Gut: the new and revised Sunday Times bestseller from author featured on Netflix’s Hack Your Health: the secrets of your gut Paperback – 22 Jun. 2017

There are apparently 4 things we can do to maximise our health... Sleep Well... Avoid Stress... Exercise Daily... and eat a good diet... This book deals with the last one from the list,,, but it might not be what you expect... It deals primarilly with the health of our gut... It is a new science that is gaining traction... The argument presented is extremely compelling and logical... We have known for years that probiotics (beneficial bacteria) are good for our health, but this book tells us why... It falls short of saying that a varied vegetarian diet is best because that argument would alienate the majority of the population... but if we supplement our diet with 20 different plant points a week, then we will be feeding our gut with what it needs to perform at its best... A plant point is any different fruit, vegetable, bean, seed, nut or salad... 20 different plants a week sounds almost impossible, but its surprisingly easy with a bit of meal planning... For instance... You can easily have 10 different plants in a stir fry... or 10 different plants in a curry, casserole or stew... 5 or 6 plant points in your granola or overnight oats for breakfast...There is quite an interesting documentary on Netflix called 'Hack your Health'... It is based on this book... Keep an open mind and give it a watch... Afterwards, like me, you might want to buy this book... And then, like me, you might want to give the diet a try... I'm recently retired and I havent felt better in years... It also makes me think a bit more about what I eat so my diet is more varied and interesting... I recommend this...

Fully recommend this book. It is very well written in with a light hearted and engaging tone. Would recommend to anyone interested in living a healthier lifestyle.

An easy to read and informative book that provoked much thought and made me really consider parts of my lifestyle. Ms Enders conveys a real enthusiasm for her chosen subject which makes the reader want to listen to her. Her style can, at tines, feel a little tritr, but this does not lessen the impact of the message she is sending. I leave this book with an awoken consciousness of how so much of my desire to live a healthy life may be assisted by a little more discrimination in some of my dietary choices.

I’ve always been curious about how the gut works and what goes on when you swallow food and drink. How does the body actually know what to do with it all and extract the good bits from the bad bits? This book explains it in fantastic detail, without getting too technical, so it’s very easy to understand. It’s a fascinating read that’s made me realise what an unsung hero of our body the gut is.The journey a piece of food goes through in our body is actually quite mind-blowing, we just swallow the food and forget it, then the guts does the rest, extracting all the vitamins and nutrients, feeding this into the blood and transporting it to all our vital organs. All this goes on 24/7 and we have no idea it’s happening yet it’s actually a miracle of biology.The book also talks about new discoveries that have recently been made about the gut, like how in 2006 they discovered that saliva contains a natural painkiller that’s stronger than morphine. Another fact that really surprised was that in 2007 it was discovered that the appendix stores all the best bacteria for the large intestine to call upon if it needs it, such as after a severe stomach upset. So the appendix has a use after all!One thing I really took away from the book was the importance of bacteria to our wellbeing. The bacteria helps us digest food, produces important fats and vitamins, fights bad bacteria, and ‘trains’ our immune system to work better. It even affects our moods! We literally couldn’t do without it and it really hit home how wrong we are to regard bacteria as bad and unhygienic, when it’s bacteria that helps keeps us healthy.In fact 95% of all bacteria is harmless, and much of it is very beneficial, like what lives inside of us, and the author actually goes as far as to say that household cleaning agents that kill all bacteria in the home are not really a good thing as some bacteria should be allowed to survive as this actually helps hygiene.This was a really enjoyable and fascinating read and I now have a new-found respect for the gut and the amazing things that it does.

As a long timeSufferer of stomach issues, I’ve visited all sorts of doctors and not one was able to educate meOn the gut like this book.Superbly wellWritten with excellent information and gut education forMe.It won’t solve myIssues but certainly helpsMe understand why my body is acting in this way.10/10

My gut unfortunately fell out with me around 3 years ago, and whatever I did to upset it, clearly it's not forgiving me any time soon. I therefore hoped upon hope that this book would have a "Yes! That's it!" moment for me, but sadly (and not overly unexpectedly) there were no such revelations.Still, it's an interesting, popular science read, and I did learn a number of new things along the way about this most complex of organs and how it works when it's working well. Particularly interesting was the new research which points to the relationship between the health of our gut bacteria and mood / depression.I'd hoped that within these pages would be some new insights of the 'got this symptom? Perhaps check out x, y, z', but this is more of a popular gallop through the gut with a light touch on some general dysfunctions. An interesting read, written in a light and entertaining way, but nothing ground-breaking sadly.

An excellent and easy reading help for people suffering from gut problems