Why Wellness Starts in the Gut: Redefining 'Healthy Eating' Through Smart Shake Nutrition

When it comes to physical and mental health, the condition of your gut can play a major role. This is why the gut is commonly called “the second brain” - the microbiome of your gut can dictate your overall health and wellness.

In this blog, we will discuss the gut-brain connection, how what you eat impacts your health and how diet replacement shakes or complete meal replacement shakes can help optimise your health. This will help you take a balanced, holistic approach to your overall health.

What Is The Gut-Brain Connection

Did you know that your gut and brain communicate with each other? This bidirectional system communicates through a network of chemicals, nerves and microbes. Consequently, the brain communicates with the gut and the gut influences the brain.

This “axis” explains why stress and mood manifests as stomach issues and lack of hunger.

The gut-brain axis has several mechanisms to help the brain and gut communicate. These are:

• Nerve-to-nerve signals: The enteric nervous system functions as a complex brain in your gut. This communicates with your central nervous system in your brain, specifically through the vagus nerve.
• Immune and hormonal signals: The brain uses hormones and immune system pathways to communicate with the gut and vice versa.
• Gut microbiome: Your microbiome is made up of “good” bacteria in the gut. It plays a vital role in releasing chemicals that affect mental health and brain functions.

Some examples of the gut-brain connection in action are:

• Brain communicating with the gut: Feeling stressed can lead to unpleasant stomach sensations and cause bloating and/or nausea.
• Gut communicating with the brain: Your diet can impact your mood positively or negatively. An imbalance of gut bacteria or chronic gut inflammation can generate depression or anxiety.
• Food positively impacting mood: By consuming a sweet treat, your gut produces dopamine, which produces a ‘feel good’ sensation.
• Disorders and disease: Studies of the role of the gut-brain connection in conditions like Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Parkinson’s disease are ongoing. Its impact on neurological development is also being studied.

Healthy Eating For Your Gut

When it comes to keeping your gut healthy, nurturing your “microbiome” is key. These microbes act as the immune system in your gut. By nurturing your good bacteria through proper nutrition, you can eliminate harmful bacteria.

As we all know, a balanced diet is key to maintaining our health. However, finding the right diet isn’t easy given how little many medical professionals know about nutrition. Additionally, searching for expert advice in a sea of misinformation is a daunting task.

So how do you know what a healthy diet and lifestyle looks like for you? Studies performed on twins have unlocked some answers.

When identical twins - who have the same genetic makeup - consumed the same food, it was discovered that their gut reaction was different. Based on a study of 13,000 identical twins, there was an eight- to ten-fold difference in blood glucose, insulin and fat and inflammation responses.

This led to the finding that it isn’t genes that impacts what foods suit each individual, it is each human’s unique microbiome. The microbes situated in the gut influences how we metabolise foods, our sugar spikes and how we break down fats. They also produce thousands of vitamins and brain chemicals that affect our mood.

This means that people react differently to different foods. It is thought that this is why some dieters do not lose weight despite decreasing their calorie intake and increasing exercise.

This finding was especially exciting because it meant that the best diet for each individual was not fixed. Research indicates that your diet can modify your microbiome. To take advantage of this knowledge, you need to personalise and tailor what you eat to your specific gut biome.

To support your microbiome, it is important to consume protein to support your gut and microbiome health. Fibre from carbohydrates are also essential for digestive health and regularity. Likewise, healthy fats including both omega 3 and omega 6 fats in correct quantities is vital.

Our bodies need essential vitamins and minerals to function, alongside sufficient hydration. The last important pillar is phytonutrients, which are nutrients from plant based sources that support the body. It is thought that the introduction of a diverse range of plants can help boost your microbiome.

How Supplements Can Improve Gut Health

Two of the other important aspects of a diet designed to alter your gut biome are prebiotics and probiotics.

Probiotics are living microorganisms that replenish the good bacteria in your gut. This helps your microbiome regain or maintain balance and positive digestive health. Probiotics can be found naturally in yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, and tempeh.

Prebiotics are non-digestible fibres that act as food for good bacteria in the gut. They naturally pass through the upper digestive tract and get fermented in the colon. This triggers growth of beneficial bacteria and produces byproducts like short-chain fatty acid. Prebiotics are primarily found in high-fibre foods like garlic, onions, and asparagus.

Another way to consume probiotics, prebiotics, vitamins and minerals is to take them in supplement form. This can help supplement key nutrients not found in an individual’s diet.

How Diet Replacement Shakes Can Aid In Healthy Eating And Weight Loss

If you are looking to maintain or lose weight, introducing meal replacement shakes can help you take control of your health.

Healthy Trim is specially formulated to contain all the nutrients you need to maintain or improve your gut health. Our science-backed formula offers a balanced, flexible meal replacement for weight control that fits seamlessly into your lifestyle. This makes these delicious and convenient shakes great for muscle recovery, weight maintenance or overall wellbeing.

Healthy Trim contains 205 calories per serving, 31.5g grams of which comes from whey protein sourced from Australian grass-fed cows. These shakes are also an excellent source of dietary fibre and the 26 essential vitamins and minerals recommended by FSANZ and ESADDI guidelines.

Our shakes also contain vital prebiotics and over 2 billion CFU^ of Bacillus Coagulans probiotic to support a healthy gut microbiome.

If you are interested in supporting your gut microbiome or want to lose weight, why not give our tasty shakes a try? Browse our online store to find a product that suits your needs and taste.