The Gut Microbiome

We know that eating well supports the gut microbiome i.e. the trillions of micro-organisms (bacteria, fungi and viruses) that live and work for us in our gut.  Many bacteria are especially beneficial to our immune system, they work  for the immune system by:

• maintaining and contributing to a healthy gut lining
• producing nutrients e.g. short chain fatty acids which are involved in the energy supply for the cells lining the gut, in metabolism and liver and brain function
• protecting our tissues from toxic waste products by absorbing those products, or changing them to less harmful molecules.

So if you  eat well for the gut microbiome you eat well for the immune system too.

What should I eat for my healthy gut?

Include the following foods in your  diet daily, if you can.

Eat  PRObiotics – these  foods contain healthy bacteria as part of their make up.

Examples: live yogurts,  sauerkraut, kimchi, and keffir

Olives and gherkins are also fermented foods  and although not as widely studied, are also considered supportive of gut health.  I’m not really a fan of kimchi, and sauerkraut tends to give me lots of wind, but I eat  natural yogurt every day. I regularly include olives and pickles in my diet – probably 3-4 times per week – with olives going into sauces and salads, and pickles in my salads and sandwiches.

Eat PREbiotics – these  foods contain a type of soluble fibre which feeds our good bacteria and stimulates their growth.

Examples: oats, bananas, apples, artichoke, and asparagus

A daily porridge with seasonal Bramley apples or bananas is such a healthy way to start the day. Choose artichoke or asparagus when in season, or marinated artichokes all year round.

What plant based foods can I eat for a healthy immune system?

Eat wholegrains – these are the foods which still contain the outer husk of the cereal grain.

Examples: brown rice and pasta, barley, buckwheat, rye, spelt, quinoa, as well as wholegrain labelled breads.

I find quinoa tricky to cook but I love barley in soups and stews, have used it for risotto, and like barley flakes in a muesli mix.  Peanut butter on rye bread with a banana and a smidge of honey is a quick-fix easy and delicious working from home or take to the office lunch.  Team with a pot of natural yogurt and you are ticking a wealth of boxes for your immune system.

Eat beans, pulses and legumes  –  these words are often used interchangeably but mean different things.

Legume refers to e.g. a pea pod which would include the pea, but the pea on its own is the edible seed of the legume, and called a pulse. Slightly confusing and all you really need to know is that if you are eating lots the plant based foods you are eating well for a healthy immune system.

Examples: lentils, peas, chickpeas, beans and peanuts.

Lentils are super as thickeners to soups and stews or to make a lovely dahl. Peas go with everything in my house. Chickpeas – though a bit windy – are consumed in curries, cold in a salad, or as hummus.  I throw a handful of peanuts into salads and stir fries for crunch and texture.

Eat plenty of  fruits and vegetables

Eating a rainbow of colourful fruits and vegetables offers up all sorts of goodies nutrient wise.   Variety is considered key as different colour fruits and vegetables provide a slightly different nutrient profile.

Examples: try to think seasonally. Persimmons, pears, pomegranates and passion fruit are delicious jewel coloured winter fruits to enjoy, when more of us are more vulnerable to the colds and flus.

Top tip: think fruit or vegetable at each meal and snack time.

What foods are  NOT   helpful to a healthy immune system?

Highly processed foods: There is a difference between highly processed and processed. If you make some cakes or biscuits at home then enjoy in moderation. if purchasing out and about then look to the list of ingredients and consider if this is a healthy food to consume. Usually, the higher the number of ingredients then the less healthy the product.

Take out and fast foods: Keep a close eye on take-out foods or fast foods which will be high in salt and fat, as well as inflammatory in the gut. Essentially they give the microbiome more work to do in terms of calming things down. We really need to mitigate this work by ensuring that the majority of the time we do our best with healthy eating, and enjoy occasional dips into less healthy items.

Avoid artificial sweeteners as best you can, they are not worth it. Simple!

What VITAMINS  will boost my  immune system?

Optimising nutrition for a healthy gut is exactly the same as eating well for a healthy gut.  Read about  individual nutrients if you are interested in their unique properties. If you just want to know what to eat – reread what’s  above and enjoy it!

