“Christmas time is like throwing a hand grenade into your house. Before Christmas you've been celebrating and been going out a little bit more and you have a bit of that brain fog. And then you have maybe people coming to stay with you for Christmas - it isn't always the easiest time for people.”

But Eunice Power, chef, broadcaster, entrepreneur tells Jonathan Healy on the latest episode of That Gut Feeling that you can enjoy Christmas and make the most of it whilst staying healthy, especially in relation to your gut.

Eunice talks about the importance of list-making and if you thought cooking for a family of five or more is bad, she explains how her team once cooked for over 2,200 people in the 3Arena in Dublin before.

She’s also a fan of keeping things traditional and seasonal when it comes to the food but she says keeping it light is the key.

“I remember years ago you'd have the turkey sandwiches and you'd have the turkey curry and then you'd boil up the whole turkey and you'd make the turnip soup. But there are much lighter things to do and also don't buy a huge turkey when you're ordering your turkey, make sure it's big enough just for your house.”

Eunice’s turkey biriyani recipe is one that is sure to go down well and we’ve included her recipe below so make sure to give it a go!

That Gut Feeling is sponsored by Alflorex and Zenflore and produced by Healy Communications and LastCast Media.com.

Eunice Power’s Turkey Biriyani with Greek yoghurt sauce

‘This is a brilliant way of using up the last of the turkey. Strip the carcass of meat and chop into chunks. I have mentioned 400g of Turkey on my list of ingredients, but honestly I never weigh it. If you have some fresh mint and coriander it will really help to lift the dish flavourwise.’

50g butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

I large onion finely diced

2 garlic cloves

2 green chillies (optional)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon turmeric

400g cooked turkey – cut into chunks

200g Basmati Rice

3 Tbsp of Flaked almonds toasted

100g Raisins soaked in cold water

650ml hot chicken stock

Handful of coriander

Pomegranate seeds

To serve

200g Thick Greek yoghurt

1 heaped teaspoon of mint sauce or better still fresh mint if you have some

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan over a low heat.

Stir in the onions and garlic and cook until soft, add the cumin and turmeric and cook for a minute, then stir in the turkey, rice, raisins, almonds and chillies if using. Cook for a minute. Pour over enough stock to cover the rice by 1cm.

Cover with a moistened circle of greaseproof paper – this keeps in the steam and cooks the rice perfectly.

Cover the pan and cook for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside, uncovered for 5 minutes.

Garnish with a big handful of fresh coriander and pomegranate seeds, if you have some.

Meanwhile mix the Greek Yoghurt and mint sauce or fresh mint if you have it.

Serve the Biryani with a large dollop of Greek yoghurt.

“I'm obsessed with gut health and I have been for a very long time. I'm obsessed with the gut-brain axis and the link between all of that and as somebody who was told I had IBS in my teens, I'm very, very aware of it.”

Writer and broadcaster, Maia Dunphy is the guest on this week’s episode of That Gut Feeling, the podcast series that answers the critical questions surrounding gut health.

Maia talks openly and honestly to Jonathan Healy about being a single Mum and how she has been dealing with stress in her life – not least during the pandemic. But she says, not all stress is bad either.

“It's when stress starts to take over, if stress is keeping you awake, if stress is stopping you eating, if stress is making you eat too much, then you need to stop and go 'ok, well what can I do to try and redress the balance here?'. But other than that, stress is what makes me do my work a little better. A little bit of stress is a very good thing, otherwise, well I'd get nothing done without a certain amount of stress in my life.”

Throughout the series, Jonathan chats to leading Irish and International experts, including Professor Luke O Neill, That Fabulous Pharmacist Laura Dowling and Dr. Philip Kieran to find out more about our gut health and how we can improve it.

That Gut Feeling is sponsored by Alflorex and Zenflore and produced by Healy Communications and LastCast Media.com.

“I was always questioning nutritionists and wondering why I was taking certain things at certain times because I'd a real interest in it,” says the former Munster and Ireland rugby player, Peter Stringer on this week’s episode of That Gut Feeling, the podcast series that answers the critical questions surrounding gut health.

Peter talks to Jonathan Healy about coping with life after rugby, his lifelong interest in health, fitness and nutrition and why exercise will also remain so important to him – in life and business.

“For me, my outlet is training, going for a run, getting in the gym,” he explains. “And it’s not so much from a physical point of view, but it's just knowing that I've been in there, knowing that I've stepped out over that line and had that time to myself to blow off a few cobwebs and just kind of reset everything.”

