How to get more variety in your diet for gut health and general wellbeing

This week’s blog is all around digestive health. Digestion is our fifth signal in our Six Signals® methodology. We start with sleep, we go on to mental health, then energy, then body composition, which was last week, digestion this week and it’ll be fitness next week.

The concept I want to talk to you about this week relates back to a challenge that we ran in the summer. We called it the 50 in 7 challenge.  The challenge was to eat 50 different foods in seven days. Sounds simple you might think, but we went really hard at it and we got to 48, because actually we tend to eat the same sorts of foods.

We know that for digestive health and good diversity of bacteria in our guts, it’s really important to have a wide and diverse range of foods. Different colours, different textures, coming from different origins, just as much variety as you can in your diet.  It’s a really interesting challenge.  I’m throwing it back at you, see if you can eat 50 different foods in seven day.  It’s not as easy as you might think, but what you will do is open up your awareness to how many you’re already consuming and maybe you can broaden that out.

We now know 70% of the world’s foods come from 12 different plant sources and five different animal sources.  We’re actually eating a really narrow range of all the foods that are available to us, tending to stick with the same ones.  Sometimes I recommend that to people, because they’re suffering from decision fatigue, they’ve got so many decisions to make in the day, they don’t want to come back and have to work through a whole recipe book to figure out what to have for dinner. I get that, but you can introduce more vegetables; we know there’s huge benefits for doing that. You can maybe introduce meat from a different source, or ideally eat less meat, get more vegetables on the plate and just find other things to add into your diet. More nuts, more seeds, more things like that.

If you decide to take on the 50 in 7 challenge, please let us know how you’re getting on.  Jump on our Facebook page, and update us on how you’re getting on.  Also, while you’re there, you can apply to join our Green Room as well, which is our private members area. In there, we share some stories before they come out, we might share some videos of podcasts before they’re released and it’s a little community of people who want to help each other out. We want to share advice and see what’s worked for other people and what kind of tips they can get.

Bodyshot Digestion Package

We have brought together everything you need to optimise your digestion, in one package. The Digestion Package includes the DNA test for diet and fitness combined with a non-invasive blood test panel for 10 key markers including thyroid, cholesterol, vitamin D3 and B12 and folate.

Once we’ve received the results of your DNA and blood test, we arrange a suitable time for the consultation which takes place online and lasts approximately 60 minutes. In the consultation, we analyse your results, explain what everything means and draw up a personalised action plan.

Our Digestion Package includes an eBook that talks you through the Digestion Signal and gives you loads of tips, information and a resource you can keep coming back to. The eBook is a concise summary of everything we’ve learned from the hundreds of clients we’ve helped to optimise their digestion.

What you get:

  • DNA test for diet and fitness
  • GI Map comprehensive gut testing
  • Custom Blood Panel
  • eBook
  • 21 Day Course of Goat Milk Kefir
  • Consultation with a Health Expert

If you would like to find out more about this package, please click here.

What’s your Health IQ?

If you’re reading this, you’re are probably in a reasonably senior position, running your own business or have a busy life running the home and juggling other responsibilities. Either way, you’re busy. The convergent pressures of work and family life have probably meant that the time you did have to spend on health and fitness has disappeared. Why not talk to us and see how we can help.

Click here to take our test.

Leanne Spencer is an entrepreneur, coach, TEDx Speaker, author of Remove the Guesswork, and founder of Bodyshot Performance Limited. Bodyshot is a health and fitness consultancy that helps busy professionals get more energy by removing the guesswork around their health, fitness and nutrition. Visit www.bodyshotperformance.com or email info@bodyshotperformance.com to register your interest in our services and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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