A dairy-free diet excludes foods that contain milk and milk products. People who discover they don’t tolerate dairy products very well may choose to reduce or completely eliminate foods that contain milk. On the other hand some find they may be able to tolerate small amounts of dairy, fermented dairy or raw dairy without suffering too many consequences. More on that later on, but for now let’s look at some of the reasons people think there may be a problem with dairy, and why you may want to avoid dairy.

People follow a dairy-free diet for different reasons, but for most people, they’re searching for relief from –

• Digestive issues
• Bloating
• Skin problems
• Respiratory issues (like excess mucus) that come from eating dairy products.

If you’d like to learn more about ensuring you’re eating well whilst avoiding certain foods, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support your digestive system whilst avoiding triggering symptoms.

It’d be impossible to include all you need to know in one blog, but the programme will have all you need to know to ensure you’re soothing your digestive system, whilst eating delicious and filling foods. 

1. If you’re bloating, that could mean a problem with dairy

If you find you become bloated after eating dairy you’re definitely not alone!

So what’s actually going on here?

This may be due to an underlying imbalance with your digestive system – you may not be digesting proteins, or breaking down sugars efficiently. This may be down to dysbiosis, AKA an imbalance between your ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria.

 You can get the lowdown on dysbiosis here.

3. If you suffer with your skin, it may be a problem with dairy

There are plenty of studies which demonstrate a link between eating dairy, and the development of skin conditions such as acne and eczema.
So if you suffer with anything like this, a diary-free diet together with certain probiotic supplements may really help you support your skin’s healing.

Have you thought about taking probiotics but are unsure where to start? Have a look here.

What to eat instead of dairy?

Contrary to what you might have heard, dairy products are not the only, and definitely not the best source of calcium.

Dairy products are high in calcium, but calcium intake needs to be balanced with magnesium in order for it to be utilised properly by the body. If you’re deficient in magnesium this puts you at risk for a deficiency in calcium too – these two minerals work closely together.

If you want to ensure you maximise absorption of the calcium you do eat, ensure you eat plenty of these foods which are rich sources of magnesium –

• Leafy greens
• Avocado
• Bananas
• Figs
• Cocoa

A great balance of magnesium and calcium is found in the following foods:

Seeds – sesame seeds and chias are particularly high in calcium.
Sardines and tinned salmon – these are loaded with calcium thanks to their tiny, edible soft bones.
Nuts – Almonds are a particularly rich source of calcium.
Tofu – this is another great source.

Easier to digest dairy products

If you can source them, raw dairy products tend to be better tolerated by many people who can’t tolerate conventional products.

As far as I’m currently aware, raw dairy is best sourced direct from farmers who supply this service. Raw dairy is not available from supermarkets, although it is becoming increasingly widely available.

Fermented dairy tends also to be better tolerated.

Milk kefir, for example, is very good for you and many people find this is much less likely to cause problems. The fermentation process essentially pre-digests the tricky-to-digest parts, which is great news for your gut!

The same goes for plain, natural yogurt – a lot of people are a lot better off eating this and find it a much better option than milk.

If you’re suffering with any of the issues I mentioned above, maybe have a go at eliminating dairy altogether for two weeks and see if you notice a difference.  Or try only fermented dairy or raw dairy for a while and see how that goes.

Non Dairy Milks

And don’t forget the great array of non-dairy milks we have available now. It’s also easy enough to make your own with seeds or nuts and filtered water. You’ll just need to buy a milk bag to filter it. These taste really great and are extremely good for you – I have to say I find hemp milk fantastic for skin health.

So what’s the problem with dairy? As is always the way with nutrition it’s not always simple, and everyone is unique.  If you have symptoms you can’t get to the bottom of, taking dairy out of your diet for a limited period of time – 2-4 weeks is usually long enough – to see whether or not your symptoms improve may be a good idea.

But do be careful of overly restricting your diet, unnecessarily, for long periods of time.  If you remove diary from your diet and you don’t notice difference there is something else triggering your symptoms which should be investigated through gut testing.

