Hi Everyone I have threaded some replies below La Shy’s questions:

how much saurkraut and or yogurt is a good amount? Do we know that both of these and the other pro-biotics make it past the acids and into the large intestine? Evidence seems spotty as far as I can tell.

GRAHAM: I think you are looking for precise answers where there are none! The human body (+microbiome of course) is too complex to give absolute answers. But that doesn’t leave us clueless. The general advice in Michael’s book is spot on. But the answers vary very specifically by individual:

This is where MapMy Gut (or similar) come in. Only by determining which bugs are in your gut and in what abundance can you answer the question “which is the best diet for me”. I’ve been researching this for years plus I have the advantage of having a health-professional and scientific background. There are no absolute answers which is why I’ve just sent off my own stool sample to MapMyGut in order to understand what dietary changes I should make

The seaweed study was phenomenal for some of us who have psoriasis but also as a nutrient but how mcuh seaweed should we combine into our life and what kind (there are multiple types)

GRAHAM: Find a good and recognised source and stick with it. It’s trial and error (at least for now)

How cold does rice and potatoes need to be to become resistant starch and for how long? Some on the internet say frozen for 8 hours and others just say less than 130 degrees or does the food need to be cold and then re-heated and reltated, what is the calorific impact of resistant starch or (and this is another question) are we no longer living in a calorie counting world and if that is the case, how do we adapt

GRAHAM: In the fridge overnight according to Michael’s study on Trust Me. As for calorie counting? Most people would say its less and less relevant. Get your diet right; move in the right ways and weight should look after itself. Forget calorie counting at least for now

It seems pretty impossible to remove all processed and preserved foods from our life because they are everywhere including in basic things like crackers and often bread or even pasta, (cold or not). What is essential to avoid and what is just okay and what is the impact of some of these products on the microbiome and is there a way to compensate…

GRAHAM: I recommend Prof Tim Spectors book “Diet Myth” for some answers

Thanks for all of the responses!! I appreciate your taking the time. I also appreciate that there are a lot of unknowns and that each individual is different. (Thanks for the video Graham)

Just to be clear, my questions were a function of my natural curiosity and also trying to see how best to implement this in my life. I travel a lot for work during some periods and that means planning. So the source of my food is not always clear to me although I do try to make good choices when living in a hotel.. Fermented saurkraut is not on every menu. I also cook quite a lot at home when I can (lentil soups, curries etc.) but tend to freeze larger batches to re-use the next week. Knowing if this impacts the nutritional/microbial value would be helpful. I also make sushi at home sometimes which (bonus!) seems to be a great food for the microbiome (oily fish (have also made kimchi rolls), seaweed, and resistant starch (rice)…so knowing if the sushi rolls need to be refrigerated for a long time or just cold before eating to make them insulin resistant and extra healthy is actually useful for me. I used to only make this rarely because of the potential insulin response from rice but for my family this could be a really good way to get in a lot of goodness if we can avoid the insulin response especailly as diabetes runs in the family. Anyway, those are some examples of why I’m asking the questions I am asking…but I hear you that there aren’t any hard and fast rules…

Here is an interesting article on Resistant Starch with a lot of references to actual research for anyone else with a curious mind and a Ted Talk video that pretty much summarises some of the key research explained in the book. Enjoy.

https://chriskresser.com/how-resistant-starch-will-help-to-make-you-healthier-and-thinner/

Interesting! I highly-recommend Rob Knight’s Book Follow Your Gut

Shaila:

Amazing the difference knowing the ‘whys’ makes! (No, that’s not a criticism – I think we all do it to a certain extent – don’t give all the details because we’re replying to something/posting something on a forum.) Yes, I can see that being in hotels might pose problems, at least when I go to Germany there’s always plenty sauerkraut around! My other diet-and-fitness guru, Leonard Morehouse, said that the best diet anyone could follow would be to eat as wide a variety of foods as they could get their mitts on, but moderation in all things. Even 40 years down the line, his advice not only still holds good, but appears to be confirmed by modern dietary thinking, at least, the thinking of folk like Michael Mosley, not the clowns who dream up faddy diets for the gullible!

And I didn’t fully answer your previous question re potato starch: yes, it is still working! Not only that, I forgot to take it last night (didn’t realise until I got up and found the still-clean glass!) and had a simply dreadful night, far and away the worst I’ve had since starting.

