OhMyGut in an Interview - Delicious and Healthy for Your Gut

After we from Kombuchery talked to nutritionist Adrienne Tonner about our kombucha, I took the opportunity to ask Adrienne from OhMyGut a few questions about her specialty: gut-healthy nutrition. I would like to share her insightful answers with you here. You will learn more about the impact of gut health on our immune system and our psyche, how fantastic gut-friendly nutrition can taste, and how you can easily get started with the first steps for your gut health. Afterwards you will find Adrienne's Immune Booster Bowl with our delicious kombucha.

Would you like to briefly introduce yourself and explain the core of your work and passion?

I'm Adrienne. I'm a nutritionist, cookbook author, and knowledge and food blogger at ohmygut.de, the healthy food blog all about gut-friendly nutrition. When I did my training as a nutritionist, I really became aware of the importance of the gut for our holistic health. It is closely connected to our entire organism. The gut was long a little-regarded organ that should be given much more attention. In my specialization on the topic, I found a lot of literature on gut health, but unfortunately less culinary inspiration that really made you want to eat gut-friendly. So I thought: "Good. Adrienne, now you take care of it and show how fantastic gut-friendly nutrition can taste!"

I would like to discuss gut health with you. How important is the gut for our health, our well-being, and our psyche?

Extremely important. Over 70% of our immune defense cells lie dormant in the gut. If our intestinal lining is healthy and the gut flora is in a healthy balance, then our immune system is also stronger. The gut and immune system are in close exchange. How strongly individual nutritional factors influence this connection is complex; no general protective effect against infectious diseases can be derived from it. Complaints such as fatigue, skin problems, or concentration difficulties can have many different causes and cannot be generally attributed to inflammation in the gut.

Our gut is also the only organ that can work independently of the brain and has its own nervous system. According to research, it consists largely of tissue substances also found in the brain. In addition, the gut is able to communicate with the brain via neurotransmitters. These are hormones such as dopamine, adrenaline, or serotonin. This happens via the so-called gut-brain axis. Thus, our gut has a direct influence on our psyche, our thoughts, and feelings.

A small example: About 95% of the feel-good hormone serotonin is produced in the gut. If we eat well and thus help our body with serotonin production, then we can literally eat ourselves happy with the help of our gut. Crazy, right?

In particular, the topics of anti-inflammation and the influence of sugar and sugar substitutes have increasingly come into focus.

1. There is always talk of inflammatory foci in the body. Is this also important for healthy people? Also with regard to gut health?

In our Western diet, we factually tend to eat too many pro-inflammatory substances and too few anti-inflammatory foods. This leads to an imbalance and can promote the development of hidden inflammations in the body.

It is important to know: Our body is an incredibly fascinating apparatus that constantly regenerates itself and tries to eliminate small inflammations. However, constant exposure to pro-inflammatory foods such as trans fats, alcohol, sugar, animal saturated fats, or preservatives and emulsifiers that attack our intestinal lining can overwhelm the body in the long run. Then inflammations can persist. We often don't notice the inflammations in the gut directly. They often manifest themselves through completely different symptoms far from the gut: fatigue, bad mood, concentration difficulties, skin problems, neurodermatitis, susceptibility to infection, allergies, etc. Here, one would not immediately think of inflammation in the gut. I always recommend being very mindful of yourself and questioning your diet and how you feel about it. If, as a "healthy person", I notice that I am living a rather pro-inflammatory diet and perceive initial physical reactions to it, then it would certainly not be wrong to pay a little more attention to my gut health, reduce inflammatory promoters, and eat more gut-friendly.

2. Do you think the different types of sugar have different effects on the body? Can you imagine that the relatively low sugar content in our kombucha seems almost insignificant, considering the abundance of nutrients and good bacteria it gives us?

Sugar

The sugar thing is tricky. There are many sugar alternatives on the market that give us the good feeling of eating a little healthier. But in fact, agave syrup, maple syrup, honey, rice syrup, cane sugar, etc., are also just sugar. Like sugar, they consist of simple, rapidly metabolized sugar molecules: fructose and glucose. Sure, a date or honey also contain a few minerals in addition to sugar, which is of course better in proportion than a highly processed refined sugar that is completely devoid of vital substances. But in the end, it's still sugar. It messes up blood sugar levels, promotes cravings, has an inflammatory effect, and inhibits fat burning.

The only exception I can really recommend for sweetening is yacon syrup. Here, the fructose molecules are present as long, firmly connected fructose chains. These are called fructans. And these are metabolized by the intestine not like sugar, but like prebiotic dietary fiber. Dietary fiber provides food for intestinal bacteria, which promotes a healthy gut flora and also keeps blood sugar levels stable. For anyone interested in yacon, I highly recommend yacomo-food.com. Here you can find organic yacon syrup, sustainably packaged, at a fair price.

But now let's talk about kombucha. I think it's a really exciting product. On the one hand, you have to consider that the sugar in this product has a real right to exist because it is the nutrient base for fermentation. A large part of the sugar is converted during the fermentation process. What remains with Kombuchery is fortunately not much sugar. Kombucha can contain up to 10% sugar. Kombuchery is far below that, which is why I like to recommend it as a soda alternative. The combination of low sugar paired with living microorganisms and nutrients is a great mix. The small amount of sugar is totally acceptable in my opinion. By the way, I also find kombucha very exciting for vegans. Because through fermentation, vitamin B12 is formed, which is difficult to absorb from natural sources.

