Food & recipes

Improve your gut health with California Raisins

Advertorial Feature

World Digestive Health Day is the perfect time to discover easy ways to improve your gut health, from your diet to your lifestyle

As restrictions ease, many of us are looking to make positive changes to our diet and lifestyle. One of the key elements of feeling great and looking good is maintaining a sound working digestive system. For that reason, there’s no better time than World Digestive Health Day to start looking after your gut health. In return, it could help improve your overall wellbeing.

Luckily, there are many ways to support your gut health. And it could be as simple as adding in a handful of California Raisins to your diet.

Healthy gut, healthy weight?

World Digestive Health Day (WDHD), which is marked on 29th May each year, is a global public health campaign. Led by the World Gastroenterology Organisation, it aims to shed more light on digestive issues and promote digestive health. This year’s theme, Obesity: An On-going Pandemic, hopes to increase awareness of the role obesity plays in our health. It also hopes to empower people to look after their digestive health and get their weight back on track.

Good gut health and weight loss often go hand in hand. In fact, many of the steps to improve gut health are also steps to achieve a healthy weight. While more research is needed, what is clear is that a healthy gut is essential to our overall health and wellbeing.

Always trust your gut!

With all this in mind, why not set yourself the challenge of making your gut your new ally in health?

To celebrate World Digestive Health Day and help you to achieve your health goals, California Raisins has teamed up with registered dietitian, Helen Bond. Helen is a passionate advocate of creating a ‘happy home’ for your gut-friendly microbes – by harnessing the power of plant-based, fibre-filled foods – to improve health and wellbeing.

“An unhealthy digestive system can leave you feeling sluggish, zapped of energy and fed up,” Helen says. “That’s why I’m here to encourage everyone to keep their gut in tip-top shape. Increasing the number and diversity of your gut microbe community will help you to do just that.

What should I eat for a healthy gut?

“There are plenty of things you can do to nurture your gut microbes,” Helen says. “And it’s no surprise that its starts with diet, because what you eat provides the ‘food’ for them, enabling them to thrive and multiply.

“I encourage everyone to eat more wholesome, natural and delicious plant foods in their weekly diet. Making simple additions such as enjoying a handful of raisins as a snack or as part of a meal, is on my gut health diet sheet. It’s a simple way to add helpful nutrients and gut-friendly fibre to your diet.“

Easy ways to improve your gut health

Here are Helen’s top tips to pack more gut health foods into your daily diet…

Eat more fruit and vegetables
Go big on plant foods
Eat fibre-rich foods
Snack wisely
Expand your food horizons
Avoid severely restricted ‘faddy’ diets
Drink plenty of water

It’s not all about diet…

No amount of gut-healthy foods can undo an unhealthy lifestyle. That’s why it’s important to take a holistic approach to gut health, considering a wholesome diet as well as healthy lifestyle choices. Thankfully, just a few simple changes can make all the difference….

Ensure you get adequate sleep
Don’t smoke
Find ways to manage stress
Get moving
Don’t take antibiotics unnecessarily

How California Raisins can support your gut health

California Raisins are simple and wholesome by nature – they’re just dried grapes, after all! Ideal for a gut-healthy lifestyle, they can easily become part of a balanced diet, whether you’re vegetarian, vegan, a meat eater or something in-between.

They’re a source of fibre and naturally occurring plant compounds. That means your gut microbes will love to munch on them, and they’ll help keep your digestive system healthy. Plus, they’ll make hitting your five-a-day target a doddle – just 30 grams (one tablespoon) counts as one portion.

Small and mighty

Despite their small size, California Raisins pack a punch in terms of nutrition. They provide lots of valuable vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin B6, potassium, copper, iron, selenium and manganese. They’re also naturally fat- and saturated-fat free, and low in salt.

What’s more, not only do they provide less than 100 calories per 30g serving, they’re naturally sweet as they’re dried in the hot California sun. An added bonus for those that are weight conscious is that they have a medium glycaemic index (GI). That means they provide a slow release of energy throughout the day. For that reason, they don’t cause blood sugar spikes that often come with sweet foods such as biscuits and cakes.

Hugely versatile

California Raisins aren’t just nutritious and delicious; they’re suitable for anytime and anyplace. They make a handy snack for on-the-go, but are equally good used in baking or added to savoury dishes.

So what are you waiting for? With a little helping hand from California Raisins, start your gut health journey this World Digestive Health Day.

Want more inspiration? Discover further health advice and recipes as well as more information about California Raisins at californiaraisins.co.uk/health/nutrition