Taking Control of Your Weight - and Your Long-term Health

As my doctor says, this is the future of medical thinking. It makes complete sense and is a reminder of really how basic our systems are. Of course they are infinitely complex but the concepts are so logical. This should be required reading for anyone in medicine as well as anyone who wants to understand how to keep our bodies working as they were designed to. Note that this book complements another worthy read: Farmacology by Daphne Miller, M.D.

IBS was disrupting my life. This is a well researched, pragmatic approach to correcting intestinal problems. It has helped me maintain a healthy (and happy) digestive system. Highly worth purchasing.

Well written book about a very technical topic. It is repetitious, probably so the novice will comprehend or grasp and remember the few lessons to be learned. It is valuable information and if we incorporate the lessons into our diet we are sure to live healthier lives. But as the book cautioned it takes diligence and is not easy.

It brings to light an area of biological science that is young. There is much to be studied and learned, but we can start with what is currently known.

This book gave me a whole new perspective on the digestive system. It will make you rethink your eating habits and the things you do.

One caveat: They recommend probiotics such as yogurt. They clearly benefit many people but I'm not one of them. I do much better without them. Try them but don't be afraid to stop if they don't sit well with you. Everyone's different.

Most of the foods they describe aren't the least bit tempting. I'm quite sure you can achieve the same benefits from a Mediterranean diet. I'll take a bowl of pasta e fagoili (aka pasta fazool) anytime over fermented greens.

This contains a lot of important information than everyone needs to know. Like most good scientific books, it answered few questions concretely but added a lot of information to be further evaluated and researched.

The Sonnenburgs do an excellent job of explaining and outlining the science around the human microbiome - something that other books have done an excellent job on as well, books such as "Missing Microbes" and "An Epidemic of Absence." But their dietary recommendations fall short on many levels, especially for people who suffer from intestinal damage and gut dysbiosis. They basically recommend a diet low in meat and saturated fat and high in fiber, especially from grains and legumes. While there is no question that dietary fiber is really important for feeding gut microbiota, there is also plenty of evidence that grains, especially when not soaked or fermented, are really damaging to the gut, especially in people who already have gut damage. They also buy into the red meat-TMAO link, which is pretty dubious. The American Gut Project did an excellent analysis of this in a recent article: http://humanfoodproject.com/from-meat-to-microbes-to-main-street-is-it-time-to-trade-in-your-george-foreman-grill/. They also fail to mention resistant starch and its microbiome-boosting role, which is a major omission. Another omission is that they fail to discuss the relationship between gluten, zonulin, and leaky gut. Gluten consumption can and does lead to leaky gut, especially in the absence of a healthy microbiota, so gluten should be consumed with great caution. Also, there is no great evidence that dietary fat, especially saturated, does any real damage to human health - quite the opposite. Their recommendations regarding dietary fat seem outdated.

A microbiota-friendly diet should consist primarily of fiber from mostly vegetables and some fruit, and to a lesser degree from properly soaked legumes. Grains may be OK for people with a healthy gut, but for the rest of us grains can be very problematic and can exacerbate existing gut inflammation. Grains, if consumed, should always be soaked and fermented so as to reduce the anti-nutrients therein.

Drawing upon the latest research into human microbiota, The Good Gut offers game changing insights into health impact of the trillions of microbes that we carry around in our bodies. In addition to providing accessible and compelling descriptions of the science, the book also offers a practical application through changes in our behaviors and diet.

Science-based and fascinating this a good guide to better health. Very readable. This book should be a must read for anyone who wants to prove their overall health but wants to know that there some scientific-based research behind what they're doing.

This book is written by thoughtful scientists who distill complex research findings to their essence .They also provide scientifically based practical advice on diet that has promise to improve health by reversing overweight and related diseases in our society.

Very few books have had such a direct impact on my health. After reading this book I had enough understanding of the relationship between our gut microbiota and our own body to drastically reduce eating harmful chemicals (i.e. most processed foods, diet soda, high fructose corn syrup, etc) while dramatically increasing the number of healthy fibers (fruits, vegetables, legumes, good proteins) and fermented foods containing probiotics. In the past three weeks since reading the book I've already felt much healthier and have lost a few pounds while never being hungry.

Book came ahead of time, in perfect, new condition. This is an exciting, ground breaking book on our vital microbiota. Their research reveals that it works very much with our bodies, almost another organ mostly to help our health. Loved the book !!!

An interesting read for first few chapters. Author gets into very intensive detail discussion as chapters move on. Did not have the patience to continue to the end. Far too much detail made the reading a bit boring

Great overview of recent findings relating to the microbiome. As a person in the field myself, it was still well worth the read to get the broad overview of the literature. The Sonnenburgs do a good job suggesting practical, research-backed lifestyle alterations that will improve health.

I can't say this was a poorly written book, but I also can't say I learned anything new from it that I didn't know from Internet articles on the emerging field on gut science or alternative health books that have been around for many years. For example, in one of the early chapters the authors (married and parents) have a section on how they helped one of their children overcome constipation issues by getting rid of refined grains and adding more beans, whole grains, fruits and vegetables to their child's diet. Good for them, but I think these are the kind of dietary insights most people are already familiar with. The book also talks about the dangers of continually feeding antibiotics to animals we eat. Okay, that is another great point, but one alternative health advocates have been aware of for decades. Eat lots of fiber, not too much meat, lots of whole foods, enjoy foods with probiotics are all good tidbits, but most of that information is all readily available on the Internet. For tidbits on the emerging science of gut bacteria, there is good info online at sites like the American Gut Project.

What I really don't like about this book is the cover. I hope the authors did not see it until it was too late to change. There is nothing in the book about "taking control" of any part of your life. Contrary to what the cover would have you believe, the authors are clear that there is no evidence that you can cure obesity or depression by changing your gut bacteria. Perhaps further experiments and studies will show that it is possible, but so far the most you can say is that it might make a difference.

The useful information could have been put in a couple of paragraphs, but it is probably good to have the reasons explained so that you know why you should follow their recommendations--much for likely to follow them.

I WANTED to like this book. I've done a lot of reading on the subject of the microbes in our (human) gut and was excited to see scientists working in the field write about the subject. However, this book is written at about an 8th grade reading level. Some of their analogies are laughable (comparing the digestive system to a recycling plant) since even 8th graders have learned about the basics of stomach/ small intestine/ large intestine function. If you know absolutely nothing about human gut microbes and are intimidated by science, you will probably appreciate their description of how gut microbes impact human health more than I did.

