The Gut Stuff: An empowering guide to your gut and its microbes
By Lisa Macfarlane and Alana Macfarlane
()
About this ebook
‘We became the ‘chief guinea pigs’ for the British Gut Project where we discovered that despite us having 100% the same DNA our guts have only 40% the same microbiota… Thus our ‘gut journey’ began.’
With practical advice throughout from gut experts, this is a fact-packed, achievable guide for better health.
With a foreword by Tim Spector. Alana and Lisa Macfarlane have spent the past few years interviewing tons of gut experts: scientists, academics, chefs and foodies to get the real scoop and science behind what we eat. We now know how important the gut is to our health and wellbeing, including its impact on our immune system and on diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and even mental health, but The Gut Stuff arms the reader with practical knowledge and tangible tips – both lifestyle and dietary – so they can make easy and life-changing decisions.
Chapters include: Back to School – biology and the microbiome; Mind and Body – the gut and immunity, the gut and exercise, the gut and skin, the gut-brain axis, the gut and sleep, the gut and hormones; Scientific Interlude on Pre- and Probiotics; Bullsh*t Bin – mythbusting nutrition nonsense; What Can You Do – top tips to support your gut; I've Gutta Problem – common digestive issues; The Future of Science; The Gut Glossary.
With practical advice from gut experts, from how to de-stress for your gut to the affects of alcohol on the gut, this is an achievable guide for better health.
Experts include: The Rooted Project, Kimberley Wison, Dr Chris Lutterodt, Professor Glenn Gibson, John Cryan and Ted Dinan, Jenna Macciochi, Miguel Mateas, Renee McGregor, Ruairi Roberston, Sophie Medlin, Dr Rabia and Dr Gautam Mehta.
‘Twins are a great constant for medical research and we became the ‘chief guinea pigs’ for the British Gut project where we discovered that despite us having 100% the same DNA our guts have only 40% the same microbiota, which could explain why our bodies behave so differently. Thus our ‘gut journey’ began.’
Lisa Macfarlane
The Gut Stuff was born in 2017 by co-founders Lisa and Alana Macfarlane (The Mac Twins). They made it their mission to bring the exciting information they were learning, to the masses (not just the 'wellbeing aware' middle classes) and have since made www.thegutstuff.com the global millennial thought leader in the space. They’ve gained their profile through The Mac Twins DJ’ing and presenting, and whether performing all over the world for Diet Coke, Armani, MAC Cosmetics, on tour with the UK’s biggest music institution The Official Charts, their primetime radio slots both with Virgin and BBC Radio 1xtra, or opening festival stages across Europe, The Mac Twins’ unique talent is their ability to connect with any audience – large or small – and keep it real.
Related to The Gut Stuff
Related ebooks
Gut: the new and revised Sunday Times bestseller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Food Pharmacy: A Guide to Gut Bacteria, Anti-Inflammatory Foods, and Eating for Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Life of Your Microbiome: Why Nature and Biodiversity are Essential to Health and Happiness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGut Crisis: How Diet, Probiotics, and Friendly Bacteria Help You Lose Weight and Heal Your Body and Mind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gut Health & Probiotics: The Science Behind the Hype Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Giulia Enders' Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ Summary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cultivating Your Microbiome: Ayurvedic and Chinese Practices for a Healthy Gut and a Clear Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Healthy Gut, Healthy You: The Intestinal Truth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Magic of Food: Live Longer and Healthier--and Lose Weight--with the Synergetic Diet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Good Gut Guide: Help for IBS, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's Disease, Diverticulitis, Food Allergies and Other Gut Problems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnti-Inflammatory Diet Solution: Heal Your Immune System, Boost Your Brain, Strengthen Your Heart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gut Repair Plan: Four weeks to better health Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeal Your Oral Microbiome: Balance and Repair your Mouth Microbes to Improve Gut Health, Reduce Inflammation and Fight Disease Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDr. Colbert's Healthy Gut Zone: Heal Your Digestive System to Restore Your Body and Renew Your Mind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Microbiome Solution: a radical new way to heal your body from the inside out Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Healthy Gut: Simple Steps and Recipes to Keep Your Gut Happy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leaky Gut Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gut Healing Protocol: An 8-Week Holistic Program to Rebalance Your Microbiome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gut Health Hacks: 200 Ways to Balance Your Gut Microbiome and Improve Your Health! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Microbiome Connection: Your Guide to IBS, SIBO, and Low-Fermentation Eating Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Follow Your Gut: The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ultimate Leaky Gut Health Guide: Simple Natural Remedies to Heal Leaky Gut Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHappy Gut: The Cleansing Program to Help You Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Eliminate Pain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Healthy Gut, Healthy You: The Personalized Plan to Transform Your Health from the Inside Out Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whole Brain Diet: the microbiome solution to heal depression, anxiety, and mental fog without prescription drugs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gut Health Cookbook: Low-FODMAP Vegetarian Recipes for IBS and Sensitive Stomachs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Medical For You
