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How to improve your gut health, according to an expert: The best foods to eat in 2023
This Morning’s Dr Zoe Williams reveals how to keep your gut happy and healthy
Amira Arasteh
Wednesday 12 April 2023 06:15 EDT
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Gut health is a bit of a buzz word – well, phrase – at the moment, with more and more people focusing on the food they’re putting into their body and the effect is has.
In 2022, the hashtag #Guttok had more than 500 million views on TikTok, while there’s never been more marketing and upselling of foods and supplements that are good for your gut microbiome – which refers to the microorganisms (including bacteria, fungi and viruses) that live in our digestive tracts.
But what exactly are the foods we should be consuming to maintain a healthy gut microbiome? To find out, we spoke to Dr Zoe Williams, an NHS GP and resident doctor on This Morning, who specialises in debunking myths in the world of medicine and helping people understand issues such as gut health. She said one way to make a positive impact is by “looking at what you already eat and making some sensible switches – meaning you enjoy the food just as much, maybe even more. But you’re feeding your gut microbiome and you’re taking measures to improve your gut health.”
If you’re looking to make some sensible switches of your own, we’ve got some food and supplement suggestions for you – as recommended by the expert.
Best foods to improve your gut health in 2023
- Best morning snack – Activia strawberry fat-free yoghurt: £1.75, Sainsburys.co.uk
- Best side dish – Vadasz raw kimchi: £3.50, Sainsburys.co.uk
- Best fizzy drink alternative – Nexba mango kombucha: £1.89, Theskinnyfoodco.com
- Best for when you’re on the go – Vitabiotics ultra turmeric x 60: £15.49, Superdrug.com
Activia strawberry fat-free yoghurt
- Best: Morning snack
- Type of food: Yoghurt
- Easily incorporated into your diet: Yes
Made with a unique blend of five ferments, Activia yoghurt is the perfect addition to your food routine if you’re looking to up your gut health. Packed with billions of live cultures, this smooth and creamy yoghurt contains calcium, which contributes to the normal function of digestive enzymes.
It tastes good and can easily be incorporated into your morning breakfast or daily snack schedule – plus, this particular version contains zero per cent fat and no added sugar.
These mini pots (115g each) are available in strawberry, vanilla, raspberry, cherry, peach and blueberry, so you’re sure to find a flavour you enjoy.
Vadasz raw kimchi
- Best: Side dish
- Type of food: Side dish
- Easily incorporated into diet: Yes
Kimchi is definitely an acquired taste. However, if you are on board with that tangy, sour, salty, umami flavour, it’s definitely a food to eat more often, if you’re looking to improve your gut health. Unsure of how to incorporate kimchi into your diet? It is commonly eaten as a side dish, so you can simply use it as an addition to meals featuring rice, etc, rather than eating it solo.
Dr Zoe said: “There are probiotics you can consume in your diet – any food that is fermented is a probiotic. That includes things like yoghurts, some types of cheese, kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut.”
She also acknowledges that probiotics are “not to be confused with prebiotics: prebiotics are foods that feed our gut microbiome (foods that contain fibre).”
Nexba mango kombucha
- Best: Fizzy drink alternative
- Type of food: Drink
- Easily incorporated into diet: Yes
Kombucha has potential health benefits, particularly when it comes to balancing gut bacteria – plus, it’s a refreshing beverage.
Nexba is one of the many brands on the market offering a kombucha drink to satisfy your sparkling-drink craving, and the good news is, these days, kombucha drinks come in all sorts of fun flavours. We loved the mango version of this drink the most but it also comes in a variety of other options, including mixed berry and pineapple.
Dr Zoe said making room in your regular diet for things you find delicious but that have a potential added benefit of being a probiotic (such as choosing kombucha rather than fizzy drinks that aren’t great for us) is something your gut could thank you for.
Natco turmeric powder
- Best: For flavouring meals or drinks
- Type of food: Spice
- Easily incorporated into your diet: Yes
Turmeric is a tropic spice many of us have in our cupboards at home, ready to add a delicious flavour to our cooking. Long known for having many potential health benefits, it’s an easy one to add to the diet.
However, turmeric needs to be combined with black pepper and garlic to see anti-inflammatory results, so, according to Dr Zoe, “things like turmeric won’t do you any harm – if they don’t break the bank, give it a try for a couple of months and continue if you want to. But if you’re not feeling the benefit, don’t waste your money.”
Vitabiotics ultra turmeric x 60
- Best: For when you’re on the go
- Type of food: Supplement
- Easy to incorporate into your diet: Yes
If you’re not a huge cook or don’t love the taste of turmeric in your meals at home, it might be worth trying to incorporate it in supplement form.
We found the capsules really easy to take – a lot more convenient than adding the powdered spice itself to cooking (turmeric powder is messy and stains like anything).
Dr Zoe thinks that when it comes to supplements, due to there being “a lot of research going on at the moment, it would be interesting to see what comes out in the future.”
Brown onions
- Best: For adding to meals
- Type of food: Vegetable
- Easily incorporated into diet: Yes
We see what you’re thinking, now we’re just listing regular veg. But that’s exactly it – Dr Zoe stresses that, to improve your gut health, you should be consuming a lot of fibre and “particularly fibres from prebiotics, which are things like onions and garlic.”
She does warn that it is important to do so gradually: “If you are somebody who doesn’t eat a lot of fibre and you go from zero to 100 overnight, you can overwhelm you gut microbiome a little bit.
“Most of us should be increasing the amount of fibre we have each day in our diet; our gut microbiome will adapt and change and slowly grow, being able to manage the ‘increased workload’.”