As others have stated, the book doesn't live up to the subtitles on the cover. Their food/eating recommendations are very simplistic, emphasizing beans for fiber and treating all vegetables as equal sources of microbial food. Even a quick internet search reveals that onions, garlic, leeks, asparagus, and a few other exotic veggies are much better sources of the type of fiber gut microbes need than are other vegetables. Why didn't these authors mention that?

Finally, they don't demonstrate critical thinking that I would expect from PhD scientists. They make a big deal of a study feeding caritine (found in red meat) to mice without pointing out that animal studies can't be directly applied to humans. That's a big omission! The American Gut Project has a well reasoned critique of the study that the Sonnenburgs reference, in which they claim that the amount of caritine fed to the rats was equivalent to a human eating a cow every 3 days. If that's even close to the truth, the study has very little relevance to human health.

If you're looking for an intelligent, unbiased review of current science related to human gut microbes, !0% Human by Alanna Colleen is a much better choice.

In the past few years, and doctors and researchers are starting to understand the importance of the gut, and of gut bacteria, there has been an explosion of books discussing this. The Good Gut, like many of these other books, explains a few simple points:

- Our gut bacteria is important, and affects our health, both physical and mental
- There is a strong link between the gut and the brain
- Our gut bacteria can become imbalanced by too much hygiene and too many antibiotics

Some books take a high-level approach, and go in depth looking at the science and the research; one of these is An Epidemic of Absence, which also looks at parasites and other pathogens that may cause our immune systems to overreact.

This book takes a much simpler approach. It explains how gut bacteria works, why it's important, and how it affects us. It's a light read; nothing too scientific, no deep insights. The authors seem quite obsessed by the subject, and explain many times how they and their children ensure that their gut bacteria is optimal. There are overviews of probiotics, prebiotics, and certain types of fibers that affect the gut bacteria. However, the claims on the cover - "Taking Control of your weight, your mood, and your long-term health" are a bit exaggerated. While there are some practical suggestions - even recipes at the end of the book, as too many of this type of book feel the need to include - most of the "taking control" info is vague. There is no proof that probiotics work, but there is some that prebiotics and fibers have an effect on gut bacteria. The suggestions in the book may or may not be helpful.

In short, there's no silver bullet in this book. If you're expecting one, move along. However, if you're new to the topic, and don't want to read a science-heavy tome, this is a good way to get an overview of why gut bacteria is important.

The Good Gut is a book I've been looking for quite awhile - a knowledgeable, friendly, and non-biased discussion of everything we know about how the gut works. The authors take pains to give differing sides of issues - contradictory studies and test results, differing opinions in the scientific community, and advice to not rush out and react spontaneously to the latest findings. There's a lot of useful information in here.

The first part of the book describes how the gut works and all the cultures to be found in there. The middle section is the latest on what we know about the gut and how we are learning that so much of our health is tied to what's in there - the bacteria colonies (or lack thereof) and their diversity/health. While links to everything from obesity and diabetes to cancer can't be directly tied to gut health, startling evidence is suggesting that the health of the gut is the key to so much of the body's health in so many ways. The last part of the book is advice based upon what we know for sure these days.

The tone of the book is friendly and the science is palatable and easy to understand. It is heavy on the science, which is nice, since the authors respect readers' intelligence and don't try to dumb it down too much. At the same time, you don't get a lot of scientific babble, either.

For me, I really liked that the authors discuss the latest findings but don't make blind assumptions from them - they caution each time how preliminary the research is and how much more is needed to make conclusive findings. A great example is all the research that if you take 'skinny' gut bacteria from a thin person and put it into an obese person, they begin to lose weight. But the caveat is that the research is finding it to be a temporary measure and the 'skinny' bacteria soon disappears from an obese stomach. Also interesting is 'fecal transplanting' to put healthy bacteria from one person to a next - but again finding that the bacteria stays for a bit but then disappears.

Even with the lack of knowledge about what bacteria does for us in our gut, the tips and suggestions were useful, though obvious. E.g., drinking more fermented products such as kefir or yogurt. The authors also break down the different type of commercial bacteria, such as in Yoplait, and the good and bad of the different types of yogurts. They give honest opinions and lay it all down for the reader to make good choices with their own health. In all, highly recommended. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I'd do 4-1/2 stars if I could. This is an excellent resource, with a good bit of information, presented in an accessible way. There are, however, still some key gaps (probably in large part due to gaps in the body of knowledge), and the resultant dietary recommendations are a bit over-weighted by the relevant ideas, to the exclusion of others.

I should first of all note, for conservative Judeo-Christian readers, that this is not only written from an evolutionary perspective (common among books of this variety), it places an exceptional amount of focus on evolution. If you find this off-putting, please try to stick it out, as there's too much good information here to miss! More importantly, it's presented in an extremely accessible manner, with language and illustrations that make otherwise-technical idea understandable for the average reader.

The bulk of the book is comprised of a research-based discussion of the gut microbiome -- what we know about it, how it influences our health, and how it is influenced by a variety of factors. Much of this was not new to me in general terms, but the details were new (and fascinating!). For example, did you know that the gut microbiota naturally changes over the course of a healthy pregnancy? I didn't.

The most important contribution the book makes, in my opinion, is the discussion of how our choices can affect this microbiota, for good or for ill. Many of the recommendations for positive change are probably familiar -- you may just not have realized the reasons behind them. In some cases, you may not have realized how much they matter. As the authors point out, choices like whether to birth vaginally or via cesarean, whether to breastfeed, and whether to use antibiotics, are often largely out of our control. But often they are NOT out of our control, and we take the unhealthy route out of convenience or personal preference. Recognizing the long-term implications might result in different choices. (Some less-than-perfect, but helpful, options are offered for those times when we really have little or no choice.)

I felt, however, that there were still large gaps in this information. This is probably largely due to gaps in the information AVAILABLE, but it still left me with questions. How does a healthy woman's gut microbiota naturally return to normal AFTER pregnancy, and how do we influence it if it doesn't? How do restore a more healthfully diverse microbiota in instances were variation has already been lost? What if many of the bacteria-friendly foods are problematic for an individual for other reasons -- how can we balance the rebuilding of the gut flora with the need to avoid multiple foods?

I was disappointed by the authors' apparent comfort with such human "meddling" as genetic engineering. What we're learning about the gut microbiome is a classic example of causing great harm by altering something (in this case an entire culture's diet) without thought for the domino effect it may have on things we know about. Why someone so keenly aware of this would be comfortable with our "playing God" by tinkering with genetics, rather than concerned about what ripple effects THAT might cause, is beyond my ability to comprehend.

