As it's getting into the cooler months (and the current attention to our immune health) Tara Davenport (APD) gives us some simple strategies to ensure we are doing as much as we can from a nutrition stand point to support our immune system.
Challenge yourself to eat 30 different plants throughout the week. This includes plant-based foods like wholegrains (rice/oats/quinoa), tofu, tempeh and of course vegetables and fruits.
Eat the rainbow - when we eat vegetables we are aiming for a range of colour on the plate - this is our multi-vitamin as each colour will represent a different vitamin.
Prebiotics = a food that will help to promote a healthy environment in our gut. The easiest probiotic we can aim for is enough fibre in our diet. The key here is also to consume a variety of fibres (try to complete the first point as well as you can). We typically want to aim for 30-40g of fibre / day (use a food app once to see what this will look like). Prebiotics also include fermented foods such as gherkins, or pickled vegetables.
Probiotics = living cultures or bacteria within food or found in supplement. The foods that provide us with living organisms are yoghurt, kimchi, the probiotic milks, sourkraut, Kefir which directly help populate the colon. Probiotic capsules can be helpful at times of travel, higher training loads or if we are already feeling a little run down. However it is important to note, these capsules are a not a magic wand and we need enough fibre coming to support the process.
If you want to know more about how you can help your gut stay healthy Tara is available for consults in our Milton Location.
