gut health

How to improve your health when you’re a busy working mum

11th May 2022 · Leave a Comment

*Just as keeping our desk in order helps us work more efficiently, so too does keeping our health in order help us function better as mums.*

Life in your 20s was good. You lived your life, worked hard, let your hair down a bit, and although work was a bit stressful, you felt like you had some balance. You never had a perfect relationship with food, but that didn’t matter because you were living your best life! And even if you weren’t on top of your health 100 percent, or you had an unhealthy weekend, you could live with it, because you didn’t have a miniature person relying on you bringing your A-game.

Fast forward a few years, and a few kids, and you now find yourself juggling

the longed-for motherhood,

the work that keeps you sane,

the school run (in the rain),

the relentless laundry (piled up in the lounge, patiently waiting to be folded and put away),

the bank-breaking food shop,

the endless ‘what shall we have for dinner?’ (argh why didn’t you meal plan this week?),

the cooking of said dinner,

the punishing bedtime ‘routine’ (which feels like less of a routine these days, and more of a ‘just go to bed!’)

…and then you do it all again tomorrow!

It’s already a lot. And now you’re a bit older, a bit more sleep deprived (you shouldn’t have stayed up binge-watching Selling Sunset again, but it was your only ‘me time’!), a dress size or two bigger (which shouldn’t matter, but it does to you), and staring down the barrel of a slippery slope towards perimenopause. (Ssh, it’s just around the corner and it might hear you and come for you early!)

You’re in your prime, apparently.

Except, you’re not. The health niggles are still there because you never quite got around to doing anything about them before, and then the kids came along, and you got too busy.

Sound familiar? It’s quite a specific scenario, but one that is so COMMON for modern-day mums in their 30s and 40s. As a mum of three young daughters, juggling home and work, knocking on the door of a big birthday this year – I see you, I know you, I am you.

I know the true value of meal planning and weekly food shopping (online so I can keep an eye on what I spend and not veer off track with unnecessary extras, AND get my Netflix fix). It helps keep me sane through the week when hubby asks what we are having for dinner. He’ll happily cook it, but it’s not his forte to think up what it is. And we have to play to our strengths; divide and conquer!

I know the personal benefits of eating foods that nourish my body, and limiting those that don’t. I don’t want to tell my brain I can’t have something, because then it will want it! So I still enjoy chocolate, wine, gin, the occasional dessert, etc. But they don’t take over my thoughts. I know that if my body is supported by 80 percent of my food, it can cope with the 20 percent that I enjoy, but that’s less beneficial.

I know that by ensuring my gut and microbiome are balanced and happy, then the rest of my body follows suit. A history of antibiotics, tummy bugs, and food poisoning had thrown things out of whack, and it takes time and patience to get the gut back on track. But supporting my gut health has been key to balancing everything else.

*With a little help, nourishing food is easier than we think.*

This week (9th to 15th May 2022) is Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK, and the Mental Health Foundation is tackling loneliness. So I just wanted to add that…

Being a new mum with a tiny baby can be lonely.

Being a mum at home all day with your toddler can be lonely.

Being a mum working from home can be lonely.

Being a mum struggling with the huge to-do list in your head can be lonely.

Being a mum battling with your health (or your child’s health) can be lonely.

*Getting out of the house for a walk with your baby is great, but it can still be lonely. Reach out to other local mums who are in the same boat and walk together.*

But you’re not alone. There are so many other mums in the same boat. But even though it might be common, it doesn’t mean that you can’t take the next step to feel less lonely and to feel healthier. Reach out.

If you need some support as a mum to improve your health, or your child’s health, or just to help get more organised with personalised meal planning and healthy recipes to keep your sanity in check, then get in touch for a free 15-minute discovery call where we can discuss your needs and how I can help.

Book a free call with Lucy

The Great Detox Debate: do you really need to detox?

5th February 2018 · Leave a Comment

Do you really need to detox? And when you hear the word ‘detox’, what does it make you think? Does it make you think of juice or tea diets, deprivation and hunger? Or perhaps it makes you roll your eyes and think “What a crock of … Our bodies already know how to detox!”?

There’s certainly some truth here. Our bodies do know how to detox (more on that in a moment). And if you’re unfortunate enough to do a juice or tea-based ‘detox’, you probably will be hungry and feel deprived!

Do you need to detox?

But it’s not all bad!

The term ‘detox’ has had a bad rap. It has become an umbrella term encompassing all manner of ‘diets’ and fads. Most of which hold little long-term benefit (if any). They will help you to lose some weight in the form of water. But they may also cause you to break down muscle, as your body looks for fuel – so, yep, guaranteed weight-loss there! But not in a good way…

So, it’s no wonder they’ve gained a bad reputation. But a true detox really shouldn’t fall in the same camp as these kinds of ‘diets’. If done correctly, and in the right circumstances, detoxing can be a much-needed boost for your body. It all depends why and how you are doing it.