PS: The Ultimate Gut Health Programme includes plenty of inspiration on how to eliminate foods safely, to optimise your gut health, with meal plans, recipes and video lessons.

Having a healthy level of good bacteria is beneficial for a whole host of health reasons, not least to ensure you have healthy digestion.  However, there are a few additional health concerns for which you may wish to consider supplementing with probiotics.

Firstly, if you have symptoms of IBS or any other digestive complaint I would always recommend testing BEFORE trying out any probiotic supplements.

The main reason being that with some conditions, SIBO for example, the addition of probiotics may aggravate your symptoms.

If you’d like to learn more about eating to ensure your gut microbiome is healthy, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support your digestive system whilst avoiding triggering symptoms.

It’d be impossible to include all you need to know in one blog, but the programme will have all you need to know to ensure you’re soothing your digestive system, whilst eating delicious and filling foods. 

1. Digestive Health

Because so much of your health begins in the complex microbiome of the gut, proper balance of your gut bacteria is crucial to overall health.

If you have specific digestive symptoms then probiotics may well help you out (although in all likelihood they’re not the only course of action you’ll need to take).  Although, as mentioned, bear in mind they may aggravate things if you haven’t tested first.

3. Immune support

A whopping 70-80% of your immune system is located in your gut.  Therefore a sub-optimal gut environment will certainly have a negative impact on your immune health.  In addition to this certain strains of probiotics have been shown to be particularly benefical to immune health, particularly the lactobacillus paracasaii strain.

Taking probiotics, such as lactobacillus and bifidobacterium, can also help your body to reduce inflammation and inflammatory conditions.

5. During and after antibiotics

You can absolutely take probiotics whilst taking antibiotics to mitigate some of the ill effects.  Just ensure you don’t take them at the same time.  Antibiotics kill off both the good and bad bacteria, so its always nice to give them a helping hand to replenish themselves.

6. Probiotics whilst travelling

You can start taking probiotics a couple of weeks before you plan to travel, if you’re going to a region where you’re likely to become illl with travellers tummy, then take them whilst you’re there and continue for a couple of weeks after you get back.  The strain of benefical yeast saccharomyces boulardii is especially useful here.

If you’re generally in good health and eating a great diet, you really are unlikely to need to take  a specific probiotic supplement.

A great approach is to ensure you’re cultivating an optimal environment for your bacteria to flourish.  They thrive on ‘prebiotic’ foods including leeks, onions, garlic, green bananas and a nice diverse range of different coloured veg (remember to eat a rainbow!)

Probiotic foods

Probiotic foods are a great addition to your diet in order to keep your gut health ticking over nicely.  Include –

• Sauerkraut
• Milk or water kefir
• Natural yogurt
• Certain raw cheeses
• Kombucha
• Miso

Be careful to check labels on shop bought products though, and avoid any added sugar.

PS: The Ultimate Gut Health Programme includes plenty of inspiration on how to eliminate foods safely, to optimise your gut health, with meal plans, recipes and video lessons.

You’re no doubt familiar with phrases such as ‘I have a gut feeling about this’ or saying ‘I have butterflies in my stomach’ if you happen to be feeling a bit nervous. But why is this? Well, it’s all down to the intricate gut brain axis.

Have a look at the video above if you’d like to learn a quick and easy technique to help you feel more relaxed in an instant. 

The more that scientists discover about the microbiome AKA the population of ‘friendly’ bacteria which reside in our guts, the more it’s becoming clear that it is indeed our ‘second brain’.

The nervous system throughout the gut is termed the enteric nervous system. This is a system of nerves – more nerves even than the spinal cord – which is totally separate from the rest of our nervous system.

The enteric nervous system – key to the gut brain axis

The enteric system is believed to be behind the mechanics of food digestion and controls blood flow and other secretions. Although it doesn’t have thoughts or anything like that, the enteric system is in constant communication with our brain via the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is continually sending information both ways from the gut to the brain and back again. This is one of the main components of the gut brain connection.

