So – it’s 2023. Here on the farm, we don’t really think in terms of “resolutions” anymore. These days, we take the new year as an opportunity for a fresh start.
If you had some habits that weren’t serving you in the old year, this is your chance to begin again!
Your microbiome is your friend and ally here. Your gut ecosystem is flexible and will respond quickly to any change that you make in your diet. All those delicate little gut bugs in there are resilient, willing and able to bounce back from mistreatment, if you just give them a chance.
How hard is it to change?
Not that hard! Scientists have confirmed that changing your diet can rapidly alter the composition and activity of the gut microbiome. These positive changes can affect everything from metabolism to immunity to behaviour.”1
In fact, researchers said this: “Diet is a critical determinant of variation in gut microbial structure and function, outweighing even host genetics.”2
In other words – what you eat can impact your gut microbiome even more than your DNA does. That’s a powerful statement. You have the power to change things! And the new year is a great time for change, particularly when you focus on positive, approach-oriented changes rather than on avoidance-oriented goals, as confirmed by a large-scale experiment on 1,066 people, published in the journal PLoS.3
The trick is to add in the good stuff – rather than focussing on taking out the bad. So let’s get started with our Fresh Start protocol! It consists of a morning smoothie with three basic ingredients, followed by a bespoke herbal tea that you can sip throughout the day.
What do I do first?
It all starts with a daily smoothie that contains three basic ingredients:
Item One: Kefir
Traditionally handmade kefir provides a food matrix for the effective delivery of probiotic microbes, including health promoting bacteria and yeasts. This is important because you get “a lot more for your buck” with kefir compared to a probiotic capsule. Even if a supplement is high dose and multi-strain, you won’t be getting vitamins, minerals, and a whole array of non-digestible molecules known to have a positive effect on human health, including peptides and a wide range of oligo- and polysaccharides.4
Item Two: Prebiotics
Prebiotics feed the bacteria in your gut so that they are able to produce beneficial molecules like short-chain fatty acids, energy-filled, soothing droplets of fat that are used to nourish and repair the gut lining. A study published in the journal Nutrition Research found that people who follow a Mediterranean-style diet – rich in vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, and fish – experience dramatic positive changes to their microbiome in as early as 4 days.5 At Chuckling Goat we are big proponents of our Gut Health Diet, which is low glycaemic index (GI), high-fibre, and high diversity, along with probiotic kefir and a wide-spectrum prebiotic. This means it shares the basics of the Mediterranean diet pattern, but it takes it further with gut health in mind.
Item Three: Collagen
Collagen is an important protein that can be found in almost every tissue of the body. Most relevantly, it plays a beneficial role in gut health due to its ability to dampen down inflammation from molecules like liposaccharide (LPS), known to damage the integrity of the gut lining.6
Blend these three things together and toss in the fruit or veg of your choice, to give yourself a blast of energy and good gut health first thing in the morning.
Then it’s time to add in:
Item four: Antimicrobial Herbs.
If you have ever had food poisoning, a UTI or a dental infection, it’s possible that some of those pathogens migrated into your gut and set up shop behind a “biofilm.” This residual low-grade infection can lurk in your system for decades, holding you back from getting positive results. An antimicrobial herbal tea like our Get Me Through the Day tea, which contains rosemary,7 vervain,8 mugwort,9 and peppermint,10 has demonstrable ability to inhibit pathogens inside the gut. By the way, in case you’re wondering, these herbs won’t kill your healthy bacteria. That’s the cleverest thing about them. They will only work on opportunistic microbes that have found a way to hide inside your gut. Meanwhile, they’ll support your Bifido and Lactobacilli so they do their work more effectively. Amazing, right?
This completely natural, tasty and pure herbal tea will boost your mood and energy without caffeine. Make it in our infuser teapot – included free with our Fresh Start Package – and sip it all day long to help kill off any stray bacteria or pathogens that may wander into your biosphere.
The body of evidence documenting the health benefits of herbs, collagen peptides, kefir, and fibre intake/diversity is fertile and continues to grow. On the basis of that science, and the consistently positive feedback we continue to get from you, we are confident that your four-step protocol is the perfect way for you to achieve life-changing results in 2023.
Watch this quick video on how to make a gut health smoothie, here: https://staging.chucklinggoat.co.uk/gut-health-smoothie-2/
We’re here to make sure you succeed. Get in touch with one of our lovely Nutritional Therapists for a chat about your health issues, 8 am to 8 pm weekdays.
