Bookstrapping: Gut Check by Steven R Gundry MD

Every Bite You Take

Hippocrates was right; all disease begins in the gut. And he said this at a time when human life expectancy was 35 years! In today's world, we may well want to replace Sting’s evergreen romantic number ‘every breath you take’ with “every bite you take’ and embark on a forever love story with our gut. Now is this a book I can ignore? Possibly not; because Dr. Steven Gundry is eminently qualified and has dedicated his life to improve health, happiness, and longevity through a unique vision of human nutrition. And thank God for it!

Here are our five Bookstrapping insights:

1. Much of our immune system is actually lining the gut and protecting it. So on most occasions, the gut can take the doughnut and the cigarette in its stride. And the gut’s own warriors- our immune cells-perform a splendid job. Unless we abuse them too much!

2. The gut ecosystem plays a major role in producing neurotransmitters like serotonin. Hence, there is a direct correlation between the gut and depression.This is why ancient Chinese medicine has always approached depression treatment via the gut. Dr Gundry affirms that we need to tap back into all kinds of ancient wisdom and knowledge to get a better grasp on our gut.

3. Dr Gundry has been writing for a few years now. Those who have read ‘Dr Gundry’s Diet Evolution” or “The Plant Paradox” already know about his ‘leaky gut’ postulates. One aspect of this is that our gut may not recognise several modern foods. There’s a chapter titled ‘The Gut Check Food Plan’ that’s not to be missed. There are recipes in it too!

4. A big recommendation in the book is to adjust your eating schedule to maximise the health of your inner ecosystem. Of course, condensing the time you eat, also known as ‘intermittent fasting’ is now fairly popular. Digestion is hard work for your gut; give it a good break so that its not vulnerable to attackers!

5. Another easily doable thing is to increase the amount of pre-biotic fibre or fermented foods that you ingest. For eg; how about some ground flaxseed in water and some apple cider vinegar sweetened with allulose?

The author makes a strong case that despite there being no oxygen deep down in your colon, it has its own working logic and the food you eat must not impair it! Whew!

To implement this better, health enthusiasts in India definitely need a book that is written more with the Indian food palate in mind.

Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta is a columnist and bestselling biographer. She is credited with the internationally acclaimed Red Dot Experiment, a decadal six-nation study on how ‘culture impacts communication.’ On Instagram @OfficialReetaGupta