The microbiome

Another part of the gut-brain axis involves the bacteria within our microbiome that produce substances which are great influencers on our mood –

Serotonin – this is your neurotransmitter which makes you feel happy, a large proportion of which is produced in the gut. You need healthy levels of serotonin for optimal gut function, and to help avoid constipation and diarrhoea. Emph different actions in brain and gut.

GABA – this neurotransmitter helps control feelings of anxiety and fear.

SCFAs – Short chain fatty acids. Your gut microbes produce these, and amongst other things they reduce feelings of hunger.

If you’d like to learn more about eating to soothe your gut, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support your digestive system whilst avoiding triggering symptoms.

It’d be impossible to include all you need to know in one blog, but the programme will have all you need to know to ensure you’re soothing your digestive system, whilst eating delicious and filling foods. 

So it’s not surprising then that the microbiome has been linked to symptoms such as depression. Researchers have studied extensively the link between irritable bowel syndrome and depression (because there definitely is a very strong link) and have noted great improvements in patients who were given probiotics. As their gut health improved, so did their mental well being.

So how to keep your gut, and therefore your gut brain axis, healthy?

1. Avoid Processed Foods

People who eat a wide variety of plant-based whole foods have a much healthier and diverse range of good bacteria throughout their guts. Ultra processed foods with added sugar and artificial sweeteners can really impact your microbiome in a negative way, so definitely aim to keep these foods to a minimum.

3. Avoid Gluten

Many people find that if they avoid gluten-containing foods their anxiety levels gradually start to slide too. If you can’t face the thought of never having a slice of toast again, maybe try sourdough. Although it does contain gluten, many find it’s much better tolerated than a normal loaf.

Although if you’re coeliac, or very sensitive to gluten you’ll need to avoid it totally.

5. Eat foods high in B-vitamins –

Dark green leafy veg, nuts, seeds, beans and lentils.

These ensure you have healthy levels of neurotransmitters. Vitamin B6 helps with the production of serotonin and neurotransmitters, healthy B6 levels are associated with a positive mood and reducing stress naturally. It’s also been proven to effectively treat mood disorders like depression.

6. Eat Nuts

Nuts such as walnuts, cashews and almonds are rich in serotonin. If you find nuts too harsh on your digestion, try soaking them for a few hours first – this way they can be easily added to smoothies, or alternatively add them to an overnight oats recipe.

Seeds such as sesame seeds will also help with your mood as they contain an amino acid called tyrosine which is known to boost dopamine levels.

PS: The Ultimate Gut Health Programme includes plenty of inspiration on how to eliminate foods safely, to optimise your gut health, with meal plans, recipes and video lessons.

The general sentiment around alcohol is that a couple of drinks each week is unlikely to do you much harm.  In fact, one or two drinks may even do you some good when you factor in the fun and social interaction that it tends to go hand-in-hand with. But what about alcohol and your gut? If you suffer with digestive issues, should you avoid it altogether?

The trouble with alcohol is it slowly becomes habitual, and the amount you consume may creep up very easily without you really noticing.

The jury’s still out, however, on whether or not moderate drinking may have some benefits long term or not – but, how unhealthy is it to regularly drink alcohol, especially if you have digestive problems?

Here’s how indulging in a quick drink after work ‘to unwind’ might affect you

• You become very tired due to not sleeping well after any amount of alcohol, no matter how small
• You drink less water and other ‘hydrating drinks’ while you’re drinking alcohol
• The wine/beer/G&Ts you’re drinking add to this, causing considerable dehydration
• You likely won’t feel inclined to exercise the following day
• Your blood sugar levels will be all over the place, causing additional food cravings.
  Because of all these things (and more!) your mood takes a nosedive

If you’d like to learn more about eating to soothe your gut, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support your digestive system whilst avoiding triggering symptoms.

It’d be impossible to include all you need to know in one blog, but the programme will have all you need to know to ensure you’re soothing your digestive system, whilst eating delicious and filling foods. 

