Experiments in Modern Wellbeing #001: Gut Health – Plants, Plants, Plants

What? Boosting our gut health. Why? Wellbeing and immunity. How? More plants.

I am mildly obsessed with gut health. And will talk about it with anyone. Maybe it comes from living for Pakistan for three years in my 20s where talk about gut rumbles, parasites, and bowel movements were de rigueur for many a dinner party. In a recent work strategy meeting, we were asked to name something that surprised us. Some colleagues talked about project-related or personal life surprises. I talked about gut health facts.

My obsession with gut health took off after having baby number two in 2019. A uterine infection, post-partum haemorrhage at 9 days resulting in 15+ hours in the emergency department meant I had many antibiotics. Happily, this got rid of the infection and mass bleeding, but unhappily sent my gut microbiome haywire.

Eight months postpartum, I decided to visit a functional medicine doctor to have my microbiome tested. It was eye opening to see what bacteria I had an overgrowth in, and what bacteria I was deficient in. Remedies included taking targeted antibiotics (oh the irony!) to kill off overpopulated bacteria, drinking bone broth (which, as a vegetarian lasted approximately one day before I got the icks), drinking aloe vera juice, and taking melatonin. I was a little sceptical that these weird and wonderful remedies would work – but six months later, I felt like my gut health had stabilised.

Fast forward to 2023, and my gut problems were back. While I had birthed another baby in 2021, happily there were no complications and no antibiotics that were the obvious cause of bloating (and occasional queries at the end of the day from my older children – mum, are you having another baby? Uh NO, but thanks!). So why did my gut health feel off? I decided to do a deep dive into all things gut health to see what I could do to improve it, and my overall wellbeing.

Why does gut health matter?

I listened to this fantastic podcast with Dr Robynne Chutkan and Rich Roll where Dr Chutkan highlights the linkages between gut health and a whole range of health issues. One of the stand out facts that has stayed with me is that 85% of our immune system resides in our gut (!).

We are only as healthy as our gut bacteria.

Have you noticed that some people never get sick when everyone else has the flu or a cold? They are exposed to the same virus as everyone else, but because their healthy microbiome is populated with lots of good microbes they can defeat the virus and stay healthy.

So what affects our gut microbiome?

The three biggest influencers (that we have control over) include:

·      Medications we take - most notably the contraceptive pill, antacids, anti-inflammatories - and antibiotic overuse. The factoid about the pill fascinated and concerned me in equal parts as someone who had taken the pill for over 15 years…)

·      Foods we eat – a low fibre diet ‘starves’ many of the bacterial species that are essential for proper immune function.

·      Environmental exposure – a super-sanitised environment can expose us to chemicals and pesticides – and modern farming/depleted soil means our exposure to beneficial soil microbes is low.

Another super interesting fact from the podcast was the role of gut health for patients with COVID-19. I raced to the library to borrow Dr Chutkan’s new book The Anti-Viral Gut to learn more about the linkages between gut health, immunity – and the new research into the gut and COVID-19.

In the Anti-Viral Gut, Dr Chutkan highlights: “In a large study of patients with COVID-19, the composition of the microbiome predicted development of severe respiratory symptoms and death with 92 per cent accuracy.” This blows my mind!  

The microbiome was more accurate than other traditional assessments of outcomes (comorbidities) – which only predicted an additional 1 per cent!! Yet, in most media we heard about COVID patients and their comorbidities – I don’t remember reading anything on links between severity of COVID and gut health.

Why is gut health, immunity and disease so interesting and important? Unlike a bunch of factors that are difficult or impossible to change (genes, age) – we have a lot of control over what is going on in our gut.

In this month’s experiment in modern wellbeing, I zoom in on influencer #2– food.

Experiments in Modern Wellbeing #001 – Give your Gut Health a Boost

After studying a semester of nutrition as part of an undergraduate certificate in lifestyle coaching, I was keen to do another microbiome test and experiment on myself.

More about my 2023 microbiome test another day, but as part of my quest to optimise my gut health I started my first experiment this week – eating at least 30 different plants every week. 30 DIFFERENT PLANTS! I know, sounds nuts (but nuts count as plants, so that is an easy win).

I read an article in The Guardian last month, that highlighted that eating 30 different plants a week would improve your gut health.  Before I attempted to get the whole family on the 30-plant train, I decided to go it alone first. I have kept a tally on the fridge of all of the different plant foods I consumed over the week. Before I started, I thought (despite being a vegetarian) that it would be tough, but it was surprisingly easy and a bit of a fun game. Adding a few different spices, nuts or veggies to every meal meant I was able to crack 32 different plants by Saturday night.

Fridge scrawl

Legible list

When we talk about diet and nutrition we seem to focus a lot on what we can’t eat – don’t eat processed foods, or wheat, or meat, or dairy – the list goes on. The great thing about focusing on 30 plants is that we can think about nutrition through an abundance rather than a restrictive lens.

Plants don’t just mean fruit and veg – but include nuts, seeds, legumes, grains, herbs, spices. Adding a few nuts to a salad, herbs to a pasta sauce, or a couple of extra veggies to a roast all adds up. Even coffee counts (though I forgot to add it to my list even though it is a daily staple plant in my diet!).

So my simple mantra for this wellbeing experiment – choose to add foods (this time plants!), rather than restrict them. I will tally my plant count on the fridge for the next month and see if the habit forms. Let me know in the comments if you decide to do this experiment with me for the rest of April!

If you are interested in gut health, below is a list of fantastic books and podcasts that I found useful.

Books

The Anti-Viral Gut – Dr Robynne Chutkan

Fibre Fuelled – Dr Will Bulsiewicz

Gut: The Inside Story on the Body's Most Under-Rated Organ – Giulia Enders

Podcasts

The Rich Roll Podcast – Episode 714 – Dr Robynne Chutkan

The Rich Roll Podcast – Episode 680 – Dr Will Bulsiewicz

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Be well and have a great week,

Alicia