To think that gut health will become a huge focus in the next decade?

[KenAdams]

I'm seeing more and more people looking for ways to improve their gut health.

I have endo and going GF has been one of the most helpful things pain wise.

AIBU to think we're on the cusp of a gut health revolution here? Fingers crossed that it will drive companies to come up with better tasting GF food as well as some of it is dreadful!

I cured my eczema through a strict diet so I know how important the gut is for at the very least some significant skin conditions.. yet it isn't well known, so I hope greater focus is put on it in the future. Maybe fewer people will have to suffer unnecessarily.

I have one friend that now only exclusively eats meat. She will tell you to read lots of books that show vegetables have toxins.
Which they do of course but that’s why you eat a variety and cook some.

I’m sure research shows the Mediterranean diet is the best for long life and health but everyone can find someone in their 90’s who drinks and smokes. The only universal rule seems to be don’t be greedy, whatever the diet.

We use symprove a probiotic liquid and find it great it may be a coincidence but my sons immunity is great.

I've slowly and reluctantly adjusted my diet. Gluten and lactose free. My stomach is so much better. Unfortunately I've had food poisoning so back to square one this week. But I'll get back on track.

Kefir milk I tried hard, holding my nose etc. But it was just yuck. I'll have another go with the yoghurt with fruit perhaps.

Yep I'm eagerly awaiting my gut biome test with Zoe.

I was prescribed omeprazole. I was drinking white wine each evening, eating large meals, too much fatty food, including ice cream, too much caffeine.
I seriously reduced alcohol and ate more healthily and slept on 3 pillows to raise my shoulders and stopped the omeprazole. DH has been on it for years.

Just please no one fall for the pyramid schemes that are selling gut health products fizz sticks , pre/pro biotics etc) . Their staff know nothing about the products and they're crap anyway. Probably shouldn't name the one I'm talking about but they've scammed a lot of people (idiots) into buying loads of the product and convincing them they will make their millions but the products do nothing and they're stuck with it as no fucker wants them. They're bullied by above and they harass people to buy them in return. Nightmare

This is depressing. All that good gut health needs is a really simple diet of simple whole foods and fermented food like whole grains, vegetables, fruit, nuts & seeds, beans & lentils, and things like simple kefir milk, kimchi etc.

Food manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon will do completely the opposite - flooding the market with highly ultra-processed "foods" with exciting labels claiming bacteria have been added to suck people into believing they're being healthy, when in fact they'll be eating a pile of utter crap, and the process of ultra-processing will in fact have rendered any added bacteria utterly useless.

I'm taking it at the moment and am hoping that with a change of diet I might be able to ditch it. You have given me hope.

I am intolerant to
Gluten
Wheat
Yeast
The yeast bit knocks out kefir etc.
However, taking all the gluten and wheat and yeast and deciding that 3 proper moderate meals a day and 2 snacks, I seen to have curbed binge eating carbs, overeating at meals. This has stopped most indigestion..

For various reasons I've thought this way for decades. And my health and weight are good.

Eating gluten and dairy free is important, IF you are coeliac or allergic to dairy.

Going GF and dairy free (and stylistically vegan, using meat substitutes, for that matter) if you are not, means you are likely to be eating even more in the way of highly processed "alternatives" packed full of emulsifiers, maltodextrin, gums etc. All of which are bad for the gut.

Our understanding of "healthy" food in this country has gone completely out of the window.

Eat real food, unless you have genuine allergies. Cook from scratch as much as possible. Eat a bit less. Don't sterilise every surface multiple times a day. There is especially not need for products like "antibacterial washing powder" unless, maybe, you work as a pathologist....

I agree, OP, and I think we’re at the start of a major change in thinking about how bodies work, how to be healthy and even what a body actually is. (To compare it to the germ theory of disease, we’re in about 1840.)

Suspect our descendants will look back on us eating CBP bread and turkey twizzlers in the same way we look at our ancestors having their blood let and cleaning their teeth with honey and pumice.

I think the difference to gut health diets and things like Atkins is that they are mainly saying eat a wide range of whole foods and avoid ultra processed food, so that doesn't really seem fad-like but the way we ate for the whole of history until the last 50 years. There is also nothing in it really for food manufacturers, so they will have to invent something.

I think it all makes a lot of sense and I am attempting (in quite a rubbish way!) to cut down on UPFs. I can do it fairly easily for dinner but my stumbling blocks are bread and getting lunch eg supermarket meal deal in town when I am at work. Could try harder though.

