FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Gut Health

Your gut’s smile is infectious, and when it’s happy, the rest of your body sees the benefits. 

At its core, a healthy gut means better digestive function. This means it’s easier to break down the food you eat into powerful nutrients which are, in turn, more easily absorbed into your body. 

Each of these nutrients play an important part in a variety of your body’s processes, and having a good balance of them means these processes can run much more smoothly. 

  • Better focus
  • More energy
  • Stronger immunity
  • Less bloating

When you eat your favourite food, the trillions of bacteria living in your gut eat it too. These microbes play an important role in digesting your food and absorbing the nutrients. 

Your bacteria’s favourite foods are fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains. Why? Fibre. 

Both soluble and insoluble fibre nourish these microbes, which allows them to digest your food more efficiently to nourish you. 

Some foods, like our Biotiful Blends, are fermented and so contain live bacteria. Eating fermented foods, which also include things like sauerkraut and kimchi, can give you a direct dose of these microbes that support your gut health.

  • High fibre supports digestion 
  • Live cultures support natural balance of the gut microbiome
  • Vitamins B12 and B5 support nutrient breakdown

Our Biotiful Gut Health Blends are tasty, versatile meal boosts, specially curated by our expert nutritionists for you and your gut. They’re full of important vitamins, each chosen to support a different aspect of your health, as well as live cultures to enhance your digestive function.

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Immunity

Your immune system is like a powerful army, made up of several divisions and many soldiers. Your gut is one of these divisions, alongside organs like your spleen and your skin, and plays a specific part in the entire immune response. 

Once any harmful bacteria, also known as pathogens, have entered your body, it’s your gut’s time to shine. The strong acid in your stomach kills many of these pathogens before they can move into your intestines. Any that do slip through are then the responsibility of your gut’s microbiome, which works to both fight the pathogens directly, and prevent them from attaching to the wall of your intestine and harming you.

It’s easy to believe our immune system is largely independent from the diet-related choices we make every day, but the two are more closely linked than many of us realise, and not just for the reasons above. 

There are many important vitamins which support our immune system. Many of these vitamins aren’t produced or stored by your body, such as vitamins B and C, so it’s up to you to supply your gut with the right foods. 

Your immune system is powered by a medley of vitamins. They each play a part in maintaining its normal level of function, ensuring it works as it should to protect your body against pathogens.

Vitamin C 

  • Supports immune cells in fighting pathogens
  • Found in citrus fruits and leafy greens

Vitamin B6

  • Supports chemical reactions within immune system
  • Found in chicken, tuna, salmon, green veg and chickpeas

Vitamin A 

  • Supports regeneration of barriers damaged by infection
  • Found in leafy greens, orange and yellow vegetables and dairy products

Vitamin E

  • Supports growth of immune cells
  • Found in nuts and seeds
  • Vitamins B12 and B5 support chemical reactions within the immune system, contributing to normal function
  • Live cultures support natural balance of the gut microbiome which plays a part in fighting pathogens which reach your intestines
  • High fibre supports the health of the gut, a key part of your immune system

Our Biotiful Gut Health Blends are tasty, versatile meal boosts, specially curated by our expert nutritionists for you and your gut. Our Biotiful Gut Health Immunity Blend with Goji and Red Berry is full of vitamin C, chosen to support your immune system.

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Energy

When it comes to energy, your gut is in charge of a few things. Its number one job is to digest the food we eat and convert its nutrients, such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats, into glucose.

The glucose is then absorbed through your small intestine into your bloodstream, and is carried around the rest of your body to cells where the glucose is converted into energy.

If your gut is unhappy and your microbiome unbalanced, it will struggle to break down all of your food into glucose, meaning less energy can be produced and you’re left feeling more tired. Food molecules which aren’t broken down and absorbed also end up in places they shouldn’t be, causing gut inflammation and even feeding harmful bacteria (pathogens) within your gut.

Foods rich in Vitamins B12 and B5

Vitamins B12 and B5 are crucial to the process of breaking down nutrients into glucose, which means a deficiency in these vitamins can slow energy production and leave you feeling tired. You’ll find both Vitamin B12 and B5 in most animal products - meat, fish, dairy, poultry - but you can also get it from some breakfast cereals or supplements. B5 can also be found in mushrooms, potatoes, avocados, nuts and seeds. 

Fermented foods

Fermented or cultured foods such as kefir support protective microbes and promote gut health. On the other hand, highly processed foods with added sugar or sodium can harm these microbes, decreasing the amount of diversity in the gut. These microbes support the breakdown of foods into energy, so if they can’t do their job properly, you’ll find yourself feeling more fatigued. 

Fibre

In general, your gut loves fibre. It promotes regular digestion and reduces the amount of time waste stays in the intestines as well as regulating your blood sugar levels. This prevents you from feeling dips in energy throughout the day, so if you’re always craving a mid-afternoon nap, eating overnight oats for breakfast could help.

  • High fibre supports digestion, increasing glucose absorption rates
  • Live cultures support natural balance of the gut microbiome
  • Vitamins B12 and B5 support the breakdown of nutrients into glucose

Our Biotiful Gut Health Blends are tasty, versatile meal boosts, specially curated by our expert nutritionists for you and your gut. They’re full of important vitamins and rich in fibre, as well as live cultures which enhance your digestive function. Our Biotiful Gut Health Energy Blend with Cacao and Cherry is particularly focused on providing your gut with vitamins B12 and B5 to support nutrient breakdown and increase energy production rates.

