Gut Healing Through Simplicity: Lee Holmes’ Food-First Approach

How are you ? I'm great . Thank you so much for having me . It's really good to be here . Absolute pleasure to have you on the show Now , lee . Firstly , I've got to thank you for your time today . I know you're very busy , but let's go back into history . What first got you interested in gut health ?

My hair was falling out , I was covered in hives , I kept on going to work as you do I was a parent kept on pushing myself till eventually I couldn't really go on any further and I went through the medical system , which I found to be really quite complex because I felt like I was being pushed from one doctor to another with no real answers to anything at

all . So then what happened was I eventually was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease which eight years later was diagnosed

as Crohn's , and something called fibromyalgia , which was , I felt , really achy and stiff when I got up . So from there I was put on this concoction of different prescription medications which really messed me and threw me around a lot and I started to get really interested in gut health .

Back then I said to them do you think you know this has anything to do with diet ? Because I noticed when I eat certain things my symptoms really flare up , especially things like MSG and a lot of the preservatives in foods .

I was putting lean cuisine in the microwave and , you know , for lunch at work and it would just make me feel really itchy and tired after eating . And they said , no , no , nothing to do with your gut whatsoever , even though I have since been diagnosed with Crohn's .

So I was sort of on that sort of journey of learning about natural health and I really intrinsically thought it was my gut .

So I went home after being in hospital at St Vincent's for a little bit and started to cook really simple foods , because I just felt like I needed to just pare everything back and just go back to simple eating and whole foods and things like that . And I did that and it really helped a lot .

And I was using garlic instead of a lot of the antibiotics I was given and curcumin and turmeric and , as you know , even my gastroenterologist is prescribing them to his patients now , which is amazing . So I started to look at different food and food ingredients and it really helped me and I got so passionate about gut health . I went back to study .

For six years I studied clinical nutrition and I did two courses in clinical nutrition and then I started my blog , supercharged Food , and yeah , I kind of just went from there and I really do feel like the gut is the epicenter to health and that was kind of where I knew everything was stemming from . That's how I got into it .

Yeah , and , and this was a milk-based , uh protein , high calorie , uh liquid , but it was . It was only for a short period of time . Now , admittedly , it was dairy-based and a lot of people react to dairy . I get it .

I get our preponderance to try and avoid dairy , but I wonder if all of these different types of things , even like the carnivore diet for autoimmune disease , whatever sort of diet it is , when they're paired back into a simple thing , is it that it's oligoantigenic ?

Is it that part of this rest for the gut is just saying can you just leave me alone for a bit and just give me one or two things to think about , rather than 20 million ? yeah but then the job of healing begins . What take me through this ?

When it's when you , when you have in a basis of inflammatory issues or you have immune dysregulation , which obviously you know the immune system , a lot of it is kind of produced . Your immune cells are produced in the gut . When you think about that , pairing it back and going really simple with food for me definitely helped me so much .

And then trying to do things that are cooked or or , um , like smoothies , just something really gentle on the digestion , so you're not then digesting lots of salads and nuts and really harsh things . I found for me that really helped as well with things like bloating and things like pain after eating and things like that .

So I think just going back to basics and very , a very simple diet , even just for a little period of time , allows the body and the gut to sort of reset itself and calm down and really calm down any inflammation and what have you for the Crohn's . It really helped me a lot , and then trying to eat more sort of whole foods , if you can .

I found that that was really helpful because I wasn't then trying to process artificial sugars and all these other things that kind of are quite difficult for the body to actually process . So , yeah , I completely agree with you .

you know . How do you prevent patients ?

So , whether it's getting up in the morning and having a smoothie with lots of different like fibre-rich veggies or some fruit or some good fats , flaxseed , that kind of thing I find that that kind of sets them up for the day , whereas if they start going back to their old habits some flaxseed that kind of thing I find that that kind of sets them up for the

day , Whereas if they start going back to their old habits and in the morning especially , just eating cereal with lots of sugar and lots of dairy and what have you it kind of just they're like oh , I feel terrible . Anyway , I may as well just eat what I want . So I try and just start with simple things .

Simple things like just having a smoothie , or maybe just cooking meals ahead , or maybe just having a food prepared , or just very , very simple things , and definitely nothing too much for them . I find that they just they're busy , everyone's busy and working , and they have families and things like that . So it is very difficult .

So , yeah , pairing it back , going back again to simplicity . What do you think ?

So this gentle change , you know , and I think also a knowledge of why they're changing that thing a day or even every week , whatever they're doing about okay , this is why I'm doing that , that's why I'm doing this then that can give them the reasoning for changing their habits to healthy habits . Yeah , lee , can I ask you , can I ask you ?

At the beginning you mentioned the two diagnoses . One of them was Crohn's and , forgive me , I missed the other one .

You feel stiff and you feel achy , a little bit like arthritis . So yeah , and you also you have gut issues with it too . It was all kind of interrelated and I feel that I've done a lot of research on this and Crohn's , and you also have gut issues with it too .

