Our guts have taken a beating this year from the continual myriad of stress, uncertainty, and disruptions to routine. If we aren't still in lockdown, many of us are working from home, we have cut down on social activities diminishing many opportunities for incidental exercise.

Coming out of winter it's all too easy to fall deep into comfort, instead of nutrition. In a nutshell: we are stressed out, eating more, moving less and I, for one, am feeling sluggish.

"Psychological and emotional stress can affect gut microbiome balance," Mikhaila Todd, Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, specialising in gut health, tellsMamamia."And when your gut is unhealthy, your whole body is at risk."

Mikhaila explains: "The digestive, immune, nervous, and endocrine systems all communicate and interact with each other, so when your gut is not functioning properly, the processes of the other systems can be compromised."

So how can we turn this around? "Diet is the most powerful influence on your gut microbiome," Mikhaila says. "Negative symptoms may have the potential to be reversed when the offensive triggers are removed and replaced with a healthy diet, supplementation and regular exercise."

OK, so mixing up what we're having for dinner could be a good place to start. Let's run through some quick, easy recipes to spice up those weeknight dinners, and how they're good for your gut.

1. Satay spring curry by Mikhaila Todd

How is this good for our guts?Mikhaila explains: "This plant-based recipe contains a high amount of soluble fibre (onions, garlic, sweet potato, zucchini, peas and jackfruit). The leftover fibres that we can't digest, feed good bacteria in the gut producing beneficial vitamins and short chain fatty acids as a by-product that nourish gut lining."

Prep/Cooking time:

30 minutes

Serving Size:

4 serves

Ingredients:

Method:

2. Gut-nourishing healthy pizza by Kale Brock, via Nutra-Life

How is this good for our guts?Mikhaila explains: "LSA (linseed, sunflower seeds and almonds) helps calm and sooth gut lining while the high-fibre punch can also help keep bowels regular. Thyme is found in many stomach tonics for its anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties."

Prep/Cooking time:

45 minutes

Serves:

2-4 serves

Ingredients:

The Crust

The Sauce

Method:

3. Zucchini frittata, by the CSIRO Healthy Gut Diet

How is this good for our guts?"The high-water vegetable celery, can be helpful for activating hydrologic acid resulting in improved digestion. Zucchini is also high in water and contains insoluble fibre helping foods to move through the gut easily," Mikhaila says.

Prep/Cooking Time:

25 minutes

Serving Size:

4 serves

Ingredients

Method

TIP: You can add 2 cups (270 g) chopped unpeeled sweet potato to the zucchini mixture in the pan – just cook it for an additional 5 minutes to soften.

4. Carrot and kale dhal by Brown Paper Bag Nutrition, via Nutra-Life

How is this good for our guts?Mikhaila explains: "Ghee is well known in Ayurvedic medicine to improve absorption availability of the small intestine, lubricate the gastro-intestinal tract and other tissues in the body. Red lentils boosts a meals fibre content working to improve overall gut function."

Prep/Cooking Time:

30 mins

Serving Size:

4 serves

Ingredients

Method

5. Pesto pasta by Mikhaila Todd.