Throughout the series, Jonathan chats to leading Irish and International experts, including Professor Luke O Neill, That Fabulous Pharmacist Laura Dowling and Dr. Philip Kieran to find out more about our gut health and how we can improve it.

That Gut Feeling is sponsored by Alflorex and Zenflore and produced by Healy Communications and LastCast Media.com.

“Nothing has changed in terms of how to live a healthy lifestyle which is diet, exercise, sleep, those three things remain as really important factors in how to best live a healthy life,” explains Laura Dowling, aka The Fabulous Pharmacist on the latest episode of That Gut Feeling, the podcast series that answers the critical questions surrounding gut health.

Laura talks to Jonathan Healy about vitamins, supplements and pills and why there really is no magic bullet except to live healthily and look after ourselves properly.

“People want a magic bullet,” she says on the podcast. “They want to know what can I do to lose weight, or what can I do to have more energy? They’d like to be able to take a pill to do so but ultimately it does hark back to those three staples of diet, exercise, sleep.”

Throughout the series, Jonathan will chat with leading Irish and International experts, including Professor Luke O Neill (Biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin), Fabulous Pharmacist Laura Dowling BSc (Pharm) MPSI, and former Ireland and Munster star Peter Stringer (also, Army Ranger Bootcamp victor from RTÉ’s Ultimate Hell Week – The Professionals).

That Gut Feeling is sponsored by Alflorex and Zenflore and produced by Healy Communications and LastCast Media.com.

"There’s a whole world in there. It’s a bit like the first explorers in the Amazon finding all these new species,” says the renowned immunologist, Professor Luke O’Neill, on the second episode of That Gut Feeling, the podcast series that answers the critical questions surrounding gut health.

Speaking to Jonathan Healy, Luke O’Neill talks about the untapped potential of microbiomes in our gut, the 100 year breakthrough with the Covid vaccines and why not all bacteria are bad.

“We'd missed the fact that there's all these other bacteria that are good for us and that we need,” he explains. “It was known quite a while ago that vitamin B12, a key vitamin for instance that we need for nutrition, is made by the bacteria in your gut. That was discovered decades ago, so there was a hint of it, but now we know a lot more. What has happened in the past thirty years is that our knowledge has grown and grown.”

Throughout the series, Jonathan will chat with leading Irish and International experts, including Professor Luke O Neill (Biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin), Fabulous Pharmacist Laura Dowling BSc (Pharm) MPSI, and former Ireland and Munster star Peter Stringer (also, Army Ranger Bootcamp victor from RTÉ’s Ultimate Hell Week – The Professionals).

That Gut Feeling is sponsored by Alflorex and Zenflore and produced by Healy Communications and LastCast Media.com.

‘Like the brain, our gut can also become depressed.’ – Dr. Phil Kieran.

Gut health affects everyone.

Do you suffer from an upset stomach, unintentional weight changes, sleep disturbances, constant fatigue, or food intolerances? If so, you may want to pay closer attention to your gut health.

Modern life is stressful. Most of us will suffer from high-stress levels, poor sleep and a bad diet. Add to these eating processed and high-sugar foods and taking antibiotics, we all run the risk of damaging our gut microbiome. This can then affect other aspects of our health, such as the brain, heart, immune system, skin, weight, hormone levels, ability to absorb nutrients, and even cancer development.

Presented by Jonathan Healy, That Gut Feeling is a 5 part series that will answer the critical questions surrounding gut health, ask how we can take better care of it and explain that gut feeling we all get from time to time.

Throughout the series, we will chat with leading Irish and International experts, including Professor Luke O Neill (Biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin), Fabulous Pharmacist Laura Dowling BSc (Pharm) MPSI and former Ireland and Munster star Peter Stringer (also, Army Ranger Bootcamp victor from RTÉ’s Ultimate Hell Week – The Professionals)

So, what will we be asking our experts?

- What is gut health?

- How can we improve it?

- What are the best & worst foods for our guts?

- How do Probiotics work?

- What is the data surrounding health supplements?

The first episode features Dr Phil Kieran, resident doctor on RTE’s ‘You Should Really See A Doctor’ and who has also appeared on RTE’s Today show and on Channel 4’s How To Stay Well.

Dr. Kieran discusses how the pandemic has affected people’s diet, exercise and stress levels and he also has tips and advice on how to best manage your gut health explaining just what it’s all about.

“If you look after the neighbourhood that your gut bacteria live in, you'll get nice friendly gut bacteria living in there and if you litter it with junk, you'll get the stuff that thrives on junk living there,” he tells Jonathan.

That Gut Feeling is sponsored by Alflorex and Zenflore and produced by Healy Communications and LastCast Media.com.