I was also disappointed that the book made the now-common recommendation to minimize meat and avoid saturated fats. The reasoning here is (for once) sound -- they alter the microbiota in observable ways. However, this ignores all other factors (including the fact that humans have been consuming both for millennia and obviously had the means to healthfully digest them), and makes the unsound recommendation to increase polyunsaturated oils in the diet, which is known to CAUSE problems. I was gratified to see the authors acknowledge that grains are not inherently evil. Common sense indicates that something consumed safely by humans for millennia and just recently causing problems indicates an issue with something that changed recently, not with the food itself.

The book ends with a recipe section containing both prebiotic and probiotic foods. This is mediocre, in my opinion, but it is helpful to at least get readers started. If you want more, general high-fiber recipes (reasonably easy to find) as well as cookbooks for "fermented" or "cultured" foods will give you more, and more thorough, options.

What a highly informative, readable and important book- especially for those of us with GI problems, auto-immune disease, allergies and asthma who have found traditional medical remedies to be inadequate! Microbiologists Justin and Erica Sonnenburg do what few health book authors succeed in doing – provide clear and useful explanations and guidance in language that is neither too informal and condescending nor too dense and highly technical.

The focus of THE GOOD GUT is helping us to understand how the microbacteria in our guts both help and hinder our overall health, and what we can do – particularly in regard to foods we eat, and both probiotics and prebiotic supplements – to increase the diversity of healthy bacteria, combat inflammation and strengthen our immune systems.

Our guts have 100 trillion bacteria, most of them (at least among us Westerners) good bacteria, but which are starving due to antibiotic use, household cleaners and sanitation procedures that kill healthy bacteria, and our reliance on fast-food simple carbohydrates and saturated fats instead of adequate plant-based fiber.

Fiber, which the authors refer to as MACs (for microbiotic accessible carbohydrates) such as that found in whole grain bread, nuts, bananas, and berries nourishes the healthy bacteria in our guts, strengthening our immune system. Likewise, prebiotics such as onions, garlics and legumes are critical for health, and fermented foods such as yoghurt with live cultures (NOT sweetened and NOT frozen), kefir, pickles and sauerkraut are particularly significant sources of nutrients for healthy gut bacteria.

"The cells that line our intestinal wall sit side by side, like tiles," the Sonnenburgs tell us. "In between these cells is a network of proteins that serve as the grout. The grouted, tiled wall is the barrier that keeps the microbiota and particles of digesting food from crossing into our tissue and bloodstream. Ideally, bacteria stay within the boundaries defined by the tiled wall, that is, inside the tube. Studies suggest that probiotics can help reinforce the gut barrier by nudging intestinal cells to produce more protein "grout."

We feed our healthy gut bacteria through probiotics – both via eating the right foods and taking probiotic supplements. But each of us has a different microbiotome (due to our genes, diet, geographical location and daily exposure) responsive to different probiotic cultures – and only a dozen or so such as acidophilus are available so far on the U.S. market.

Clearly, research pertaining microbiotomes and probiotics is still in its infancy, but the microbiology of the gut is an exciting, growing field. Within a decade, doctors may routinely check the microbiotomes of patients, and rather than rely on pharmaceuticals and medical procedures, prescribe individually determined foods and probiotic supplements which specifically maintain healthy gut bacteria and combat the unhealthy bacteria. If only the pharmaceutical industry would not stand in the way!

I was also intrigued by the Sonnenburgs' discussion of gut instinct, and the connection between the brain and the gut, which confirmed for me the value of my own tendency to think with my gut and trust my gut feelings.

THE GOOD GUT is loaded with helpful advice. In addition to giving food and supplement advice, the authors refer readers to the Healthy Gut Project, from which we can receive a detailed report of our microbiotomes. In the final section of the book, they include a few dozen microbiotome-friendly recipes - most which involve food which can be bought in the supermarket and the health food store, and don't require lengthy cooking times. Some of these are Indian foods, but others are common American foods and health foods.

I personally am already gaining considerable benefit (less gas, belching and constipation, which have been plaguing me for years) from three of the recipes – the morning microbiota smoothie, the chickpea Greek salad and crunchy unsweetened yoghurt parfait with hazelnuts and blueberries.

The Sonnenburgs recommend restricting meat, but for those of us who are meat-eaters, I wish they had given some suggestions in regard to beef, chicken and fish. As a result, however, of becoming allergic to antibiotics, and of recently reading and reviewing PASSIONATE NUTRITION (Jennifer Adler and Jess Thompson), I have become convinced that the antibiotics in beef and chicken have been weakening my immune system, and am now buying to grass-fed, free-range and organic meats only, despite the additional cost.

I also began taking probiotics. Although the brand that I am currently taking only contains acidophilus, I feel sufficiently informed as a result of reading this book and subscribing to Consumer Labs (which tests supplements and notes the specific brands with the highest ratings) to choose future probiotic supplements which provide a variety of diverse cultures.

I highly recommend THE GOOD GUT not only to everyone suffering from gastro-intestinal and auto-immune problems but also to everyone who wishes to improve their health and effectively combat the dire effects of the processed foods, additives, simple carbohydrates and saturated fats that are contributing to disease and obesity. I'd rate THE GOOD GUT more than 5 stars if that were possible.

I approached this book with a skeptical mindset. Much of what I had heard about the microbiota and the importance of eating things that are beneficial to your gut had come either from advertisements or from crackpots who thinks that their personal anecdotes trump all published science. Despite my initial antagonism to their arguments, the authors managed to break down my defenses to deliver a rather strong message, namely that our microbiota is vital to us and that what we eat will affect it. In other words, we live in a powerful symbiosis with our gut bacteria. I can recommend this book if you are searching for an introduction to this field.

We have about 100 trillion microbes in our gut. In comparison, we have about 37 trillion cells with ‘our’ DNA in them. This fact alone implies that the microbiota plays an important function. More and more research points to the microbiota as a key player in our immune system. When a pathogen gets into our gut, it will have to compete with the bacteria already present in the gut. So depending the quantity and quality of your microbiota, pathogens will have more or less trouble getting established, and in extension, making you sick.

From this knowledge follows many implications. Fecal transplants for instance, in which the microbiota (stool) is taken from one person and given to another, can affect the recipient's immune system as well as their digestion. Indeed, as you will learn if you read this book, there are even studies suggesting that stool transplants can not only health status but also moods (perhaps because health and moods are linked?).

