A Rainbow Diet

Did you know that a greater diversity of microbial species found within your gut has been shown to correlate with greater health.. both physical and emotional?

When I analyse client stool results through DNA stool testing, I am able to calculate their microbial diversity. Technology today is pretty incredible hey?! These comprehensive stool results give me lots of information about their current state of health.

One the simplest ways that you can improve the health of your microbiome is by increasing your microbial diversity.

A great way to do this is to eat as many different plant based foods as you can each week. This includes fruits, vegetables, nut, seeds, grains and spices. Try to aim for your meals to contain as many colours of the rainbow as possible. Red, green, yellow, orange, purple, brown and white foods.

Each bacteria within the microbiome has a preference for different foods and plant compounds. By limiting your diet to the same fruit and vegetables each day you may be starving off many of the species that we require for good health and feeding those that you don’t want to thrive. The damage can be even worse with a high protein, high processed carbohydrate diet or ketogenic diet.

Our bright and colourful foods contain polyphenols. These polyphenols have many health giving benefits for our body……. Amazingly, they also feed the beneficial bacteria in our gut.

Some food high in polyphenols are: pomegranates, dark chocolate, flaxseed, oregano, elderberry, green tea, berries, cloves, purple cabbage, almonds and olives, just to name a few..

So how do you get a huge variety of plant foods into your diet each week?

Think about some of the unusual or brightly coloured fruits and vegetables that your family enjoys on a weekly basis?