My mission to make These Are The Heydays a trusted source of reliable information, advice and inspiration has had me thinking about how best to keep fulfilling that remit and to help you all as much as possible, especially with everything that’s happening right now.

So with that mission in mind, I’m going to start seeking out and talking to experts in their fields whose wise words and experienced advice I hope you’ll find useful and supportive.

The first of those experts is someone I’ve already introduced to you all. Yvonne Wake is a hugely experienced, qualified nutritionist, fitness and professional life coach and wellbeing and lifestyle consultant. And the reason you’ve all met her is that she ran the transformative health retreat I went to in France.

Meeting Yvonne and doing her amazing health retreat was a real turning point for me in understanding my gut health

Yvonne’s passion to improve our gut health is something I wrote about in this blog post and I make no apologies that some of what’s in that is repeated here. Because right now we need all the help we can get to stay as healthy as we possibly can.

Nutritionist Yvonne Wake, whose passion for our gut health is a driving force in her professional life

Read what she has to say about what we should all ideally be eating, and the vitamins should be taking to keep us all in optimal health - now and in the future.

Why is gut health so particularly important at the moment?

Your gut is described as the body’s second brain. I think it’s your first brain. Because if your gut’s not working, nothing works. The gut is there to produce the bacteria your body needs to function properly.

Your gut is basically your gastrointestinal tract - that whole great wiggly thing that lives inside your tummy. If you think of your gut as a little village, and you’ve got all these colonies of bacteria in it - they’re like the families in the village. All those families need to be looked after, and the way to look after them best is to feed them as much variation as you can, so that they can do their job as efficiently as possible. Because that’s what helps the bacteria families grow, have strong bacteria babies and produce more bacteria families.

All that bacteria is only produced when you eat plant based food. It’s not produced when you eat meat or anything sweet (sugar is the enemy of the gut).

Actually, I’d say eating your recommended five veg and fruit a day isn’t really enough. Ideally I think you should aim to eat 10 a day to get the variation your gut thrives on.

There are six different portions of fruit and gut-boosting nuts in this bowl alone

Ten is a lot! That seems very demanding when things are generally so challenging right now. What’s the minimum we could and should be eating?

There are three key things we all need to do:

Try and eat plant based food more than you normally do.Even if you manage two more plant based foods a day than normal, that’s going to help.

Remove processed foods - which tend to be high in salt and sugar - from your diet as far as possible. That’s as simple as not eating white bread, white pasta, white rice, cakes and biscuits.

And be mindful of what you’re eating. Really pay attention to what you’re putting into your stomach - and actually count the vegetables and fruit you’re eating each day.

If you make those simple changes you’ll be amazed at the change you’ll see and feel.

If you can stop drinking alcohol, which is full of that gut-enemy, sugar, that would be ideal, but I do realise that’s a big ask! Again, cutting down, even a little, will help.

And how much constitutes a portion?

That really varies from person to person. If someone is big, they’ll need more than someone who’s small. Around a handful is about right. So maybe one small carrot, half an onion, half an avocado. A handful of chickpeas. A handful of peanuts (which are great protein). That’s already five.

Whatever your normal portions are is fine, but make sure the content is rich.

What is it about plant based foods that’s so good for us?

Plant based foods is where you get all your antioxidants from. All you need to do is put more anti-oxidants into your body. You get those from fruit and veg, but also from things like lentils, chickpeas and dried beans, nuts, and peanut butter.

How will you feel if you start making these changes

You’ll very quickly feel more energetic, your hair will be shinier and your skin will be better.

Hopefully, once you start feeling and looking better, it’ll be easier to keep those changes permanent, and to keep on increasing your plant based eating habits.

Everything that goes in your mouth needs to be a gift - to your body and yourself.

Do vitamins have a part to play in keeping us healthy too?

Absolutely! Right now Vitamin D3 (the metabolised version of vitamin D which is easiest for your body to absorb) is absolutely paramount. There are many studies showing that people with low vitamin D3 are more susceptible to Covid.

The other important vitamins at the moment are Zinc and Vitamin C. They go hand in hand and you can quite often buy them as one supplement, and Magnesium for your immune and nervous systems.

When you take your vitamins is important too. Vitamin D3 needs to be absorbed by fat, so you have to take that with a meal. You can’t just take it with a glass of water otherwise it won’t be properly absorbed. Magnesium is the same. Vitamin C and Zinc are water soluble, so taking them with a glass of water will work fine.

If your gut is out of whack, everything is out of whack. You have inflammation in your body and your cortisol levels go up. When those two things start to happen, you end up with an auto-immune situation where your immunity isn’t fighting for you but against you.

The supplements will help you keep the immune strength your body needs.

How is it best to eat all the plant based foods you’re recommending. Should you be eating it raw, in things like salads, or should you be cooking it and putting it in things like soups?

Ideally it needs to be cooked for you to absorb it better. Raw food is great but not all the time. If you look on my Instagram account or my Facebook page - Wellbeing and Lifestyle - you’ll find lots of delicious recipes.

[I can attest to the deliciousness of Yvonne’s recipes. I’ve tried lots of them!]

The ingredients for Yvonne’s ridiculously delicious Salade juive prepared and ready to put in the oven

Are you saying don’t eat meat or fish at all?

The trouble with eating animal products is that animals are almost all given antibiotics these days, which are then transferred into you when you eat them. But it helps to have some animal protein, which gives you the iron you need for your energy and keeps up your blood oxygen levels.

So I would say eat a small amount of chicken and fish and avoid red meat unless you know it’s come from a good source, like a butcher. That way you’re also supporting small businesses and local producers which is something we’re all rightly trying to do more now.

If you can only shop in a supermarket, you really need to try to get organic meat, organic free-range chicken, and wild, responsibly sourced fish. I know that’s not cheap, but if you buy less of it and eat more veg, it should balance out.

What is the key ‘be kind to yourself’ tip you can give people right now?

To be honest, it would be - learn to cook, or cook more. Get in your kitchen and cook from scratch as much as you can. You will get so much from it. Keep the recipes simple and the ingredients the best quality you can. It’s really not hard to do. And your body will thank you for it.

Find out more about Yvonne’s work and services here