This is a good book. The writing is accessible. The authors are scientists and, unlike many other people who argue for the importance of the microbiota; they base most of their arguments on scientific studies. However, even though I can understand the impulse, I was sometimes taken aback by the author's willingness to use personal anecdotes. The authors (who are by the way married), have a son who had problems with his microbiota and throughout the book, the authors discuss how they implemented what science taught them, in their home. Anecdotes are of course very powerful and the anecdotes in this book help drive home its message. However, sometimes, I got the feeling that they used anecdotes to argue beyond what we know from science. In doing so they are approaching the dark side, the one filled with crackpots and people who believe that eating beans make you immune to any disease. I hope that they can stay on the right side in the future, though I fear for them. To not end on a negative note, which would be unfair, this was indeed a good book. Highly recommended for everyone!

This is a really interesting, well-written book about the complex world of bacteria that inhabit our (mostly) large intestine, which seems that we are only beginning to understand. We are born without bacteria in our guts, but very quickly our innards become populated with 1,000+ species of bacteria that will stay with us for life and evolve over time. These bacteria not only contribute to our digestion, but appear to have a key role in giving us immunity from pathogens and maintaining health. When the gut bacteria are compromised (quantity diminished though antibiotics or diversity reduced), our health can suffer. The book describes some of the potential links between gut health and a range of diseases, including depression and heart disease.

The book is very well written and easy to follow. It appears to be well based in research and the authors do not make unsupported claims but rather try to tell us about the science, while emphasizing there is still much to learn. They give practical advice as to how they work to support gut health in the families, with evidence being that a diet rich in fiber and also probiotic foods (and not necessarily supplements) like yogurt and kefir are indeed very good for you, while a diet with highly processed food (with little fiber) is not.

The book is practical and even includes lists of desirable foods and a few recipes.

Highly recommended!!

Recent research is discovering remarkable ways in which our microbiome, the ecology of organisms which live in and on our bodies, affects our health. This book does a great job pulling together current thinking about the importance of the microbiome for general readers. It explains how our current style of life is resulting in reduced microbiota, and how this has consequences not only for physical health (e.g. autoimmune diseases) but also behavior (different gut bacteria affect things like behavior and depression, for example). Given the academic credentials of the authors, I was expecting something more like a scientific paper, so the readability of this book is a nice surprise.

Also, it was a pleasant surprise to have a few suggested menus and recipes (just under 30) which do a good job of illustrating easy sources of beneficial fiber and probiotics in foods. I'm looking forward to trying the brownie recipe that includes cocoa nibs, for example.

If you have been following the intriguing discoveries involving the microbiome (see, for example, ScienceFriday, where new aspects are frequently covered), much of this book will not be new to you, but the practical suggestions about nourishing your own microbiome are still useful.

What a fascinating book! I already thought I knew about the importance of maintaining good gut flora, but there is so much more to learn about the impact of the microbes, the bacteria, that live on our skin, are found in every orifice of our bodies, and (hopefully) densely colonize our gut. (Or, as in the case of those consuming SADly (standard American diet), not.) I didn't realize that, starting soon after birth, each of us has a microbiota as unique as our fingerprints; that the "good" microbes need a particular form of food (microbe accessible carbohydrates, or MACs) to thrive, thereby protecting us from common pathogens like Salmonella; that they literally converse with our brains and immune system; and more!

Our microbes show enormous promise for treatment of the horrible diseases that plague modern humans, especially those who consume a Western diet: cancer, heart disease, obesity, depression, etc. Ever heard of so-called "leaky gut"? This book explains more clearly than anything I've ever read about why this condition develops. It explains why all those years of eating lots of animal protein in an effort to lose weight made me top the scales at almost double my ideal body weight until I started eating a diet with more yogurt and kefir and MACs—not even knowing what MACs were at the time. And now I understand why I've been able to lose back down to within 20 lbs. of where I need to be and do not feel in danger of gaining the weight back.

When I got to the recipes at the back of the book, I couldn't help but smile. All of them are easy-to-prepare, interesting food combinations with ingredients that I've already been eating regularly. Normally, I hate recipes, dislike following them, and most recipe books I pick up are quickly tossed aside because there may be one or two that I might try but probably not. I found myself, on every one of the recipes in this book, thinking "Yum, that sounds good! And THAT sounds good!"

There's only one thing I don't like about this book, and that's that there hasn't yet been enough research into the impact of the human microbiota on health and chronic illness. This is not the authors' fault; in fact, I applaud them for writing this book to bring more attention to the importance of a diverse and thriving collection of bacteria in our gut. I was heartened to read about the microbiota research already being done in mice with implications for allergies, immune disorders, obesity, cognitive decline, autism, and heart disease. I plan to participate in the American Gut Project (humanfoodproject dot com slash americangut), too, which I wasn't aware of.

In terms of its implications for our understanding of health and disease, microbiota research and sequencing of the microbiome is at least as important as the Human Genome Project, if not more so. We have co-evolved with these bacteria, and they are pulling a lot of our strings. This book goes a long way in helping laypeople understand how to work with, not against them.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book finding it very informative and very accessible (i.e., the authors chose to write in a manner that is very understandable to the lay reader). My first impression was that the book was a long essay masquerading as a book (seemed quite repetitive). But upon further consideration I realized the authors were addressing the book's main actor - your gut's microbiota - not in a repetitive way, but from different angles.

First, the authors address the declining number of species of bacteria in the typical Westerner's gut and why this may be a very bad thing. They then tell us not only why diversity in the gut is important, but also why gut bacteria is important in the first place.

The authors then discuss how we "get" bacteria in our gut and why some of today's health fads are getting in the way of good bacteria getting where they need to be. I was floored about the authors' comments on society's overuse/improper use of anti-microbials (and antibiotics) and how our phobia of germs may very well be making us less healthy. On the flip side of the coin I also appreciated how the authors explained why "eating a peck of dirt" may actually be good for you and why you might not want to wash your hands all the time (something most parents when I was growing up knew to be true). But I was most floored by the short discussion on non-emergency caesarian deliveries and how they too might be making our children unhealthy. These three discussions alone are worth the cost of the book.

There is an interesting (though ultimately unfulfilling) discussion on probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics (unfulfilling because I wanted a definitive answer and the authors demonstrate there is no definitive answer: every individual's microbiota is unique and as such no pro/pre/synbiotic can be manufactured to meet every individual's gut's requirements). But they do (helpfully) offer general suggestions (e.g., why fiber is important and the different types of fiber, why bacteria-fermented foods such as yogurt are important, etc.).