The Lost Book of Simple Herbal Remedies: Discover over 100 herbal Medicine for all kinds of Ailment, Inspired By Dr. Barbara O'Neill Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vagina Bible: The Vulva and the Vagina: Separating the Myth from the Medicine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ (Revised Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Adult ADHD: How to Succeed as a Hunter in a Farmer's World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women With Attention Deficit Disorder: Embrace Your Differences and Transform Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mediterranean Diet Meal Prep Cookbook: Easy And Healthy Recipes You Can Meal Prep For The Week Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Living Daily With Adult ADD or ADHD: 365 Tips o the Day Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How Your Marriage Ends: A Hopeful Approach to Saving Relationships Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diabetes Code: Prevent and Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ATOMIC HABITS:: How to Disagree With Your Brain so You Can Break Bad Habits and End Negative Thinking Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Peptide Protocols: Volume One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 40 Day Dopamine Fast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Obesity Code: the bestselling guide to unlocking the secrets of weight loss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5"Cause Unknown": The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 & 2022 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Holistic Herbal: A Safe and Practical Guide to Making and Using Herbal Remedies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Gut Stuff
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Gut Stuff - Lisa Macfarlane
what’s inside?
(other than your gut ;) )
foreword
introduction
Illustration back to school
biology (and a dash of music)
microbiome 101
modern studies/politics
Illustration mind and body
the gut and...
...immunity
...excercise
...skin
...brain - a tennis match (yes, really!)
...sleep
...hormones
Illustration scientific interlude on pre- and probiotics
Illustration bullsh*t bin (sorry mum!)
myth-busting toolkit
Illustration what can you do?
fermented food – is there evidence?
simple swaps
alcohol
de-stress
other sh*t you should know
Illustration i’ve gutta problem
Illustration the future of science
Illustration gut glossary
foreword
As Director of the Department of Twin Research at King’s College London I have come across many thousands of twins over the years. None are like the Mac twins! Alana and Lisa have an amazing infectious enthusiasm, intelligence and passion for research, and disseminating that science to the public. They quickly became my go-to twin guinea pigs to road-test new research projects.
I met them around 10 years ago when they answered my call to participate on an epigenetic research project where I was looking at why identical twins could often look identical but be quite different in many ways. They ended up being a great case study in my book, Identically Different with their different personalities and gut problems. They then eagerly volunteered for more studies and went on to being the very first participants in a pilot study for our novel research project into the gut microbiome and nutrition. This study involved having all kinds of biopsies, plenty of poo samples and eating several weeks of junk food. Luckily they were performing at the Edinburgh festival where this was readily available. They survived this ordeal followed by four weeks of healthy vegetarian high-fibre food. Their results showed us that we could alter the gut microbes with diet and allowed us to start the big study in hundreds more twins and open up the whole field.
The research evolved into the world’s largest personalised nutrition study with the help of a company called ZOE – called the PREDICT study. The twins were, once again, the first guinea pigs and had to say how they reacted differently to the identical foods, blue muffins (and prosecco). They made the point brilliantly of how unique all of us are. They both were fascinated by the science of the trillions of microbes living in our gut that are essential to our immunity and overall health and how looking after them through a diverse and varied diet could help prevent many modern health conditions. As identical twins they are used to sharing all their genes, but suddenly they have something that is unique to them – the microbes in their gut. Through their participation in the research, they never stopped asking ever tougher and more intelligent questions about the science of the microbiome and, most importantly, they showed a unique talent not just for processing complicated scientific concepts but for translating them to a non-scientific audience in a fun and highly informative manner.
I was not surprised when they went on to found the incredibly successful The Gut Stuff, a platform to empower gut health for everyone.
