This week’s podcast is an interview with Emily Blake who has eight years of clinical experience including lecturing, running her own clinical practice and working withing the functional testing industry.
Emily starter her career as an archaeologist specialising in prehistoric human nutrition before training as a Nutritional Therapist to translate her enthusiasm for human nutrition into personalised, cutting-edge nutritional and lifestyle medicine. Emily has eight years of clinical experience within the industry from running her own private practice, working withing the functional testing and supplement industry, and lecturing in Nutritional Therapy around the country.
What do you find fascinating about the microbiome
Emily is a Nutritional Therapist herself as well as the Senior Clinical Educator at Invivo Healthcare. She realised that imbalances in the microbiome were a contributing factor in supporting the health of her clients. There is so much research emerging showing that gut health is key in driving positive health outcomes, and she wanted to understand more about this fascinating area of health. This quest for increasing her knowledge drove her career with Invivo.
What is your microbiome?
The term microbiome refers to the colony of microbes living within and on the human body. We have never existed without microbes and they are essential to our survival. We tend to talk about the gut microbiome however we have many different including vaginal, oral and urinary. Each different part of the body favours a different balance of microbes and we are now able to test these different microbiomes to understand how they affecting our health.
Emily explains how each different microbiome site does not exist in isolation, they each can have an impact on the diversity of each other. The various sites are in constant communication and microbes from each site can even travel between each location. She believes this is key in unlocking the way we think about our microbiome.
Female vaginal health
As a female health practitioner, I am keen to understand more about how the vaginal microbiome affects health and different health conditions. There is a high prevalence of Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) and thrush within the female population, with around 75% of women experiencing symptoms of thrush or candidal overgrowth in their lifetime. Doctors have previously treated these conditions to remove pathogens, however, new data shows that improving the vagina microbiome is key in helping to reducing the recurrence of these infections.
There should be an abundance of protective lactobacillus species that make the vaginal microbiome more resilient to overgrowth, along with ensuring there is a more acidic environment. By using specific vaginal microbiome testing we can find out if there is a bacterial or pH issue, and then work on ways to improve this to support the reduction of infections. This can be life changing for anyone who has suffered with recurrent thrush or BV.
What does the perfect gut microbiome look like?
I asked Emily what I’m sure you are all thinking – what is a perfect gut microbiome? Unfortunately, there is no such thing!
We are all different and we will all have a different balance and range. Emily explained that what we do understand from the research is that a broad diversity of commensal (supportive) bacteria is key and a reduced abundance of pathogenic bacteria. She invited us to think about our microbiome as a highly skilled team, with each different microbial variety having a different job to do, when we have a wide a diverse team, that is well trained and well fed, they work well together at building a healthy gut, mind and body.
What are the key things we can do to support a healthy gut microbiome?
Eating a wide and diverse range of plant foods correlates with the diversity of the microbiome. Emily recommends trying to eat 30 different plant foods a week as an aim, but any increase is going to support your microbes. She is keen on focusing on what you can add and encouraging joy in food rather than restriction and exclusion.
Also eating fermented foods are rich in live bacteria which include:
- sauerkraut
- kimchi
- yoghurt
- kefir
will gradually support your microbial balance, and Emily refers to research that shows they can also reduce inflammation. She does suggest that any changes should be done with the support of a practitioner and that they should be made slowly to avoid an increase in symptoms.
Inviov have some wonderful resources that you can use to help support your microbial heal, why not try their food diversity challenge and use their recipe book to encourage you to think about your gut microbes with a food-first approach?
How do we know what our personal microbiome is?
Functional testing is widely available and as Senior Educator at Invivo, Emily is keen on encouraging those that are suffering recurrent or long-term symptoms to do a private stool test. Whilst it is important to talk to your GP to ensure that there are no underlying drivers of digestive symptoms, if they are unable to find anything we often end up with a diagnosis of IBS, which is just a collection of symptoms, and can leave you wondering where you can turn. Functions stool testing gives you access to the information on exactly what the balance is like in your microbiome and this knowledge empowers you to make informed changes to your diet and lifestyle that can dramatically improve symptoms.
Emily shares with us her personal journey with poor digestive health. She has previously suffered ongoing symptoms which prompted her journey into Nutritional Therapy and her fascination with how diet, lifestyle, testing and working with a private practitioner can transform people’s health. And her own continued good health shows us that we can take back control and improve our own health.
A healthy microbiome is associated with better cognitive health, improved immunity and reduced joint pain as well as many other health drivers. I am finding in my own practice that stool testing helps me uncover insights that are invaluable to supporting my client’s health and wellbeing and the GI Ecologix is a clinical favourite.
Emily’s three tips for gut health
Supporting a healthy gut is something that we should be focusing on, this way we can not only help to avoid dysbiosis, but work to optimise diversity:
- Nature exposure. Being outdoors and being exposed to different varieties of plants (not eating just being near plants) can improve our diversity.
- Widening your intake of colourful plants. Fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts and seeds. This is key to gut health as well as overall health and wellbeing.
- Grow your own, even if it’s just cress on a windowsill, try to grow something that you can eat and appreciate the wonder of nature. Gardening is also shown to be beneficial for our mood and mental health.
What have you got for dinner Emily?
Emily is enjoying her Mom’s recipe for stuffed peppers, along with grilled chicken breast and a dressed green salad. She wonderfully explains how to make these peppers on the podcast – click the link above to hear the full interview.
Where to buy a test
After reading this blog and listening to the podcast episode you may now feel that taking a microbiome test would help you understand more about your gut, and your own personal health profile.
Testing in itself is just part of the picture. I offer all the Invivo tests (gut, oral, urinary and vaginal), and they all come with a personal consultation to guide you through the results and support you in making the changes needed. To find out more about the test please check my products page.
And if you would like to know more about PHGG the super supplement that Emily and I both bake with, you can find her fabulous Banana & Choc Chip recipe on their website recipe book.
Emily’s links
My links
A note about our sponsor
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Want to know more about ways to work with me?
There are many ways that you can work with me to balance your hormones and improve your health and wellbeing.
On Facebook the Fab Female Nutrition Club is a wonderful FREE community where I offer lots of support and advice on female health and wellbeing. I also love to cook and create recipes and I’ll often be seen in the group cooking live and sharing all the wonderful health benefits of the ingredients used.
My Fab Female Nutrition Membership sits alongside the free club, but offers you lots of resources and group coaching with me. The hub has the full recipe book that is constantly being updated, the 5 elements of health containing resources and guides to help support you in your health journey. And 6 group coaching calls a year, plus access to other member benefits such as discounts from group programs.
A few times a year I work with groups of ladies to transform their health and wellbeing. Appropriately called The Transformation Program it can help with many differing issues and we have had hugely impressive results – including up to 100% reduction in symptoms. If you suffer with IBS, fatigue, inflammation, hormonal imbalances or just want to spend some time concentrating on your health and wellbeing they are fabulous value and great fun.
If you feel like you need a more bespoke option, then my signature 1:1 packages are what you need. We will concentrate on your specific needs creating nutritional protocols that support your health goals. We take a full health history, then tailor testing to help create and refine protocols so that you learn about your body and how to support it. I will be with you every step of the way to guide you and ensure that you realise your true health potential.