Three o’clock used to be bloat o’clock. Every single afternoon. Uncomfortable. Couldn’t concentrate. Thought it was just normal.
Turns out I was feeding the wrong bugs.
Two years ago my gut was a weed patch. Ultra-processed foods. Meal deals. Ready meals. Biscuits. The bad bugs were thriving. Taking up all the space. Elbowing out the good ones.
Then I switched. Started feeding the flowers instead. Fermented foods. Thirty plants per week. Whole foods. Eighteen months later? The weeds barely show up anymore. The bloating? Gone. Just… gone.
Today I’m sharing what happened when I started gardening my gut — and what one of the world’s leading microbiome researchers explains about why it worked.
My Gut Was a Weed Patch (For Years)
Two years ago my gut was a mess. Not diagnosed with anything serious. No IBS. No Crohn’s. Just frequent upset stomachs. Bloating by mid-afternoon. Low energy. I thought it was normal.
It wasn’t.
I was feeding the weeds. Meal deals. Biscuits. Crisps. Ready meals. Almost all ultra-processed. High sugar. High saturated fat. All the things that bad bugs love. And they were thriving. Taking up space. Elbowing out the good ones.
Think of your gut like a garden. You’ve got flowers and you’ve got weeds. Good bugs and bad bugs. They’re competing for the same space. Same soil. Same nutrients. And here’s the thing — you can’t have both thriving at once.
If the flowers take up all the space, the weeds can’t grow. If the weeds take over, the flowers die. You decide which ones get fed.
I was feeding the weeds. Daily. For years.
Eighteen Months of Feeding the Flowers
Then I did a 21-day fast. Came out the other side. And during refeed I thought — right, let’s see what happens if I actually feed the good stuff.
Started with fermented foods. Swapped chutneys on crackers for kimchi and sauerkraut. Just to see. Loved it. Tangy. Sharp. Fizzy. And my gut didn’t complain. Which was new.
Then I went a bit mad. Made twenty jars of fermented food in one week. Kimchi variations. Sauerkraut. All bubbling away in the cupboard. My kitchen was chaos. I am not the cleanest cook — I can mess things up just by looking at them. But somehow it worked.
Took forever to eat them all. But I did. And I’m still making my own six months on.
At the same time I started tracking plants. Thirty per week. Vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, legumes, whole grains. All of it counts.
Two years ago I was probably eating five plants per week. Five. Now it’s thirty. Every week.
And here’s what I noticed:
- Upset stomachs? Used to be weekly. Now it’s once every few months. If that.
- Bloating? Gone. Used to happen every afternoon like clockwork. 3pm. Bloated. Uncomfortable. Now? Nothing.
- Energy? Steadier. Not bouncing between highs and lows. Just level. Which sounds boring but it’s brilliant.
Can’t prove it’s the fermented foods and Plant-30. Can’t measure which bugs I’ve got now versus then. Don’t have a microbiome test.
But the timeline lines up. Eighteen months of feeding the flowers. And the weeds barely show up anymore.
The Science: Why Good Bugs Beat Bad Bugs
So why did feeding differently make such a difference?
Nicola Segata — one of the world’s leading microbiome researchers — explains it perfectly. He’s been studying gut bacteria for years. Works with Tim Spector at ZOE. Published research on 34,000 people’s microbiomes in Nature.
And here’s what he says about good bugs versus bad bugs:
“It’s a balance. It’s an equilibrium. There is only so much ecological space in the gut. And if you have enough of good bugs, there is no space for the bad ones.”
That’s the garden analogy. Flowers and weeds competing for space.
Bad bugs love junk food. They love ultra-processed stuff. High sugar. High saturated fat. They’re easy to please. They’ll eat anything.
Good bugs are pickier. They want fibre. They want diversity. They want fermented foods. They want thirty different plants per week.
So when I was eating almost all UPFs two years ago, I was feeding the weeds. And they were taking over. No space left for the flowers.
Then I switched. Fermented foods. Whole foods. Plant diversity. I started feeding the flowers. And the flowers squeezed out the weeds.
That’s what Nicola’s research explains. It’s not that I killed the bad bugs. They’re still there. Just smaller numbers. Not enough to cause problems. Because the good ones took up all the space.
Now here’s the thing people get wrong. Bad bugs aren’t evil. They’re just opportunistic. They’re not trying to make you ill. They’re not villains. They’re just doing what bugs do. Eating whatever’s available. Growing wherever there’s space.
