Nutritionist reveals how looking after your GUT is the best way to battle Coronavirus

Here, Kate shares some of her favourite recipes to promote good gut health.

Green Gut Smoothie (serves one)

This is great for breakfast or as a mid-morning or afternoon snack. An antioxidant-rich and anti-inflammatory smoothie that contains spinach, which is nutrient dense and rich in vitamins and flavonoids, and boost the good, beneficial bacteria in your gut. Also, avocado is packed with vitamin E (another antioxidant) and healthy natural fats. Banana is a prebiotic

Ingredients 

• 2 handfuls of spinach leaves
• ½ avocado
• 1 small banana
• 210ml water
• 1tsp of ginger (optional)
• Juice of ½ lime

Method 

READ RELATED: One in five millennials have NEVER tried a Full English breakfast

Blend all the ingredients until it is thick, smooth and creamy and serve.

Homemade Granola (serves 4) 

A great breakfast item to start the day with a gut-friendly, immune-boosting, meal

Ingredients 

• 50g oats
• 1 egg white
• 150g mix of almonds, cashews, pecans, chopped
• 50g coconut oil
• 50g maple syrup
• 40g ground flaxseed
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g natural Greek yogurt
• Handful of raspberries/blueberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 100C/fan 80C. 

Slowly heat the coconut oil, maple syrup and cinnamon until the maple syrup is melted. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract, stir well. Set aside and let cool. 

Once mixture is cool, add the egg white and mix well. In a bowl add the oats, nuts and flaxseed and add the cooled mixture, stir well. 

Separate the mixture into small ‘mounds’ on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for approximately 1-1.5 hours, until golden. Turn 2-3 times.

Allow to cool and serve with Greek yogurt and handful of berries of choice.

 Chicken Soup (serves four)

Ingredients 

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 boneless chicken thighs, diced (free range/organic if possible)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 750ml water
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 1 medium sweet potato, chopped
• 1 head of broccoli, chopped
• 1 tsp ginger, chopped 
•  1 tsp fresh herbs, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped

Method

In a large pan, sweat the onion and garlic with the chicken until golden brown.

Add the remaining ingredients (leave the herbs till later), and simmer on a low heat for approximately 60-75 minutes.

Season, and add the fresh herbs before serving.

 Sweet Potato and Chickpea Stew (serves four)

 Ingredients 

• 400g sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 130g kale
• 1 x 400g can tomatoes, chopped
• 1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 225ml water 
• Pepper to taste 

 Method

Over a medium heat – gently heat up a deep saucepan with the oil. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes. 

Add cumin and cook for 1 minute. Add chickpeas, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and water. 

Stir and place a lid on top of the saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low heat. Cook for 15-20 minutes. 

Add kale and pepper. Stir and cover. Cook for 10 minutes.

A yoghurt-like milk drink containing ‘gut-friendly’ bacteria looks set to be one of the major food trends of 2020 after sales dramatically rocketed in the last year.

Until recently kefir was a niche dairy product in the UK – bought mainly by Eastern European shoppers a region where it is very popular.

But now demand for the drink has begun soaring with Britain’s largest supermarket Tesco seeing a 400 per cent rise in the last 18 months.

And food experts believe that could be down to Brits opting to go more health-conscious and praising the probiotic qualities of kefir as the drink contains 40 types of gut-friendly bacteria as well as being a rich source of protein, calcium and vitamins. 

While yoghurt is probably the best-known probiotic food in the Western diet, kefir is often a better source of this ‘good’ bacteria. 

Yoghurt-like milk drink Kefir containing ‘gut-friendly’ bacteria looks set to be one of the major food trends of 2020 after sales dramatically rocketed in the last year

Speaking to FEMAIL, Tesco Dairy Drinks buyer Vicky Smith said the growth is largely due to people focusing on their gut health.

‘Shoppers are really switching on to gut-health and demand for kefir is now so strong that in the last few years we have nearly doubled our range and we have plans to add more this year.

‘Its popularity has been building, mainly by word of mouth, on a monthly basis to the extent that we now stock seven different drinks as well as four yoghurt variants. 

And it’s not just Tesco that’s seen a surge in demand. This week Leon announced the launch of two kefir shots and prebiotic preserves, created to enjoy at home as part of its exclusive partnership with Sainsbury’s.

The ‘natural fast food chain’  say that each single 100ml portion has more than 50 billion live bacteria and 16 different diverse culture strains.

Until recently kefir was a niche dairy product in the UK – bought mainly by Eastern European shoppers a region where it is very popular. But now demand for the drink has begun soaring with Britain’s largest supermarket Tesco seeing a 400 per cent rise in the last 18 months. Popular brand include The Collective (left) and Yeo Valley (right) who sell the drink

Kefir’s name originates from the Turkish word keyif, meaning ‘good feeling’. But the origins of the kefir grains themselves — gelatinous white curds, which look a little like cauliflower cheese before it goes in the oven — are more mysterious.

Legend has it that they were a gift from the Prophet Muhammad to the people of the Caucasus Mountains near the Black Sea, who were forbidden to share their secrets.

Today, it is thought that the grains formed spontaneously when milk stored in leather bags took on natural bacteria and yeasts and began fermenting — rather like how a sourdough ‘starter’, used to make bread, forms if flour and water are left to collect wild yeasts. 

The grains were cultivated and passed down the generations and for 2000 years kefir was a well-kept health drink secret enjoyed mainly by people in the Caucasus Mountains where it originates and in parts of eastern Europe where it is still extremely popular.

While yoghurt is probably the best-known probiotic food in the Western diet, kefir is often a better source of this ‘good’ bacteria. Stock image shows woman driking Kefir

It became easier to find in the UK at the start of the noughties when Tesco began stocking it as part of its Polish food offering and its now widely available in major supermarkets.   

Word about its health-giving qualities grew and as demand took off in the last decade the supermarket brought in its first UK kefir producer, Biotiful Dairy and ranged the drinks in its regular dairy aisle. 

M&S has previously said 2020 is the year to embrace gut health, and is focusing on ‘digestive wellness’, with a wider range of probiotic food and drink including kefir and kombucha. 

BBC Good Food’s Food and Drink report for 2020 saw gut health as a major focus for customers.

Emma Weinbren, features editor at The Grocer said at the time: ‘There are probiotics in everything – we’ve even tried probiotic crisps,’ says Emma Weinbren. 

‘In March, we got stats from Kantar that more than 40 per cent of kefir  is consumed by over-65s. 

‘People think it’s a cool millennial drink but it’s the older generation driving it.’ 

There are now nearly 10 dedicated kefir manufacturers in the UK with the top-selling brand being Biotiful Dairy who were ahead of the trend when they were formed by former Russian figure skater turned entrepreneur Natasha Bowes. 

Natasha said: ‘I grew up in Russia where kefir is a way of life and it is rare for anybody to have problems with their gut.

‘When business brought me to Ireland and then England more than 20 years ago I found it hard to find kefir but then had a lightbulb moment of creating my own dairy.

‘We opened in 2013 and since then we have moved helped widen the appeal of kefir by introducing Morello cherry and honey flavours in order to appeal to kids. And there are further big plans in store for later this year.’