Vitamins A, B, C, D, and E

These are the vitamins which have been mostly associated with a healthy immune system, each for a variety of reasons:

• Vitamin A helps to maintain gut structure and lining, as well as mounting the immune response.  Preformed sources are animal based such as eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese and oily fish.  Plants give us betacarotene which is made into active vitamin A in the body. Red, yellow and green fruits and vegetables are good sources of betacarotene.  Tomatoes, carrots, mango, papaya, and spinach  are some examples of what to eat.
• B Vitamins influence the production and activity of natural ‘killer cells’ once they recognise a pathogen. Good sources are both plant and animal based. Plants: green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and spinach,  wholegrain cereals, and chickpeas. Meat, salmon, milk, cheese,  eggs and fish provide us with all the B vitamins we need.
• Vitamins C and E help to protect cells from stress. These vitamins are also involved in making specialised cells which mount an immune response. Great sources of Vitamin C are citrus fruits, blackcurrants, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, potatoes and peppers. As vitamin E is soluble in fat rather than water we look to healthy oils such as plant oils, nuts and seeds as well as wheat germ for our intake.
• Vitamin D helps some immune cells mount the immune response and destroy pathogens. We get most of our Vitamin D from the sunlight and should all be taking a supplement October through to April when we begin to restock our Vitamin D levels.  Looking to foods we find Vitamin D is  found in oily fish, red meat, egg yolk and fortified foods such as breakfast cereals and milk.

What MINERALS   will boost my immune system?

Minerals – zinc, selenium and iron

These are considered especially important to a healthy immune response:

• Zinc tends to be better absorbed from animal sources such as beef and seafood. Good plant based sources are wheat germ, beans, nuts and tofu.
• Selenium – Brazil nuts (2 per day will meet your needs), or mushrooms, meats and wholegrains are all great sources of selenium.
• Iron – red meat is a really good source of iron. If you want to reduce your intake of red meat look to chicken and fish as alternative animal sources, or  whole-grains, legumes  and fortified breakfast cereals for vegans/vegetarians.   Including a source of fruit or vegetables with each of your meals and snacks  will optimise your uptake of the iron from the animal or wholegrain source.

So we see whether we focus on foods, or individual nutrients, supporting our immune system is all about consuming a variety of foods. If we can recognise the food on our plates this is always a good thing : )

Contact me for a consultation if you feel you are confused or would like some help with immunity.

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Lower your cholesterol with a low cholesterol diet? What does that look like? I suggest to my clients to think the F word i.e. fats and fish and fibre and fruit. By  choosing the right types of fats, and regular intake of the rest you can optimise your diet to influence cholesterol levels. This does not mean you may not still need medication but ideally first steps in managing cholesterol levels ought look to your best healthy diet. See below for some top tips.

What is cholesterol? Reduce your LDL-c

Cholesterol is a waxy substance found throughout the body. It is necessary to make the cell membrane, hormones, and bile which helps to break down fat we consume. We produce cholesterol in the liver as well as eat it in food with the cholesterol we eat not considered especially tricky in terms of blood cholesterol levels.  Cholesterol, like a family, is made up of many different bodies. We want to concentrate on LDL-c or Low Density Lipoprotein-cholesterol.  LDL-c is the main influencer when it comes to risk of heart disease and angina, heart attacks and stroke, because it can pass through the walls of the heart and cause a build up of plaque. The plaques make it difficult for blood to flow freely, not only through the heart but also to the brain.

If you have been diagnosed with high LDL-c we want to  reduce this number as quickly as possible. This is because the hardening effects of LDL-c in the heart and elsewhere are  cumulative, so the longer LDL-c remains high, the more risky the situation can be for us.

So what can we do to lower LDL-c?

1. Focus on  Fat Intake Daily

Reduce your intake of saturated fat in food: saturated fat is found in cakes, biscuits, pastries, butter, cream and ice creams, and  all fried foods.

Choose your cooking fat carefully: switch from frying with hard fats e.g. butter or ghee, lard, goose fat, duck fat or coconut oil,  to  peanut, rapeseed, olive oil, or sunflower oil. Think moving from animal fats to plant fats  – except coconut oil which is highly saturated. Ignore the current media content on seed oils (plant oils) as there is no evidence to suggest they are bad for us.

2. Swap saturated fat for omega-3s

Omega 3s are a specific type of polyunsaturated fat and can help  to keep the heart healthy by lowering

1. 1. Blood pressure
   2. Triglycerides  which can lead to hardening of arteries and
   3. The  risk of irregular heartbeats.