If you feed them junk food, they thrive. Because that’s what they like. And when they thrive, they push out the good ones.
But if you stop feeding them — if you cut the UPFs and start feeding whole foods instead — they shrink. Because they’ve got nothing to eat. And the good bugs take over.
It’s not about declaring war on bad bugs. It’s about choosing which ones you want to feed. Simple as that.
This Week: Identify Your Weeds
Right. So what do you actually do with this? Here’s what I’d suggest — and this is what worked for me, not what I’m prescribing.
This week: Identify your weeds.
Track which UPFs you eat most often. Not all of them. Just the ones that show up every day.
For me it was meal deal sandwiches. For you it might be:
- Biscuits after dinner
- Crisps with lunch
- Cereal for breakfast
- Ready meals three times per week
Whatever it is, write it down. Just notice. Don’t judge. Don’t change anything yet. Just notice.
By the end of the week you’ll have a list. Three to five things you eat regularly that are ultra-processed.
Pick one. The easiest one to cut. The one you won’t miss too much. Cut it for seven days. See what happens.
Don’t replace it with another UPF. Replace it with something real. Whole food. Something that came out of the ground or off a tree or from an animal.
If you cut meal deal sandwiches, replace them with soup you made yourself. Salad with leftover chicken. Crackers with cheese and kimchi.
If you cut biscuits after dinner, replace them with a handful of nuts. An apple. Natural yogurt with berries.
Real food. Not packaged. Not processed.
That’s it. One weed. Seven days.
Feed the flowers. Starve the weeds. Do that for seven days and see what your gut tells you.
If it’s anything like mine, you’ll notice. Not overnight. But by day five or six. Calmer. Steadier. Less reactive.
🎯 Key Takeaways
- Your gut is a garden — Good bugs and bad bugs compete for ecological space. You decide which ones get fed.
- Bad bugs thrive on UPFs — High sugar, high saturated fat, ultra-processed foods feed the weeds. Cut one this week.
- Good bugs need diversity — Fermented foods and thirty plants per week squeezed out my bloating in eighteen months.
Ready to Start Gardening Your Gut?
If you want a step-by-step guide to identifying your weeds, planting the right flowers, and adding fermented foods that actually work, I’ve put together a free starter pack.
👉 Get the 14-Day Rhythm Reset Guide (free)
💪 Want ongoing support? Join Rhythm Club for £30/month (includes FREE app access, community, and weekly accountability calls)
“Your gut is a garden. Not literally. But sort of. You’ve got flowers and you’ve got weeds. Good bugs and bad bugs. And they’re competing for the same space. Same soil. Same nutrients. And here’s the thing — you can’t have both thriving at once. If the flowers take up all the space, the weeds can’t grow. If the weeds take over, the flowers die. You decide which ones get fed.”
“I didn’t think about it like that two years ago. I was just eating whatever. Mostly UPFs. And my gut was… well, a weed patch, basically. Then I started feeding the flowers. Fermented foods. Thirty plants per week. Whole foods. Non-UPF. Eighteen months later, the weeds barely show up anymore.”
“Nicola Segata — one of the leading gut health researchers in the world — uses this garden analogy to explain how your microbiome actually works. Good bugs and bad bugs competing for ecological space. So today I’m sharing what happened when I started gardening my gut — and what Nicola’s research explains about why it worked. Let’s get into it.”
“Right. Two years ago, my gut was a mess. Not diagnosed with anything. No IBS. No Crohn’s. Just… frequent upset stomachs. Bloating by mid-afternoon. Low energy. Thought it was normal.” “Turns out I was feeding the weeds. Meal deals. Biscuits. Crisps. Ready meals. Almost all ultra-processed. High sugar. High saturated fat. All the things that bad bugs love. And they were thriving. Taking up space. Elbowing out the good ones.”
“Then I did a 21-day fast. Came out the other side. And during refeed I thought — right, let’s see what happens if I actually feed the good stuff.”
“Started with fermented foods. Swapped chutneys on crackers for kimchi and sauerkraut. Just to see. Loved it. Tangy. Sharp. Fizzy. And my gut didn’t complain. Which was new.”
“Then I went a bit mad. Made twenty jars of fermented food in one week. Kimchi variations. Sauerkraut. All bubbling away in the cupboard. My kitchen was chaos. I am not the cleanest cook — I can mess things up just by looking at them. But somehow it worked. Took forever to eat them all. But I did. And I’m still making my own six months on.”
