16Jun 2021 by Leah Higl
Glutamine Supplementation & Gut Health

Glutamine Supplementation & Gut Health

GI Disorders
Glutamine plays an integral role in gut health. Around 30% of the glutamine that the body produces goes to maintaining and fuelling processes in the gut. What is Glutamine? Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the human body. It is often considered conditionally essential, meaning that our bodies can make it endogenously. Although, there may be times where we must get it from food. Intracellular concentrations of glutamine can be depleted when the body is under a significant amount of stress such trauma or sepsis.  During these times, the body may not be able to produce enough glutamine to keep up with the increased requirements by intestinal, renal, and immune cells. When usage of glutamine exceeds the endogenous glutamine production, it is then considered an essential nutrient. Glutamine…
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30Apr 2021 by Leah Higl
Low FODMAP Bread Options in Australia

Low FODMAP Bread Options in Australia

GI Disorders
In most households, bread is an absolute staple. However, bread made of wheat flour is typically high in fructans which are a type of short-chain carbohydrate that is resistant to digestion. If you are on a low FODMAP diet or find fructans to be a particular issue for you, you may be looking for a good alternative. Luckily, the variety of low FODMAP bread has boomed over recent years and is now fairly accessible. In many cases, people can consume fructans without any symptoms at all and these fermentable carbohydrates can even contribute to good gut health. But for those who suffer from a sensitive tummy or IBS, there may be a limited threshold for fructans and they may experience gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and/or abdominal pain when consumed.  But…
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03Feb 2021 by Aidan Muir
Can You Have Oats if You Have Coeliac Disease?

Can You Have Oats if You Have Coeliac Disease?

GI Disorders
When it comes to coeliac disease, whether you can have oats has got to be easily one of the most confusing topics. Even before writing this, I was just looking around at what other people were saying (which is something I do before writing any blog post) and the amount of conflicting information from experts is insane. Some experts say that as long as the oats completely uncontaminated by other gluten-containing foods during the manufacturing process, it is fair game and will not cause issues for most people with coeliac disease. Other people make the claim that if you have coeliac disease, you MUST completely avoid oats as a blanket rule. As with a lot of things in nutrition, the answer is somewhere in the middle. Cross Contamination Risk The…
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22Jan 2021 by Aidan Muir
3 Nutrition Tips That Actually Help with Constipation

3 Nutrition Tips That Actually Help with Constipation

GI Disorders
Over my last couple of years as a dietitian, I have seen some clients with severe constipation. I’m talking situations that are so bad that I literally spent a significant chunk of my time thinking about how to help these clients because I hated the thought of somebody having to live like that. And throughout the process of spending a crazy amount of time digging through the research on the topic, I quickly came to realise two things: The commonly given advice is not actually that effective. And some of it might make things worse.There are very few things that significantly help. And what I mean by that, is that the 3 things I am going to mention in this article, literally do help constipation in terms of improved frequency/evacuation.…
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28Aug 2020 by Tyler Brooks
FODMAPs, Vegetables, and IBS

FODMAPs, Vegetables, and IBS

GI Disorders
If you have read our previous posts on 'FODMAPs & Fruit', or 'The Low FODMAP Diet', you might want to skip over the intro below if you don't need a recap. If you're new to learning about the FODMAP diet I'd recommend also clicking on those other posts and having a read as they complement the below information! The Low FODMAP Diet is designed to help sufferers of IBS reduce and manage their symptoms. It was designed to be implemented in 3-phases. The end goal is balancing the least restrictive possible diet with the greatest sustainable improvement in symptoms.  Phase 1 is the low FODMAP phase.Fructose, Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols are restricted from the diet to relieve symptoms and create a baseline to operate from. Suitable alternative foods should be found to replace those…
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03Aug 2020 by Tyler Brooks
FODMAP Diet & Fruit

