GUT health
🍒 What A Gut Health Doctor Actually Eats In A Day
I'm often asked what I eat and frequently think people expect me to list off an exotic collection of superfoods to rival any billionaire wellness influencer.
The reality is a lot more ordinary.
I’m a new Dad, trying to balance work, family and my own health and interests: to that end, I need my nutrition to work as much as possible on auto-pilot.
That’s why there are a small number of everyday foods I rely on, day-in, day-out, that punch way above their weight in nutritional terms.
Here they are:
1️⃣ Berries
All berries (raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries) are full of fibre and polyphenols, low in sugar and low in calories but raspberries are really the king (8g of fiber in a single cup for 65 calories).
Regular berry intake is associated with increased levels of beneficial bacteria in the gut and increased short-chain fatty acid. Certain polyphenols get converted into anti-inflammatory compounds, so what’s not to love?
Fresh or frozen doesn’t matter. Chuck them on your overnight oats, throw them in your smoothies or use them to adorn your chia pudding.
2️⃣ Kiwis
Kiwi fruit treat constipation better than laxatives and the real benefit is people report enjoying eating them more than taking a laxative.
They have both soluble and insoluble fiber and more vitamin C than oranges.
Why not chop some up and take them with you to snack on during the day?
3️⃣ Kefir
Kefir is one of the most microbially-diverse foods around: (10-30 different strains of live yeast and bacteria) and when combined with a diverse probiotic fiber supplement becomes a powerful anti-inflammatory agent according to a 2025 study (PMID: 41094562).
Kefir + diverse fiber reduced no less than 7 different inflammatory markers - more than the other interventions used in the study - and by larger amounts.
That’s why I mix my kefir with one sachet of LOAM every day. 6 different sources of fiber from the LOAM and multiple strains of bacteria from the kefir will put anyone’s gut in seventh heaven.
And the really great thing is I don’t notice anything as LOAM's been designed to dissolve into any liquid seamlessly.
4️⃣ Chia seeds
5g of fiber in just one tablespoon and making a….delightful gel when they hit water, chia seeds slow down gastric emptying, helping you feel fuller for longer, feed your gut bacteria as prebiotic and your entire daily recommended amount of omega-3 ALA.
Just remember to grind your seeds to make the omega-3 more available.
If you really want to make a gut-health Breakfast Of Champions, why not try overnight oats made with kefir, chia seeds and a handful of berries on top?
5️⃣ Legumes
A 2023 meta-analysis ( n>1,000,000) found that for every 50g of daily legumes,, there is a 6% reduction in all-cause mortality.
Could it be the 12g of soluble fibre and resistant starch in one cup of cooked chickpeas? Or the protein, magnesium, iron and polyphenols?
Who knows? Fact is, they go in virtually everything (stews, soups, curries, pasta sauce) and as long as you take it easy (no going from zero to hero overnight) your gut should be able to handle them.
I cover all of this in more detail in my latest video, which you can watch here
GENERAL HEALTH
🏋️Why The Protein Madness Needs to End
Here’s a fun little thought exercise.
When was the last time you walked into a supermarket, motorway service station or corner shop and DIDN’T see the word “protein” plastered everywhere?
Not just on bars and tubs of supplement, but breakfast cereals, yoghurts and…water!?
It’s truly astonishing how crazy the world seems to have become for a single macronutrient.
A 2024 survey of Americans found 71% of respondents wanted to increase their protein intake compared to 52% just two years earlier.
That said, I was glad to see the second-placed nutrient respondents said they wanted to increase their consumption of was fiber 😉
The USDA’s daily recommended amount of protein is 0.8g/kg/day (60g for a 75kg individual), but you don’t have to go far online to hear influencers recommending 2 or 3 times that daily value.
So do you really need to protein-maxx?
There’s no shortage of research that tries to answer this question, but it’s not easy. Age and gender of participants, amount of resistance training regularly done, and natural inter-individual variability are just some of the variables that muddy the water.
Nonetheless, a systematic review of 49 randomised controlled trials done in humans (PMID: 28698222) found no evidence for benefits from consuming more than 1.6g/kg/day for regular folk doing resistance training at least twice per week. Elderly people, anyone recovering from surgery or elite athletes may well require more.
In fact there is evidence (associational and mechanistic) that very high, long-term consumption of protein is linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
However, it’s beyond question that increased muscle mass has a range of benefits:- increased metabolic health, improved bone health, greater functionality and independence as you age
So where does all that leave us?
Well, here are the things we’re sure about
1️⃣ The number one fact affecting muscle mass is regular resistance training
2️⃣ Beginners can start at home with no equipment, focusing on bodyweight exercises like squats, push ups and planks. 10 minutes is enough to get started
3️⃣ Increasing your protein consumption up to a maximum of 1.6g/kg/day (120g for a 75kg person) might help you increase muscle mass depending on your age, gender and experience in resistance training
4️⃣ Protein is satiating so eating more of it might help you reduce your consumption of other foods: handy if you’re trying to control your calorie consumption
5️⃣ You can easily get 100g+ of protein from whole food (lean meat, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts, legumes, dairy) without buying supplements
6️⃣ Protein diversity is important. Chicken breasts are great (if you eat meat) but a high proportion of protein coming from plants (tofu, legumes, beans) is a great tool for driving down LDL cholesterol
7️⃣ Nobody needs protein water. Seriously, nobody.
REFLECTIONS
⚖️ Why You're So Judgemental
There’s an interesting psychological effect called the Fundamental Attribution Bias.
It states that we tend to be quick to explain other people’s deficiencies as personality traits, while we attribute our own mistakes to the situation we were in.
So, if we see someone run a red light, we assume they’re a terrible driver, but if we do it, it’s because we were in a rush for an important event, and there was no one waiting to cross anywhere and I only did it once and, and….
In the same way, when other people achieve something great, we assume they got lucky (situational) whereas when it happens to us, it’s because we worked really hard, or just naturally talented (personality).
Fortunately, there’s been plenty of research into how to avoid making situational judgements unnecessarily. Here are the best bets
- Avoid making character judgements based on single events
- Ask yourself, “what situational events could have caused this behaviour?”
- Take the other person’s perspective: what information did they (not) have? What pressures or limitations were they working under?
- Remember the movie metaphor: you view the movie of your own life, but only a snapshot of other people’s lives. Your information is, by definition, incomplete
The world of social media is fickle to say the least. When I read mean comments, or my latest video hasn’t got the number of views I would have liked, I now try to pause. And think.
Is the person making that comment really an asshole, or were they just having a bad day? Do I really suck at making content, or is this just the natural ebb and flow of algorithmic-controlled content?
It’s liberating to think this way.
👋 Who are you again? I’m Karan Rajan - a doctor and curious explorer of all things health and wellness. I'm the founder of LOAM Science, a microbiome company aiming to create the best fiber product in the world! I host the Dr Karan Explores Podcast, where I talk to experts in science and medicine to cut through the BS of modern health advice. If you'd like an easy way to dig through the archive, you can ask me any questions about the podcast and talk to my digital librarian here. I've also written two books "This Book May Save Your Life" and "This Is Vital Information". I'm the Chief of Science of Throne, a smart gut health tracking device.
If you feel strongly about some health things or just want to say hi? Hit reply... I’d love to hear it and hear from you! (yes I read every reply!!!)
