Rachel Balm Naturopathy

In my last post, I shared about the research that’s shown the importance of us eating 30 plant foods a week. By plant foods, I mean different fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, spices, legumes, and grains.

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Eating a varied diet has many health benefits from the range of vitamins, minerals, flavonoids, antioxidants and fibres that it gives you.

It’s also a great way to enjoy food without your regular meals getting stale! 😍

Nutritionists are now starting to see that diversity is more important than quantity when it comes to plant foods. Lots of different foods provide a range of fibres that your various gut microbes feed on to produce beneficial by-products, like short-chain fatty acids.

SO... HOW CAN YOU FIND YOUR 30 FOODS? 🤗

✨ Here are some tips to get started ✨

1️⃣ Buy a local fruit and veg box.
2️⃣ Keep a diary.
3️⃣ Make it a fun challenge.
4️⃣ Use fresh and frozen products.
5️⃣ Mix in some fermented foods.
6️⃣ Simple swaps.

⏰ Remember, most of all to create a rainbow. If your meal looks rather mono-toned - you need to mix it up!

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✨ Here's my story ✨​​​​​​​​
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I started getting stomach issues in my early teens. A major trigger for this was stress. Another major trigger was Helicobacter pylori.​​​​​​​​
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After multiple rounds of antibiotics, the H. Pylori cleared but my gut didn’t recover. It got worse.​ 😟​​​​​​​​
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I had burning pains in my stomach, regardless of if or when I ate. I bloated often, had abdominal pain, and altered bowel motions. ​💩​​​​​​​​
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My immune system was weakened, and my first defence - my stomach - was out of whack! This made me vulnerable to illness and food poisoning.​ 🤕​​​​​​​​
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The effects of the food poisoning lingered, and I didn’t know until years down the track that the digestive symptoms I was experiencing were because of small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). ​ ​​​​​​​​​
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𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗦𝗜𝗕𝗢, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗜𝗕𝗢 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝘆𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗲!! 😩​​​​​​​​​
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This affected my life in many ways..​.​​​​​​​​
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👉🏼 I become sensitive to foods, and couldn’t enjoy eating without feeling the ‘side effects’ of it.​​​​​​​​​
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👉🏼 I lost weight, to the point where I weighed less than my 14-year-old self. It wasn’t healthy weight loss, but the SIBO was inhibiting my ability to properly absorb nutrients from the foods I was eating.​​​​​​​​​
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👉🏼 I started to become obsessed with restricting my diet.​​​​​​​​​
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👉🏼 My gut affected my mood, my sleep, and my relationships.. and I just couldn’t take it anymore!​​​​​​​​​
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𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗴𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻. 😃​​​​​​​​​
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So that's my story, what's yours? 😲​​​​​​​​
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Let me know below👇🏼​​​​​​​​
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