The drinks themselves, the cravings, and the lack of exercise may lead to weight gain, which in turn may lead to some fat build up in the liver. This may exacerbate any damage already being caused directly by alcohol.

The connection between drinking alcohol and your digestive symptoms may not immediately seem obvious, as often the side effects only appear after there has been damage. But the more you drink, the greater the damage will become.

So, how does alcohol actually affect the gut?

1.  Drinking can damage the tissues in your digestive tract, which may affect the way you absorb nutrients.

2. Having one too many can also lead to:

• Gassiness
• Bloating
• A feeling of fullness in your abdomen

4. Pancreas

Alcohol is really bad for your pancreas. It causes the over-activation of pancreatic enzymes which may lead to inflammation, this is known as pancreatitis. This is a long term condition which may have serious consequences.

6. Constipation

Now to the other end of the spectrum: Drinking large amounts of alcohol can slow digestion down causing constipation. Which may in turn cause hemorrhoids.
If you’d like to learn more about constipation, have a look here.

So who does alcohol affect the most?

People with bowel diseases are more prone to experiencing alcohol-induced diarrhoea. Including those suffering from –

• Coeliac disease
• IBS
• Crohn’s/IBD

This shouldn’t really come as too much of a surprise, as if you’re suffering with any of those conditions your gut is likely to be very sensitive, and will react to alcohol more dramatically.

Alcohol and sleep

People with irregular sleeping patterns, surprisingly, seem to be more affected by the adverse affects of alcohol. For example –

• Shift workers
• New parents
• Those who like to party all night …

These groups tend to experience diarrhoea after drinking alcohol more than other people.

Why?

Because it has been shown that a lack of regular sleep makes the digestive tract very sensitive. Simply because your gut needs rest too, and if it’s not getting the rest it needs it’ll start to get cranky.

So if you’re a nurse, or you’ve got small children who wake you at night, and you were wondering why even a small amount of alcohol makes your guts feel a bit iffy – now you know why, it’s not just your imagination!

If you’re worried about your sleeping patterns, you keep waking up at night, or you have difficulty dropping off in the first place, have a look here for all the ways you can help yourself.

These are just a few of the problems which may arise with your gut, and general health, if you drink alcohol. Of course there are many, many other ways alcohol can disrupt your health.

There’s loads of confusion around cooking oil – which ones are healthy, which are not. This is especially important if you have any kind of digestive, or other health challenge. It’s not surprising really – we’ve been told for years that saturated fats are definitely off the menu as they clog our arteries. That we should definitely be reaching for ‘healthier’ polyunsaturated vegetable oils instead. Once more it seems we’ve been misinformed, as unsurprisingly this isn’t true. So which cooking oils to avoid, and which should we use instead? Read on to discover the answer.

Cooking oil to avoid

Vegetable oil
Sunflower oil
Rapeseed oil
Palm oil
Rice bran oil
Blends of any of the above
Margarine (usually made from blends of the above)
Anything containing vegetable oil, e.g., salad dressing

It’s claimed they’re more beneficial for health because they’re rich sources of polyunsaturated fats, but let’s take a closer look at this for a minute.

Cooking oil is highly processed

Vegetable oils sound like natural, unrefined products but this couldn’t actually be further from the truth. It’s safe to assume oils are removed from the plant using chemical solvent methods, unless they’re marked as ‘cold pressed’ or similar. The oil is purified and refined before yet more chemical alterations take place to improve the shelf life, taste and texture of the resulting product.

If you’d like to learn more about eating to soothe your gut, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support your digestive system whilst avoiding triggering symptoms.

It’d be impossible to include all you need to know in one blog, but the programme will have all you need to know to ensure you’re soothing your digestive system, whilst eating delicious and filling foods. 

Hydrogenation

Sometimes oils are ‘hydrogenated’ which is when they’re chemically altered to be solid at room temperature. Hydrogenated fats are preferred by food manufacturers as they have a longer shelf life, and improved texture and flavour. However, the main drawback to hydrogenated fats is that they contain highly damaging trans-fats. These are highly detrimental to health and should be avoided. You can read more about them here.