“At the same time, I started tracking plants. Thirty per week. Vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, legumes, whole grains. All of it counts. Two years ago I was probably eating five plants per week. Five. Now it’s thirty. Every week.” “And here’s what I noticed — the weeds stopped showing up. Upset stomachs? Used to be weekly. Now it’s… what, once every few months? If that. Bloating? Gone. Just… gone. Used to happen every afternoon like clockwork. 3pm. Bloated. Uncomfortable. Now? Nothing. Energy? Steadier. Not bouncing between highs and lows. Just… level. Which sounds boring but it’s brilliant.”
“Can’t prove it’s the fermented foods and Plant-30. Can’t measure which bugs I’ve got now versus then. Don’t have a microbiome test. But the timeline lines up. Eighteen months of feeding the flowers. And the weeds barely show up anymore.”
“So why did feeding differently make such a difference? Nicola Segata — one of the world’s leading microbiome researchers — explains it perfectly. He’s been studying gut bacteria for years. Works with Tim Spector at ZOE. Published research on 34,000 people’s microbiomes in Nature.”
“And here’s what he says about good bugs versus bad bugs: ‘It’s a balance. It’s an equilibrium. There is only so much ecological space in the gut. And if you have enough of good bugs, there is no space for the bad ones.’ That’s the garden analogy. Flowers and weeds competing for space.” “Bad bugs love junk food. They love ultra-processed stuff. High sugar. High saturated fat. They’re easy to please. They’ll eat anything. Good bugs are pickier. They want fiber. They want diversity. They want fermented foods. They want thirty different plants per week.”
“So when I was eating almost all UPFs two years ago, I was feeding the weeds. And they were taking over. No space left for the flowers. Then I switched. Fermented foods. Whole foods. Plant diversity. I started feeding the flowers. And the flowers squeezed out the weeds.”
“That’s what Nicola’s research explains. It’s not that I killed the bad bugs. They’re still there. Just… smaller numbers. Not enough to cause problems. Because the good ones took up all the space.”
“Now here’s the thing people get wrong. Bad bugs aren’t evil. They’re just opportunistic. They’re not trying to make you ill. They’re not villains. They’re just… doing what bugs do. Eating whatever’s available. Growing wherever there’s space.”
“If you feed them junk food, they thrive. Because that’s what they like. And when they thrive, they push out the good ones. But if you stop feeding them — if you cut the UPFs and start feeding whole foods instead — they shrink. Because they’ve got nothing to eat. And the good bugs take over. It’s not about declaring war on bad bugs. It’s about choosing which ones you want to feed. Simple as that.”
“Right. So what do you actually do with this? Here’s what I’d suggest — and this is what worked for me, not what I’m prescribing.”
“This week: Identify your weeds. Track which UPFs you eat most often. Not all of them. Just the ones that show up every day. For me it was meal deal sandwiches. For you it might be biscuits after dinner. Crisps with lunch. Cereal for breakfast. Ready meals three times per week. Whatever it is, write it down. Just notice. Don’t judge. Don’t change anything yet. Just notice.”
“By the end of the week you’ll have a list. Three to five things you eat regularly that are ultra-processed. Pick one. The easiest one to cut. The one you won’t miss too much. Cut it for seven days. See what happens.”
“Don’t replace it with another UPF. Replace it with something real. Whole food. Something that came out of the ground or off a tree or from an animal. If you cut meal deal sandwiches, replace them with… I don’t know, soup you made yourself. Salad with leftover chicken. Crackers with cheese and kimchi. If you cut biscuits after dinner, replace them with a handful of nuts. An apple. Natural yogurt with berries. Real food. Not packaged. Not processed.”
“That’s it. One weed. Seven days.”
“Feed the flowers. Starve the weeds. Do that for seven days and see what your gut tells you. If it’s anything like mine, you’ll notice. Not overnight. But by day five or six. Calmer. Steadier. Less reactive.” “If this makes sense, I’ve put together a free guide called The Microbiome Starter Pack — covers how to identify your weeds, which flowers to plant, and fermented food recipes that actually work. Link’s in the description. Grab it.”
“Quick disclaimer — this is educational content only, not medical advice. If you’re thinking about changing your diet or you’ve got existing health conditions, speak to your GP first. Especially if you’re on medication.”
“Right. That’s it. Feed the flowers. Starve the weeds. See you in the next one.”
⚠️ Important: This is educational content based on evidence and personal experience. It is not medical advice. Speak to your GP before making changes to your fasting pattern, diet, or medication.
Questions? Email hello@waymorethanweightloss.com
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