There are situations when taking medications is necessary. Unfortunately, medications like opioids, antibiotics and PPIs/acid blockers are linked to causing changes in digestion, bowel motility and negatively impacting the gut microbiome. But they can also be beneficial when used appropriately. So what can you do to support your gut during these times and reduce the risk of developing gut problems? Avoid taking them for longer than needed Opioids after surgery or in situations where standard pain relief medication isn’t helping is necessary for many people. But it’s important to have an exit p ..read more

Yes! Periods can worsen IBS symptoms. For many menstruating women struggling with IBS, symptoms get worse at certain times of their cycle. Some women may not even recognise these patterns unless they have spent time tracking their symptoms alongside their cycle. Having periods can be difficult, with its ups and downs. Adding Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) symptoms can be even more frustrating for menstruating women. We already have enough to deal with! This blog will explain why your IBS is worse before your period. It will also provide tips to help you identify patterns and reduce symptoms if ..read more

Stress can have a big impact on digestion, especially for those who already struggle with gut problems. Stress is also a normal part of life and not something you can usually run away from or switch off easily. Everyone is talking about stress more than ever, and how detrimental it can be to health, you might even feel stressed about being stressed. Yet, there are very few realistic coping tools offered. We have all heard of methods for dealing with stress, like meditation, taking a hot bath, or exercise. All of which are fantastic tools, but they take time out of our day — time that many peop ..read more

When most people hear the word ‘fermentation’ in relation to the gut, they think of fermented foods. While fermented foods can be beneficial for a healthy gut, and will be covered in this blog, we are first going to discuss the natural fermentation process that happens in the gut and why it’s important. What is fermentation in the gut? Fermentation is defined as the breakdown of substances in the absence of oxygen and occurs in the colon, an oxygen-free environment where most of the gut bugs reside. The substances fermented are compounds of the food you consume that are not digested in the sma ..read more

For many menstruating women struggling with IBS, symptoms get worse at certain times of their cycle. Some women may not even recognise these patterns unless they have spent time tracking their symptoms alongside their cycle. As if we didn’t have enough to deal with, GI symptoms on top of the ups and downs that come with fluctuating hormones throughout the month can be incredibly frustrating for any menstruating woman. This blog will cover the reasons hormones can increase IBS symptoms, and provide some tips for identifying these patterns and what you can do to reduce symptoms if you struggle w ..read more

Gut health is a hot topic right now, and for good reason, because it truly is so important for your overall health and wellbeing. But whenever a health topic is trending, along with it comes many opportunities for clever marketing and new products created to monetise from the trend. We saw this with fat-free products in the 80's and 90's, and then sugar-free products followed not long after. The problem with both of these preceding health trends were the massive influx of food items that were marketed as 'sugar-free' or 'fat-free', but neither were necessarily healthier because of the added ar ..read more

If you read my last blog post, Is SIBO or SIFO (Small Intestinal Bacterial/Fungal Overgrowth) Causing Your IBS? and this resonated with you, keep reading. This blog post is all about how to test for SIBO, using the Lactulose Breath Test. We know that SIBO is massively underdiagnosed and could be responsible for up to 85% of IBS cases. But why is SIBO so commonly missed or overlooked? A big part of the problem is lack of knowledge and testing availability for SIBO in the medical community. Many people assume they need to go to their doctor for this test, only to find out their doctor is unfamil ..read more

Let me start this by saying, constipation is THE WORST. Constipation makes you feel sluggish, tired, heavier than you actually are (hello water retention), and is overall extremely frustrating to experience. Especially if you don’t know what to do to fix it. As someone who has struggled with constipation for periods of time throughout my life, and worked with hundreds of clients who are chronically constipated, I know exactly how much it impacts your daily life. But the good news is, because of my own experience with constipation and through helping others to overcome it, I would now say I am ..read more

Ever heard the saying “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”? Whoever said that was literally making a fatal error. Sleep is so important for your health, including your longevity. Sleep helps you to perform important metabolic processes like cleaning up toxic proteins in the brain, REM sleep, where your brain is busy consolidating short-term memories into long-term memories, and even digestion. Lack of sleep has been associated with many health issues, including increased inflammation, impaired focus, difficulty losing weight, lowered testosterone production, and GI symptoms such as bloating, constipati ..read more

It’s National Mental Health Awareness Week this week, so it seemed appropriate that this blog will discuss the link between anxiety, depression and gut health. Studies show that as many as half of those diagnosed with IBS, also suffer from psychological disorders including anxiety and depression. From my experience working with IBS sufferers, I believe the correlation is much greater than what these studies show. One of the questions I ask all of my clients is if they have ever been diagnosed with mental health conditions, and nearly every single person says yes. However, there is a lot of mis ..read more