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Welcome to this month's edition of Boost Gut Health. As Hippocrates, the father of medicine, observed: all disease begins in the gut.

Two Gut Healthy Habits

Eat berries, beans and greens. Food that works for you and your gut could be as individual as your fingerprint, though there are proven principles.

Think berries, beans and greens.

Top up the good bugs. Probiotics are foods that add live bacteria and yeast to your gut, like lactobacillus, which you'll often find in yoghurt, and bifidobacterium in dairy products.

Then there are prebiotics that feed these good gut bacteria. You want to keep them happy once they take up residence in your gut. Prebiotics are non-digestible fibers found in fruit and vegetables, and whole grains.

One Lesson

How many fruit and vegetables a day? The Dietary Guidelines for Americans were just updated in January. The biggest change was the increased focus on protein, up from a minimum of 0.8 grams per day to 1.2-1.6 grams of protein per day per kilogram of body weight.

What hasn't changed is the focus on eating fruits and vegetables throughout the day. Aim for at least three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit. Remember that's the minimum.

I speak to people every day who are working on their health, and it's rare that I speak to someone who's getting a good dose of fruit and vegetables.

Here are a few tips to increase your input of the good stuff: keep fruit in sight so you remember to eat it. How about a bowl of apples by the front door? Make a batch of home-made vegetable soup, so there's always some to sip at work. If you're short of time, spread a carpet of spinach on your plate and put everything else on top.

If you want to read the new dietary guidelines for yourself, you can find them here: https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/​

One Quote

"Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old."

Jonathan Swift