RESTORE TO THE CORE
WHETHER IT’S A new wardrobe or a fresh set of make-up, a revamp can go miles towards helping you feel better on the outside – but what about the inside? Just as your outer self needs an occasional restyle, your hard-working digestive system should also be treated to a well-deserved makeover from time to time.
Deep in the centre of your body, your gut is working away constantly, influencing numerous processes. There are the obvious digestion and waste elimination processes, but ongoing and indepth scientific studies have also proven that your gut directly influences your weight, skin, immunity and even energy and mood.
The reason it has such influence over your health is because of the complex community of microbes it houses. There are thousands upon thousands of bacterial species in your gut’s microbiome, and the key to a healthy community is maintaining the right balance between good and bad ones. Detrimental bacteria can build up and upset this equilibrium – a state called dysbiosis – if your diet is lacking in variety, or if you’ve been taking things that kill off bacteria, such as antibiotics.
But, your microbiome is very adaptable and within days you can rebalance it with probiotic foods, and feed the good microbes with fibrous, colourful, prebiotic vegetables – which we’ll explore later in
