A healthy gut can boost the absorption of nutrients, speed up weight loss, prevent food cravings and balance out hormones.

If you consider your gut as a garden, you’ll notice that whatever you put into is ultimately going to affect your overall health and determine how much energy you have.

Healing your gut is all about getting the maximum amount of nutrient absorption, balancing out tricky bacteria and keeping things as alkaline as possible.


Nutrient absorption is based upon good gut permeability. Eating an unhealthy diet can lead to poor digestion of food, meaning that when food is broken down by enzymes within your stomach and pancreas, some food molecules can still remain in your small intestine.

The small intestine is the place where nutrient absorption occurs. These molecules are then able to pass through our gut wall into the bloodstream, causing bloating, irritation, inflammation, fatigue, aches, and low immunity to colds and flus.

A handy way to help maintain the integrity of the gut is to eat an easily digestible diet with foods that don’t aggravate and to include building block foods.

Gelatine is an excellent source of special proteins which help to seal the gut wall, and greatly improve the integrity of the gut lining by restoring the mucosal layer. It's a good source of protein and contains eighteen protein-building amino acids. One of gelatine's gut healing attributes is to absorb water and help to keep fluid in the digestive tract, which is needed for promoting transportation of waste and healthy bowel movements. Optimising your gut health can then help with nutrient absorption. 

A simple to make gut-healing dessert to try is this Almond Milk Jelly Cup from Lee Holmes' book Heal Your Gut. Traditional vanilla custard can leave your tummy tied up in knots, because of the white sugar and cream. This version supplies the exact satisfaction custard should induce but without awkward digestive complaints. Sound good?

The recipe is a fixture on the four week online Heal Your Gut program and ideal as an after dinner treat, or a yummy snack for the kids. Now is a good time to swap out store bought jellys with this health-optimising recipe.

You can of course be a little inventive and get the kids involved in the preparation. By adding a handful of frozen berries you can make a purple-hued antioxidant boosting jelly, a perfect summer pudding if you’re feeling a little run down and in need of a kick-start.


Give it a try and let us know what you think?

Almond Milk Jelly Cup

Makes 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup)

Ingredients

• 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) almond milk
• 2 teaspoons powdered gelatine
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered stevia
• 1/2 teaspoon Love Your Gut powder

Method

• Put half the almond milk and the gelatine in a small saucepan over low heat.
• Whisk briskly until the gelatine is dissolved.
• Remove from the heat and add the remaining almond milk along with the vanilla, stevia and LYG powder and whisk to combine.

• Pour into one or two glasses or jelly moulds and refrigerate until set.
• The jelly can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 1–2 weeks.