Dried chickpeas
- Best: For homemade dips
- Type of food: Pulse
- Easily incorporated into diet: Yes
Chickpeas and other pulses are also great for improving your gut health – as legumes, they contain lots of fibre. While most of us make sure we get our daily fruit and veg intake, Dr Zoe says, because our gut microbiome is made up of such a diverse range of microbes, the more diverse range of food we eat, the better.
She recommends we consume 30g of fibre a day, and suggests meals such as stir fries and stews as easy ways to incorporate lots of vegetables or pulses, such as chickpeas
“It’s thinking about ways to just tweak your weekly supermarket shop, which doesn’t necessarily make it any more expensive.”
We find dried chickpeas (you’ll need to soak them) are perfect for making homemade hummus.
The Tofoo Co original tempeh
- Best: Meat alternative
- Type of food: Protein
- Easily incorporated into diet: Yes
If the texture of tofu doesn’t fully do it for you, you might want to try tempeh. The Tofoo Co describes tempeh as being “like tofu after it’s been at the gym – hard”, as it features whole pieces of soya beans for a firmer, chewier bite.
What makes it a great option for improving gut health is that it is fermented with a live culture before it’s pressed into its dense, high protein base. Not only is it good for the gut, it’s also a great sustainable swap if you’re looking to eat more vegetarian or vegan meals.
Gut health FAQs
We spoke to Dr Zoe Williams about some of the most common questions surrounding gut health – so, if you feel a bit out of the loop, take a read of the below.
What is the most important thing to know about gut health?
The most important thing to know is that your gut health isn’t just about your guts. In fact, it impacts many other aspects of your health – everything from your skin to how your hormones function.
What are the most common issues relating to gut health?
Gut-related issues include indigestion, bloating, abdominal pain, excess flatulence, constipation and diarrhoea. So, if you have a healthy gut, you wouldn’t expect to have those symptoms too often. While we will all experience a bit of bloating and loose stool every now and again, you should mostly be free from them.
What is a microbiome?
The gut microbiome is the community of microbes – which are largely bacteria but also include some yeast, fungi and viruses and even parasites – that mostly live in our large intestine. While they’re not an organ of the body, they kind of function like one. There’s as many cells in your gut microbiome as there are cells in your body. There’s literally trillions of cells, and if you look after them, and they’re healthy and thriving, Then they look after you and they produce lots of chemicals. These chemicals then support the health of many organs and systems of the body and the gut even communicates directly with the brain, via the gut-brain axis and through chemical messages (created by the gut microbiome).
The microbiome also helps provide us with a lot of nutrients. Because we can’t actually digets most of the fibre we eat, it passes all the way through our gut to the large bowel and our gut microbes digest it, breaking it down into molecules and compounds, so we can retain the essential nutrients. It’s essentially a complex network of different microbes, and, if we look after them, they look after us.
Are there any myths surrounding gut health?
The gut is short for gastrointestinal tract – it’s the tube that starts at your mouth and ends at your anus. So, it includes the mouth, the oesophagus, stomach, the small intestine, the large intestine, the rectum and the anus. It is different to the digestive system, which also includes things like the liver, the gallbladder and the pancreas.
Another ‘myth’ is that people often think that if you fart, it’s bad. But, actually, farting is something we have to do because these gut microbes produce gases (which have to leave the body) when they’re digesting any food that we can’t digest. Then again, while farting is normal, if it becomes excessive, you might need to look into the cause of this.
If people are looking to improve their gut health, one of the most important things you can do is increase the amount of fibre you consume a day. But everything should be consumed in moderation, as the higher your fibre intake, the more potential there is for bloating, gas and constipation.
Is diet the cause of poor gut health?
It’s not just about diet; genetics play an important role when it comes to any symptoms or ailments we have. But we know our mental health can impact our gut too, and we know IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) is a condition that involves the gut and is very closely linked to stress.
Gut and digestive issues, can you have one without the other?
They’re very closely linked but it’s highly likely that if you have issues with your digestive system, it’s going to impact your gut health. But you could also have really good digestion and still have issues with your gut.
Aside from diet, what can we do to improve our gut health?
A lot of the time it’s about relieving the body of stress, so doing things like yoga as a form of exercise, meditation, breathing exercises or mindfulness techniques is when your digestive system is going to work better. Any exercise in your daily or weekly routine can support good health and, in turn, good gut health.
Drinking water is also key. We need water in order for the fibre we consume to be able to move through the system in the way it’s supposed to. We also need sleep to maintain good gut health – between seven and nine hours of good-quality sleep each night.
The verdict: Gut health foods
While prebiotic and probiotic supplements are a great (and easy) way of ingesting the right ingredients to optimise your gut health, Dr Zoe insists the way forward is making “sensible swaps” to your existing diet and incorporating certain foods that will improve your gut microbiome.
So, ultimately, it comes down to preference in taste, and your budget. We found that incorporating foods such as kimchi and sauerkraut into our rice dishes cooked at home (or added on the side of a meal) was not as hard as we initially thought, particularly when it became a habit. While studies show that turmeric needs to be ingested in a large quanitity, alongside garlic and black pepper, to provide a benefit, we also enjoy adding the spice to our food as we cook, so, considering this won’t break the bank, it’s an easy switch for us to make.
Dr Zoe stressed: “It really is a personal choice. People invest their money in taking probiotics supplements but there are probiotics you can consume in your diet regularly.”
Considering switching to a vegan diet? Check out our round-up of the best vegan cookbooks for easy plant-based recipes