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Nutritionist Tim Spector is an expert in gut health.
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He has a favorite breakfast that he eats every day and which he revealed to Business Insider.
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He also revealed which two breakfast dishes he no longer normally eats.
A leading gut health expert told Business Insider his favorite breakfast and revealed which breakfast dishes he often stops eating.
Breakfast foods like cereal are often highly processed, even when marketed as healthy. That’s why Dr. Tim Spector, a British epidemiologist, gut health expert and co-founder of science and nutrition company ZOE, has developed a breakfast combo that he eats every morning that is balanced and gut-healthy.
“I used to eat cereal with some skim milk, orange juice and tea and thought it was a super healthy breakfast,” he said.
But since switching to a more gut-friendly breakfast, Spector has found that he stays full “until lunch” and his energy levels remain consistent throughout the morning.
That’s what he has for breakfast now.
Yoghurt with toppings
Spector avoids bread, cereal and cornflakes in the morning because they are often highly processed and contain added sugar. UPFs have been linked to a number of health problems, including an increased risk of cancer and type 2 diabetes. Dr. Heidi Tissenbaum, an expert in healthy aging, previously told BI that added sugar is detrimental to health and longevity.
Instead, Spector takes three to four generous tablespoons of full-fat Greek yogurt mixed with about 5 ounces of kefir (fermented milk), and tops it all with nuts, seeds, and fresh or frozen berries.
He uses toppings from his Diversity jar, a handy container of various nuts, seeds and dried fruits that he always keeps on hand to sprinkle over meals and snacks.
He likes to drink kefir in the morning because it’s fermented, meaning he can check off one of the three fermented foods he tries to eat daily before he even leaves the house. In a 2021 study by researchers at Stanford University, fermented foods were linked to increased gut microbe diversity and reduced inflammation, with evidence suggesting they should be a “key component of a healthy diet.”
Spector drinks black coffee – but never orange juice
Orange juice is “one of the worst things you can drink in the morning,” said Spector, partly because of the sugar it contains.
Instead, he drinks a cup of black coffee every morning because, as he says, it is a “health drink.”
Coffee is “really good for the intestinal flora and the heart,” he said. “And if you don’t tolerate it well, drink decaffeinated coffee, because that’s still good for the intestinal flora.”
This is because coffee contains a lot of fiber and “defensive chemicals called polyphenols, which are like rocket fuel for your gut microbes,” he said. A 2020 study published in the journal Food Frontiers suggested that polyphenols are actually good for gut health and also help prevent chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.
He said that even coffee with milk and sugar was beneficial because it allowed you to “drink all those good things” – he just recommended minimizing both as much as possible.
Read the original article on Business Insider