Anyway, take a look at the table of contents and I think you'll be intrigued (if this is something you're interested in):

- Chapter 1: What is the Microbiota and Why Should I Care?
- Chapter 2: Assembling Our Lifelong Community of Companions
- Chapter 3: Setting the Dial on the Immune System
- Chapter 4: The Transients
- Chapter 5: Trillions of Mouths to Feed
- Chapter 6: A Gut Feeling
- Chapter 7: Eat Sh!t and Live
- Chapter 8: The Aging Microbiota
- Chapter 9: Managing Your Internal Fermentation

The book contains about 40 pages of recipes that include/use food items the authors say (throughout the book) are beneficial in establishing and maintaining a healthy gut ecosystem. There is also an excellent presentation of end notes for the references the authors refer to throughout the text.

In the end, my gut tells me the authors are on to something, that they are correct in their assertions, and that time will bear out their arguments. But I'm no expert. I do know this is no "fad" book. As such, even if you choose not to embrace the dietary lifestyle they espouse the book deserves serious consideration.

Summary: A solid 4+ stars deservedly rounded up to "5 stars."

This is another of those breakthrough books that popularizes recent discoveries in science, and in this case it's doubly exciting because it's introducing an area of health science that is directly applicable to everyone, AND it's something that (unlike say your own genome) you can actually do something about today.

I would put this in the same category as some of my other favorite science popularization books like Chaos: Making a New Science and The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology Is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease, and Inheritance, books that really open your eyes and let you in on things that are on the cutting edge of discovery.

From its cover the book looks like yet another fad health and diet book, but don't let that fool you, this is a science book first, written by two researchers at Stanford who are working to unlock the secrets of the microbes that live in your gut, and they tell the exciting story of our new understanding of their complex behavior and how they interact in very complex and highly evolved ways with the rest of our bodies.

They suggest that through our western diets and other effects we have been killing off the diversity of our intestinal biome and that this may well be directly associated with many of the new epidemic health issues like gluten sensitivity, obesity, diabetes, etc.

The science is fascinating and you'll discover that there's an entire universe of complex life living inside you that you probably never imagined.

While there's far more yet to discover than has been unearthed so far, the authors feel that there are things we can do today to promote a healthier and more effective microbiome in our guts, and to that end they offer practical advice on diet (including recipes) to keep your tummy critters happy and healthy.

It's great stuff that everyone should read and I give it all possible stars.

G.

This book was pretty good, as other reviewers have said it's an easy read. I have read lots about many of the things covered, so I had been hoping for a bit more in-depth and complex info. And, as others have pointed out, while there was a significant focus on antibiotics use, there wasn't a focus on avoiding antibiotics in the food chain, or a lot of other by-products of feed given to animals we eat. While I agree with eating carbs that act as prebiotics, I am not necessarily in agreement with the support for grains - but there is still so much to be answered about grains. Did some of us evolve with ability to more easily metabolize grains, like how some folks who lived thousands of years ago in northern Europe become able to digest milk because they needed vitamin D and lived in areas with a lack of sunlight? Have our guts been really damaged by our diet (in addition to overuse of antibiotics?) Other reviewers commented about the advice to discuss with your doctor - and I couldnt agree more how futile that can be. My doctor is at least 5-10 years behind what folks like Mark Sisson and other paleo/non-sugar ppl preach. She actually told me pears were low in sugar, berries were bad and apples were bad. All in all, great info from follks well versed in microbiology but wanted more.

Our microbiome contains 100 times more genes than our human genome. Like DNA, everyone’s microbiome is unique. Unlike your DNA, you can change your microbiome… and you don’t have to get a fecal transplant.

Justin and Erica Sonnenburg take readers on a tour de force of how microbiota develop in the human gut and impact our immune system. Difficult science and academic studies are translated into lay terms, with interesting tidbits of history thrown in.

The authors then dish up practical advice, including recipes, on how to help the bacteria in your gut help you and your family to better health, providing many examples from their own family experience.

While The Good Gut is an excellent introduction to the topic, I was hoping for a little more on which drug companies are on the cutting edge of microbiome research.

Gene therapy has made slower progress than many of us hoped. The potential for “bugs as drugs” could be even greater in treating a host of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, and asthma. While yogurt and Kombucha might be overhyped, there is huge potential here for better health and financial opportunities.

I’m ready to put a microfluidic sensor in my toilet, hooked to my iPhone and Apple’s HealthKit. You might be too, after reading The Good Gut.

"The Good Gut" confirms scientifically what I have learned empirically. I am a retired RN who has eaten a whole lot of vegetables, rice and beans my whole adult life. I do eat meat and fish several times a week, but know that I feel better when I eat less meat. Just in the past 2 years, since I retired and have more time, we have added home-made kimchi and sauerkraut to our diet, and I have noticed that this makes me feel even better. I was a single mother who worked all of her life, along with raising a family, and I was born with a low energy level. People like me describe feeling like we were "born tired." If I did not eat well, so that I felt my best, I could not manage my hectic schedule. Eating poorly was not an option for me.
The Sonnenburgs explain in lay terms the complex relationship that all human being have with the microorganisms that we host in our digestive systems. It turns out this relationship may be much more important to our health than we ever realized. The variety and numbers of microorganisms that we harbor can either contribute to our well being, or contribute to a disease process. Without being dogmatic, or preachy, they enthusiastically lay out the pathway for people to follow that will assist them to make the most of this relationship. At the risk of oversimplification, the advice is to eat more whole plants and fermented foods.
One of the most helpful aspects of the story that the authors tell, is that they include their own story, of how their 2 children were born by c-section, had to take antibiotics at times, and now they are working parents with school age children, who need lunch for school every day. So this is a not family living on another planet, but one struggling with the same issues that so many of us are facing, and trying to find a way to live a healthy lifestyle in spite of it all.
I found the science presented fascinating, and helpful. The authors do mention over and over again that this science is a work in progress and there is so much more to discover. I look forward to following the ongoing research. I found the authors sincere, forthright and engaging.
I have only one suggestion for the authors. There is a sentence in the book that states that the microorganisms are not conscious. As a long time student and practitioner of buddhism (all is one) I wonder if this is true. There is a new book out which I also enjoyed called "Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm" which suggests that the bacteria are in fact conscious and intelligent. This possibility adds a whole new wrinkle to this entire subject.

