I find it extraordinarily disappointing that so many of the recipes have coconut oil/fat in them. Any dietitian will tell you that it will increase the “bad” cholesterol. Recent research from USA backs this up. Its not a new finding.

Lots of good stuff in this book but I suspect they have tried to appease a trendy minority for sales purposes. Shame

The Clever Guts Diet is about identifying and eliminating problem foods in the first phase. Many of the recipes relate to this discrete phase. I suspect common vegetable oils are not used as most have moderate to high percentage of inflammatory and/ or unstable polyunsaturates.

In the second phase CG is about eating a wide variety and balance of wholefoods to improve and maintain beneficial gut flora. Extra virgin olive oil (high in monounsaturates) is a key component, BUT the distinctive flavour does not lend itself to all recipes. In terms of flavour and texture coconut oil is arguably the best substitute for butter.

To address your comment on research in nutrition/ dietetics … depends on the population group, overall diet and fatty acid balance. The Clever Guts Diet has little in common with the standard western diet. It is not specifically targeted to those who need to lose weight, have hypercholesterolaemia or other risk factors for cardiovascular problems.

Over the long term we are encouraged to eat a modified version of the Mediterranean diet. A really wide variety of plants, olive oil, oily fish and other seafood, grass fed dairy if not identified as problematic, and so on.

if anyone has a medical condition that is affected by diet and lifestyle, they absolutely need to run a major change of diet past their medical team, and modify as necessary.

When still practising I would have been delighted if any of my (lifestyle healthcare) clients had brought this diet book to me. I constantly banged on about balance and variety!

If you are diagnosed with hypercholesterolaemia you likely have been advised to reduce saturates and omega-6 polyunsaturates, and to increase monounsaturates and omega-3 polyunsaturates. It would be very interesting to know which specific plant/ vegetable/ nut/ seed oils you use and how they work in the Clever Guts recipes. 🙂

Macadamia and avocado seems to be popular in the Paleo/ Primal community; here on CG we have discussed the pros and cons of rapeseed (canola) oil. I eat plenty of hazelnuts (filberts) as my North European ancestors did, but have never used the oil.

Hi ..

I think this is over simplifying matters. Its not a simple question of one oil over another. Its a complex array of the totality of what you eat (I’m talking nutritional value not calories) and the interchange with your microbiome. This might help:

I couldn’t find anything in the book that explained the use of coconut oil yet it appears in all the recipes, is there an alternative for those with already high cholesterol?

Kitty cholesterol: not really, coconut oil is used for its flavour (neutral and mouth feel (saturated fat). You might read the various threads on olive, rapeseed and coconut oils.

The elimination phase massively reduces the worst offenders in inflammatory/ cardiovascular conditions, namely sugar, processed carbs, land animal fats, omega-6 fats (many vegetable oils). The overall diet massively increases beneficial foods, namely vegetables, oily fish, extra virgin olive oil, certain seeds and wholegrains.

Maybe emphasise dishes that utilise oily fish and olive oil over those using coconut oil.

Hi Kitty: don’t worry – coconut oil won’t adversely affect your cholesterol – that’s a myth!

There is a study coming out soon which shows that eating coconut actually improves the lipid profile. Will post again when it is published. As Graham says, its a myth!