
- natural, unsweetened yoghurt. If you are very used to the sweetened variety, add some mashed up fresh fruit and initially some raw organic honey.
- Hard cheeses like Cheddar and Gouda
- Kimchi
- Sauerkraut
- Kefir
- Kombucha
- Tempeh
- Pickles – as long as they are salt-pickled (so in brine), not vinegar-pickled.
- Apple cider vinegar
Some of these are very popular ‘health’ products at the moment, like Kombucha, and are available in the supermarket. I wouldn’t bother with them, as many manufacturers add extra sugar to make it taste sweeter, or may not even be made properly (a dead give-away is if the label says “made with Kombucha extract”. They may also be pasteurised, killing the bacteria in the process. Health food stores may be a better option. Make sure that the Kombucha you buy is refrigerated. Or make your own with a purchased SCOBY (the starter).
Pickling your own vegetables is also quite straightforward and there are many good recipes out there.
Prebiotic foods
Prebiotic foods provide food for the good bacteria that are already in the gut and help the colonies to grow. Good bacteria love fibre and resistant starch. Fibre cannot be digested by the body, but gut bacteria can digest it.
Foods high in fibre are:
- Fresh fruits – skin on where possible, because it’s the skin that contains the most fibre
- Fresh vegetables, especially broccoli and green peas
- Legumes and beans, like lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, etc.
- Wholegrains, like brown rice
- Nuts and seeds
Resistant starch can be found in:
- Oats (although be careful if you are on a gluten-free diet – even though oats don’t contain wheat protein, they may have been processed by equipment also used to process wheat, and so could be contaminated with gluten).
- Cooked and cooled rice
- Cooked and cooled potatoes
- Legumes
- Raw potato starch
- Green bananas, although they may be a bit of an acquired taste ..
If you were to implement each of these 3 ways to improve your microbiome with food changes at once, you’d have a struggle on your hands. My best advice is to start to reduce your sugar intake at the pace you can manage.
And slowly start adding pro- and prebiotic foods. Try a little bit, see how you like them.
Remember, every little change will be a positive change, and will be improving your microbiome!
Not sure where to start with your diet? I'd love to give you some suggestions for quick and easy tweaks, based what you typically eat.