FODMAP Diet & Fruit

GI Disorders
The Low FODMAP Diet is designed to help sufferers of IBS reduce and manage their symptoms. It was designed to be implemented in 3-phases, with the end goal of balancing the least restrictive possible diet with the greatest sustainable improvement in symptoms. Phase 1 is the low FODMAP phase where Fructose, Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols are restricted from the diet to relieve symptoms and create a baseline to operate from. Suitable alternative foods should be found to replace those being restricted. It usually lasts for 2-6 weeks. Phase 2 is a phase where the FODMAPs are individually tested to establish tolerance levels to specific foods. This process can take a significant amount of time as there are a lot of variations in the types of FODMAPs, serving sizes, and foods that need to…
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01Mar 2018 by Victoria Lekkas
The Lowdown on Lactose Intolerance

The Lowdown on Lactose Intolerance

GI Disorders
You’re at a party and everyone’s having the time of their lives - drinking, dancing, eating. Soon enough, it’s time for the best part of the night. Yep, time for that gloriously rich and succulent mud cake, topped with chocolate swirls and chocolate-dipped strawberries. Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate – doesn’t get any better than that, right? Well, unfortunately, that’s not quite the case for approximately 65% of the world's population who are, to some degree, lactose intolerant. What Is Lactose Intolerance? Lactose intolerance is characterized by the inability to completely digest the sugar found in dairy products, called lactose. Lactose is a disaccharide made up of two sugar units, glucose and galactose. To be absorbed in the small intestine, lactose must be hydrolysed into individual sugar units (glucose and…
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08Dec 2017 by Larina Robinson
What Is SIBO? (And How Do You Know If You Have It?)

What Is SIBO? (And How Do You Know If You Have It?)

GI Disorders
Do you suffer from chronic diarrhoea or constipation? Experiencing regular bloating and abdominal pain? Or perhaps you’ve eliminated certain foods from your diet but haven’t seen much improvement in your symptoms…. You might have Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth or SIBO for short. What is SIBO? SIBO is defined as excessive bacteria in the small intestine. Naturally, our digestive tract is full of bacteria but the bulk of them are found in our large intestine, not our small intestine. (1) In comparison to our large intestine, the small intestine has relatively low levels of bacteria. This is the space in our digestive system where food mixes with digestive juices and nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. When bacteria from the large intestine overflow into the small intestine and take over, they…
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03Nov 2017 by Aidan Muir
The Low FODMAP Diet

The Low FODMAP Diet

GI Disorders
Do you suffer from chronic bloating, abdominal pain and altered bowel habits? If yes, then it’s likely you’ll benefit from the Low FODMAP diet. Many GP’s and health practitioners are regarding it to be one of the best investigative diets for identifying problematic foods. Research shows that people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) can significantly improve symptoms by managing the amount of FODMAPs in their diet. Discover what exactly FODMAPs are, how to follow the Low FODMAP diet, and the importance of methodically reintroducing FODMAP foods into your diet below. What Are FODMAPs? FODMAPs are a group of food compounds that are eliminated on the Low FODMAP diet. The Low FODMAP diet, created by Sue Shepherd and her team in Melbourne, Australia, is a temporary elimination diet that aims…
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01Feb 2017 by Adrianna Denke
Probiotics and Prebiotics

Probiotics and Prebiotics

GI Disorders, Health
Did you know that we have 100 trillion bacteria living in our gut?! While that may leave you feeling a little squeamish, don’t fear! These little guys are on our side, they play important roles in many metabolic, nutritional, physiological and immunological processes which keep us healthy. This includes acting as a barrier to prevent “bad” bacteria from invading and causing illness and producing nutrients that we can’t make ourselves (vitamin K, B12, folic acid, short-chain fatty acids). There is continual evidence which suggests incorporating prebiotics and probiotics into our diet is beneficial for keeping a healthy balance of “good” gut bacteria. So what are probiotics and prebiotics? Probiotics Probiotics are live microorganisms (bacteria or yeast) found in certain foods, which when consumed in adequate amounts are beneficial to our…
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