On returning home from a 16 day holiday in Sri Lanka, my tummy heath was a bit all over the place. Coupled with a diet high in starchy carbs, low fibre rich veggies and a 7 day prescription of antibiotics, I was eager to refocus my diet to promote optimal gut health.
You would be hard pressed to find someone who has not heard the new buzz word floating around health and fitness industry at the moment. Gut health. And for good reason. You have more bacteria in your gut than cells in your body!
These gut bacteria are super busy taking care of business, but what is not known is that they need to be taken care of. Starting next Monday, a group of MFD ladies will be leading a case study to overhaul their gut health. Call me sneaky, but I am already almost 7 days in and I want to share with you my results so far.
We designed this 30-day reset program around the latest research that exist on our microbiome and gut health. The goals of this program are quite broad reaching but include the ability to restore the gut lining, re-balance gut bacteria and create a knock-on effect to improved weight loss, sleep, mood and immune system. This program will follow aspects of a paleo style and slow carb way of eating and has eight key guidelines:
The program is broken into 2 phases. Phase one is the repair phase, lasting around 2 weeks. The purpose of this phase is to eliminate any foods/drinks you know to be problematic and balance gut bacteria.
While it is still early in the case study, I am excited to share my results so far:
No refined carbs or grains:This week I have removed coffee and all wheat, grains, beans and legumes from my diet. I have found it surprising easy to replace wheats and grains with more nutrient dense fruits and vegetables. I do not feel any drop or change in energy levels and finish each meal feeling very satisfied by the abundance of colour created on the plate. I have also more consciously added a variety of fats into my diet, which assist with satiety, such as nuts and avocado. The key to success here has been planning ahead to have cooked vegetables in the fridge. A great replacement to bread in the morning has been boiled potatoes which I then turn into a Spanish omelette… totally delicious. I also made cauliflower rice to have with a delicious chicken curry eaten mid week.
No Caffeine:Coffee is usually what gets me out of bed at 5am. It is also something that gives me tremendous mental comfort. Surprising the first few days were the easiest. Yesterday was the first day I felt like I needed a coffee. But I then realised that part of the lethargy I was feeling was due to being dehydrated. I have found since removing coffee I have been better at grabbing a quick glass of water. I will confess that I have not been able to eliminate black tea yet but I have also been likely to make myself a peppermint tea too.
Sleep Quality:No going to lie. Since removing coffee, I have had some really solid sleeps. Falling asleep has been a piece of cake and waking has been a lot easier too.
Mood and concentration:I am usual a rather positive, upbeat person but have felt really positive this week. I feel that my concentration levels have however shown the best improvement, which could be due to better quality sleep. Â I definitely feel more alert and attentive.
Scales weight:I started the week at 69.5kg, which was a little heavier for me than usual, but I was surprised to jump on the scales today and weigh in at 66.5kg. My tummy certainly feels a lot more settled, with less gaseous symptoms too.
The goal of the 30-day reset is to realise how good the body is meant to feel, help individual’s overcome weight loss resistance by breaking through weight loss plateau, resetting the body’s ability to burn fat as fuel and specially target abdominal fat. I am not making any promises that I will be able to keep the odd glass of wine or coffee out of the next 30 days, but I am excited to see how the next 3 weeks go down.
If you want to learn more about gut health and how it can be best optimise for great health, we are partnering up with Kayla Furmanczyk from Healthy Gut Nutrition to present a 90 minute workshop on Saturday 28thof April at 4pm. Tickets available via the link. All attendees will have access to our MFD 30 day reset program resources.
Ange Drake is an personal trainer, women’s empowerment coach and fitness blogger in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. She is the director of one of the few womens’ only strength training gyms in Melbourne, 23W. Ange helps women to learn how to use strength based training, nutritional strategies and a positive mindset to transform their bodies, relationship with food and mind.
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