WE know that eating lots of fruit, vegetables and fermented foods are good for our gut, but what foods should we avoid for optimal gut health?
First of all, let’s explain what probiotics are.
These are friendly bacteria that provide a boost to our guts. They are important for our immune systems with growing evidence of them protecting against upper respiratory tract infections (URTI’s).
Probiotics should be used every day in your daily diet and can be found in Greek Fage yoghurt, milk drinks (Danone actimel, Yakult) as well as fermented foods like kefir and kombucha.
Vegan probiotic alternatives include plant based Alpro yoghurts, Coconut collaborative yoghurts and Biomel drinks.
Always make sure your food labels in probiotic foods says live or active cultures.
So what are the worst foods for our guts? Ultra processed foods (UPF’s) are at the top of the list as these are manufactured using a lot of artificial ingredients.
Examples include ham, sausage, breakfast cereals, some ice creams and biscuits. Another one is fried foods that use saturated fat oils (palm and coconut oil) and/or lard or butter. These can be difficult to digest and affect our gut microbiome.
High sugar foods (sweeties, chocolate, cakes, confectionery etc) is another example that doesn’t work well with our guts.
This is why you should stick to the public health guidelines of no more than 30g per day of free sugars which is equivalent to a small dairy milk bar.
Alcohol is another one and is one of the worst lifestyle choices for our gut health as it can disrupt the balance of good and bad bacteria. This is why if consuming alcohol, you should stick to the public health recommendations of no more than 14 units per week.
• Lee McCusker (BA; MSc; MSc; MSc; ANutr; SENr) is a registered nutritionist from Belfast and can be found on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Email: attentive nutrition@gmail.com
