{"id":72,"date":"2025-11-26T16:17:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T16:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/soborecords.com\/index.php\/blog-2\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T09:24:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T09:24:04","slug":"blog-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wellbeingbytheseaside.co.uk\/index.php\/blog-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This blog is for you – if there\u2019s a nutrition or wellbeing topic you\u2019d like me to cover, please get in touch.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Get in Touch<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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\u201cGut Instinct\u201d and the GUT-BRAIN axis\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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Ever get that feeling in a situation, maybe entering a building or listening to someone talk, that something is right or wrong? Sometimes we can feel that way, without being able to explain the reasons for our judgement.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Gut instincts are often described as our \u201csixth sense\u201d\u2728<\/div>\n
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\u201cGut instinct\u201d comes from an ancient belief that emotions are located in the stomach.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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The GUT-BRAIN axis = two-directional communication channel between the brain and the gut, involving gut microorganisms. Much scientific research continues to explore role of gut-brain axis and its influence on mental health, neurological conditions and stress.<\/div>\n
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Research has found the gut-brain connection to influence:<\/div>\n
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\ud83d\udd39 intestinal activities<\/div>\n
\ud83d\udd39 functional immune effector cells (specialised immune system cells ready to \u2018attack\u2019 or \u2018clean up\u2019)<\/div>\n
\ud83d\udd39 mood<\/div>\n
\ud83d\udd39 cognition<\/div>\n
\ud83d\udd39 mental health\u00a0<\/div>\n
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All good reasons to tune-in, listen and invest into our gut health.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Sources:<\/div>\n
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\ud83c\udf93 Appleton (2018) \u2018The Gut-Brain Axis: Influence of Microbiota on Mood and Mental Health\u2019. Integrative Medicine journal 17:4<\/div>\n
\ud83c\udf93 Robson (2022) \u2018Intuition: When is it right to trust your gut instincts?\u2019 \u00a0BBC\u00a0<\/div>\n
\ud83c\udf93 Nord (2024) \u2018There\u2019s a Reason They\u2019re Called \u2018Gut\u2019 Feelings\u2019 TIME magazine, Ideas: Health.<\/div>\n
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Your gut and your sleep \ud83d\udca4\ud83d\udecc<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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Did you know it\u2019s not just people who have a natural sleep cycle (circadian rhythm = your body\u2019s 24hr cycle) – all living things do and that includes the bacteria in your micro biome.<\/div>\n
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When you have irregular sleep (late nights, travel, kids!!) your internal body clock is thrown off and this affects how you process food, potentially contributing to obesity.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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2\/5 workers in US are shift workers (working during normal sleep hours) + this coincidentally is roughly same rate as obesity in the US.<\/div>\n
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If a shift worker and non-shift worker eat exactly the same diet, they metabolise differently.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Sleep disrupting foods:<\/div>\n
\u2716\ufe0falcohol<\/div>\n
\u2716\ufe0fcaffeine<\/div>\n
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Foods that help with sleep include:<\/div>\n
– omega3s: oily fish, flaxseeds, walnuts, chia seeds, soybean, edamame<\/div>\n
– chamomile: in tea<\/div>\n
– melatonin: eggs, fish, milk, rice, barley, rolled oats, pistachios, walnuts, seeds, sunflower seeds, broccoli, cucumber<\/div>\n
– tryptophan: pumpkin, squash seeds, cooked tuna, roasted soybeans\u00a0<\/div>\n
– l-ornithine: in complete protein sources such as meat, poultry, fish, soybeans, quinoa\u00a0<\/div>\n
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If regularly fatigued please see a doctor to investigate other possible root causes\ud83e\ude7a<\/div>\n
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Top 5 BRAIN-POWER foods \ud83c\udfcb\ufe0f\u200d\u2640\ufe0f<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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Heard the saying \u2018you are what you eat?\u2019. There are some well-researched foods that boost brainpower and they\u2019re great for your gut too.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Most importantly a healthy balanced diet is needed.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Food that protects your heart and blood vessels are the same as the ones that are best for your brain-power and slowing cognitive decline.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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The TOP 5 for brain-power researched by Harvard Health:\u00a0<\/div>\n
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1. Green leafy veg: kale spinach, broccoli. Important nutrients include Vitamin K (important for blood clotting and bone health), lutein (natural antioxidant), folate\/Vitamin B9 (helps make red blood cells), beta-carotene (antioxidant, among other things)<\/div>\n
\u27a1\ufe0f eat them every day\u00a0<\/div>\n
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2. Fatty fish: brilliant source of omega-3 fatty acids.\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u27a1\ufe0f eat at least twice a week, ideally low in mercury varieties such as salmon, cod and canned light tuna<\/div>\n
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3. Berries: rich in flavonoids that are anti inflammatory and powerful antioxidants\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u27a1\ufe0f eat 2\/3+ times a week\u00a0<\/div>\n
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4. Tea and coffee, yes tea and coffee! Caffeine has been linked to better mental function and helps solidify new memories<\/div>\n
\u27a1\ufe0f drink up to 400mg per day, healthy adult. Up to 200mg a day if pregnant (advised by BUPA, BHF, FSA, FSS)<\/div>\n
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5. Walnuts: protein, healthy fats, memory improvement. High in omega-3 fatty acid which lowers blood pressure and cleans arteries<\/div>\n
\u27a1\ufe0f eat around 10-12 walnut halves a day (advised by The Telegraph, The Guardian)<\/div>\n
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Sources:\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\ud83c\udf93 LeWine (2024) \u2018Foods likes to better brain power\u2019. Harvard Health Publishing, April 3.<\/div>\n
\ud83c\udf93 Naidoo (2020) \u2018The food mood connection\u2019. Hachatte Book Group, US.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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The \u201csecond brain\u201d = Enteric Nervous System (ENS) that REGULATES OUR GUT<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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Before you were born, your brain and your gut were one. They developed from the fertilised egg that developed all the organs in your body.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Food affects your brain by its impact on your gut bacteria. Some foods help promote helpful bacteria, others prevent it. Food is one of the most powerful mental health medicines available.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Most recent 2025 findings* on our second brain and its connection to our \u201coriginal\u201d brain:<\/div>\n
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\ud83d\udd38 Evidence shows gut dysfunction can precede motor symptoms by decades in conditions such as Parkinson\u2019s disease\u00a0<\/div>\n
\ud83d\udd38 The gut and brain connection plays a role in obesity in terms of appetite, inflammation, metabolic regulation\u00a0<\/div>\n
\ud83d\udd38 On-going findings on the relationship between the gut and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, disturbed sleep and Irritable Bowel Syndrome<\/div>\n
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As Hippocrates, father of modern medicine noted:<\/div>\n
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\u201cbad digestion is the root of all evil\u201d.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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While modern medicine has and continues to specialise into worthy departments, it\u2019s worthwhile remembering the rest of the body and it\u2019s interconnected nature \ud83d\udd04\ud83c\udf3f<\/div>\n
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Sources:<\/div>\n
* Doenyas et al. (2025) \u2018Gut\u2013brain axis and neuropsychiatric health: recent advances\u2019. Scientific reports journal 15: 3415<\/div>\n
\ud83c\udf93 Naidoo (2020) \u2018The food mood connection\u2019. Little, Bright Spark, US.<\/div>\n
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This blog is for you – if there\u2019s a nutrition or wellbeing topic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-72","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingbytheseaside.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingbytheseaside.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingbytheseaside.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingbytheseaside.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingbytheseaside.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingbytheseaside.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/72\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":986,"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingbytheseaside.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/72\/revisions\/986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingbytheseaside.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}