Published by: Nourish (24th May 2016)

ISBN: 9781848997332

Source: Netgalley

Rating: 4*

Description:

It is now widely recognised that gut health is critical to our overall health and that many major health concerns can be linked to an irritated or unhealthy gut. In fact, an unhealthy gut contributes to a wide range of chronic health disorders such as autoimmune conditions, allergies, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression and mood swings. What's worse, gut health issues affect a huge proportion of people and are often on-going and difficult to resolve.

But it does not have to be this way. In this revolutionary 30-day programme, Christine Bailey shows you how, instead of treating the symptoms as they arise, you can tackle the root causes with five simple steps: Remove, Replace, Repopulate, Repair and Rebalance. This programme will help you to remove the underlying factors wreaking damage to your gut, restore digestive health, quench inflammation, heal the gut for good – and achieve true, long-lasting health.  

Review:

I was really interested in reading this book and finding out more about how the health of your gut relates to your overall health and wellbeing, and how choosing to follow the Gut Health Diet Plan for 30 days could result in an improvement of symptoms of many different chronic health conditions such as depression and chronic fatigue syndrome. As I have irritable bowel syndrome, plus both the aforementioned conditions and regularly experience symptoms in varying amounts despite taking prescribed medication, I was keen to try the programme for myself, to see if it brought about any changes for me personally.

I was especially interested in the first stage of the programme, the removal of certain groups from the diet, such as pulses and sugar, and the second stage, where probiotics are introduced. As I follow a vegan, gluten-free diet, I eat a reasonable amount of pulses and beans and I would be concerned about getting enough protein if I stopped eating them. I have taken probiotics previously but can't say I noticed any difference.

I then noticed that during the repair stage, it is suggested that a cup of bone broth is taken daily and that this ingredient forms the basis of many of the recipes. So, I'm unfortunately unable to follow this diet as indicated, but I'll definitely be trying some of the recipes that suit my preferred way of eating.

I do think that this plan would be a great choice for anyone who has any of the autoimmune diseases that Christine mentions, or any digestive issues that don't seem to respond to other changes. The method makes sense to me, and Christine successfully reduced her own symptoms by following this plan, so it obviously works for some. 

The book is laid out in a straightforward way, in easy to understand language and is full of useful information, together with delicious sounding recipes that look easy to follow. I'm looking forward to making the raw herb cashew cheese and vegan nut cream.