Gut Health - why is so important all of a sudden?

Gut Health has become a very popular topic within the sport world and research world. It is fascinating to learn that our gut is like our second brain! This is because our gastrointestinal system is directly connected to our brain by a nerve called the Vagus nerve. The Vagus nerve produces the ‘happy hormone’ , serotonin. So not only does our gut influence our nutrient absorption and reduce the risk of gut conditions, it can impact our mood, and vice versa.

What foods to eat for a healthy gut environment?

Choose a variety of foods that are high in fibre, and aiming for 30g of fibre per day (use a diet app to track fibre intake). Dietary fibre is found in foods such as: fruits and vegetables, wholegrain breads and cereals (like oats), grains and nuts and seeds. A good goal here is to aim for variety. Try to eat 30 different plants per week – now that’s a challenge for you!

Consuming a variety of high fibre foods means we have different fibres to produce a wide range of microbiome (or bacteria) in our gut. A particular fibre, called resistant starch, is particularly helpful. With the interaction of our gut microbiome, resistant starch helps to produce butyric acid that helps to heal our gut lining to ensure nutrient absorption is optimum. The production of these short chain fatty acids, like butyric acid, promotes performance as it also benefits our overall health. Our body can also produce vitamins, like Vitamin B12. Generally we can only obtain vitamins and minerals through our diet. However certain microbiome can produce Vitamin B12 which has massive roles during our running so we run at our best and beat that PB!

What’s the difference between Prebiotic and Probiotics?

A prebiotic is a food that will help to feed a diverse range of bacteria in our gut. These foods include high fibre containing foods. I would choose these foods to focus on firstly, and perhaps bring in some of these foods more often that make great prebiotics: oats, sourdough bread, Jerusalem artichoke, garlic, asparagus and barley to name a few.

Probiotics are foods that contain some functioning bacteria or cultures. Foods such as yoghurt, kimchi, kombucha, kefir, sauerkraut, tofu and tempeh, pickled vegetables, and some soft cheeses like cottage cheese, all have live bacteria. The key here is variety. Aim to consume a variety of these probiotic foods to ensure your microbiome is diverse.

The use of supplements like a prebiotic or probiotic capsule or powder is only really needed if we are suffering from bowel conditions, have had a virus and have been on antibiotics or are suffering from a depressed mood. However, when we are travelling for a running event, probiotics are useful to help sustain a healthy immunity.