Gut Balance Revolution

Is it a book? Diet?

He has you drastically cutting out meat and fish and milk. Cheese, yogurt, and eggs are o.k. He encourages fermented foods and has you eating lots of fruits, veggies, beans, and some nuts and seeds.
Science is not clear yet on how changing the bacteria in our gut helps us.

When the science is unclear, as RodaRose says, it's pretty easy for a self-proclaimed authority to step in to fill the void with their own theories, which are probably snake oil. This author looks to me like he is in the same league as Dr. Mercola and Dr. Oz. But, looks could be deceiving.

I don't follow a specific diet. But recently I had a difficult infection. I was on a lot of antibiotics that were very strong. About 5, over the course of months. And I had a bad allergic reaction to one. I developed a secondary problem from the antibiotics. So, I have been eating a diet to rebuild my flora and internal ecosystem. I eat yogurt, kefir, fermented veggies. Lots of veggies, and my usual diet that also includes grains, nuts, fruit, eggs, chicken, salmon, lentils, cheese, pizza, the occasional burger. And sweets and treats in moderation. I am probably forgetting something to say (it's a regular non restrictive diet that I like). I don't need to lose weight, though. There can be benefits to having healthy intestinal flora, particularly if it was severely disrupted by antibiotics. Science does support that.

RodaRose wrote: »

He has you drastically cutting out meat and fish and milk. Cheese, yogurt, and eggs are o.k. He encourages fermented foods and has you eating lots of fruits, veggies, beans, and some nuts and seeds.
Science is not clear yet on how changing the bacteria in our gut helps us.

In response to this, science does not know everything yet, but science has overwhelming evidence that suggest that gut microbes affect allergies, yeast infections, immunity, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and my personal favorite, depression and anxiety. I researched gut microbes personally for 5 years. Utilizing a probiotic (probio 5 is my go to) should be used if the diet can not completely be changed. Even if the diet is changed, probiotics are recommended.

Nope, sorry.

pds06 wrote: »

I think it's a healthier eating plan. Boosts your metabolism. There is a book. I never heard of it before and was wonderind if I missed something or if anyone knows anything about it?

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I already eat those foods, except no one is going to make me eat fermented veggies.

It sounds gimmicky to me. I'm always leery of anything that smacks of "one weird trick" in disguise.

Somewhat off point, but what is a fermented vegetable, other than sauerkraut and certain pickles?

sheldonklein wrote: »

Somewhat off point, but what is a fermented vegetable, other than sauerkraut and certain pickles?

I think they are referring to lacto-fermented veggies, where you basically let the veggies do their thing, ala sauerkraut or kimchee... basically, letting veggies sit in a salt brine until they ferment.

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Perhaps foolish Guinea Pig here (following diet carefully)- Also have reservations (as previous posters) about Gut Balance Revolution diet due to the kind of "snake oil" PR of the book, if it sounds too good...

Background: Am using the diet not to lose weight (although long term loss would be great) but because of GI issues since health issues (while long term use of a PPI) gave me continuous digestive issues. My gastroenterologist said these messed up my gut flora balance and gave me her favorite probiotics which significantly helped but decided to take a further step and get back to normal gut function and off of my PPI meds (antireflux) which my doctors said were aggravating my digestive issues.

Bottom line for me is that the diet is not easy to follow (first part is low FODMAP etc. for the first 30 days - the diet has three parts) but I am doing OK getting off of my PPI and have also lost 11 pounds in 11 days (which is faster than I would like, I question whether it will stay off). Mullin is a Gastroenterology professor at John Hopkins and has 35 pages of small font research footnotes at the end of his book.

There is some authentic and fascinating amazing research on gut bacteria (NPR earlier this week) but this could just be another diet fad.

for those of us with gut troubles, it would probably be helpful.

kombucha is fermented tea. it tastes like vinegar. i'm not a fan. i do like sauerkraut but everything available here is pasteurized, so not live. not sure if that helps at all, honestly.

for anyone who does not have gut problems it probably won't make a difference. there is evidence, however (i think it was on pubmed?) that a healthy gut microbiome is associated with lower body weight. i haven't heard whether science has discovered whether the right gut bugs CAUSE weight loss, or if they are a result of eating the right foods which also result in caloric restriction etc. this involves levels of Bacterioidetes (rises with weight loss) vs other bacteria such as Firmicutes, which is more prevalent in obese individuals.

there's mention of that on wikipedia as well.

so it's probably like a lot of other gimmick weight loss books. they take something that's true (healthy gut = healthy body) and upsell it as a "revolution" or "miracle". it would benefit me personally cause i have issues. it would probably not at all benefit my sister who has the most healthy gut imaginable.

I found out what my medical issue is. I am histamine intolerant from the antibiotics. It sucks! But, at least now I can try to get better the right way.