Understanding detoxing

True detoxification is the process whereby your body removes toxic chemicals via the gut, liver and kidneys. There is also a thing called detoxication, which is the way your body prevents damaging compounds to enter. One example of this is via the gastrointestinal lining – the cells are tightly knitted to prevent anything getting through, unless the substance is allowed to via the cells themselves (like vitamins). They’re like teeny-tiny, miniature bodyguards: if your name’s not on the list, you’re not coming in!

We all know how we ‘should’ be eating. Nutritious (ideally organic) vegetables and fruits, along with some lean protein and healthy fats, and some wholegrains (depending on whether you can tolerate them). And we would all totally eat like that all the time, if it weren’t for our pesky modern-day way of life, and all its deliciousness! So yes, if you ate like this, even 80 per cent of the time, your body would undoubtedly have no trouble in detoxing the few toxins it came across.

Modern-day eating

Unfortunately, life is not like this. We don’t eat the way we did merely two or three generations ago. We encounter more toxins in our food, like pesticides. And we encounter more toxins in our environment, like xenoestrogens – chemicals found in plastics and toiletries, that act like the hormone oestrogen in our bodies, ultimately causing hormone imbalance.

In addition, we encounter fewer bacterium than we once did (thanks to our need to sanitise and sterilise) and therefore are experiencing an imbalance of good bacteria in the gut – ‘dysbiosis’. This leads to a compromised detoxification system, due to the impact gut bacteria has on your liver metabolism. Good bacteria are actually needed by the body to detox, as they help your liver process certain drugs and chemicals.

The role your gut plays in the need to detox

Your gastrointestinal tract (small intestine and large intestine or colon, aka your ‘gut’) plays a key role in helping detoxicate and detoxify. When it’s all working as it should (and your body is successfully removing toxins), then we don’t notice how busy the gut is working on this. But when toxins start to build up, we actually begin to notice that the gut is struggling to function optimally.

If we can just go back to the teeny-tiny bodyguards’ analogy for a moment… Some of us have the misfortune of not tolerating certain foods. Those foods can damage our intestinal lining. This causes the miniature bodyguards to stand further apart (aka intestinal hyperpermeability, or “leaky gut”). When this happens, uninvited guests (like food compounds and toxins) pass through rather than being removed from the party, adding to your body’s ‘toxicity’.

Another issue that can hinder successful detoxification is constipation. After toxins have been processed by the liver, they get packaged up to be removed (yes, in the poo). They sit in the lower intestine for a while until you’re ready to drop the kids off at the pool (can I say that here?!). However, if you have lacklustre teeny-tiny bodyguards, insufficient fibre and fluid intake, perhaps as well as dysbiosis, then you’re looking at constipation too. The problem with this is that the poo sits there longer than it should, giving those packaged toxins a chance to get out and be reabsorbed into the system! *facepalm*

The ‘Why’

Why do you need to detox? Needless to say, our bodies have not yet evolved to cope with the additional toxins they are exposed to, and the gut issues being faced. What’s more, it’s not just chemical toxins you need to think about. Your body must also control hormone levels, including ‘detoxing’ and excreting them. Hormonal issues are becoming more prevalent in today’s women. But men can suffer too, and are prone to oestrogen excess (think ‘moobs’).

So, a helping hand in healing the gut and supporting the detoxification process is a no-brainer, surely? But you can also see that just drinking juices or teas is probably not going to fix the problems. It requires a multi-faceted approach, tackling food intake, gut healing, intestinal function, and liver function. From a general perspective, detoxing falls in to two categories: the once-in-a-while gentle detox or ‘cleanse’; and the full heal-the-gut, liver-supported detoxification.

The gentle cleanse or the full detox?

The gentle cleanse is great if you’re feeling a bit ‘blah’, a bit bloated, a bit like you overindulged at Christmas. It helps your body to process all the stuff it had recently, by not overburdening it with heavy foods and booze. It gives your natural detox system a chance to recover and get back on track. And you will feel better for it! You may or may not need some additional gut help, depending on your own personal symptoms.

The ‘full detox’ is for those with a build-up of hormones, toxins, heavy metals, or who have issues in the detoxification process. It helps your body get rid of the build-up by gently encouraging the detoxification process in the liver (which can be sluggish in some people). However, healing the gut, correcting the microbiota balance and removing health obstacles like constipation, are all key components of the process too.

Time to detox?

So, do you need to detox?

It’s a case of changing how we look at detoxes. Be aware that they are not all the same. Be mindful of what you want to achieve. Drinking tea for three days before you walk the red-carpet at the Oscars probably will achieve a flat stomach. Oh, and hunger, and very little nutrition, and possibly bowel issues, but not much else.

