Five easy food swaps to improve your gut health

Scroll through social media or glance at the supermarket shelves and you’ll see endless products claiming to improve your gut health.

It seems everyone’s talking about looking after their microbiome – the trillions of tiny organisms living in our digestive system – which influence everything from digestion and immunity to mood and sleep.

Gut health is all about having the right mix of bacteria and enough fibre-rich food to keep everything moving and your body feeling its best.

The key to keeping the microbes happy is feeding them the right food and it’s easier than you think to maintain a healthy gut.

Instead of reaching for pricey probiotic shots or snacks, I recommend making these five easy food swaps to give your gut a boost.

• Swap crisps for popcorn. Popcorn is a wholegrain so it’s packed with fibre that feeds the good bacteria in your gut and it’s also lighter and far less processed than a bag of crisps.

• Swap sweets for dried fruit. This can be a hard swap to make if you love sweets but dried apricots, raisins or dates can still hit that sweet spot whilst also delivering fibre, vitamins and natural sugars that your gut and your energy levels will thank you for.

• Add lentils or chickpeas to your bolognese. Pulses are full of prebiotic fibre which acts as food for your gut microbes and they can help bulk out your meal, making it go further while adding texture and extra plant-based protein so it’s a great way to eat less meat without feeling like you’re missing out

• Swap flavoured nuts for plain ones. Flavoured nuts are often loaded with salt and sugar while plain nuts give you healthy fats and fibre without the additives your gut could do without.

• Swap ice cream for frozen berries and kefir. Ice cream might make your taste buds happy, but frozen berries with kefir (a tangy fermented milk drink) give you natural sweetness, antioxidants and live cultures that can help your microbiome flourish.

Of course there are many other foods you can consume to improve your gut health like drinking kombucha or eating fermented food such as kimchi or sauerkraut, but it’s not necessary to focus on that too much.

The most important thing for your gut and overall health is eating a range of whole foods that are rich in fibre like fruits and vegetables.

And when it comes to supplements and probiotics, my advice is the same – there’s no evidence it will do you any good and products like probiotic drinks and powders promising miraculous results can cost you hundreds of pounds which I see as a waste of money.

Additional reporting by Yasmin Rufo