2017 – The Year to Love Your Tummy!

We’re all back on board and it’s nice to have a full team raring to go.

After a holiday season of eating ourselves silly, although we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, we have been left feeling bloated, uncomfortable and if we are honest- a little guilty. As a result our team has made a commitment to make 2017 all about taking care and nurturing our guts with the right foods and nutrients. Look out for our Instagram posts as we challenge Muriel to come up with gorgeous gut friendly delights.

Digestive discomfort is something we can all relate to as it happens regularly. For some, regularly can turn into something chronic and so it’s important to continue to evaluate how we can improve our situation. We are in a good position here at Kellogg, because not only is our canteen mandated to serve healthy meals full of vegetables, whole grains and fresh fruit; but we are one of the largest providers of bran fibre in the country so we have all the elements to help us with improving our intestinal health.

We were banging on in 2016 about the balance of fibres needed to achieve all the health benefits, and we were so glad to see the newest communication from our friends at The World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO)’ which puts diet as number one for improving gut well-being. We are all in agreement here - with fibre being a key contributor to digestive health. Fibre in all its forms, with all its myriad of functions, is fundamental to achieving optimal transit as well as providing a conducive environment for gut flora to proliferate and produce the compounds we need to protect the bowel.

The WGO has launched a website called “Love your Tummy” which we have been reading with great enthusiasm over the last few weeks and definitely recommend you take a look for yourselves. They have done a fantastic job of bringing the microbiome to life and explaining how all the different aspects of gut health intersect. I would definitely recommend having a peek at this if you haven’t already.

What concerns me is that Australians seem to be eating fewer healthy grain foods and turning to low-fibre discretionary items for their carbohydrate needs. The AHS is showing that contributions of cakes, biscuits and other refined starch foods to energy intakes are some of the highest in both men and women. Data from the Grains and Legumes Nutrition Council backs this up and also shows that we are nowhere near meeting our requirements for whole grain foods. And let’s not forget that we aren’t consuming enough vegetables either.

We have a way to go as a population and we, as health professionals, at the coal face, need help to facilitate these conversations. Our Fibre & Digestive Health resource plus other helpful fact sheets are now available to share with your patients.

Until next time,

Gina