Talk: All about gut health

How can the bacteria in our gut affect our health?

A free talk on Friday evening will explore ways people can improve their gut health and digestive system.

Organiser Monika Vincent said a healthy gut can help people stave off ill-health.

‘‘Any chronic disease generally starts with gut health, because when your gut is not healthy, you don’t absorb nutrients properly. That’s just the start of your health going downhill,’’ she said.

Bad gut health was more prevalent in modern times because of the amount of processed foods people ate, she said.

However, probiotic foods can change the balance.

’’Just by making small changes and adding probiotic foods, you can heal your gut. The good bacteria can start eliminating the bad bacteria in the gut,’’ Vincent said.

Vincent said Anita from The Kefir Company, Jo from Be Nourished, and Louise from Pacific Harvest will introduce their probiotic products and discuss their own experiences.

‘‘Anita has an amazing story about her son, who was diagnosed with severe autism as a young child,’’ Vincent said.

‘‘Through a lot of research and trying every alternative method out there, she stumbled on coconut kefir. That helped, along with changing his diet to dairy-free and gluten-free. He’s now seven or eight years old and is perfectly normal,’’ she said.

‘‘If your gut is healthy, good health follows.’’

* Gut Health Talk, featuring the founders of Be Nourished, Pacific Harvest and the Kefir Company, Raw Balance Deli, Friday August 26, 6pm to 8pm. Free to attend.