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Supporting Health with a Diverse Gut Microbiota

The gut microbiota thrives on a diverse diet: wholegrains, pulses, vegetables, nuts & seeds as well as fermented foods with live microbes like yoghurt, kefir, tofu and misu. Together these provide the right “diet” for the microbes living in the large bowel. Sugars provide energy and flavour, but offer no other nutritive value. Opportunistic and potentially harmful microbes thrive on sugar, and habitual high sugar intakes leads to an imbalance in the microbiota population. We call this imbalance dysbiosis, which is responsible for biological scenarios affecting the integrity of the large bowel lining, leading to inflammation and immune activation, as well as effects on the nervous system. The term “balanced diet” refers to the balance our bodies need to be well and healthy. Too much processed sugary foods and not enough plant-based unprocessed plant foods causes an out-of-balance microbiota. Over time, this leads to chronic poor health, inflammatory conditions and auto-immune disease. A healthy gut microbiota is busy producing bio-active substances, and interacting and regulating the immune, hormone, digestive, metabolic and nervous systems. Eating slowly, chewing thoroughly and maintaining a diverse and balanced plant-based diet keeps the microbiota in excellent shape. And in my view a most valuable parenting task, contributing to life-long health for this generation and the next.

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Meeting Nutritional Needs with Diet Diversity

From grains & roots, fats & oils and proteins is a good starting point. Whole and unprocessed foods contain the most nutrition, and generally need more chewing, and so adapting to a well-textured diet is an important skill to address in infancy and early toddlerhood. Intelligent nutrients are needed for a wide range of functions including essential fats and oil from oily fish, egg yolks, nuts & seeds; vitamins and minerals from a wide range of unprocessed plant and animal foods.

Calcium and Vitamin D is an essential nutrient combination. Vitamin D, a hormone-like nutrient, activates absorption of dietary calcium into the bone. Calcium can be found in dairy foods, especially cheese and yoghurt, fortified plant milks, tofu, almonds and other nuts, sesame seeds, tahini, fortified white flour and hard water. Vitamin D, is produced in the body from the sun’s rays on the skin and not found widely in the diet, except in oily fish, mushrooms and fortified products. All infants and young children in the UK need a daily supplement of at least 10ug; teens need 25ug Vitamin D.

Part of haemoglobin, a substance which carries oxygen in the blood to the muscles, body and brain. Good sources of iron include egg yolk, red meat, green leafy vegetables, dried fruits, wholegrains, fortified cereals, cashew nuts and pulses. A critical nutrient for growing children, iron supports brain development, vitality, appetite, exercise tolerance and concentration. Absorption of iron is greater from animal sources compared to plants, but Vitamin C found in citrus fruits & vegetables, enhances iron absorption from plant foods when eaten alongside. Tea and milk drinking with meals will reduce absorption.

Are essential fats and needed for brain development, vision, heart and blood vessels, as well as immune function to name a few. Highly unsaturated fats like DHA and AA are found in breast milk, oily fish, egg yolk, with walnuts, flax and chia seeds being capable of producing them in the body. Breast feeding mums need good sources of these essential fats to replenish their own body’s losses, and which have been provided directly from mum’s brain and nervous system. That’s love for you! Essential fats communicate, regulate and are anti-inflammatory in their functions. Intelligent functions include regulating cell membranes, brain cells and neuro-transmitters. Infants and young children do need a higher ratio of fat calories in their diets precisely for this brain development, and so low-fat options should not be given to young children.

Nutritional Assessment

Investing in Lifelong Health

The benefits of good nutritional health are lifelong; investing in this throughout childhood pays dividends over a whole lifetime, as well as the next generation. Learning about food and the nutrients it provides, how the body manages and makes the best use of this, shaping and regulating eating patterns as well as selecting and preparing food. These core life skills are at risk of being minimised by our commercial food system. Nourishment is a long-term investment, and the early and adolescent years are a great time for this. Shaping experiences, creating healthful regulation, being in relationship with foods and with the body. Most of Carine’s learning has come from listening, observing and hearing stories from thousands of amazing families over the years. Wholeheartedly believing in the natural intelligence of the child’s body and the enormous value of nutritional health, Carine offers guidance around one of life’s most valuable core skills: developing eating habits which regulate the whole body and mind into healthful behaviours for life long health.

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