I just finished the audio version of this book. I found the book to be written in a manner that was accessible to the layperson, yet filled with scientific data. Perfect for "Googling" anything you did not get the first time over. The big take aways for me from this book were to up my consumption of fermented foods and prebiotic digestive resistant starch to seed (and feed) the lower gut.
The only negative I could give voice to would be the continued (maddeningly so) contradictory advice from different well respected Dr.'s. Dr. Andrew Weil writes the intro to this book, and throughout the book the author’s are relatively consistent in recommending a Mediterranean type diet that Dr. Weil advocates. On several passages they seem to recommend (or at least praise) a Vegan diet as having less harmful gut bacteria varieties than meat eaters. When you compare these dietary principles to say a Gary Taubes or Dr. Perlmutter book...the advice could not be more contradictory while being equally convincing. I do know that when I restrict carbohydrate intake I lose or maintain my weight easily, and when I do not....I gain weight. While sort of quietly advocating a lower fat and lower meat based diet, reading between the lines I can see that I would undoubtedly gain weight past my normal set point on such a diet. Once again we have to choose it seems between a healthy gut (The Good Gut) a healthy and resilient brain ( Grain Brain) and to some extent our waistline (Good Calories, Bad Calories).
All in all I would recommend this book as a way of gaining an understanding of what will probably be the next frontier of breakthrough medicine. I would strongly recommend this book to expectant parents. There are tons of actionable advice(s) from the birthing process of "seeding" your child's gut with the most beneficial bacteria, through dietary and pet advice (spoiler alert...get a pet) for toddlers. I think in 10 years we will know much, much more than we do now. The authors are careful to continually point out that we are in the very early stages of infancy in understanding the gut and all the things it effects within the body. For now, I am adding more fermented foods and prebiotics to my diet and will continue to not sweat frequent hand washing (influx of good bacteria) or kissing my dog .

I have SIBO and autoimmune thyroid disease and I have a great interest in my microbiota. I have a zillion health books; books about fermentation, books about probiotics, gut health and healing, etc., and at first I was skeptical whether this book could be any different, but if it is true, then it’s a major concept for eating fiber and healing your microbiota.

The book is easy to read and I read the entire book because it was THAT interesting and I learned a few things I did not know, very important things. For one, microbiota that aren’t fed, digest the protective mucus of your stomach lining. Well in IBS, one of the symptoms is mucus in your bowel movements and I had that for years.

I’m 59 and my daughter 18 has Hashimoto’s so whatever I can learn to help me, helps her in the future. Although I am past simply repairing my microbiota because my stomach is so messed up at this point, I am currently on a grain-free diet to heal my sinusitis which eliminates the fiber from grains, but of course, now I have more inspiration to drink my green smoothies to get the fiber there. I am also adding rejuvelac to my smoothies which increases the probiotics too. I have found that green smoothies helped me more than anything when I was at my sickest, helping my skin, my mood, my hair.

Also the book explains why breast feeding your infant is paramount to their health, which gives mothers back their very, very important role in child raising.

I have spent 30+ years in the practice of internal medicine attempting different strategies to change behavior when bad habits happen to good people. Too often, lifestyle epiphanies occur after major shake-ups such as the diagnoses of diabetes or other serious conditions. I particularly like the ‘bibliotherapy’ approach; I’m always on the lookout for good self-help book recommendations to add to my short list of those that truly effect change.

I am pleased to report here that “The Good Gut” is just such a book, well-written in a way that makes it one of those notable non-fiction works that you’ll read cover to cover, not losing interest or comprehension somewhere between a paragraph’s start and finish (no flipping ahead to see how much longer this chapter!). The Drs. Sonnenburg do not tediously repeat and overstate the standard health caveats to avoid sugar, lose weight, and exercise, but rather expand on their primary point, namely the importance, care, and feeding of our fellow life bacterial travelers.

As a regular reader of the latest medical literature, much of the content herein was not news to me. The presentation, however, in everyday layperson language, was personally compelling in ways that the New England Journal of Medicine is not. A recent search on the NEJM web-site for ‘gut microbiota’ returned 28 articles, not one of which with content so gripping as to change my diet for life. Oh right, I’ve already done that, changing out breakfast foods long before the Sonnenburgs’ book and the rest of menu as a result of this read.

I will be recommending this book to my patients, and I also commend it to you.

The authors of this book clearly know what they're talking about. They are researchers at the frontiers of knowledge, but with the ability to convey what they know to those of us who are new to the subject. I tend to be wary of books on food and diet, since many (or most) of them are devoted to food faddism of some sort, with oversimplified prescriptions for one sort of food that you MUST eat (or maybe that you MUST avoid). Nothing of that sort here: what we have is an informative treatment of just how the gut and its bacteria function as part of the overall machinery of the body, especially as it relates to the immune system. I learned a lot. And it's full of practical suggestions for how to be kind to the trillions of creatures who inhabit our gut (and who are vital to our own health).

I am only about a quarter of the way through this book, but I can tell you that it should be required reading for every one of us that live in North America. The authors do an amazing job of simplifying the science of probiotics (microbiota, bacteria that helps us be healthy). They argue that because of changes to diet, antibiotic over-use, and over-sterilization, our gut microbiota is facing a “mass extinction event,” which is causing our bodies to go crazy with all kinds of different diseases and afflictions.

Although the authors are Phd's and this is for most purposes a medical/science book, they did a pretty good job of keeping the reading level so that some lay people will understand it and certainly most medical/science people should understand it. Just when I felt bogged down reading more and more about microbes, there would be a pearl thrown in to get my attention and keep me going. I do think the book title is misleading, but it got me to buy it. There is plenty of advice on why to change our diet/lifestyle. They back this up with some interesting research studies (although the studies were of small groups and mostly done with mice). However, I do not believe the book provides proof of a true plan to "take control of weight, mood, or long-term health" as the title states. (I wonder if the publisher chose the title?) QUOTE Pg 205 is a common theme throughout the message in the book- "The age of one-size-fits-all model of probiotics is passing. Future probiotic therapies are likely to account for the development of the human microbiota throughout the stages of life. Until such age- and individual-specific probiotics are available, it's up to us, the consumers, to use a trial-and error method to identify products that agree with us." END QUOTE... The author's do make a great case that we indeed should have alot of respect for our gut and treat it well. They recommend fermented foods, fiber, skipping antibiotics, passing on the typical Western diet, etc. None of that is really new info, but added to WHY all these important things affect the gut (and our health) was new info that I had not found through reliable internet sites. (folks...always make sure what you are reading is from a reliable source!) Overall, the book was interesting, I did learn alot about how microbes affect us through our lifespan, and I will make some dietary changes because of the information provided. The book is 301 pages total.....8 pages are index, 43 pages are recipes(28 recipes), 20 pages are references, 218 pages of reading material, 8 pages introduction, 3 pages forward. IF YOU WANT THE CONDENSED LAYPERSON PART READ PAGES 210-226 (use the index for explanation of abbreviations or terms) and borrow it from the library!

I love this from the forward:

“Why is the incidence of peanut allergy so much greater today than it was when I grew up in the 1950’s? And what is the explanation for the spectacular increase in gluten sensitivity?”

