It is always an odd feeling when something, or an idea, with which you have been familiar with for a long time suddenly becomes fashionable and quite well known. When I started doing Stav Ivar explained the importance of a staple food which should be eaten daily if possible. The three reasons for eating such a staple are: Firstly, to provide energy for work and just to get you through the day. Secondly, to provide an absorbent bulk in the gut to enable peristalsis to move food through your digestive system and to absorb toxins for elimination from your body. Thirdly, to provide consistent nourishment for the billions of bacteria and other microscopic entities which comprise your gut biome. This mass of microscopic life which colonises your gut produces the enzymes which actually digest your food enabling you body to absorb the nutrients which are essential to life.

The idea that you even had such a thing as a gut biome, let alone that it was important, was no more than a fringe idea until quite recently. Today, tests for the well being of your gut biome and products such as pro-biotics are big business as a visit to store such as Holland and Barrett, or a quick search online, will quickly reveal. For most of history the staple was simply the food that provided the bulk of most people’s diet and they didn’t have much choice in the matter anyway. However, there are now two major factors which mean that we have to make a conscious effort to look after our gut biome, so that it can look after us. There are many foodstuffs which will provide a healthy staple in our diet. In the far east it will likely be rice. In the Americas corn. In other places grains such as millet or sorgum will suffice. In rural Ireland potatoes were the basis of many people’s diet. In northern Europe oats have long been the staple on which populations depended.

In Stav the eating of porridge or some other form of oatmeal for breakfast has become almost a ritual. I have eaten porridge, or on occasion an oat based muesli, daily for over 30 years now and it certainly works for me. However, a problem will arise if you suddenly switch from one staple to another. For example, although rice may provide the same calorific value and roughage as oats, if your gut biome is used to oat meal it simply won’t be able to process the rice and will die off making it very hard for you to digest food at all. Ivar said that when he went to live in Japan he lost a great deal of weight in the first few months he was there despite eating very well in the Japanese manner. Gradually he acquired a local gut biome which was satisfied with a rice based diet and his system and his health and weight recovered. During the second world war the Japanese were accused of treating their Western prisoners very badly and starving them to death. This situation seemed to compare unfavourably with the death rate in German POW camps where most POWs survived. In fact POWs held by the Japanese were fed with pretty much the same diet as Japanese soldiers, as were German POWs. However, the rice based diet, combined with the privations of POW life, put a much greater strain on prisoners held by the Japanese than it did on German held POWs who were fed essentially the same diet as they had consumed before being taken prisoner.

When going on holiday to another country and eating the local diet it is worth considering the effect of consuming an unfamiliar staple food and the effect that it will have on your gut biome. Digestive problems and sickness on holiday are often blamed on poor food hygiene in ‘primitive’ countries. However, the real reason for a ‘gippy tummy’ may actually be neglecting to consider the needs of your gut biome while away from home and your normal diet.

The other modern factor which can have a seriously detrimental effect of the well being of your gut biome is the use of antibiotics. I very rarely take medication of any kind. However, about fifteen years ago I suffered a bad case of pleurisy which became pneumonia which was not a pleasant experience. I was prescribed two courses of quite powerful antibiotics, which is apparently the usual treatment and I made a full recovery. However, I also lost a lot of weight and I was recommended by those who understand alternative health to take a probiotic to re-establish my gut biome which had been effectively destroyed by the antibiotics. When I asked my doctor about taking probiotics I just got a blank stare. I would like to think that even GPs might know a bit more about gut health today than they did a decade and a half ago. You will find that most people who have taken powerful antibiotics will report weight loss, if not noticeable digestive problems.

Fortunately it seems that the body has a way of making sure that you never completely lose your gut biome. For a long time it was believed that the appendix (a small finger shaped organ which extends from the large intestine) was a leftover from an earlier stage of human evolution which no longer serves any useful purpose. However, it now seems that this organ functions as a ‘safe house’ or reservoir for beneficent gut bacteria. Should the gut be subjected to harsh conditions, such as severe diarrhoea, which might flush out the established biome, the bacteria surviving in the appendix would then be able to repopulate the gut and restore biome health and well-being. 1.

To make porridge obtain the best quality oats that you can find and afford. In a pan put two measures of water for one measure of oats and a little bit of salt to taste. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 or 3 minutes, then insulate the pan with the lid on with a towel or similar and leave to stand for 10 minutes. Serve with dried fruit and yogurt or similar. Alternatively, put the portion of oats in a container with milk and some dried fruit and nuts and leave in the fridge overnight. The oats will soak up the milk and be nicely edible the next morning.

1. The True Function of the Appendix

PS Why not come and learn how to make Stav part of your life? Come to Stavcamp, 3rd to 6th of September 2026