Re your comment on some potato starch being potato flour: my bag is marked ‘Potato Starch (Farina)’, which would suggest that it is, in fact, potato flour. However, I’ve used potato flour before for cooking, and this stuff seems to be completely different, both in texture and in how it reacts. (Now there’s a thought: I wonder how it would work as a thickening agent for rote Grütze? Must try it next time! Sorry, thinking aloud, as it were!)

where can I get a microbiome sequence in Australia, can’t find this information

Just google “microbiome sequencing service in australia” ?

Tried that but for UK. Got loads of results with most seem to be suggesting ‘pay money and discuss the results with your nutritionist’.
One wanted £347 plus VAT with a six weeks wait…
So far as I can see, none do the same as the Weizmann people and suggest which foods to eat or avoid.

Early days, perhaps.

Yes, I believe the service is only available in the UK and USA and a paid service. I don’t know any free ones.

The Personalised Nutrition Project has been licensed to http://www.daytwo.com. It is only available in the US ($299) and Israel. They say they are going to expand to other countries.

I was in Israel recently and saw the DayTwo app for myself. Very impressive. But even with the app you’ll likely need someone to help interpret the results and advise. For the UK my preference is Tim Spector’s mapymygut – you get the right information and someone to help interpret it for you and advise as part of the scheme

I’ll look into that.

Dietetics/ nutrition is a specialised field; tailored advice needs to consider the individual. Age, gender, lifestyle, current diet, diagnosed medical conditions, prescribed medication, etc, etc. Avoiding or increasing one food type can throw the balance of several nutrients off, necessitating adjustment in other areas of the diet or even supplementing.

Similarly the lab work in sequencing the microbiome requires expensive equipment and the time of skilled technicians.

For anyone who can’t afford or justify the cost of personal advice – inc. me! – next best is reading the Clever Guts Diet and other books by the experts from the American and British Gut Projects.

Getting the gut microbiome sequenced is not a short cut or fast track to better health. Ultimately we would still need to overhaul our diets, and measure success by improved symptoms.

To use changes in the microbiome as a measure of success means budgeting for regular testing.

I agree with you Firefox7275: it is a specialist field. That said, without the mapping , you are steering blind. While the advice in Michael’s book is excellent it is simply not possible to say what is a good diet for any one individual without knowing anything about your microbiota. I’ve just sent off my own sample for this reason and I’m awaiting the results with interest. One of my Israeli friends had her microbiome mapped by DAYTWO. There is no way you could have predicted what the results would be without the mapping – the outcome is often not what you expect.

Fascinating !

I work at a Fairtrade shop and the Zaytoun olive oil from Palestine is very pure. It’s picked by hand from 3 different areas and comes in various forms including Organic. It’s not cheap but tastes really good. http://www.zaytoun.org

Gilli

I would like to be involved in the potato starch project too please.

Here’s a link to an Italian organic olive oil that is available in the UK.

https://www.riverford.co.uk/mer/shop/farm-shop/olive-oil-pesto-sauces/olive-oil-italian-extra-virgin-500ml
and the supplier website
http://www.giancarloceci.com/en/shop-en/buys-products/olive-oil.html

The quality and taste seem very good to me as a layman, but would be interested to have it confirmed as part of any future review of oils.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. There is a probiotic that was developed with the help of the University of Queensland called Perkii. The bacterium used in the probiotic is lactobacillus casei (Lc431). Perkii calims to use technology called Progel that encapsulates the bacteria which it allows to pass through the small intestine unaffected and it passes to the lower intestine and colon.
https://perkii.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/The-Geeky-Stuff-PERKii-Science-Brochure.pdf

This raises questions to me. Have you heard of this? How “good” is the bacteria used? I’ve included a link to a pdf about the product.

Awaiting comments.
Cheers
Rob

Hello. Loved the book and very keen to get started. And would esp be interested in the potato starch experiment please! Am also keen to have gut analysis, but uBiome and British Gut seem to require the input/collaboration of a GP. Is that correct?? Thanks.

I think more care needs to be taken with the recipes. The pictures of some are clearly not the recipe quoted, for example the Green Brekkie Bowl which shows chillis, not in the recipe. The methods of cooking are sometimes not clear – for example grilling a Portobello mushroom for 3 minutes does not work – in my grill anyway. Maybe mine are too large. I do find I have to amend many of the recipes though after a near disaster trying to make them like the ones in the app.
Having said that, I love them although could do with more non-meat ones. I particularly love the courgette fritters.

