The true price we pay when for convenience we eat frozen meals or a bag of cookies or chips. First get this obvious and yet not so obvious thought ingrained in your brain that anything we put into our mouth, comes in close contact with our gut microbiome.
What is a gut microbiome? Let’s understand the basic structure. Human body has five types of microorganisms residing within. These are bacteria, parasites, yeasts, viruses, and archae. The human gut comprises both large and small intestines. Human gut is hard to fathom because it consists of approx thirty nine trillion microorganisms in our colon. That is huge. These microorganisms live in a very bio diverse environment. Diversity is key in maintaining our gut balance.
Obviously, these microorganisms as residents of the intestines, have a huge role in our digestion process. These bacterias aren’t there inside of us and have a huge role to play. They aren’t passive microorganisms. They eat on the nutrients we feed them through our foods. But not all gut bacterias thrive on the same foods. Certain bacterias need certain foods to chew on to be able to proliferate and maintain the balance. It may happen that a relatively healthy person may restrict a certain food like whole grains in order to lose weight and in the process will starve the good gut bugs residing in their colon.
So how does this relate to snacking? Well in context to our gut health and the microbiome, what we eat affects our gut. And our overall health gets affected in turn starting with low levels of inflammation in the body.
So the next question is what kind of foods help our gut microbiome thrive and do it’s phenomenal work of keeping inflammation at bay? All foods that are in its Whole Form. Nothing taken away or added from its natural state are the foods that help our microbiome flourish and thrive.
But let’s put our lens to what happens when casually decide to eat a bag of potato chips? It affects our microbiome. A potato chip which is ripped of its natural nutrients and is transformed into a highly palatable food by addition of saturated fats, sodium, emulsifiers and preservatives. Hence what is left from the whole potato is this ultra processed form now as chips which may have some resemblance to the nutrition profile of a potato but most not. So what starts off as being healthy ( potato) becomes less healthy ( potato chips) but it gets worse when these are added with additives, colourings, artificial flavorings, etc. When these dominate our daily diet and become a majority source of our calories, health problems are inevitable.
Now, snacking can be a very sneaky little habit that may hinder our health progress and even force us to move away from Whole Foods more and more. Research suggests that processed foods are addictive. The biggest setback to our health is lack of fiber in our diet which all ultra processed foods have in common. Eating processed foods as snacks a couple of times a week, not only takes away the opportunity to feed ourselves with more natural and wholesome foods but instead begets more dependency on them in the long run.
Now the question is how to recognise a processed food to an ultra processed food?
Let’s take an example of a whole wheat cracker which you buy from a supermarket. When you turn to the ingredients list, it says- whole wheat flour, salt, thyme. This although is processed and made from whole wheat, technically it’s processed. But asking two questions will help you become more aware of your choices within drowning yourself in the ocean nutrition chaos. Start by asking yourself-
- Is this something one could possibly make at home? Yes or no.
- Are there any ingredients that are difficult to understand in the ingredients list? Does it sound like food or a chemical name?.Yes or no? This can give you a very straight forward answer and you can then determine how much of such food you should consume.
Snacking ain’t bad. So what can be considered as a healthy snack for a usual day? My favorites
- Dates with tahini
- Dates with 3/4 unsalted roasted peanuts stuffed inside. ( still delicious)
- Sesame energy balls ( high energy balls for that quick rush of energy)
- Celery with peanut butter and raisins
- Hummus with cut of carrots, peppers and cukes
- Roasted chana (dry roasted lentils) with chopped up cucumber, tomatoes and a splash of lemon juice
- Puffed rice chaat made with fresh onions, tomatoes, coriander leaves and salt and cumin sprinkled
- Sauté edamame and corn with pinch of cayenne pepper and lemon juice
- Dry roasted pink peanuts with black salt
- Dry roasted lotus pops
- Air popped popcorn with seasoning of choice
So enjoy snacks that make sense to your daily needs, because it is not just your mouth that enjoys a good tasting food, your gut microbiome also eats your food. And they absolutely love the “good-whole unprocessed foods such as whole grains, fermented foods, seasonal fruits and greens, legumes etc”.
Note: Always consult your GP/PHYSICIANS. This article is no way giving you any medical recommendations or asking you to override your doctor’s advice. Nurture Yourself is not responsible for any health issues you may have or develop in future.