We’ve all heard about listening to your gut.
In recent years, people have been talking more and more about gut health. Our gut is crucial in allowing us to properly digest food and break it down into the many different nutrients that we need, including proteins and fats. The gut also works to remove toxins and waste from the body, which is another reason why it is so important to keep it healthy and happy.
An unhealthy gut will struggle to rid the body of toxins and properly digest food, which can lead to a number of chronic pains and illnesses, as well as inflammation. Interestingly, poor gut health can also lead to low mood and mental energy too. In recent years, there has been a lot of research done into the connection between the mind and the gut, and the connections are pretty crazy.
Experts have recently discovered that issues within the brain, such as low mood, memory issues and brain fog, can often actually be a secondary effect of something happening within the gut.
So how can we take care of our gut health? We sat down with Laura Murphy, the founder of SynerChi Kombucha, Ireland’s first
commercial kombucha brewery, to learn more about the food we need to be adding to our diets.
10 years ago, Laura set up her company to bring authentic, naturally fermented kombucha to the Irish market at a time when the category was virtually unknown. Inspired by her travels and work in the United States, where kombucha was rapidly gaining popularity, Laura saw an opportunity to create a locally produced alternative for Irish consumers seeking something different from conventional soft drink.
What is gut health?
There’s an old saying about the gut being the seat of all health but it really is. I think what’s happened in the last couple of years has been so fascinating. We know about the gut-brain axis (the signalling network connecting your gastrointestinal tract and your central nervous system). we know about the fact that our metabolism is largely regulated from the gut. So if the gut is out of whack, the metabolism starts to go out of whack.
Is fibre important?
Fibre is hugely important, and we should all be getting more fibre. There are lots of added fibre products out there now where you can kind of find easy ways to boost your fibre, but at the end of the day, natural whole foods are giving us loads of fibre. When you’re eating a fresh food, whole food diet, you’re getting plenty of fibre in there.
Try to add chia seeds, legumes, berries and potatoes with skins on to your diet for more fibre.
What about our gut bacteria?
People are aware of the concept of good and bad bacteria in the gut and wanting to keep that in balance. You want to keep that healthy by making sure that you’re providing the right things. There are particular probiotics that you can seed into the gut to address a particular issue. But in general what you want is essentially to feed the good bacteria because once those good bacteria are functioning everything is good. When the bacteria are healthy, it makes the gut lining more robust.
What other food should we be eating for gut health?
In general, all fermented foods is good.
Sauerkraut, cabbage fermented with salt and water or vinegar.
Kombucha, a sparkling, fermented tea. Kombucha is high in organic acids and these organic acids go deep into the uh into the gut and they actually promote the gut.
Kefir, a fermented, yoghurt drink
Kimchi, a Korean dish made with fermented cabbage, radish, scallions and spices