Snacking more whilst you’re working from home? Then your gut health may need some improving!
Lockdowns. It’s the one word Australians hate. But, as it has impacted most of us – from the way we work, socialise, and eat – it’s also impacting our insides, we just don’t know it.
For some eating out has been put on pause and, for others, as we work from home, our trips back and forth to the fridge, pantry or snack drawer become more frequent to handle the adjustment.
In any scenario, it’s important to continue making informed choices for overall health and wellbeing, and that can often begin with an area of the body many Australians overlook – the gut microbiome.
New research from Kellogg’s has revealed 65 per cent of Australians believed that if they could see inside their gut, they would be more likely to take care of it. Celebrity doctor, Dr Ginni Mansberg says, “gut problems are invisible problems – if we can’t see what’s going on, we don’t always know how to address it. If we could visualise our gut, we’d be more likely to take steps to keep it healthy.
“The research report commissioned by Kellogg has tried to bring the gut to life for people through the analogy of the Great Barrier Reef to better help Aussies understand what we need to do to keep our gut healthy and thriving.”
So whether you’ve been feeling uneasy or if you think that your body needs a change, we’ve got the top four tips and ways for improving your gut health in 2021:
Photographed by marilyn barbone. Image via Shutterstock.
1. Increase your Fibre Intake
Move over coffee. Increasing fibre, plant-based foods and water in our diet is one of the best ways to keep us feeling energised throughout the day. Eating high fibre breakfast cereals is an easy way to increase your fibre and it helps you to feel fuller, which means we’re less likely to reach for chocolate or chips throughout the day.
Photographed by Megan Betteridge. Image via Shutterstock.
2. Add Fermented Foods to your Diet
Fermented foods like yoghurt with live cultures, kefir, kombucha, kimchi, miso, tempeh, sauerkraut, and sourdough bread can help add populations of good bacteria to our digestive tract. Eating a variety of these foods, and on a regular basis, can help cultivate a variety of good gut bugs.
Photographed by Dean Drobot. Image via Shutterstock.
3. Get Some Sleep
Lockdown, restrictions or simply just working from home means that most of our sleeping patterns have drastically changed. So, getting more sleep can help keep our gut microbiome healthy, while a lack of sleep can cause a change in the ‘microbial community structure’. The more sleep we have, the better for our physical and mental health, as well as our appetite. Need some help? Here are five easy tips on how to get a good night’s sleep.
Photographed by Syda Productions. Image via Shutterstock.
4. Increase Daily Exercise
Daily movement is a great way to help boost gut health. Exercise helps decrease the production of stress hormones, which impact the gut microbiome. So whether you join a virtual class or in-person, go for daily walks or whatever you find makes you sweat, daily exercise is as good for your physical wellbeing as it is for your mental health. So, for some motivation, why not download one of these 10 best exercise at-home apps?
For more information on fibre and gut health, visit Kellogg’s website.
Keen to get your healthy kick on? Here are 5 Easy Superfood Drink Recipes for Healthy and Radiant Skin. Or, for a dose of some relaxation, check out the world’s first virtual reality meditation app.