Valid questions, and we can easily say it’s not just due to more testing and being more conscious about it. Something has changed, and as the book points out, it’s more than just one thing.

Here are some of the chapters that interested me the most:

- What is the Microbiota and Why Should I Care?
- Setting the Dial on the Immune System
- A Gut Feeling
- The Aging Microbiota
- Managing Your Internal Fermentation

If you’re familiar with the basics of the microbiota, dangers of processed foods, etc., then some of the book will be a review. It’s written in a way that’s easy to understand, but not simplistic.

But beyond the basics, the book progresses to cover things more in depth, but still keeps it relevant.

For example, many carbohydrates are “absorbed in the small insetting without the help of microbes.”

Much of the starch we eat (white bread, white rice, pasta, Potatoes) ends up being converted into glucose and “absorbed into the bloodstream before it reaches the microbiota…”

The book talks about the effects of our diet, the carbs on our blood sugar and the effects that can have on us.

It discusses the importance of fiber in our diets, and the reasons why.

The book provides menus and recipes with the fiber gram count.

This is one of the best part of the book, the recipes, smoothies, and things you can actually do to improve your microbiome, but leading up to it, you get the science and the studies that have helped show it’s importance.

Overall, great book, and that it comes from doctors at Stanford offers credibility to their work.

Store shelves have a recent explosion in the number of probiotic products, from special yogurt varieties to supplements that contain varying numbers of bacteria strains with interesting scientific names. This book written by Stanford professors helps to explain how the beneficial bacteria in these foods and supplements interacts with the digestive system, and how probiotics have wide-ranging effects on the rest of our body. A UCLA study demonstrated through brain imaging scans that probiotics even positively affect brain function after a few weeks!

One of my top curiosities was how to decide between all the different probiotic supplements. After reading the book I finally understood how the different bacteria strains get their names, how the probiotic supplement industry selects the strains, and what to look for when trying out the different probiotic products. Just this advice alone made the book worthwhile.

Once I got over the world's unsexiest title, I started the book by the Sonnenburgs, thinking it was probably a way to get rid of diarrhea or cramps. Far from it! I had never realized the intestines were good for anything other then eliminating the body's waste, hopefully painlessly with some regularity. Lo and behold, it's actually the center of your health universe and it's prudent to understand how to keep everything running smoothly. Even if you are a non-medically trained person, like myself, give it a gander, you won't regret it.

This is such a refreshing book-- grounded in peer reviewed science and truly useful for people who want to understand how dietary and medical choices impact emotional and physical well-being due to impact on the microbiome, and gut flora in particular. I have multiple sclerosis, so strengthening the immune system is usually not a good idea, but having gut flora that support mood and health in general feels important. This book helped me to better understand the inner workings of the 70% of my immune system located in the gut. It's a lot to take in but extremely readable and understandable for the non-scientist. Highly recommended- this isn't fad or fluff, it is a serious effort to explain little understood science to the average reader.

Thank you to the authors of this book. Since I have colitis, I was quite interested in the knowledge they provided. I'm a screenwriter, not a medical or scientific professional, but the information seemed well researched, organized, and presented. I was pleased to find it engaging, entertaining, and in places, even funny. It is encouraging to understand more about what is going on inside of me and to look ahead to the possible treatments and cures for illnesses such as colitis. Because I think most people can benefit from reading this book, I have to rein in my enthusiasm when I'm telling others about it so I don't oversell it. It's that good.

What I was hoping this book would have is a chart (based on research/clinical studies) that would show the connection between specific probiotics from foods like yogurt or from supplements (like Culturelle), and their effect on specific health conditions.

After reading the book, the only major takeaway for me was that I would have try various probiotic supplements through trial and error to see which ones might help me, for let's say seasonal allergies. Like most people who read such books, I already knew that whole grains and lots of fruits/vegetables are good for you, but learned that they are a good source of prebiotics, which are food for probiotics.

If you don't want to be chronically ill, you will pay attention to this critically important information -- complete with menus and recipes to help change your diet. There was quite a bit of repetition in the explanation of the science, but some of it was necessary due to the complexity and newness of the topic. This book did make me curious to know more about the gut health/autism connection and the gut health/depression connection. I also wonder when doctors will start prescribing these new findings to their patients instead of focusing primarily on medications and surgery. Could save billions in health care costs.

This book offers: some food for thought, a rudimentary and often repetetive education, and just awful diet recommendations. Easy reading and not completely worthless regarding some of the recent holistic trends, but all diet advice is at best, a continuation of the vegetarian nonsense that makes people sick.

I have been having a lot of health problems lately. Especially digestive issues. After going to a gastroenterologist who was no help at all, and in fact made things worth, I started doing my own research. I learned a lot during my research and took myself off all of the medications the doctor had me on, and started supplementing my stomach with acid (apple cider vinegar) and probiotics instead. Doctors are not going to tell you these things because they get kickbacks from the pharmaceutical industry for prescribing their drugs. They also won't tell you that taking PPI's and other acid reducing drugs can actually cause more harm than good. I found out that my doctor was actually giving lectures and getting paid to plug ppi's. His lectures, of course, only mimic what the pharmaceutical industry tells him. I dropped the doctor and started treating myself based on all the research I was doing, and was able to do what the specialist couldn't do in the two years I was seeing him. Improve my stomach and feel better.
I'm not 100% yet, but I'm still working on it.

When I saw this book and read what it was about, I knew I had to get it. This book explains everything I'd been reading about during my research and more, all conveniently in one place. It explains how the body works. How your digestive system works. What you need to do to keep your gut healthy and happy, and so much more. This is by far, the best, and most honest and up to date book I have seen regarding the flora of the human body and how it is detrimental to keeping it healthy which causes the whole body to be healthy. Loved the chapter called Eat Sh!t and Live.

This book is very informative and touches on all of the things that I learned and believe from my own extensive research to be true. When I tried to talk to my gastroenterologist about these findings, he wouldn't even listen to me, which is why he is no longer my doctor. If you are ill a lot or you have digestive issues. I highly recommend this book. Best book I've read on this topic to date.

For at least the last 10 years I have been a bg fan of probiotics. I had a nasty lung infection and went through 3 rounds of antibiotics and still was not 100%. My nutrition teacher suggested a course of probiotics and I was a new person in a weekend!

This book does a great job of explaining the science behind probiotics and how to get tgem into your diet. I especially liked the discussion on the different strains of good bacteria and how to apply all the information to everyday life. Highly recommended

Excellent book with great information that is not easy to find elsewhere. I learned a lot from this book. Particularly liked the statement: "[t]he best medicine I ever had was M&M that I picked up from the road in Palo Alto." Growing up in India, I have picked up such things as well and do feel good about it after reading (actually listening on Audible) to it. I highly recommend this book for knowledge and health enthusiasts!