It was all kind of interrelated and I feel that I've done a lot of research on this and Crohn's , and it's almost like a triangle where you have some kind of irritable bowel disease and then you have fibromyalgia on top of that and some kind of inflammatory issue or a bladder issue as well . It's like a triangle . I've noticed with clients as well .

Your sleep's affected , as you know , your skin , you many things that happen . Your sleep's affected , as you know , your skin . You get skin disruptions , all of that sort of stuff . So what I say to them is just to , yeah , again , just go back to basics .

And I became a yoga and meditation teacher when I was kind of like learning nutrition and I found that Vedic meditation , which is something that I do for like 20 minutes a day , was just a little thing that I could do in the morning .

That really set me up for the day and really helped with any kind of nervous system dysregulation , because I feel like nervous system dysregulation and feeling wired , a lot of people are stressed and anxious and wired . If we can get to sort of the bottom of that , it's going to help all of the other things that happen .

So for me , it's like little things like

breathing , doing some deep breaths , a bit of meditation , also mindful eating .

So I do talk to my clients a lot about mindful eating and also you know when a lot of them are , you know , working , they eat on on the run , they don't sit down , they don't chew their food properly , and then they're bloated , they gassy afterwards and they're like , oh , why am I so ? Why have I got all these symptoms ?

So sometimes it's just simple things like that , like mindful eating and paying a little bit more attention to sitting down and chewing better , and that definitely those little things actually do really help digestion as well , I've found .

And also the other thing is going for a little walk after eating , which can help stimulate digestion , and that's that those little things have been very helpful for my clients and they find them easier than having a whole regime of things to do , you know .

Right , okay , that's a good point and I find that , hmm , like , are we talking about sympathetic , parasympathetic nervous stimulation ? Are we talking about , like , an immediate effect on fermentation ? Yeah , do we have an answer there ? Do we have any ?

So it could be that , um , yeah , perhaps yeah .

I try and work more on that , if that makes sense .

Also , when looking at the whole microbiome , I would look at like a symbiotic type product with a probiotic , prebiotic , digestive enzyme and dietary fiber in one , because I feel like fiber is very underrated when it comes to gut health and you know a lot of people have been on paleo diets as well and they're not getting enough prebiotic rich fibers .

They're going , oh , I can't eat that sweet potato because I'm paleo , but then they're all coming to me with gut issues going oh , I was on paleo and now my gut's not working properly and they're not getting enough prebiotic rich fibers . So , yeah , I talk to them about their diet a little bit . We'll go through what they're eating and make a few little tweaks .

To start with , Do you know ?

It was not the carnivore diet at all . The paleo diet was largely plant-based and I thought about it and I thought hang on . So while these neolithic humans were chasing down the meat prize , they had to eat along the way , and the things that were along the way were berries and tubers , and things like that .

I think for a lot of my clients as well , they have that thinking and so it's very black and white like they , they're very much like them . I can't eat this and it sets you up for a bit of , you know , eating disorder um territory . When they're , they're kind of going down that road . So I basically try and make things .

I don't try to subscribe to any diets and say we're doing it right or wrong sort of thing . Does that make sense ?

yeah , absolutely , and it's a very salient point about point about you make about the language that we use that can , in a susceptible person , lead them down an eating disorder time , um sort of framework yeah , I agree , and things like orthorexia , where I have some clients who they don't just eat clean , they eat squeaky clean and because of that they're anxious

about what they eat , and then that anxiety sets them up for more dysregulation and it's just a cycle I've found . So , yeah , I try and just keep things nice and gentle .

I'm a very gentle nutritionist and I just try and get them to choose for themselves and think a bit more for themselves , give them the options and and that kind of thing , but just say to them you know , don't be too strict on yourself , because that's just who wants to live like that .

were arguing with your siblings or whatever , you knew that six o'clock was dinner and you would sit down around a table and you'd maybe talk about your day or whatever , or have an argument with your sister or whatever , but still there was that beautiful coming together and connection around food , and I , for me , food is so important and it's something to really

connect all of us , no matter what diet you just prescribe to or anything like that .

I feel like just coming together and enjoying food is so , so important for us as a society and I feel like we've really lost that because these days you look at a table and even if they're sitting down , there's someone on a mobile phone , there could be a computer open someone's TV . We're kind of disconnected , don't you think ?

Sometimes , in some places , Absolutely , absolutely .

So what I say to them is one day a week , why don't you just cook a meal at home and then all have it together if it's a Friday night or a Thursday night , and just have that one day a week where you're all together ? At least that's starting something , something good , I think that .

So I just , yeah , that's how I kind of talk to them about it and they do enjoy it . Yeah , I've had really good feedback on that .

There's a , there's a , a process you have to go through to to do this and you know you don't mulch it up , you just it's a light toss and you know when you're doing this , don't stir it in so there was this real interest and , um , both of my sons have taken that and they eat so healthily . Now , they went through their time .

They did go through their time , but you know the sugar and the milk and all that sort of thing , but both of them are , so they're not , as you say , squeaky , but they're appreciative of good , healthy food and they enjoy . It .

I think that if you've grown up in a food culture where it's instant pasta with a can of tomato sauce that you pour over the top , it's really hard to break the culture . However , at any time when I do talks about this , actually at any time you can change your food culture . You don't have to be stuck on .