Omega-3 oils are found in

1. 1. oily fish e.g. sardines, mackerel, salmon, trout and  tuna; fresh and tinned is fine (weekly)
   2. nuts e.g. walnuts, almonds, macadamia, hazelnuts, pecans,  and peanuts (daily)
   3. seeds e.g.  linseeds, and chia seeds (daily)

The omega-3s found in fish are more powerful than those found in plant foods, but they are all good choices. If you eat fish then include  oily fish 1 – 2 times per week, make your serving 140g. Enjoy white fish as often as you like, just being mindful of some white fish which contains low levels of mercury.

Nuts (30g is a serving)  can be enjoyed daily and have been found to be especially associated with a lower risk of heart disease. Eating nuts 5+ times per week is a recommendation of the Mediterranean Diet for heart health and longevity.

3. Enjoy your Daily Dairy – it’s not as bad as you think!

Interestingly, the fat found in diary products is not as bad as we once thought. This is because the saturated fat found in dairy is contained inside a matrix called a milk fat globule membrane.

• Milk – choose  skimmed or semi-skimmed milk (daily)
• Yogurt – choose low fat or reduced fat yogurt (daily)
• Cheese – choose reduced fat, ideally 60 – 90g per week only.

Other foods in the dairy domain such as double cream, sour cream, ice cream  and butter are high in saturated fat and should only be eaten in small amounts.  You can of course choose dairy alternatives such as drinks, yogurts and cheeses derived from plants – just be careful of the additives and go for the ones with least ingredients for your healthiest options. So whether you choose dairy or choose alternatives, both options can be part of your low cholesterol diet.

4. Focus on Fibre Daily

Increasing your intake of fibre has been shown to have a modest effect on reducing LDL-c. Fibre has a dose response relationship, so the more we consume the more impact on mopping up LDL-c. Fibre is great because it not only reduces blood cholesterol, it can also help to protect from the formation of small blood clots that trigger heart attacks and stroke.

i. Include more oats – a WOW fibre -aim for 2 – 3 servings per day.  The best fibre to add for heart health is oats as oats contain a type of fibre called beta-glucans which fibres seem to have the most impact on LDL-c. Barley also contains beta-glucans and can be swapped out for oats in soups and stews or included as part of your muesli or porridge mix.  Another idea is to swap rice for barley and make a risotto.

1 x serving = 50g of jumbo porridge oats OR 3 oatcakes OR 2 x Oatibix OR 45g of barley flakes

ii. Increase your intake of beans, pulses and legumes to half a tin or half a cup per day. Similarly to oats the soluble fibre found in these foods has a mopping effect in on LDL-c, effectively preventing the re-absorption of some cholesterol back into the body. If you find the gas producing effects of beans and other foods challenging, just take it slow and increase you intake in small amounts. Eventually with time the gut microbiome will respond and you will be better able to mange potential gas and bloating effects.

5. Flourish with Fruit and Vegetables – eat the rainbow of colours – 800g daily

Working  towards 2  different pieces of fruit daily and 3 different vegetables is a great start. Ensure to include a rainbow of colours and lots of different leafy greens. You can lower your blood pressure by eating leafy greens, which in turn will reduce your risk of developing coronary heart disease.

Reminder that fresh or frozen or tinned in own juice (fruit) are all equal in terms of nutrition. Dried fruit is also acceptable but can be easily over consumed leading to weight gain, and the occasional upset tummy. We want to ensure we are eating around 5 servings of vegetables daily – 500g is around 6 UK servings as a UK serving of veggies is 80g.

Increasing your intake of fruit to around 300g or 3 x servings per day seems to offer an optimised scenario also.

So that’s 800g of vegetables and fruit daily – remember to eat the rainbow.

If you would like more support implementing a heart healthy and low cholesterol diet get in touch. I would love to help you.

The post Lower your cholesterol with a Low Cholesterol Diet Think the F Word! Fats & Fish & Fibre & Fruit appeared first on Felicity Lyons.

Eating poultry isn’t bad for your health, and eating fish is particularly good so when transitioning, make sure to include these foods for an overall healthy nutritional intake. This will make meeting your nutritional requirements easier as you reduce your intake of red meat more generally.

