5 foods that feed your gut

 While no one food can ‘fix’ your gut — remember that it’s important to eat a diverse range of plant-based foods each week.

This handful of foods is a good place to start!

1 Anything from the onion family

Think shallots, leeks and garlic as well as onions and spring onion. They are a good source of fructo-oligosaccharides — or FOS for short. That’s a prebiotic fibre that remains undigested until it hits the large intestine, where it encourages the growth and activity of ‘good’ bacteria.

2 Legumes

As well as providing a slightly different form of prebiotic fibre called galacto-oligosaccharides, legumes also contain resistant starch. That’s a fibre-like substance which promotes the production of a short-chain fatty acid called butyrate.

3 Oats

These are a rich source of beta glucan, a form of soluble fibre that’s been shown to improve cholesterol levels and act as a food source for good gut bacteria.

4 Pistachios

As well as delivering a hit of insoluble fibre, pistachios also work as a prebiotic. In one study, people who ate some every day had noticeably higher levels of beneficial butyrate-producing gut bacteria after just 19 days.

5 Grapefruit

Rich in fructans, another type of prebiotic, grapefruit are available all year round in Australia and New Zealand, but are officially in season now, during winter.