You know how you grew up and I think that what your wife is doing is just so beautiful and I think it's really yeah , it's lovely , it's really lovely .

Yeah , and it was rich oh , she was so interesting because , well , I would say things like um you know , for instance , uh , don't feed the pet at the table . And she said , no , no , no , I'll have arguments with parents about this . She said , if that's a way that the child will enjoy food , that will normalise food .

I don't care if the dog eats it , if the child says I'm going to feed them .

And I think when I talk to people about the microbiome , just in simple terms , I liken it to this rainforest where you've got to look after the soil , because it all kind of starts with the soil , don't you think ?

So I talk to them about things like colostrum , zinc , vitamin d , vitamin c , things to really build that healthy soil , and then you've got the trees that are your probiotics . So you want to be eating a lot of probiotic rich foods , if you can .

I know there's all different strains and the problem with probiotics , as you know , is some of them only last minutes in the gut , some last days , some last months . There's everyone's got a particular different strain , different strains of them in the body . So that's where prebiotics I think is so important .

That's where they come in to feed the good bacteria in the gut . So I just say that the trees are , like you know , little babies with their mouths open .

You have to constantly feed them with great prebiotic rich foods sweet potato , chicory , dandelion , asparagus , onions , peas , those kinds of foods , and then your ecosystem will be thriving because it's working well , and then things will flourish , the trees will flourish and it is an ecosystem in there , and that's kind of how I personally look at it .

But , anyway , we think about that as a garden , and what she was talking about in one of these papers was about it's not just one insult . One insult is , like you know , a golf swing taking a divot out of the , out of the golf , um , fairway right , um .

like that . So they can really throw that balance off and , yeah , I kind of talk to them about that and try and encourage them to eat a little bit more fresh if they can , and maybe look at a few recipes online if they like them , or in books , and then , yeah , try and start that way . Just very simply yeah , what about ?

you also mentioned colostrum , so there's , there's now this non non milk , non-dairy serum yeah , immunoglobulin which I like I've fallen in love with it's actually saved me from and and it was and it was a dodgy prawn . It seriously was the dodgy prawn thing wow now I'm interested now in this oh , this is great , but anyway .

So do you have a a time period where you'll start off on something and move to something else , like pre-bite ?

So , kind of , at a first thing we'll look at food , we'll try and do it through food and then see how they're going and things like that .

And then I would look to probably some kind of just low level multi-strain probiotic just to see whether that's going to help the engine work properly and get going and refuel them and give them energy and and create a microbiome that's actually generating energy for the body , which is what you want .

And then there are some immune system based probiotics that I am really interested in .

I'm learning more about them and I think they are good , because when you think about inflammation and the link between the immune cells talking to your microbiota , that is a real conversation that is happening there between the two and I think for me I would look at maybe some kind of multi-strain and see how they go , but definitely along the way , fiber and

prebiotics and trying to get it through food .

Banana flour I would be looking at those as well like sort of a balance balance , sort of amount of fiber , but something easy that they can pick up from the supermarket , like banana fiber , banana flour you can buy in the supermarket now , which is really good . Make some pancakes up .

I've got loads of recipes on my website for all these kind of foods , which is really good . Um yeah , simple ways to get fiber , not not necessarily taking a big fiber supplement that your body will kind of start to get used to and rely on .

I also put sometimes like coriander in there , and I put a little flat leaf parsley in there . I do cucumber in there , I do . Yeah , I try and kind of mix it up with something simple that they can just throw into a blender . That's how I kind of start and then trying to have more fiber at each meal if they can .

So fiber rich veg or maybe some also like things like some lentils if they can manage them . A lot of people with gut issues I've noticed lentils and and things like that are quite hard for them to digest , so we go really slowly with that yeah , what about chickpeas ? chickpeas as well .

Sometimes bloating cause bloating , a bit hard to digest , but making them into a hummus

and adding sometimes garlic as well is a bit hard for people . But if they've got that microbiome which is unbalanced , sometimes garlic is actually quite good for them . So it's just finding a balance with ingredients and I'll give them some little recipes to try and see how they go .

There's so much research now out there and I'm so happy about all the research on turmeric . I take turmeric myself , or curcumin , every day , and I also take fish oil , and I found those two things are really great for inflammation .

I'd get them to put flaxseed in their smoothie and try and see if they're okay with different types of fish like whitefish or salmon or things like that . Maybe if they're okay with tuna for them , that could be helpful for them as well sardines , those kinds of things . So we just do it in stages .

So magnesium , calcium , zinc , together with you know , maybe something else with it as well , maybe turmeric , which is going to kind of help them in a few ways . That's what I do , but I don't generally prescribe single ingredient or single vitamins or minerals like that .

There's 30 recipes in there and there's a protocol in there , and I taught there's a protocol in there too . So , and I worked with a naturopath on the book as well and I've done a nutritional component of it and I've worked with doctors from all over the world on this book and researched it . So , yeah , that's it .

It's called nature's way to healing along cover guide I love your work , lee .