Nice to meet you 💚

An introduction/reintroduction

Jul 14, 2026

Hello Readers

There have been a fair few newbies here recently - welcome! - so I thought it time to introduce myself. Properly. I’m a gut-health nutritional therapist and author based in London.

(No I’m not going to lob those veg, but I hope you’ll become as enthusiastic about them as I am.)

Back in the day, I was a journalist for 17 whole years, That was before a burn out, and enrolling at university (again) in my thirties and doing a 4-year nutritional therapy science degree. It means I’ve now been in this nutrition world longer than I was in newspapers and magazines.

Why am I mentioning this?

Because this Substack The Gut Makeover is a combo of both worlds for your benefit.

On the one hand you get a view from the coal face of nutritional therapy - and realism around what people like you can change/do/expect of food. On the other hand, a journalistic bent on nutrition (more on that in a bit).

You’ll also access my infectious confidence in the power of good food for health (rather than relying on supplements which are in my opinion and experience the poor relation).

Being a practicing therapist means my view isn’t a purely theoretical one. I follow the ever-evolving gut microbiome science and weave it into the practical.

Let’s give an example. You may know that red wine contains polyphenols (plant chemicals) for your microbiome.

But you may not be aware that the alcohol also in it, can be inflammatory for some.

Would this mean I go around publicly proclaiming that red wine is beneficial for your longevity because some studies on people on a Greek island and south-west France way back indicated so?

No, I question its healthiness, because many people with gut issues, mood disorders, and autoimmunity I’ve met in the real world aren’t doing well on it.

Why? You may ask.

One reason could be this. Recent science indicates that the emulsifier carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) can cause leaky gut (irritation and breakages in the gut lining ) and autoimmunity in animal studies.

And recently I discovered it is in a lot of supermarket wines. There’s a QR code on some bottles (not all unfortunately now) where you can check actual ingredients in your wine and I’m finding CMC is pretty common.

So if you find wine isn’t agreeing with you, eg giving you urgency/making your skin flare, or triggering joint pain etc, try one without CMC or even try a natural wine which might suit you better in your particular case.

Btw many supplements in pill form contain CMC under a range of different names with the word cellulose in them. So pause them for a while, switch to a powder-only formulation, or cut the pills in half and sprinkle out the contents into a drink or food and see if that improves things a bit. (Though for the record gut issues usually have a whole array of triggers and tipping point).

Another trend I’m not keen on is all this counting business.

30g protein per meal, 30 plants a week, 30g fibre a day, 3 fermented foods a day sound like the answer to all our health goals on social media.

But there’s a big but. I’ve learnt that some of you may feel or develop food anxiety when numbers are involved. That approach may not be for you - and that’s fine. You can choose to eat enjoyable beneficial foods without getting sucked into that.

Though I was an early proponent of 30 plants a week for your biome, I’m still keen on encouraging fruit and veg diversity, but by exercising curiosity rather than castigating oneself.

How could I make this plate look a little more delicious? (Add some bright colours and some crunch maybe?).

Food has become sooooo pressurised with “optimisation” and bonkers wellness hype.

My daughter in my Observer travel editing/writing days aged 2 (she’s now almost 27!)

So where does my journalism background fit into all this?

As an early news editor drummed into me, newspapers are called neeeeeeewwwwsss papers because they are about NEW information.

This was ringing in my ears when I wrote my first book The Gut Makeover (published December 2015), which this Substack is named after.

The emerging science at that time was exciting - because your biome, the trillions of bacteria in your gut can be manipulated into a healthy pattern simply by what you eat. A healthy pattern is important as this can influence how regularly you go to the loo, your mood, your eczema, even your hormones.

I treat this Substack like one of the original weekly specialist trade newspapers I worked on in my twenties. Electronics Times. The Engineer. Travel Trade Gazette, before becoming a writer editor at The Times, and travel editor at The Observer.

Make it new. Relevant. Interesting. Valuable.

Plus, most importantly, help you get to know yourself, your personal microbiome and what you and it likes to serve you better and well

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