Eat Yourself Healthy: An easy-to-digest guide to health and happiness from the inside out. The Sunday Times Bestseller

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Drawing from the latest research and a decade of experience as a dietitian and consultant at The Gut Health Clinic, Dr Megan Rossi explains how to feed your gut for a happier, healthier you using simple, delicious and gut-boosting recipes. Try to eat less saturated fat and choose foods that contain unsaturated fats instead, such as vegetable oils and spreads, oily fish and avocados.

Stress plays a pivotal role in gut health. Strategies targeting the gut-brain axis have proven to be as effective as dietary approaches in managing gut symptoms, as seen in trials comparing various interventions. The vagus nerve, connecting the brain and gut, plays a crucial part in maintaining equilibrium. The author has an easy to understand style of writing and although she does discuss some of the bio-science and physiology involved, I don't imagine it'll be beyond the scope of the average layperson. The book has a lot of charts and quizzes to fill out to analyze the reader's current gut biome and general gut health as well as a lot of suggestions for improvement. I started to have various joint weakness, inflammation issues and was very low in iron. I got ‘Eat More, Live Well’… The majority of my meals are now recipes from the book. Within 6 weeks my energy levels started to improve. I have been astonished at how much I have learned during this process. Stay hydrated: You’re less likely to overdrink if you’re hydrated. Alcohol is a diuretic so you need to replace the fluid you’re losing. Replace it with water – not wine!

Try to include at least 1 starchy food with each main meal. Some people think starchy foods are fattening, but gram for gram the carbohydrate they contain provides fewer than half the calories of fat. The elephant in the room is the global food industry. “Big Food has completely altered the food environment so that unhealthy foods are the cheapest, most ubiquitous, heavily marketed, [most] difficult to resist and socially acceptable – as a result, the [world’s] health has gone down the toilet.” Our digestive tract is the barrier between our body and the environment. This means that food doesn’t really get into our body until long after we’ve eaten it – after it has passed through our gut lining’s defense barrier and into our bloodstream. If you think about it, this is a huge responsibility for our gut, and it explains why it’s equipped with an incredible 70 percent of our body’s immune cells.”

Studies have found that people with depression and people who sleep poorly often have abnormal gut microbes. Eating to boost your gut bacteria (hungry yet?) could improve your mood as well as your diet. How to achieve this is different for everyone, and you may need to try changing your diet more than once to find the best foods for you. Try eating pre and probiotics, more veg and fibre and vary your diet. Pre and probiotics Get Smart About Superfoods Infographic- So-called “superfoods” alone won’t make you healthier – but adding these nutritious foods to an already balanced diet can bring health benefits. The Quinoa Sushi Rolls were excellent and will become part of my regular recipe rotation. I was delighted by the recipe templates, such as Mix-and-Match Porridge, Mix-and-Match Sliders, and Good Gut Bowls, that offer different choices for each category of ingredients. This is a great way to use up leftovers, and if you’re feeding a group, it allows each person to customize their meal. Recipes such as Fermented Overnight Oats and Microwave Popcorn are easy to assemble and offer a choice of toppings. Overall, this was a really great book. I like how it discussed not only diet, but also the importance of sleep, stress, and exercise. Gut health is affected by so many different factors and Megan really dives into these issues one by one. These cooked veggies will last in your fridge in a sealed, airtight container for about 3 to 5 days so this is a great recipe for meal prep!Of course this wouldn't be a complete healthy eating book if it didn't contain some recipes, so of course it does. There are some 'interesting' recipes within, not all to my taste, and some contain ingredients way beyond my standard shopping list but they could be worth a try. (The sautéed Brussel sprouts and tenderstem broccoli with pesto and wild rice sounds tempting) It's recommended that men have around 2,500 calories a day (10,500 kilojoules). Women should have around 2,000 calories a day (8,400 kilojoules). I learned that this restrictive diet over the years not only messed with my gut microbiota but also my mental health as well. On average, men should have no more than 30g of saturated fat a day. On average, women should have no more than 20g of saturated fat a day. Megan Rossi, PhD, RD, known as the Gut Health Doctor, holds a prominent position as one of the globe’s foremost experts in gut health.

It's recommended that you eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and veg every day. They can be fresh, frozen, canned, dried or juiced.Being overweight or obese can lead to health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, heart disease and stroke. Being underweight could also affect your health. My only disappointment was in the recipes. As much she talks plant based, 95% of the recipes include, eggs, probiotic yogurt, dairy kefir, cheese. She's big on probiotic yogurt and kefir. Even a how to make your own. There's no mention on substitutions or if a plant based work around would be possible with each recipe. Don’t underestimate the power of hydration . Drinking throughout the day will help you stay alert and chipper. So yes, the book will make me think about what I eat but I don't feel I have enough information really to comment on the diet which is recommended. It does seem to take a holistic approach and also consider the impact of sleep and stress on the functioning of the body. Studies suggest vitamin B deficiencies can result in a reduced production of feel-good chemicals and lead to tiredness. Other sources of B vitamins include whole grains, red meat, dairy, beans, bananas, green vegetables and beetroot.