What to Eat & Why: Guidelines
Our gut biome hosts trillions of bacteria which have a huge impact on many of health markers -mental, immunity, metabolism & weight management, disease prevention, nutrient synthesis
Foods that are good for our health are also good for our gut microbes
Read ingredients of any product in packaging. Avoid all foods with emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners, chemicals & preservatives. You’ll be amazed where they hide them.
Eat foods in their whole, natural form and avoid UPFs.
Cook and prepare foods at home as often as possible, with unprocessed ingredients and good-quality extra virgin olive oil.
Eat a wide variety of plants everyday. Aim for 30 different plants per week. Frozen and canned. For fibre and polyphenols.
Select plant foods high in defence chemicals, called polyphenols, and fibre. Bright coloured vegetables with a strong or bitter flavour indicate a high polyphenols count.
Eat fermented foods regularly
Eat good quality protein in its’ natural unprocessed form - legumes, dairy, nuts, eggs, seeds, meat, fish
Eat wholegrains and ditch highly-refined carbohydrates
Be aware of alcohol consumption. There is no safe limit. Find out more information here.
You don’t need to massively shift what you eat. Make small swaps and create new habits that add up to big health changes.
I highly recommend reading or listening to
“Food For Life: The New Science of Eating Well” by Professor Tim Spector
And https://zoe.com. For more information and deeper explanations.
Unbiased food research is now available to us all. Look beyond the deliberately deceptive food labels, marketing and miracle product media claims. Read ALL the ingredients and small print) for us to all make an informed choice about what you are putting in your body.
Our responses to food change with age, menopause and hormone status, stress, sleep quality and illness, making us unique across the course of our lives as well as individually.
You could consider zoe.com personalised nutrition program.
Download my one week 30 plant challenge sheet below to give it a go.
Download a copy of my full nutritional advice, what to eat & why below.