BOOST YOUR 'BIOME

Eat your way to better digestive health this Love Your Gut Week, on September 15-21, with three gut-friendly recipes

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Want a happy gut? A growing bank of data is supporting the important role gut health plays in a myriad other areas of our wellbeing, including its impact on immunity, heart health, mood and even brain health. Fortunately, looking after your gut and nourishing your microbiome doesn't have to be hard work - it can be as simple as eating the right stuff.

This is why the experts at Love Your Gut (loveyourgut.com) have created these new easy and delicious recipes to help support a healthy gut microbiome. Each one is full of gut-friendly ingredients and nutrients, such as plant-based foods, fibre and fermented foods, plus prebiotics, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. And because eating a variety of foods results in more diverse gut bacteria, each recipe includes different microbiome-loving 'hero' ingredients. Ready to build a healthier body? Let's get cooking!

POKE BOWL WITH STICKY MISO AUBERGINE AND KIMCHI

Poke bowls, with their mix of colourful vegetables, are always a nutritious choice, but this recipe boosts the gut-health benefits even more. We've replaced half of the sushi rice with mixed-colour quinoa to increase the fibre content of the poke base. As well as providing additional fibre and colours, varieties of the same plant contain different polyphenols which fuel the microbiome. The aubergine is cooked with miso paste and sprinkled with sesame seeds and there's a generous portion of kimchi. Serve with a rainbow of salad veg.

Ingredients

Serves: 4

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

• 125g sushi rice

• 125g white, black and red quinoa

• 25ml rice vinegar

• 1 tbsp caster sugar

For the aubergine:

• 2 medium aubergines, cut into 5 cm cubes

• 2 tbsp sunflower oil

• 2 tbsp white miso paste

• 1 tbsp rice vinegar