This book is their next step in their efforts to make microbes, the science of gut health and nutrition available for everyone and show that science does not have to be boring. Through their ability to attract and talk to the best experts in the field they have managed to summarise a wealth of scientific knowledge and different viewpoints to educate a young audience on what they need to do to maintain and enhance their health. I was asked on a nutrition panel recently – what single factor is the most important in changing nutrition? I replied, ‘educating everybody, even at school’. As my own books, The Diet Myth and Spoon-Fed underline, there is a real need for better nutritional health that demystifies food and nutrition. Alana and Lisa’s book deserves top place in the list of books every young and not-so young person should read, because as they themselves say, Gut health is serious shit
. Enjoy.
Tim Spector
Professor of Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London
Author of Spoon-Fed (2020) and The Diet Myth (2016).
Illustrationintroduction
Let’s face it, talking about the gut ain’t sexy. Just googling ‘gut’ brings up a rather disturbing mosaic of beer bellies, intestinal diagrams and, the main reason for our misconceptions, perfectly manicured hands cupping toned, soft stomachs. It’s no wonder we’re all confused.
So many of us have digestive issues at any given time, but we’d rather talk about ANYTHING else than our gurgling midriff and toilet dashing. So, from this sentence on, this is where that STOPS. You are now entering an open ‘poo chat’ forum and you wanna know why? Because it’s important, really important. Hippocrates saw it many moons ago when he said:
Illustrationall disease begins in the gut
For some reason we’ve chosen to bury that knowledge. So, get your little archaeological spades and hats out, as we’re about to discover what Hippocrates was on about for the good of our health. Look, nutrition is COMPLEX. Even the experts say so and, trust us, we were not experts. We had done every fad diet under the sun, including the cabbage soup diet pre-Magaluf 2005 (remember that?), and grew up in Scotland eating deep-fried pizza and chips, plus all of Edinburgh’s supply of yum yums. We only knew what kale was because we used to feed it to the guinea pig on his birthday. That all flip-reversed when we volunteered to be part of the TwinsUK research at King’s College London.
Being identical twins, we have a passion (teetering on obsession) for finding out what’s different about us and to do this we looked inside ourselves, as there isn’t much that’s different on the outside. Twins are a great constant for medical research, and we became the ‘chief guinea pigs’ for the British Gut Project. We discovered that despite having 100% of the same DNA, our guts share only 30–40% of the same microbiota, which could explain why our bodies behave so differently. And so our ‘gut journey’ began, and now yours will, too.
Gut health is mainlining its way into public consciousness and there are lots of cool brands and products coming out which claim to help. And while some definitely do, as the category and interest grows, the cowboys start to ride into town peddling detoxes and tummy teas. Couple this with the science being pretty new (and at times conflicting) it makes for a difficult world to navigate, so KNOWLEDGE is POWER.
We’ve grown an expert team of scientists, dietitians, nutritionists and doctors to keep us all on the right side of the tracks – a lot of whom you’ll meet in these pages. Unfortunately, there isn’t (and probably never will be) a magic bullet for good gut health, mainly because it’s so personalised. But we’re here to arm you with the FACTS, so you can make decisions that are right for you, and *disclaimer*, it’s not elitist, inaccessible or expensive.
Whether you’re here because you’re struggling with digestive issues, you’ve heard lots of chatter about ‘the gut’ recently and want to know what all the fuss is about or just for the polyphenLOLs (you’ll get that joke soon), welcome to the Gut Gang.
why now?
we’ve always had guts – so why are we all just talking about the gut now?
There’s stuff we’ve known for a pretty long time, for example, that the gut is pretty clever and acts like our second brain, even communicating how we feel. (The gut and brain are actually working much more closely together than we thought – more on this later.) Aside from just how fascinating the gut is, with so many people encountering digestive issues, there’s a huge demand to know more. Even if you don’t have digestive problems, looking after your gut is still as important as looking after your heart and all your other bits and bobs. Here’s a rundown of some of the main reasons we’re all talking about our guts.
IllustrationLooking back to 1990 there were approximately twenty-four studies on the microbiota published that year; fast forward to 2019–2020 and there were over 9,000 studies in just one year, bringing it to a total of over 40,000 in thirty years – that’s a lot of research. *NOTE this includes all microbiota, ranging from the gut to