Focus

Your gut and your brain come as a package deal. They both influence the other in many ways, and sometimes it can be difficult to figure out which is the instigator. If you’re feeling both anxious and nauseous, is it because there’s something going on in your brain, or something going on in your gut?

Depression and anxiety are commonly seen in those with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) because of this gut-brain connection. IBS disrupts the gut’s microbiome, sending chemical signals to the brain which can impact mood and behaviour. 

A happy, healthy gut contributes to a happy, healthy mind, and thus maintains normal cognitive performance and provides you with the ability to focus.

Focus requires normal cognitive function, which is managed by your brain. Your brain is influenced by your gut’s microbiome, particularly when it comes to the stress response, anxiety and memory function. Eating the right foods to keep your gut’s microbiome healthy and balanced can therefore contribute to normal cognitive performance and your ability to focus. 

Highly processed foods can negatively impact your gut’s microbiome, as the whole point of these foods is to minimise the growth of bacteria within them to give them a longer shelf-life. This characteristic can continue even when the food has passed into your digestive system, upsetting the balance and increasing inflammation.

Fruits, vegetables, nuts and pulses can improve the diversity and balance of the microbiome, allowing for a more efficient digestive system, stronger immunity, regular energy levels and normal cognitive function.

  • High fibre supports digestion,
  • Live cultures support natural balance of the gut microbiome
  • Vitamins B12 and B5 support the breakdown of nutrients into glucose

Our Biotiful Gut Health Blends are tasty, versatile meal boosts, specially curated by our expert nutritionists for you and your gut. They’re full of important vitamins and rich in fibre, as well as live cultures which enhance your digestive function. Our Biotiful Gut Health Energy Blend with Coconut and Turmeric is particularly focused on providing your gut with vitamins B12 and B5 to support nutrient breakdown and support normal cognitive function.

Biotiful Blends and your body

One of the main ways your body connects with the outside world is through your gut. Everything you put in your body - food, fuel or your favourite comfort food, has an impact on your body because of your gut.

Whether it’s something sugary giving you a burst of energy or something full of fibre to keep you raring to go throughout the day, the choices you make when it comes to food matter due to the effect they have on your gut’s microbiome, and the influence it has on your overall health. 

An unhealthy gut can cause bloating, soreness and nausea, but it can also cause you to have trouble sleeping, fatigue, acne, eczema, migraines and even autoimmune problems. 

If you look after your gut, your gut will look after you - in more ways than you may think!

It’s a lot easier to keep your car in good condition than to run it into the ground until it stutters and stalls. Keeping your oil topped up and your tyres pumped are both things you can do regularly, and can prevent bigger issues which need bigger resolutions down the road. 

The same goes for your gut. Daily gut maintenance keeps your digestive system in tip-top condition, meaning it can always get the most from the nutrients you provide it with. Maintaining your gut health is all about balance - both of your meals and your gut’s microbiome. 

Eating unprocessed, fresh foods everyday provides your gut with valuable nutrients as opposed to some sugars which, in large amounts, can harm your gut’s microbiome and cause inflammation. Probiotics, found in fermented foods such as kefir, also aid your gut health by providing balance to the many types of microbes in your gut.

Daily exercise, drinking lots of water and eating plenty of fibre also keep your gut in good condition. A healthy car will run smoothly with little risk of breaking down, and your healthy gut will do the same.

  • High fibre supports digestion 
  • Live cultures support natural balance of the gut microbiome
  • Vitamins B12 and B5 support nutrient breakdown

Our Biotiful Gut Health Blends are tasty boosts which can be added to your breakfast, snacks and smoothies. Each of our blends is built for a specific purpose, such as maintaining focus, energy or immunity, but all of them have the same gut-supporting properties. 

Adding a Biotiful Gut Health Blend to your food daily supports the balance of your gut’s microbiome, allowing it to digest and absorb important nutrients more efficiently for use in many processes around your body.

Exercise and your gut

Exercise can improve your gut health in a few different ways. Keeping your body moving keeps things moving through your gut, which is important to maintain the balance of your gut’s microbiome, and to allow nutrients to be absorbed more efficiently. 

Studies have also shown that regular exercise can regulate your blood sugar levels and decrease gut inflammation. This is because it can cause your gut to produce more health-promoting gut microbes.

To reap the rewards above, you have to exercise regularly. Even a little bit every day or every few days can improve your gut health and make you feel more energised and less bloated. Daily exercise can also help to reduce stress, which can impact your gut health through the gut-brain connection, which you can read about here. [Link to Focus page]

  • High fibre and daily exercise support digestion, lessening symptoms like bloating, inflammation and nausea
  • Live cultures and bacteria produced by your gut when you exercise support natural balance of the gut microbiome, promoting normal immune system and cognitive function
  • Vitamins B12 and B5 support nutrient breakdown, increasing absorption rates and producing more energy while exercise regulates your blood sugar

Our Biotiful Gut Health Blends are tasty boosts which can be added to your breakfast, snacks and smoothies. Each of our blends is built for a specific purpose, such as maintaining focus, energy or immunity, but all of them have the same gut-supporting properties. 

Adding a Biotiful Gut Health Blend to your food every day, alongside daily exercise, supports the balance of your gut’s microbiome, allowing it to digest and absorb important nutrients more efficiently for use in many processes around your body.