1. Record your meat intake 

Is it a bacon roll for breakfast, a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch followed by a burger or spaghetti bolognaise for dinner?  if you know how much you normally eat you have a baseline from which to bounce.  Of a possible 49 meals per week, based on a 3 meal per day 7 days a week scenario, write down how many meals actually contain meat.  That’s your starting point

2. Choose a meal or a day to change

If you never eat meat at breakfast, but it’s always part of your other two meals then changing perhaps your lunch to a plant based, or white meat option (chicken, turkey or fish) provides a straightforward and simple win.  You can still eat red meat at dinner but you will be sitting back, feeling good that you have been making efforts throughout the day to reduce your overall intake of red meat.  If your overall intake is already low, and you want to change further then choose a day to be completely plant based.  Meatless Mondays is a great place to start.  You can obviously combine both options and have both meat free meals and meat free days

3. Reduce the amount or the frequency 

Another way to reduce your overall intake is to vegetable up your plate and reduce your serving size when you do eat red meat.  Having one less sausage or a mix of veggie and meat sausages, or adding a tin of kidney beans to your meat based bolognese will budget friendly your meal and add some plant based protein and fibre.

4. Plan your meals

No matter what type of healthy endeavour you are trying to achieve, when it comes to food, planning is key.  There is not a dietitian in the world who will argue this point.  We know from all the trials around health behaviour change that having a meal plan is crucial to making food based change happen.  After all, you have likely been eating a certain way for a very long time.  When you first start planning you don’t have to make the menu complex.  Instead go for easy wins e.g. scrambled egg on toast rather than a full English breakfast, or baked potato, beans and cheese rather than a meat sandwich at lunch.

5. Think differently

Once you have started reducing your overall intake of meat you can then start to get a little adventurous:

Check  supermarket magazine for recipes

Look online.   Check recipe  reviews  for tips or modifications

Google your favourite chefs.  My favourite chefs are Nigella and Jamie 

Ask your friends. Most everyone has vegetarian and vegan friends these days, they are often the source of the best recipes

6. Watch your portions

Plant based protein is not as filling as animal based protein, for the same caloric intake, and it can feel easier to over-consume.    Be mindful of the recommended servings sizes with any recipes you are using. Sometimes it’s sticking to the portions around those plant based meals that then becomes difficult. But that’s a weight loss story.

And if you need some help to get started, please get in touch.

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Healthy high fibre breakfast of muesli, yogurt and sharon fruit

See below for all about fibre and top tips on how to enjoy fibre daily

Why is Fibre so good for your Health?

Fibre is a type of carbohydrate, found in plants and essential to good health. Fibre is the structural part of the plant which can help us to understand how it works in the body. We know that people who consume a high fibre diet enjoy a variety of health benefits e.g. a regular bowel movement. A high fibre diet is also protective to the development of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and can help with weight loss. By enjoying more plant based foods in your diet,  you can reduce the flow of bile from the liver caused by a heavy meat based diet, this in turn reduces the amount of carcinogens reaching the bowel. Potential carcinogens can be swept through the bowel by different types of fibre, so decreasing the amount of time they might spend in the bowel and reducing the risk of colon cancer.

Different plants may have more of one type of fibre than another, but most plants will contain a variety.  You might think that one source of fibre is better than another, but as with all things nutrition most benefits to health are achieved when we consume the variety of different fibres.  See below:

What is Insoluble Fibre?

Insoluble fibre  does not dissolve in water, nor is it fermented by bacteria. Instead insoluble fibre  absorbs and retains water  and bulks up the stool. This helps to ease the passage of the stool through the large bowel, and  as the stool passes through this part of the digestive system it collects toxins and carcinogens and other  residue such as dead bacteria and dead cells from the lining of the gut.  I think of insoluble fibre like a bottle brush cleaning the bowel.  Because of this collecting or cleansing ability insoluble fibre is considered to be protective to colon (large bowel) cancer.

Good Sources of  Insoluble Fibre

• wholegrain cereals such as wheat, rye, barley, teff, quinoa, amaranth, spelt
• corn bran e.g. popcorn
• nuts – peanuts, almonds, walnuts
• seeds – chia and flaxseeds
• the skins from most tree fruits e.g. apples and pears
• potatoes
• green vegetables e.g. courgettes, green beans, cauliflower, and celery
• fruits e.g. tomatoes and kiwis

What is Soluble Fibre?

Soluble fibre arrives to the large bowel and is fermented by the bacteria that live there, or is used by them as a food source.   When foods containing soluble fibre are consumed the soluble fibre dissolves in water in the stomach and forms a thick gel like substance. This is one of the reasons why soluble fibre is considered helpful to weight loss. The gel sits over the opening of the stomach into the small intestine and so keeps food in the stomach, helping us to feel fuller for longer.  Consuming soluble fibres on a regular basis can also help to reduce cholesterol levels and protect us from developing coronary heart disease.