I agree with your comment on more care needed with recipes
I had made Seeded Soda bread and it was a disaster the omount of liquid is clearly not enough as the dough was still very crumbly I did add more fluid but it was not a nice bread.
Also I am now in the process of making No-Knead Sourdough and low and behold it says to add Salt but there is no salt in the ingredients!!! So how much is one supposed to add?
H

You say in the book that we can get hold of Akkhermansia and Christensenella . Can you let me know where please ? I would love to be part of a trial or go to a medical centre that researches and provides the Probiotics . Can you let me know if that is possible
Mimi7

I think that’s a misunderstanding. You can’t “get hold of” specific gut bacteria. The best you can do is optimise your diet (as recommended in Clever Guts) to give you the best chance of achieving a healthy micriobiota

Michael – you write about Pia’s work regarding seaweed capsules and how they helped a lady with psoriasis. I have palmar/plantar psoriasis and methotrexate is the only method of control which works for me. I would like to trial the seaweed capsules. When will Pia’s study be published and is it possible to obtain the seaweed capsules? I couldn’t find this information on your website. Thanks.

Dear Michael

I’m part way through the book and am very interested in the potato starch survey.

I have not yet done any research myself on this, but interested as I have some issues with sleep. I use melatonin daily.

We do intermittent fasting, eat healthy, use turmeric and supplements. I would be happy to provide you with more health and lifestyle details if required.

Thanks for the books and videos which are extremely informative and helpful and quite fun to read.

Hi, can anybody please explain the link to me between HIIT and the Biome? Having read the book i am a little disappointed that there was not any strong evidence given other than that a there is a rugby team who do hi intensity training, eat a varied diet and have diverse microbiome in their poo. There was no theory put forward as to why the author thinks there is a link here or the possible mechanism of how this works to positively impact on the biome. Not that i am doubtful of the benefits of HIIT at all, just interested from a scientific point of view. I felt it was the only thing that didn’t really tie in as well as everything else in the book which was otherwise a very good read. thanks to anyone who can reply.

HOW MUCH SALT IN SOURDOUGH?
Heron- 1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt in sourdough- I got in touch with The Wild Baker mentioned in recipe header!

Hello, please keep me updated via your newsletter. Thank you

@pigcalledegg I found this recent article on Psychology Today that actually indicates some very extreme exercise, in this case, a four day cross country ski march by a group of soldiers was harmful

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/gut-sensations/201802/the-effect-physical-exercise-our-gut-microbiome

“The leakiness of the gut increased by 60 percent and was associated with the activation of the immune system, measurable in the circulation. The observed exercised induced changes in gut microbial composition (increase in the less common taxa and decrease in the more abundant ones) and microbial function (metabolites) were associated with the increased leakiness.”

In contrast a group of lean and obese adults

“participated in six weeks of supervised, endurance-based exercise training (3 days per week) that progressed from 30 to 60 minutes per day and from moderate to vigorous intensity.”
the findings were

“Exercise increased fecal concentrations of short chain fatty acids in lean, but not obese, participants. Exercise-induced shifts in metabolic output of the microbiota paralleled changes in bacterial genes and microbial taxa capable of short chain fatty acid production. Interestingly, exercise-induced changes in the microbiota were largely reversed once exercise training ceased.”

So it seems that fairly vigorous exercise up to 60 minutes a day would be beneficial. Marching for 10 hours a day, four days in a row on skis with weighted backpacks not so much!

Very interesting! Thank you for the update

@pigcalledegg You’re welcome! I should note it does say it progressed to “vigorous exercise” so maybe that would cover HIIT. A quick google of high intensity microbiome brings up quite a few studies that indicate it is beneficial.
I recommend everyone in the thread listen to the current Radio 4 series “The Second Genome”, absolutely fascinating so far

Radio 4 three part series on the human microbiome – The Second Genome

From Australia, I have searched high and low on the internet today looking for christensenella tablets, which in the book page 58 says you can purchase on the internet.
I’d like to know where we can purchase these tablets.
Would they be under another name perhaps?
Any help? Thanks 🙏

hi all,
Has there been any update on the brands of Olive Oil that are best to use? I’m in New Zealand, so looking for a brand available in this hemisphere!
Thanks in advance.

I am enjoying trying out the diet. I do have 2 questions.
1 I would also like to lose weight and am not on this diet. Should I try the blood sugar diet instead?
2 I get quite strong facial eczema when I drink Kombucha and/or the milk kefir. Is this a common reaction to the bacteria/yeast? Will it go away if I continue to do it?

Cheers
Cathy

5 years later and I too have bought the book and have come to the site looking for the Diary said to be under Resources. Am I being thick? Surely after 5 years, it must have been added but I can’t find it.
If you did, please let me know where to find it. There doesn’t seem to be an update on Olive oils either.

Hi Chrissie – Its under Get Started – https://cleverguts.com/food-diary/#
All the best,
Ali