Q: Why does The Inside Out Diet focus on the gut?
A: Statistics show that more than a third of the population claim to have problems with their digestive system. Various aspects of today’s hectic lifestyles can upset the health of our gut, with common culprits including inactivity, stress, a poor diet, smoking, dehydration and lack of sleep. Meanwhile, the natural ageing process and illnesses, infections or food poisoning, can also play havoc with our digestive system. Find out more about your digestive system in the About your gut section.

Q: How can The Inside Out Diet help?
A: The Inside Out Diet is designed to help relieve digestive health problems such as bloating and discomfort, constipation and diarrhoea. But it’s not just a diet for ‘people with tummy troubles’. The Inside Out Diet has also been devised to prevent digestive problems from occurring in the first place. This is great news because keeping our digestive system healthy may have many other knock-on health benefits in the body such as boosting our energy levels, immunity and mood. And that’s not all. Changing our lifestyles to boost the health of our digestive system may also help to protect us from major health problems like heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, diabetes and certain cancers.

The Inside Out Diet is not a weight loss plan. Nevertheless, many people may find they lose weight when they follow the diet and lifestyle advice. For samples of the diet and lifestyle pages, please visit the Try it now section.

Q: When can I use The Inside Out Diet?
A: The Inside Out Diet is suitable for most adults at anytime – the basic principles can be followed throughout life to keep us healthy and free from disease. However, it’s particularly useful at certain times: just before going on holiday or travelling overseas to prepare the digestive system for different foods and a change in lifestyle; during times of stress; or following a course of antibiotics. It also becomes increasingly relevant as people get older, when like everything else, the digestive system starts to show the signs of ageing. Those who have a medical condition, are pregnant or breastfeeding should consult their doctor before starting a diet.

What might The Inside Out Diet do for me?

Why is The Inside Out Diet so good for my digestive system?

boost immunity and fight infection give you more energy prevent constipation and other tummy troubles boost your overall health keep your heart healthy stop you feeling hungry in between meals help you manage your weight

It includes five portions fruit and veg every day – these are packed with vitamins and minerals but also contain good amounts of fibre, needed to keep the digestive system in good health It contains a daily probiotic drink to boost levels of good bacteria in the gut It includes three servings of wholegrains every day – such as wholemeal pasta, brown rice, wholegrain cereals, oats and wholemeal bread. Once again these are a great source of fibre. It includes plenty of prebiotic foods such as onions, leeks, asparagus, oats and bananas to feed those healthy bacteria It keeps processed carbohydrates, including sugars, to a minimum It’s low in saturated fat, but includes plenty of the heart healthy fats found in foods like nuts, olive oil and avocados It keeps salt to a minimum