The Gut Makeover 2.0 and how it helps

Foods to optimise your gut-health for better digestion, immune system, brain and bones, energy and exercise. Plus include enough protein for satiety and muscle

Fermented hibiscus kombucha anybody?

Many of you here know me best for my book The Gut Makeover (first edition December 2015).

I wrote it after devising a style of eating from following science papers since 2012 on a strange new subject then called “the microbiome” - the bacteria living in our gut.

I identified the eating principles coming out of the research and started applying them to my nutritional therapy clients with success (which then turned into the book).

It was obvious to me how powerful these principles (plant diversity and fermented foods) could be.

One client, literally ran out of my office, jumped in her car and drove to the nearest Eastern European corner shop in London to clear a fridge shelf of fermented milk kefir when I told her about a paper I had read on its possible health benefits.

At that time Polish and Hungarian grocery stores were the main places you could find it. Within about 3 months her irritable bowel syndrome cleared up, the friendly probiotic bacteria in the kefir settling her digestive system. Who would have thought?

Not only was her IBS better, but her brain fog went too and her psoriasis-prone flaky, itchy skin calmed down.

Which made sense because more and more research was confirming that the pattern of your gut bacteria impacts many other areas of our health from our digestion to brain and skin, to immune system.

The very good news is - that you can manipulate and transform the pattern of YOUR bacteria to influence all those other areas of health - through food choices and lifestyle habits.

The book did well with multiple reprints and translations. My publishers in the UK (Quercus) and North America (Bloomsbury) pulled out all the stops on the publicity front (I appeared on Good Morning America when it came out in the USA).

But the gut space has now become noisy and often unnecessarily complicated. There are hundreds if not thousands of influencers talking about “gut health”.

Much of it is theoretical (without nutritional therapy clinical experience in the mix). Often posts are trying subliminally to sell you products like pills and liquids which you don’t really need - because real food and impactful small lifestyle tweaks can have the biggest impact in my experience. It’s just about knowing which ones to put the emphasis on.

So I’m carving out a peaceful, trusted, practical - and science-informed - weekly place to write from a food and lifestyle perspective on this subject - to fill this gap.

This Substack brings you all the latest updates in this field and practical ways to implement them. It’s the natural and dynamic follow-up to the book - with wider ranging topics (including getting enougn protein which is important as we age and time-restricted eating which I also wrote a book on and follow closely).

In the 9 years since writing my book (which is a 4-week recalibrator) I have learnt so much more on the clinical side too which I want to share with you all in this Substack which has become The Gut Makeover 2.0. Much of it you can weave into your every day life easily and immediately.

I bring you news, reviews, and views plus recipes and food ideas on the subject so you hear it here first and can get on it - and feel the benefits.

Welcome to The Gut Makeover (the 2.0 version).

PS if you need a refresher on the basics of gut health it’s here.

Details of my books are here.

The Gut Makeover Substack is your one-stop place of resources, articles, recipes and meal ideas for making your gut make you healthy. No scratching around on the internet, fighting with pop up ads, or trawling for a decent explanation on fermenting or which brand of effective food to put in your shopping trolley. Plus a monthly group Zoom meet-up with me and the community.

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What I learnt this week…

1. 🌶️ There’s a chilli heat scale on the side of gochujang (the red pepper flakes) for making fermented kimchi cabbage.

   🌶️Thank you Noel a subscriber in the USA who has 24 years of fermenting experience and pointed this out to us all on our Zoom kimchi meet-up last weekend. 🌶️ Imagine you didn’t know this and you follow a recipe which says 2 teaspoons of the stuff, but the recipe author was using a mild one and you have the hottest one? 🌶️ Anyway here’s a pic of the scale on the side of mine - check yours too if you’re making it. 🌶️ BTW I have uploaded the recording of the kimchi session at the bottom of the recipe for paid subscribers here. 🌶️ The capsaicin plant chemical in it ,working in conjunction with the lactobacillus bacteria, are what are thought to help with preventing weight gain in people who eat kimchi every day.

Mine’s quite mild

2. Journalist Johann Hari’s book Magic Pill on the new weight loss drugs is out. He wrote in The Times last week that although he lost weight, he thinks his mood went down too. Maybe because his appetite no longer drove him to use food to soothe his emotions he says. He interviews lots of experts around the world and the drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are thought to change our brain chemistry. Early days and I’m interested to know about the gut-brain impact. I’m looking forward to reading this.

3. Beans and tuna salad made out of a jar and a tin can be turned into a beautiful easy meal and can end up tasting like ceviche. Really!

   The most delicious meal I ate last week was from a recipe book I have recommended before and come back to time and again. Kitchen Prescription by gastroenterologist and cook Saliha Mahmood Ahmed. I replace the tuna with bonito - a smaller version which accumulates less toxins/mercury than larger fish.