How to have the Best Gut in Town

I have been reading about new types of medicinal food for your gut to support people with conditions like leaky gut or immunity issues.

How do the foods work?

The foods are rich in short chain fatty acids like butyrate and propionate. These short chain fatty acids help your gut to produce a mucus lining which is important as a gut barrier for reducing “leakage.” Short chain fatty acids are also important signals for building a strong immune system.

However, you don’t need a medicinal food to have a healthy gut. The X-factor for gut health is fibre which your gut bacteria ferment to produce the short-chain-fatty acids.  

A high-fibre diet contains 50-100g of fibre per day.  Foods like muffins, pizza, ice-cream and pasta are fibre poor. The best source of fibre are fruits, vegetable, nuts and seeds. 

An example of a day’s food which would include 50-100g of fibre is below. This menu contains ~87 grams of fibre and 68 grams of protein. It would be simple to increase protein levels by adding meat, eggs, cheese or tofu.

This type of diet is great for your immunity, your gut and brain health, your satiety levels and will help you prevent or manage conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, autoimmune disease, asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other chronic inflammatory diseases.

Breakfast:

• Oats – porridge or muesli (1 cup cooked or ½ a cup of raw oats): 4 grams of fibre
• Raspberries (1 cup): 8 grams of fibre  
• Chia seeds (5 tablespoons): 10 grams of fibre

Lunch:

• Lentil soup (1 cup): 15 grams of fibre  
• Whole-wheat bread (2 slices): 6 grams of fibre
• Large apple with skin: 5 grams of fibre

Dinner:

• Black beans (1 cup): 15 grams of fibre
• Brown rice (1 cup cooked): 3.5 grams of fibre
• Broccoli (1 cup): 5 grams of fibre
• Avocado (1/2): 7 grams of fibre

Snacks:

• Pear with skin: 6 grams of fibre
• Almonds (20 almonds): 3.5 grams of fibre
• Popcorn (3 cups air-popped): 3.5 grams of fibre

Total: ~ 87 grams of fibre

Calorie and Protein breakdown

Total Calories: 1867 Total Protein: 68 grams

Here's the breakdown by meal:

• Breakfast: 367 calories, 10 grams protein
• Lunch: 584 calories, 24 grams protein
• Dinner: 638 calories, 23 grams protein
• Snacks: 278 calories, 11 grams protein

I would love to hear your favourite fibre-rich, gut healthy recipes and hacks for sneaking more fibre into regular meals (I always cook mince with black beans) and if you are happy, I would share them amongst the Zestt community – then we can all have the best guts in town 😊

All the best, Anna and Darcy.

If you would like to discuss any of this further, please contact Darcy or Anna (who you can contact at +64 27 599 2255 or +64 27 4861418 respectively) or via info@zesttwellness.com.