Good Sources of Soluble Fibre

• oats, barley, rye
• lentils, beans and peas, soya beans
• fruits e.g. berries, plums, apples, bananas, pears
• carrots and broccoli
• nuts and seeds

What are Prebiotic Soluble Fibres?

Prebiotic fibres are non-digestible fibres which help to feed the good bacteria in the gut.  By providing nourishment for the good bacteria they help to achieve and maintain a healthy balance of bacteria necessary for a healthy gut wall. It is thought that if the balance of good and bad bacteria is upset this may make the bowel wall weak, allowing toxins and even colon bacteria to seep from the bowel to other other parts of the digestive system where they do not normally live e.g. the small intestine. Maintaining a healthy gut wall is important to the maintenance of a good immune system as it’s in the gut wall that the immune system is primarily located. Another positive for the prebiotic fibres is their ability to turn off hunger hormones produced by the gut wall maintaining our feelings of fullness for longer..

Good sources of  Prebiotic Soluble Fibres

• asparagus
• yam
• onions, garlic, leeks
• bananas
• chicory and some other root vegetables such as Jerusalem artichoke
• agave
• wheat, rye, barley

Rethink your plate and include more high fibre foods in your diet  

Think Wholegrains

Choose brown rice, pasta, and bread with bits such as nuts and seeds. Enjoy a variety of wholegrains by e.g. having a wholegrain cereal such as oats for breakfast, a wholegrain sandwich for lunch or rice/couscous/pasta salad, then an evening meal with barley/noodles or quinoa. As always with diet – variety is best.

Think Fruits

Try to have a piece of fruit at each meal, either as part of the meal or as your dessert. Fruits can be your snack in the afternoon or your evening treat, with lots of different coloured fruits lending different benefits.

Think Vegetables

Consider the vegetable part of your lunch or evening meal before you think about any other content. This may help you to balance  your meals better and make sure that you are getting enough vegetable fibre for your healthy bowel bacteria.

Think Legumes and Pulses

Enjoy more plant based and use legumes (beans), peas and soya beans more regularly through your week. Having a meat free Monday is a great place to start.  Working yourself towards a more plant based diet will not only improve the fibre content of your diet but will also be good for the planet.  You know it makes sense.

Think Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds add crunch and taste to most meals and a heathy dollop of fibre in the same mouthful. Whether its walnuts on porridge,  a nut butter on oat cakes, peanuts on a stirfry, or a topping of seeds on your salad, including more nuts and seeds in your daily diet is a healthy step indeed.

It’s easy to include more fibre in the diet, once you know how. Get in touch if you are finding it tricky.

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Lifestyle medicine focuses on:

1. Enjoying a plant-based diet

This is not a vegan or vegetarian diet (unless preferred) but a diet that is mainly comprised of plant-based foods with dairy, fish and meat also included, in varying amounts.

2. Being Physical Activity

Incorporating regular physical activity into your day and across your week is important. We schedule across the day so we are less sedentary. We schedule fun activities for enjoyment, and  activities which might make us sweat for cardio and respiratory fitness.

3. Managing Stress Levels

Learning how to recognise when we are getting stressed, then learning stress management techniques which are simple and straightforward and might just involve taking time to breathe…

4. Improving  Sleep

Achieving sufficient good quality sleep where we allow ourselves to spend a good amount in bed, resting and nourishing our brains and bodies.

5. Avoiding Risky Substances or Behaviours

Knowing what’s okay and what’s not okay is fundamental to an understanding of good health. Sometimes we are vulnerable to addictions because of our genetics or our environment.  We all know smoking is not good for us, moderate alcohol intake is acceptable,  and that we shouldn’t play with recreational drugs. Although I do not counsel on substance misuse I can certainly point you in the right direction.

6. Forming and Maintaining Good Relationships

Having a positive social network is key to good health. Be they friends or family social connection has been shown to be crucial to happiness. How we connect whether in person or via the internet can impact positively on how we view ourselves and our experience of life. Choosing who we connect with is really important as we learn though life to hold onto those who value us, and let go of those who do not.

We can learn to set goals and tickbox our way through the various components for a happy and healthy life; knowing the components is key.

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