Challenge

The Challenge

The Gut Bug Challenge is a challenge where the objective is to knock out the bad gut bacteria by replacing them with good gut bacteria, 'goodies' by making healthy choices.

Make enough healthy choices during the day and you will have replaced all ten bad bacteria with good bacteria to have helped to win the battle going on in your Gut.

Some people like to put the challenge on the fridge at a height that your child can easily reach, or cupboard, so that they can participate in blasting the baddies once they have made a healthy choice. Other people like to use it as a placemat on the table to update as you eat.

Encouraging Healthy Habits

Use the challenge to develop the healthy habits best suited for your situation. Let the child decide on the rules they want to play by, and be flexible, as starting is the main thing. Allow “two for something new” and use the challenge to change for any better habit you are trying to encourage. This will grow as they start to play the battle for themselves. This challenge will empower your child to engage in their own battle, as it is theirs to be won and hopefully remove some of the battles you were maybe having before.

Battle Packs Available HERE....

If your child has been using one of our paper templates in class, or is new to the Challenge and would like their own home copy its now available to buy here.

BUY NOW

£15.00 + Postage & Packing

The Battle Pack contains all the components you need to engage in The Gut Bug Challenge

A4 Laminated Battle Board and Tracking Sheet
Components to make 10 Good Gut Bug Disks - Stickers Wooden Disks and Magnets
Jumbo Pack of Family Phyte Cards
All items supplied in A4 plastic wallet for safe storage

This is everything you need to start your food journey to establish better choices and nudge healthier habits.

Achieving Different Levels

Level 1 - Blast the Baddies At this level the challenge is to blast off all of the baddies on your 'Battle board.' Level 1 is played when every time you eat a Phyto Friend you get to cover over a bad gut bacteria. When you have covered over all ten you have won the battle. Keep a track of how many baddies you blast in a day and then start over again the next day and see if you can blast even more. When you are consistently blasting ten, move to the next level.

Level 2 - Most Baddies Blasted in one day. Level 2 is played when you then have to decide which are the Phyto Foes you might eat too many of and then if you eat one of those you must uncover one of your baddies. This will encourage you to eat more Phyto Friends to make up for any Foes you might eat. This game is not about never having treats as we all need to enjoy them every now and again. When you feel Level 2 is getting too easy then it is time to up your game again. Keep it fun and Keep Going!!!

Level 3 - Most days in a row I have won the Battle. Now you are really winning and those goodies are definitely in control. We really hope you are feeling so many of the benefits by now. This level is really one to track how many days in a row you can “win The Gut Bug Challenge”. Every day you blast ten baddies is a win and keep track of what your best streak is!

Level 4 - The Challenge. This is for the more competitive ones among you. You can challenge a friend or family member to a battle and for fun we call it a Phyte. Agree the rules between you from the different levels above and see who can “win” the challenge every day or the battle over time. It is not about over eating, it is about making the best choices!!!

Nudging towards healthier choices...

The simplest way to ensure you are getting the total range of the phytonutrients our Phyto Friends provide, and our bodies need, is to try to eat as many different colours of the rainbow every day.

Different classes of Phyto Friends (fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices) have different Phyto Powers. It is really important that we try to eat things from all the different. Try more nuts, seeds, herbs and spices and look for a new fruit and vegetable to add into the mix also.

The balance of our meal plates has gone away from colourful vegetables in favour of brown meats and yellow potatoes, pasta and other carbohydrates. We are challenging you to swap this balance. Meat is a treat, so have some meals without it, make portions smaller of yellow and brown and go large on the colours of the rainbow!

Blast two for something new

To optimise your health you need to have a good variety of good gut bacteria in your gut microbiome. These goodies like to eat a mixture of foods and so it is important we are open to try different things. We encourage this by allowing two “baddies” to be blasted each time something new is tried.

Hold Your Nose and Another One Goes...

To encourage the maximum variety of Goodies in our Microbiomes it's important to try to eat things we might think we do not like. You need to have tried something twenty times before your body can truly know it does not like it!! We encourage challengers to say that they do not like something “yet” and allow them to blast two baddies if they try something again. Holding your nose is a great way to hide the taste of something as smell and taste are very closely linked!

Nudging from a Neutral

Meat, eggs, breads, pasta, dairy and pretty much anything else that isn’t grown from seeds or plants are all considered neutral for the purpose of our challenge. But they are not all equal and better choices can still be made. Let’s look at a couple of examples to help understand.
If you choose to swap to eating brown bread over white then you can blast a baddie for that choice. Keep blasting a baddie until you are comfortable that this is a great habit you have and it has become normal for you. The same is true for pasta.
Another good example might be yoghurts with sugars in, verses more natural alternatives with some fresh fruit.

Organic If You Can

Another nudge for all foods types would be where possible to go organic. We understand the cost implications can make it difficult but would suggest eating less meat but making it organic, drinking less milk but making it organic if you can! Every year a survey is completed about which fruit and vegetables absorb the most toxins when they are not grown organically. The clean Fifteen are the vegetables that are OK to eat as inorganic however the Dirty Dozen we would recommend you eat organic if possible. If this is not possible then peeling can significantly reduce the toxin absorption in the Dirty Dozen.

Love Your Phyto Friends

The simple message is that there are so many Phyto Friends to chose from, just try to get as many different colours and class of food on your plate as possible during the week and any meal.

School Challenge

If you would like to understand more about our School Programme then just follow link below.

SCHOOL CHALLENGE

The GUT BUG ​Challenge