There are many things that can make you sick — injustice, roller coasters, public speaking — but your diet shouldn’t be one of them.
However, health experts believe that this is exactly what is happening, as 86 per cent of Britons have suffered from digestive problems in the past year.
While nervousness and anxiety may be to blame, about 10 percent of Britons suffer from IBS, and many experts believe modern Western diets and the stress of fast paced life are to blame.
“Our eating habits have changed dramatically over the past few generations,” explains naturopath Louise Vestra (louisewestra.com).
“Our daily diets are now almost unrecognizable to our grandparents.
“We have always collected food, but we have never had so much choice, convenience, or access to food.
“In addition, we have entered a whole new era of nutrition where refined and ultra-processed foods have become staples in many homes.
“As a result, our digestive system is facing challenges it has never had to deal with, and now it’s happening on a regular basis.”
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It’s no secret that the war on junk food continues.
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From taxes on sugar to banning chocolates and sweets at checkouts and counting calories on menus, government agencies are scrambling to make unhealthy snacks more unaffordable to the masses in an attempt to curb rising rates of obesity and diabetes, not to mention rising IBS. .
“The main components of the Western diet include too much refined sugar, highly refined and saturated fats, animal protein, and reduced intake of plant fiber,” Louise warns.
“It also means that people have lower levels of naturally occurring phytochemicals (produced by plants) that incredibly help the body reduce inflammation.
“Some ingredients actually confuse the body by launching an immune attack against what it thinks are potentially dangerous bacteria (when it’s actually part of one of those processed foods), resulting in low levels of inflammation.
“Distracting the immune system in this way means that immune cells will not be ready to do their job when faced with a real infection, as they are already busy fighting the onslaught of our poor food choices.”
From acid reflux and bloating to constipation and chronic diarrhea, stomach complaints show up in a myriad of uncomfortable ways, so how can you support your digestive system and beat the symptoms of a quirky stomach?
1. It’s time to put your diet back in the day.
Life is very different, but we would all be better off if we followed the simple diet that our grandparents used to follow.
It even played a positive role in House of the 1940s, a Channel 4 series in which a family traded their frozen ready meals and sweet treats for smaller portions of meat but unlimited potatoes, fresh seasonal vegetables, and whole grain bread (the standard bread during Second World War). world war). ).
Combined with hard work and a lot of activity, like the village girls and farmers of the time, the family’s cholesterol, blood pressure, and body fat levels dropped significantly after nine weeks.
While it may not sound like a healthy diet, it was higher in fiber and carbs, which scored high on the Satiety Index, leaving little room for sugar cravings. And that’s a good thing, because sugar, meat, cheese, butter, and cooking fats were severely restricted in the 1940s.
However, before rations were introduced, the average British diet was still closer to modern recommendations than what we eat today.
“Now we eat a lot less flavoring and rely heavily on salt and sugar as our main flavors,” Louise says.
“That means we don’t use bitter foods like we used to.
“For centuries, people have consumed bitter foods as a way to support digestion—it was consumed as an aperitif before meals and/or served as a digestive tonic at the end of a hearty meal.
“Studies show that bitter foods help stimulate the secretion of saliva and stomach acid, which promotes healthy digestion and stimulates the release of bile, a fluid produced by the liver that breaks down and digests fats.”
Your Good Gut Shopping List
Calm grumbling bellies with lock picks from Louise’s pantry…
Fresh vegetables
Aim for variety and at least four to five servings a day. Some of the best include beets, carrots, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale), dark leafy greens, onions, peas, salad greens, and zucchini.
Whole pieces of fruit
Three to four servings per day - especially apples, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, nectarines, oranges, pears, pink grapefruit, plums, pomegranates, red grapefruit, or strawberries.
Herbs, spices and teas
Turmeric, ginger, basil, oregano, thyme, etc., and green tea daily.
Probiotics
Foods such as yogurt, kombucha, kvass, kefir or cultured vegetables daily.
organic products
Wild caught fish, outdoor roe and grass/pasture raised meat several times a week.
healthy fats
Grass fed oil, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil and nuts/seeds.
Ancient cereals and legumes
One to three servings per day - especially adzuki beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, lentils, black rice, amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa.
Red wine and dark chocolate/cocoa in moderation
Several times a week or a small amount per day.
2. Wash vegetables
If a quick rinse or shirt wipe is your go-to for cleaning fruits and vegetables before tucking them in, you may want to reconsider.
Recent studies have shown that the use of synthetic pesticides in our products has steadily increased every year since World War II to keep up with growing demand.
In fact, a report by the European Food Safety Authority found that 45 percent of food in the EU contains traces of one of more than 774 pesticides.
Bananas, eggplant, broccoli, peas, peppers and raisins all have been found to have a higher likelihood of containing multiple residues, and studies have shown that exposure to such pesticides is associated with microbial shifts in the gut and increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut syndrome) and intestinal inflammation.
“Our gut microbiome is a bacterial ecosystem that contains genetic material,” says Dr. Anthony Hobson, senior research fellow at the Functional Gutclinic.com.
“These organisms have evolved with us and basically have a beneficial and symbiotic relationship with our bodily functions, meaning that our diet, lifestyle, the medications we take, and our environment, including the use of pesticides, affect their effectiveness. .
“That’s why we have to wash everything well to avoid intestinal imbalance.”
In addition to agricultural pesticides, this also includes phthalates present in plastic food packaging, which have been shown to leach into foods.
A simple wash with salt water or a baking soda solution will suffice, or you can opt for something more specialized like Bondi Wash’s Fruit & Vege Wash, £14 (alittlefind.com) to remove chemical stains.
3. Less Antibiotics
Antibiotics are prescribed almost half of the UK population Every year.
And while they are vital in treating disease, they can affect your gut biome.
While the effects can be reversed, Dr. Anthony warns that it takes time.
“The gut heals itself beautifully in the right environment, and intermittent fasting can be a good way to give it time to “cleanse itself” by removing old cells and mucus from the lining and regenerating new cells ready for the next day of healthy eating. “.
To double the effectiveness of the treatment, Louise recommends turning to natural remedies for additional benefits.
“It is highly recommended to use health foods like marshmallow or slippery elm, which soothe the intestinal lining, and boost probiotic foods as they populate the gut with beneficial bacteria.”