Drs. Justin and Erica Sonnenburg are both PhDs (not medical doctors) at the Stanford Medical School. They team up in their microbiology lab there as well as being parents together of two young girls. Both as researchers and as parents, they study the effect of the microbes in our gut, mainly the large intestine, on our health and well-being.

While the Sonnenburgs are pursuing some interesting research, and have written an interesting book, it's a little hard to separate the speculation from the facts. The authors have written this book clearly for the general public, and you don't need to have any medical knowledge to understand what they are saying. In fact, it's almost "The Human Microbiome for Dummies." It was easy reading, taking only a couple of hours.

That non-scientific tone continues with the dedication to, in addition to their young daughters, "our trillions of microbial inhabitants -- may your secrets continue to enlighten us for years to come." And with mentions in the book that the authors have taught their daughters to feed their microbiota like a pet, and to say that they want more kale because their microbiota are hungry.

It is clear from their research, and from the research of others that they cite, that the microbes in our bodies are important in some ways. But I'm not sure that they make the case that "proper care of and appreciation for the microbiota is essential for good health." Or that "We have become a nation of junk-food addicts and we are indoctrinating our youth into this extremely hazardous existence -- they are the unwitting victims of our microbiota-harming lifestyle and it is making them sick and will shorten their life span."

In short, I'm not sure I agree with their subtitle that the book tells the reader how to "tak[e] control of your weight, your mood, and your long-term health." After reading the book, I think the authors make a good case that our microbiota have a significant effect on illnesses like irritable bowel syndrome. But I'm still skeptical that the microbiota in our bodies actually control our weight, our mood, and our long-term health. Influence to some degree, maybe, but I think that influence may be minor.

And their claims that people with unhealthy microbiomes may thereby suffer from cancer, auto-immune diseases, and autism seem too far-reaching based on the research they present. One of the blurbs for the book, from Dr. Mark Hyman, says, "A bad gut causes heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune disease and more, while a good gut can prevent and heal most of what ails us in the 21st century." That's a stretch -- the book doesn't make that case.

Still, this is a very interesting book for me, especially since it comes after my reading Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues, with similar views. The Sonnenburgs also present some common-sense steps we can take that current research suggests might be helpful, even if it's too early for a firm foundation for those ideas.

In particular, it seems important for children to have healthy microbiota that they be exposed to bacteria through vaginal birth, if possible, and be breast fed for a year, if possible, since breast milk contains some molecules that the infant cannot use directly as food but will be food to the microbiota. Antibiotics can wipe out the healthy microbiota and leave room for the unhealthy to move in, so they should be used only with caution.

The Sonnenburgs also give some menus and recipes they use to get their children to eat more fiber and probiotics. It's not clear whether it does much good for us adults to do too much now -- it may be too late to make a difference. Unless we need something like a fecal microbiota transplant, which the authors talk about at some length but I will due to delicacy not touch upon here. (In a chapter called "Eat [Fecal Matter] and Live," they warn, "Don't try this at home!" The authors do point out that you can check on how diverse your own microbiota is by sending a swab of your poop to the American Gut Project, a crowd-funded project that will analyze that swab for $99 and send you the results.)

Finally, they raise some interesting questions about our microbiota and obesity. There appears to be some connection. In fact, the authors seem to strongly believe that a diet low in meat and fat but high in fruits and vegetables (with their fiber content) will result in lower weight and better health. That's an interesting contribution to the debate on diet that continues to rage in books like The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet.

So much "dietary advice" is based, at best, on a weak understanding of limited scientific studies, and at worst, appears to have been fabricated without any scientific testing. Correlation is not causation, and way too many dietary recommendations have been made based on correlation, rather than causal links. Add to that the media's insatiable need for stories, coupled with a weak understanding of the science behind it on the part of writers and editors, you end up feeling whip-sawed just trying to eat right.
This book is the first one I've read, in forty years, that appears (I use "appears" because I am not a scientist) to be (well-) written by top researchers (their credentials are impressive) who back up their assertions with detailed information a layperson can understand, and who readily acknowledge the limits of current understanding. While eating the right foods might help create the right environment to fight age-related memory loss or autism-spectrum disorders, we aren't truly sure what those foods are for any given individual.
What we do have ample evidence for is that a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains (the actual grains, not processed into flour) is correlated with good health. Add to that the growing body of research that eating fermented foods can be very beneficial, and you start to get a scientifically validated eating plan.
The recipes in the back seem easy enough to do, but didn't look appetizing to me--too "crunchy" in the San Francisco way for me--though I bet if you like Indian food (I do not), say, you will love these. Of more value to me is the practical advice on how to experiment with adding beneficial foods to my diet. I'm heading over to the "healthy foods" market now to load up on kefir!

In science, we are never sure 100% about a theory... That's just how science works - there are always more questions that as scientists we try to answer before communicating results to the public. I applaud Justin and Erica Sonnenburg for putting together decades on microbiota research into a language that a non-specialist can understand, while distilling the current knowledge into practical advice. With this book, you'll learn a lot from some of the worlds best microbiota researchers and will be able to apply that knowledge to your daily life.

an excellent intro book on how to keep your whole body healthy via the digestive system. Lots of stuff I didn't know and as soon as I started following some of the advice in this book, several minor nagging ailments disappeared. A quick easy read.

This book is tantalizing in its presentation of a new frontier in health, genetics, and the overall approach to microbes. Great read for laymen and experts. I will be looking forward to the updates in the field of the human microbioma.

I love this book. Although I have heard much of the information here and there over the years, some quite new to me, and I'm glad to have so clearly presented in such detail. I have rarely used antibiotics and NEVER use antibiotic soaps or dangerous chemical cleaners, and this book is motivating me to focus on what I feel is now most important to my overall health... adding a great deal of fiber and feeding my microbiome in various other healthy ways.

Brilliant book, how the human colon contains bacteris for proper digest and assimilate the nutrients. How the genetics of wheat has changed over the years and why more people have gluten problems and gut flora has also changed. What we eat, processed food, industrial products food and over use of antibiotics threatens the changes within the intestine.

Incredibly eye-opening and very interesting. The end got a bit repetitive and boring for a non-biologist such as myself. Overall it was a great read. And the recipes at the end are helpful, but terrifying. They're definitely not for particular palettes.

I found this book to be really great. I have a GERD and some other health issues. So I was so glad to get this book and learn some things to help me with those issues. I so glad that I got this book!