The “need to detox” is forever debatable. However, a proper, supported detox may help you if you:

are feeling ‘blah’, sluggish or tired;
have overindulged recently;
are suffering with constipation or ‘slow bowels’;
have other gut-health issues;
are struggling to lose weight;
have a poor immune system;
are noticing some hormone-related issues;
have been exposed to toxins/heavy metals;
have issues with your liver; or
have compromised detoxification function.

I can help you with tailoring a detox to suit you and your requirements. Get in touch to enquire about a personalised detox, or book in for a ‘Cleanse & Reset’ programme.

Which Probiotics? Product Review: Gutsy Probiotics

17th January 2018 · Leave a Comment

Who else is finding their new year good intentions are already proving hard to stick to? I know I am! In addition to my yoga goal for the month, there’s also my general nutrition ‘goals’ (targets? requirements? things I’d like to achieve? Whatever you’d like to call them). Like getting enough vegetables each day, snacking sensibly (lactation cookies, anyone?), and remembering to take my probiotics.

Why probiotics?

Probiotics are shown to improve health by balancing your gut bacteria. Gut bacteria help you to digest foods, produce some vitamins, aid the absorption of nutrients, neutralise toxic digestive by-products, and discourage ‘bad’ bacteria. Your gut bacteria, or microbiota, are also now known to be linked to your mental health and immune health. So, pretty important. And after an indulgent month like December, it’s a great time to give your gut and microbiota a helping hand to get back on track. But which probiotics should you be taking?

Forgot your probiotics?

It’s not always easy to take probiotics: keeping them refrigerated, then remembering to find the capsules hidden in the fridge, or spooning out the right amount of powder. Seriously, a third of a teaspoon?! How much even IS that?

So, it definitely helps matters if your probiotics happen to be a delicious drink. Who doesn’t want to drink a delicious, thirst-quenching, fruity drink?

Which probiotics?

It just so happens I have come across a probiotic drink that even my hubby and threenager want to be involved in. And my husband never wants to be involved with food and drink that includes the term ‘healthy’, so that’s a real testament!

My drink that my hubby ‘stole’!

Gutsy have a range of probiotic sachets that make improving your gut health in 2018 super-easy & super-delicious. Proven by my husband, who drank my whole glass, when he was only meant to ‘taste’ it! I struggle to get him to drink more water, but elderberry & lime flavoured probiotics he will do!! #gutsylife

What Gutsy does.

Gutsy uses specific probiotic strains that act as ‘starter bugs’ which work to repopulate your gut with the good guys, helping to balance your gut microbiota, keep you regular, & improve your immune health. Especially useful if you have taken antibiotics in the past, ever had gastro, or struggle with bowel regularity!

Individually wrapped serves, and no need to refrigerate!

Gutsy also contains a prebiotic, which essentially is food for the probiotic bacteria, to help them settle into their new home with a slap up meal! Plus, it uses natural fruit juices and a natural sweetener, to help give it that delicious taste. So, they’re even great for our smaller household members (kids aged three and over). That’s win-win in my book! And now you know which probiotics!

Different probiotic strains help with different conditions. But if you’re looking for an overall boost to your microbiota and well being, then Gutsy might just be the ticket! Check them out at https://www.gutsy.life/

Lucy x

Note: Gutsy were kind enough to send me a sample of their delicious probiotics to try. However, the opinions in this post are all my own.

“Great Guts!” A guide for need-to-know gut health terminology.

27th October 2017 · Leave a Comment

Ever felt a bit confused by all the gut health terminology floating around? Even within the health industry, there seems to be some confusion around what some of the terms mean, and they can often be mis-used.

Read on for explanations on the top terms used when talking about gut health…

The Top 7 Gut Health Terms You Need to Know

Microbiota

Simply put, this is the community of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, archaea, protists and fungi) found on and in your body. The largest population is found in the digestive tract, more commonly known as the ‘gut flora’ or microflora.

There are between 10-100 trillion microbial cells in your body – outnumbering human cells 10 to one! The microbiota plays a really important role in your health. For example, it aids your digestion by improving foods’ digestibility, which in turn improves your nutritional status. However, it also improves your immunity and exerts positive effects on your brain and behaviour.

The more diverse your diet, the more diverse your microbiota, the greater a positive effect it can have. Essentially, “all hail, the microbiota”, it’s a pretty damn awesome community!

Microbiome

Not to be confused with ‘microbiota’ above, the microbiome is the entire habitat including the genetic material of the microbiota. It also gets mistaken for the term ‘metagenome’, which refers only to the genetic material of the microbiota.

Each microbial cell contains its own set of DNA, which play a significant role in your body. Most of these genes encode for enzymes and proteins that influence your body’s cells. As a result, gut microbes and their genetics have an impact on your energy balance via metabolism regulation. Did you know, they also influence brain development and function?