We can nourish our gut with fiber, probiotics, and prebiotics. Can you briefly explain these three terms?

Dietary fiber

Dietary fiber are plant components that cannot be broken down by our digestive enzymes. They therefore reach the large intestine undigested, where most of our gut bacteria reside. They serve as food for our bacteria. Just as with us humans, food helps bacteria to grow and thrive. The better the good, beneficial bacteria are doing, the better we are doing too. That's why we should always include enough fiber in our diet. According to a National Consumption Study, however, many Germans consume less than the recommended minimum of 30 g of fiber per day. Unfortunately.

Prebiotics

Prebiotics are a special form of dietary fiber. They are not only food for bacteria, they also increase the activity of bacteria and stimulate their growth and reproduction. The digestion of prebiotics produces acids that have a positive effect on our intestinal lining and create a favorable environment for the beneficial bacteria in our gut.

Probiotics

Probiotics are living bacterial cultures that, for example, arise through fermentation or a long maturation process. They are like guest workers who make their way to the gut through food. For them to have a positive effect on the gut flora, however, they must be eaten, drunk, or taken in sufficient quantities and, above all, regularly. Because probiotics from outside have a much harder time settling in the gut. The already established bacteria defend their territory.

How can we imagine the correct ratio of good to bad gut bacteria?

First of all, it must be said that the classic good-versus-evil thinking is not entirely correct. Sure, some bacteria have more beneficial effects than others. Some produce anti-inflammatory end products, others more pro-inflammatory ones. However, it is not the bacterium and its properties alone that determine how we feel, but above all the correct ratio of the bacteria to each other. Every bacterium has its right to exist in our gut. As in a healthy society, "diversity" is also important in the gut! The more different bacterial strains we host, the better.

It is important that the bacteria that are particularly good for us always have the upper hand. The more they are in control, the more our health benefits. With the right diet, we can specifically control this ratio. Because different bacteria also have different culinary preferences. The particularly beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacteria, Lactobacilli, Akkermansia muciniphila, for example, love prebiotics. If you eat a lot of them, you are already making a big first contribution to a better gut balance.

What do you think about probiotics? Are there characteristics of a good probiotic that everyone should pay attention to, and can you recommend taking them?

I believe probiotics will play a major role in nutritional medicine in the future. Currently, however, research can only cultivate a small fraction of the bacteria we host in our gut in the laboratory. So, when taking probiotics, you can never supply the gut with all the relevant bacteria that might benefit you, but only with a fraction of the microbes.

A tip: A microbiome analysis is often a good idea beforehand. This way you know where there is an imbalance and can specifically supplement the probiotics that are missing.

Another tip: If you want to supplement probiotics, you should pay attention to a particularly high bacterial count (20 billion, for example) and rather opt for a synbiotic. A synbiotic is a mixture of pro- and prebiotics. This way, the probiotics are supplied with bacterial food right away and can settle more easily.

What is the basis of all gut-friendly recipes?

In short: a prebiotic, probiotic and anti-inflammatory diet that sustainably builds up the beneficial bacteria in the gut and reduces hidden inflammation.

How important are fermented products in our diet?

I am a big fan of consuming important nutrients that are good for us as naturally as possible. This means that with a largely plant-based, whole-food diet, enriched with fermented foods and omega-3 sources, you can supply yourself with many important nutrients - without having to take pills or supplements. In exceptional cases such as veganism, pregnancy, breastfeeding, or illness-related deficiencies, this can of course still be useful. But I believe that a healthy person can achieve a lot with diet. And fermented foods should also be an important part of this diet. In addition, they are also culinarily truly delicious. I think many people are not even aware of how many probiotic foods we eat every day. It's not just kombucha, it's also sauerkraut at grandma's, kimchi at the Korean, soy sauce at the Asian, fresh yogurt in the morning, or pickled cucumbers for dinner. All of this is delicious and rich in living microorganisms, provided it hasn't been heat-treated.

What is an easy way for everyone to start improving their gut health?

To ensure that everyone can truly do something, I've written a guide to better gut health in my book. You need to know that numerous factors affect our gut. Not only diet plays a role; mental health is also important.

Turning everything upside down at once is often difficult. I believe that the path of small steps is always the best. For example, you can look at the numerous nutrition and lifestyle tips in the book and simply see what seems easy to implement for you.

A few tangible examples

• Eating less meat, for example, is an important way to reduce pro-inflammatory factors. Here you could start by saying: "Okay, from now on I'll eat vegetarian or even vegan more often. I'll try that now."
• Eating more prebiotics and probiotics is also often very easy to implement. Just look at the list of all pre- and probiotic foods. What do you find delicious? Then just incorporate it into your meal plan more often or get inspired by my blog or book with ready-made recipes.
• Less preservatives in food is another such point. The best remedy is to cook fresh. But that is often time-consuming. The solution: Meal prep - planning and preparing meals. That's why my book also contains various meal prep ideas.

Adrienne's Immunbooster Bowl

Many more tips and inspiration on what else you can do can be found on Adrienne's blog. For all those who also have a soft spot for browsing cookbooks and trying out new recipes, I can also wholeheartedly recommend her cookbook "OH MY GUT, IST DAS LECKER!" (You can also find the cookbook here.)

Good luck with your preparation and good health!