Dr Michael Mosley's tips to keep your gut healthy this silly season

For many people the festive period usually means eating a lot of bad food and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol - none of which is good for the gut. But Dr Michael Mosley is here to help.

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For a lot of us the silly season is jam-packed with get-togethers and Christmas parties, which usually means eating a lot of bad food and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.

And while Christmas and New Year’s may be an enjoyable time of the year, it’s not always so fun for our gut.

But Dr Michael Mosley tells Insight it is possible to keep our insides healthy during this festive period.

“The best thing you can do is try not to overdo the alcohol, because that can really upset the gut,” he says.

“I also think that amongst the mince pies and the turkey and the steak and all those other things, you would do well to make sure you’re getting plenty of different coloured vegetables. Get in lots of fibre, because that will keep your gut going.”

Dr Mosley also advises people to moderate the sugar-rich foods.

But there is good news for one of our favourite Christmas foods - seafood. No moderation needed, although hold off on battering or frying it.

These are just some of the foods Dr Michael Mosley recommends we eat in his Clever Guts diet. Photo: Clever Guts Source: Clever Guts

“If you have a nice bit of salmon or perhaps tuna with just a little bit of lemon juice and surrounded by lots of delicious vegetables, maybe even a little bit of fermented food, that’s going to be good for [your gut],” he says.

So what’s on Dr Mosley’s Christmas plate?

Just like everyone else, Dr Mosley admits to enjoying one too many mince pies during the festive period, but he follows his own advice of moderation.

“I do try and have a day or so when I cut back and I have soup and vegetables and things like that, and generally give my gut a bit of a rest,” he says.

And while a turkey with all the trimmings definitely makes it onto his Christmas menu, he cuts back on Boxing Day and enjoys a bone broth soup made from the leftover turkey.

“I do quite enjoy that process of just letting my stomach settle down again after that period of excess.”

Maybe try and incorporate a Greek salad into your Christmas meal. Photo: Clever Guts Source: Clever Guts

Restoring the gut post-Christmas

For those that have over indulged during the festive season, near fear, it is possible to make your gut healthy again.

Dr Mosley says the New Year period is typically when people start embarking on diets, and he recommends his Clever Guts diet to get everything back in balance.

The diet includes lots of Mediterranean-style foods such as oily fish, avocado, olive oil, eggs and full fat dairy. The diet also embraces eating more prebiotic and probiotic foods such as kombucha, kefir, sauerkraut, seaweed and flaxseeds.

So go forth and enjoy your Christmas ham, pudding and pavlova – in moderation – and make a note to pick up some fermented snacks for the new year.

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