The gut-brain axis, or microbiome-gut-brain axis, refers to the two-way signalling between your brain and gut microbiome. It involves brain and hormone signalling mechanisms via the central nervous system. Studies show that gut microbes are involved in the formation of chemical messengers identical to those produced by humans. These include hormones like cortisol, and neurotransmitters like dopamine or serotonin. They are critical to your mood regulation, therefore showing how the microbiome plays a direct role in stress management, anxiety and depression.

Dysbiosis

Essentially, this refers to the imbalance of the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria in your gastrointestinal system. Or the community of microorganisms in your body. Or your microbiota, as you now call it!

Dysbiosis may lead to other health issues, particularly gut-related ones, and requires good gut care to rebalance the microbiota and repair any damage. One of the ways to rebalance the bacteria is with targeted probiotics.

Probiotics

Also known as ‘friendly’ or ‘good’ bacteria, probiotics are live microorganisms that can be consumed as a food or dietary supplement. In addition, they can maintain or restore beneficial bacteria to the digestive tract.

There are varying levels of what can be sold to you as probiotics:

‘Live / active cultures’ – general fermented foods which don’t need specific research to back their claims;
Probiotics that do not make a health claim – usually general supplements containing general beneficial/safe microbes;
Probiotics that do make a health claim – these must contain defined probiotic strains (see below), and convincing evidence for the specific strains’ health indications. They must also have proof of delivery of a viable strain at an effective dose level at the end of the shelf life. Meaning: if it says you will receive 35million CFU (colony forming units, or how many microbes there are) then you will still get that amount even at the best before date, provided you have kept the probiotics in a suitable environment (usually the fridge).

Strains

Probiotic strains are specific bacteria with particular functions. Don’t confuse them with probiotic ‘species’, which are the equivalent to the ‘family name’ of the probiotics. The strains within these ‘families’ are like ‘cousins’ and, whilst related, can be quite different in their actions. In fact, when we refer to what benefits probiotics can offer, we are likely referring to a very specific strain. For example, the well-known Lactobacillus is a probiotic species, but the Lactobacillus Acidophilus is a strain within that species, which offers different actions to Lactobacillus Rhamnosus.

Whilst there is often some benefit to be had from selecting a probiotic supplement that contains multiple strains, there is usually more benefit from selecting a probiotic supplement that contains specific strains which target the exact problem you have.

Prebiotics

Prebiotics are ‘food’ for the microbes (or ‘friendly bacteria’) in your gut. These are completely different to probiotics, but they are connected as they’re food for them as well. Their technical definition is that they selectively stimulate growth or activity of specific microbe species in your gut microbiota, which then results in health benefits to you.

Prebiotics consist of non-digestible carbohydrates, or dietary fibre, and can be found in various foods in a healthy diet. Resistant starch is a type of indigestible fibre found in cooked and cooled potatoes. Inulin is another type, found in banana, garlic, onion, leek, asparagus, and Jerusalem artichoke. Other examples of prebiotics include the beta-glucan found in barley and whole oats, oligosaccharides in wheat bran, and pectin in apples. Flaxseeds are another favourite source, as they contain other great health benefits too!

The downsides to prebiotics is they can feed and fuel an existing small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), if there is one. Those with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or a FODMAPs intolerance can also find prebiotics make their symptoms worse. In these instances, it’s best talking with your friendly nutritionist on a way to help resolve your gut issues.

Antibiotics

Most people know these as medicine to get better, and they wouldn’t be wrong, exactly. Antibiotics are drugs used to treat bacterial infections, and in many cases entirely necessary. Generally speaking, an antibiotic is a substance produced by one microorganism that selectively inhibits the growth of another. But what are the other consequences of taking antibiotics?

Many antibiotics we know today are synthetic ‘broad-spectrum’ versions, created to work on a range of bacteria. These are the ones that can be particularly problematic, as they also target the ‘good bacteria’ that we need in our guts. By killing off both the good and bad bacteria in the gut, potentially permanently, the microbiome is left with a smaller number of beneficial bacterial species, counterbalancing the resistant ‘bad’ bacteria. This is where help from a nutritionist is important to repopulate your body with the right kind of probiotic strains, and prebiotics to encourage their growth.

In conclusion…

Understanding these gut-related terms are just the start in helping you understand what is happening inside your body. Ongoing studies are intensively resarching gut health, as it is such a complex place. Most of all, though, it’s absolutely the underpinning of overall good health, so I hope you find this terminology guide useful.

Perhaps you need help with your gut microbiota and digestive issues, or want to know which probiotics you should be taking? If so, get in touch and make an appointment, and I will be happy to help!

Research

https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-015-0094-5
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4259177/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/307998.php
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/spc3.12309/full
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/probiotic
https://www.medicinenet.com/probiotics/article.htm
https://www.wired.com/2011/08/killing-beneficial-bacteria/