Most cooking oil to avoid is inflammatory and perhaps the main drawback of vegetable oil is it has a very high Omega-6 content. Most people eat far too much Omega-6 fatty acid and not nearly enough Omega-3.

The problem? Omega-6 fat is highly inflammatory, whereas Omega-3 fat is anti-inflammatory.

The problem is that Omega-6 is everywhere, and although we need to consume a certain amount of Omega-6, we consume far too much in relation to the amount of Omega-3 we eat.

Oxidation

When they’re exposed to heat these cooking oils are very easily oxidised, meaning they’re broken down into more damaging forms. This then increases the formation of free radicals which cause inflammation and oxidative damage to your cells.

So which are the best oils to use?

Extra-virgin olive oil

This has a fantastic flavour and is great for making salad dressings, or generally eating raw. Olive oil is rich in oleic acid which is good for your cardiovascular system and great for reducing inflammation. It’s not so great for high temperature cooking as it has a fairly low smoke point.

Avocado Oil

Another winner for high temperature cooking is avocado oil which has a very high smoke point. It’s also higher in mono-saturated fats and anti-oxidants than standard vegetable oils.

There may be quite a few reasons you’re experiencing IBS symptoms.  If you’ve been given the all clear by your doctor but you still have gut symptoms, these five areas may be worth exploring.

1. FODMAPS

Although each person has different reactions to various foods, certain foods tend to trigger IBS symptoms more than others. This is especially true when it comes to carbohydrates called FODMAPS (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols), which researchers have found are commonly unabsorbed in the gut and easily become fermented — which can cause significant issues throughout your digestive system.

The important thing to remember with the low FODMAP diet is that it is only meant to be undertaken as a temporary measure, to take the pressure off your gut while it’s healing.  It is not a long term solution, and you need to find out the underlying reason your gut is struggling.

Click here for more on gut testing.

If you’d like to learn more about eating a low FODMAP diet or to soothe the gut in general, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support your digestive system whilst avoiding triggering symptoms.

It’d be impossible to include all you need to know in one blog, but the programme will have all you need to know to ensure you’re soothing your digestive system, whilst eating delicious and filling foods. 

2. STRESS

Higher levels of stress is tied to disturbances in digestion due to how stress raises inflammation and impacts hormone levels. Studies have found that anxiety, depression and/or every day anxieties can trigger problems with your gut.

The gut and brain are constantly talking to each other via the vagus nerve so the gut can receive signals from your central nervous system (brain and spine) that cause it to become unpredictable.

Stress and digestion are also directly related because the gut produces neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, which have a direct impact on how you feel.

3. LACK OF EXERCISE

Studies have found that regular exercise (including aerobics, lifting weights or yoga) help control stress and can improve digestive health.

Studies have shown that increased physical activity improves symptoms associated with IBS and improves quality of life.

4. DYSBIOSIS

Alterations in the microbiota (dysbiosis) can come about for many reasons. Some of the most common are:

• Exposure to environmental pollutants, toxins and moulds
• Consuming a poor diet lacking in whole foods
• Antibiotic use
• Use of other medications such as the contraceptive pill.
• High levels of stress

5. SIBO

Often when clients are experiencing stubborn gut symptoms that just won’t seem to resolve, its because SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) is playing a part.

Common symptoms of SIBO include:

• Nausea
• Bloating
• Vomiting
• Diarrhoea
• Poor nutrient absorption
• Weight loss
• Joint pain
• Fatigue
• Rashes
• Acne
• Eczema
• Asthma
• Depression
• Rosacea

Foods to try cutting out of your diet as part of an “elimination diet” for relieving IBS include:

• Conventional dairy products
• Gluten

• Spicy foods
• Certain FODMAP grains, vegetables and fruit (such as apples, stone fruit, avocado, onions, garlic and broccoli)