5 Easy Changes You Can Make For Your Gut Health, According To Instagram Nutritionist Emily English
Between the influx of documentaries digging into the gut microbiome and the ever-expanding, saturated world of #GutTok, there is more appetite to learn about the complexities of gut health than ever before. With it, however, lies a reality that's slightly harder to digest, where scaremongering, confusion and excess information have made it all the more challenging to suss out exactly how to improve your gut health.
Is a daily shot of apple cider vinegar really the catch-all solution to gut health? Should you, too, be intermittent fasting, or even, cutting out sugar and gluten altogether? And, is an online gut test going to be the missing puzzle to your IBS woes?
When it comes to gut health, we all still have a lot of questions. It's something that nutritionist Emily English, who is otherwise known to her legion of loyal followers as 'Em The Nutritionist', says is one of the biggest issues surrounding the topic of gut health right now - we're simply faced with too much, and not enough of the right, information.
Here, ELLE UK sits down with the nutritionist, author and supplement founder to debunk some of the biggest gut health myths circling on social media right now, and what you can actually do to improve yours.
What are the biggest gut health myths right now?
Online gut tests
'Everyone always thinks they get sensitivities or intolerances to lots of different foods, and then they do these online tests, and they are a scam. You do not need to pay money to do gut sensitivity tests, because they don't work; they don't tell you anything.'
Food 'sensitivities'
'It's important that people know that there's a difference between a food allergy and a food sensitivity. We're seeing more and more food sensitivities but it's not actually the food that's making your gut respond, it's how your gut is responding to the food. Your gut is a dynamic muscle with its own mind. Our lifestyle decisions, nutrition and diet support how our gut responds; if you're not responding to a food, it's not because you can never eat that food again, it's because your gut is reacting in a certain way. With most sensitivities, you can actually train yourself and get over them.'
Gut inflammation
'I think everyone flings the word "gut inflammation" around too much, because every single time we eat we initiate an inflammatory response in the gut. And the reason being is that 70% of your immune system lives around your gut, it's one of the major access sites of your body. So every single time you eat anything, you have to make sure that you initiate the immune system which, in turn, causes a bit of inflammation to make sure your body is recognising friend from foe. Gut inflammation will never 100% be avoided, so take it with a pinch of salt.'
Is social media's obsession with gut health a help or hindrance?
'It's definitely a hindrance because gut health is so unique – your gut microbiome is more unique than your own fingerprint. That means we can't use a one-size-fits-all approach and the science is actually really hard to solidify, because there will always be a whole range of different responses. We should be focusing more on the overall health and wellness knowledge that we do know helps support a healthy gut microbiome, and not get too obsessed with those micro details, the fads and the trends that circulate on TikTok. People can be very quick to self diagnose when it comes to their gut health, and I think that's something to be really wary of.'
What are the most important - and simplest - things you can do for your gut health?
Manage stress levels
'My number one tip isn't even nutrition related, it's to manage your stress levels. Your mood and emotions directly influence your gut response. When you get really nervous, or you have a big event coming up, you'll notice the change in your bowel movements. That's because stress changes the full physiology of the gut. Your gut and your brain are connected via something we call the gut brain axis and it's actually our vagus nerve that's responsible (known as a bi-directional communication). Your gut feeds back to your brain, and your brain also feeds back to your gut. When you get really nervous, or when you have a spike of cortisol, it will actually change the permeability of your gut lining.
'What this means is that when you get stressed, your gut cells, which are stuck together via lots of things called tight junctions, will loosen. You may have heard the phrase "leaky gut" before, but in scientific terms, we call it hyperintestinal permeability. When this happens, you start to trigger your immune system; water is poured into the bowels, and you might experience exaggerated bowel movements and IBS symptoms. If you are prone to IBS, one of the biggest triggers is the stress response and the permeability of the gut.'
Connect to the breath
'Bloating is another common symptom connected to gut health but a lot of that's actually to do with like a dysregulation of the diaphragm, and your breathing. When you get really stressed and you're not breathing properly, your diaphragm contracts when it should be relaxing, and that's where you may notice bloating. The stress causes your gut bacteria to shift and can produce more gas as a result.'
Colour over calories
'Colour over calories is so important to remember. You really, really want more colour, more diversity and to incorporate gut-friendly foods. Fermented foods, such as kimchi and kefir, are crucial for your gut health. Try and incorporate them into one of your go-to meals, such as a kimchi avocado toast with feta.'
Support the gut barrier
'When you compromise your skin barrier, you are more susceptible to breakouts and inflammation - and it's exactly the same with the gut. As the foundation to a healthy gut, look to vitamins like zinc, biotin and vitamin D to support your gut barrier function.'
Limit alcohol and sugar
'Alcohol is incredibly damaging. It decreases microbiome diversity and can damage the gut lining. What you can do to counteract this is to think about what you're eating with what you're drinking. Try not to drink on an empty stomach and have a meal that's full of lots of colour and variety. Similarly, too much excess sugar can cause a lot of inflammation within the gut, and the more negative bacteria that live within our gut love sugar, so they really like to feed off it.'
Do gut health supplements work?
'Supplements are not essential, but they are that safety net. They're that extra support. They're the ability for you to be able to know that you're doing the best for yourself without having to overcomplicate it. My new supplement Epetome really focuses on optimising gut barrier function to make your gut respond appropriately to the food with a pioneering supplemental technology and delivery mechanism.
'We've invested in something called duo cap technology, which means that we have an outer and an inner core, so you get a biphasic release of what's inside. The outer core will get released inside the stomach just as it enters the intestine and the inner core contains all of the live probiotic strains. The live bacterial strains will get released, surviving all of the stomach acids, making it 30 times more effective than a standard capsule.'
A supplement isn't a magic bullet, but when paired with a healthy diet, better lifestyle choices and sleep, it can really improve your gut health in the long run. As for all the TikTok advice? Leave the viral trends and trust the science instead.
SO GOOD by Emily English, published by Seven Dials, is available in Hardback and eBook, for £25.
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