How to have a great day at work: Get to know your gut health

In her regular column, business founder and wellness expert Nicola Elliott looks at one thing we can all do that will make our nine to five feel happier and healthier

Gut feeling: everything from our sleep to our mental health could be affected by this hard-working organ (Getty)

My mum is baffled by the sudden talk of gut health. “We didn’t think about this 20 years ago,” she insists. That is because almost all the scientific research that has been done on the gut has only happened in the past five-10 years.

This is pretty strange when you consider the fact that it was more than 2,000 years ago when Hippocrates proclaimed that “all disease begins in the gut”.

To be clear: when people talk about “gut health” they are not talking about an organ as such, but rather all microbes within the gut and their genetic material. We’ve known for a long time that the gut breaks down the foods we eat and absorbs the nutrients that support bodily functions but recent studies are showing way more fascinating links.

One of the most exciting recent findings suggests that people with major depressive disorder have a very different composition of gut microbiome and that the composition of the gut could impact mood disorders. This is why so many people are now referring to the gut as the “second brain”. 

There’s also the recent connection between the gut and the immune system – a reported 70-80 per cent of the immune system is located in the gut. Given inflammation is present in most chronic diseases this connection is a huge discovery.

We clearly need to take care of those microbiomes. But how? I asked Eve Kalinik, one of the most respected nutritionists and gut health experts.

She suggests, “a variety and diversity of plants, for the most part – 30 per week and as many colours, and in season as possible. This includes veg and fruit, of course, but also nuts, herbs and spices, which all supply different microbiomes.”

Spices are great because although they are not too high in fibre they are super concentrated in polyphenols which are super anti-inflammatory.

Fermented foods are the holy grail of gut health. “Not only do foods like kimchi and sauerkraut contain probiotics but they are also rich in fibre and polyphenols which means they have the ability to feed them,” Eve says.

On her website, you can find her grandad’s recipe for the easiest (and cheapest) way to make sauerkraut and use it just as you would a condiment. It’s also important to chew your food properly, which is easier to digest than hunks you’ve rammed down at pace. 

Do supplements work, I ask Eve. “Yes, but as just that, a supplement rather than in place of the food. Everyone’s gut is unique – much like a fingerprint. Even twins have a different gut composition so people have very different needs, but you’re probably most in need if your immunity needs a boost, you’ve been taking a course of antibiotics or you’re stressed.”

That’s worth bearing in mind if you have a particularly demanding job or week ahead. The production of cortisol (the stress hormone) disrupts your gut microbiome. If you are in fight or flight mode more than “rest and digest” mode (there are only two states the body can be in) you’ll probably be impacting your gut barrier negatively. 

Deep breathing for just a few minutes during the day can honestly help, as the diaphragm will have a massaging effect on the upper gut. Anything you can regularly do to move your nervous system into a calmer state will help reduce cortisol which impacts the leak of the gut or not. 

Ultra-processed foods will also work against you – artificial sweeteners especially harm your gut health.

And finally, gut health can impact sleep... so much of better wellbeing depends on getting proper rest. In fact, there are multiple studies looking at how the gut microbiome is impacted when we get better-quality sleep. Yet another reason to prioritise those zzzs before the working day ahead. 

Nicola Elliott is the founder of NEOM and her book ‘The Four Ways to Wellbeing: Better Sleep. Less Stress. More Energy. Mood Boost’ is published by Penguin