Apparently for optimum gut health it’s essential to eat as wide a variety of plant foods as possible including whole grains, nuts, seeds, pulses and fruit. The keto diet is really bad for your gut microbiome.

https://www.eatingwell.com/article/291999/why-you-should-never-try-the-keto-diet-according-to-a-gut-health-expert/

People do need to be wary of these so called ‘health’ foods. Meat substitutes can be heavily processed. Cutting out entire food groups (such as dairy’ is unnecessary unless you’re allergic. Milk has been demonised. Oat milk for example can be full of sugar and heavily processed and lacking the protein and nutrients full fat milk has. Butter (grass fed) is better than margarine.

As some posters said above we’ve lost our way a bit with eating in this county. Food manufacturers are not helping.

I agree. But not necessarily in the way talked about here.

I'm currently reading 'why we eat (too much)' by Andrew Jenkinson. It pretty is echoing what's starting to become apparent with ultra processed food being bad for us.

I've not finished the book, but the emphasis is on hormones and how certain things are messing with our hormone levels and affecting how we put on weight. Of course this will have other implications.

It suggests we eat too much wheat too - it's a filler in a lot of ultra processed foods.

This doesn't mean we should stop eating it, it means we should be more conscious of how much we eat.

I think my issue here is how this will be commercialised and marketed. And whether the message of moderation will be promoted as abstaining completely which may have its own issues.

Probiotic food is greatly missing in UK diet tbh. Lota of it is normal daily foos in other countries ao it's not somw ground breaking thing in general.

I am fan of this one https://groceries.asda.com/product/kefir-live-yogurt-drinks/mlekpol-milko-natural-kefir-1-l/1000049435840
Just to point out, you don't just need to get probiotics in, you also need to feed them glod diet.

@lljkk post is another beautiful example of why no one should trust nutritional advice on here...

It has always been a thing IMO.
I've been an NHS dietitian for 32 years and never bought the "diet food" hype.
I work in diabetes and weight management and always taught that whole food is better. It fills you up, helps manage your glucose levels and "keeps you regular"
I really believe that a small portion of good quality food that you love is much better for you physically and mentally that platefulls of diet/low cal over processed shite!

That sounds awful. I just started excluding and worked it out. Once you've excluded if you try something again you soon know if it doesn't agree with you. 💨 😧

I don’t think it was until recently we realised the gut health mental connection though. And yes the influence on our hormones and brain.

Food manufacturers have a lot to answer for and the government needs to crack down.

I’m trying to avoid rapeseed oil and it is literally in everything. Anaconda that I thought were reasonably healthy for example like Deliciously Ella oat bars, Graze products. I’ve taken to snacking on Greek yoghurt and nuts!

This is great. I hope other parts of the NHS catch up as it seems to have been policy for years to tell people to swap their normal food for low fat UPF shite.

The important thing that has happened, though, is a recent increase in our understanding of the gut microbiome. Well, an acknowledgement that it is a huge contributor to our digestive and immune health...we don't yet understand it at all, really. As that knowledge base increases, and as it feeds into food product development and our approaches to health management, then I think we will really see a big shift, even a revolution, in how people understand gut health and how it contirubtes to our overall health.

I did the Zoe app during covid when it was free and collecting data. I can't afford it now it's costly. But I have accessed the continuous glucose monitor they use as it's a free trial from the manufacturer.

The analysis Zoe app gave me after a year or so was I was in the group who had better outcomes with covid and indicated it was because I look after my gut biome.

In the last five years I've taken kefir and eaten fermented foods. Try to cook from raw and use unprocessed ingredients.

From memory I think the next highest group to be healthy were pescatarians. I remember the data being very in favour of a diet without meat.

I've always thought that digestion was a strong key to health. Back in the 1980's I was crippled with IBS. The pain was so bad sometimes it would convince me it had to be something else.

Back then there seemed to be no information at all. I did a long drawn out process of eliminating foods and my gut eventually settled once all meat was removed, I'd eat fermented foods and a wholesome vegetarian diet. I was pain free for many years doing this. So by accident I think I'd stumbled on the solution that is being prompted now.

I strongly believe health begins with gut health. It's just never been studied throughly.

It all makes sense in that your body needs the right fuels to work efficiently - so focusing on 30+ plants (not 5 a day) which includes seeds, nuts, fresh herbs and spices is a logical place.

I like the focus on 30 different plants - I would used to say I was getting my 5 a day because I would have a glass of OJ, perhaps some grapes/apple plus some peas, Brocolli and carrots for tea. But rarely would I actually mix it up much further than that.

essentially we need to go back to simplicity. Making sure that the food we eat is as close to its original state - so potatoes are fine. But. Crushed up, fried, added to and converted into a Pringle? Not so fine.

I also think more needs to be made into seasonal produce - both for our health but also for the planet and our wallets