Dollygrip: My understanding is that contamination varies by species/ subspecies, size of fish and where the fish is caught. Similarly the amount of vitamin D and long chain omega-3s vary substantially, for example between farmed and wild salmon.

UK healthy eating guidelines (National Health Service, Food Standards Agency) are based on the best available evidence and recommendations of other key agencies, such as the World Health Organisation or European Food Safety Authority. Where I can’t access – or don’t understand! – the published research I default to these experts. Currently they recommend limiting intake of the largest fish species. More information is on the websites of relevant agencies.

Your post made me think that it would be interesting to compare the weight of fish consumed in an ‘average’ serving of sushi, fresh tuna steak or canned tuna lunch.

Eating sushi frequently would go against several of the UK’s healthy eating guidelines: eating a wide variety of different foods, choosing wholegrains over refined ones, limiting intake of large fish.

The thing about olive oil is the harvest and bottling date. Olive oil is perishable so check you buy it as fresh as possible. I checked along a row of expensive oils at a high-end supermarket and chose the freshest. I like estate bottled Castillo De Canena extra virigin olive oil, in arbequina and picual varieties, and the grassy, Marqués de Valdueza extra virgin which is a blend.

While it’s true that the larger oily fish like tuna are apex predators and therefore have eaten lots of other fish in their lives, do we have any reliable figures for mercury and other contaminants ? I hear mercury builds up in the system like lead compounds so it’s a safe bet you want to limit your sushi intake. Fresh sardines are sold in good supermarkets like Waitrose in the UK and they eat only plankton so the risk is reduced.

Attempts to improve my dietary fibre also turned my system into a gasworks and I too had to manage my intake of brassicas (which I love) and pulses. I’ve enjoyed adding wakame seeweed to my morning miso soup and tofu doesn’t seem to stir up trouble. Eggs and chicken produce evil gas and I’m thinking my gut bacteria must include lots that mess around with sulphur. Does anybody know when Day Two are setting up a lab here in the UK ?

I agree that the breakfast bread is very dense. I found I could only eat a tiny amount and it took a long while to chew. All these are good things! I added caraway seeds to my batch but I’m planning to make a hybrid with gluten-free flour and yeast to see what that’s like. I want a high protein bread for my partner who is diabetic but little and seldom s the motto informing our choices.

Thanks supermum. I have started drinking an a tbspn of apple cider vinegar mixed with water before each meal. I have also cut back on brassica veg. Things have calmed down a bit. Didn’t know about the bicarb test. I just looked it up. I’ll try it out over the next 3 mornings. Many thanks again

Thank-you.

URL links don’t work well here on CG, but reputable online articles confirming the above include the UK National Health Service “Can reheating rice cause food poisoning?” and BBC News “Dr Mosley: When is it safe to reheat leftovers?”

It is safe to reheat cooked rice, or eat it cold, providing it has been refrigerated or frozen *promptly after cooking*. Cooked rice should not be kept warm or left at room temperature for too long.

This is because rice may harbour a bacteria that can survive cooking (‘spore former’). Given food, water, warmth and time the bacteria multiplies and produces toxins *which are not destroyed by cooking/ reheating/ freezing.*

Basically avoid rice at a summer BBQ or curry house buffet unless you know it has not been out long. And only use rice in your phyto burst lunchbox or bento if you have a refrigerator at work.

HTH.

This was the only recipe I’ve come across that didn’t make it clear. I’d be wary reheating rice as it’s the one food it’s advised not to reheat.

There may not be a definitive answer, it may well vary by recipe and by ingredient.

For example if the recipe instructs you to cook the pasta, the measurement is likely dry. If rice is used in a cold salad assembly the measurement is likely cooked.

Cooked rice stores well in the refrigerator or freezer, and reheats much better than pasta which can easily be overcooked.

czasawd

Sorry to read you are having a bad time. That level of weight loss warrants an urgent appointment with your family doctor. Short term you are at risk of electrolyte imbalances and dehydration (food helps the body hold onto water). Medium to long term you would be at risk of nutrient deficiencies and even organ damage.

I am also concerned you are self treating several self diagnoses – irritable bowel syndrome, low gastric acid, reflux/ gastritis – with remedies that have the potential to worsen your symptoms. Stress/ anxiety can certainly cause or contribute to loss of appetite, *increased* gastric acid and to indigestion. Proven treatments for stress/ anxiety include low dose beta blockers (prescription), daily physical activity, relaxation exercises, targeted diet modification (foods rich in magnesium, long chain omega-3s, vitamin D, B group vitamins). You may notice how well this fits with Clever Guts!

Did you consult a medical professional before starting (p.187)? And have you been completing the detailed food and symptom diary (p.187)? If you have do take this to your doctor’s appointment. They may be able to identify dietary imbalances or triggers for your digestive problems: sometimes what we blame is only the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’.

HTH!

Your stomach acid may be low. you can test for this with bicarbonate of soda. Why not try having a little diluted organic cider vinegar before meals. or as a dressing with the bitter leaves.

I have been on the diet for two months. I was doing really well and feeling much healthier. i went on it because i had low energy due to Hashimotos (low thyroxine) and terrible indigestion every day for years. 6 weeks on the diet and i felt better and the indigestion finally went completely when i removed raw nightshades. I was enjoying ferments in my diet and had successfully reintroduced cheese, yoghurt and milk in small quantities. Then i had a very stressful experience which stressed my tummy and i couldn’t eat much for a couple of days. this then triggered an IBS attack for the first time in my life. I have a really gassy painful tummy which makes it difficult to eat and so I am barely eating anything. I have lost 10lbs in two weeks. I am also having reflux at night. From researching I think my stomach has become low in acid which is often a problem with low thyroxine. I am taking cider vinegar before meals. To help get it right i am going to use some HCL and digestive enzymes tablets. Has anyone any ideas? If I cannot resolve it in the next few days i will go to see my doctor.

Thank-you, but it makes it difficult to judge the weight if using uncooked ingredients such as rice or quinoa.

Ok, that makes sense, thank you. I’ve cut out tea and sugar, I’m assuming the double hit of them both will definitely cause a headache!
Thank you for your response.

Yes its pretty common – what dietary changes have you made? Are you suffering caffeine withdrawal for example?

Normally recipes refer to pre-cooked unless otherwise specified, I believe..

Hi Heidio79

Its not that simple – what outcome are you seeking? What problem are you trying to solve? Atlas, Genova, Biome etc all have there place but its very dependent on your individual circumstance

Has anyone had success with this since the last post? I’m looking at Atlas Biomed but can’t figure out if they’ll tell me which probiotics will be the best for my gut.

Thanks for your response. My query was regarding quinoa and, as I’ve since been told it can be bought pre-cooked, I assume the recipe referred to cooked weight.

Sorry I haven’t responded sooner but no I haven’t found out the answer!

Hi
I started the clever guts remove and repair diet on Sunday it is now Tuesday. I am following the diet plan that is provided in the book and have only allowed myself one piece of fruit a day. I have had a headache since waking up on Monday morning and it has been constant since then. I am drinking 3 pints of water a day, I assume that is sufficient. Has anyone else experienced headaches. Is this normal?

Firefox what can I say but thank you for all you have written. I certainly have to re read, probably more than once, it all. With no pun intended, it’s a lot to digest.
I get what you are saying re the diary straight away though and have printed off blank ones. My previous food diary is not so thorough.
I’m certainly bought into the concept that my microbiome is needing rebooting. Without going into detail I’ve definitely had events/factors in my life that potentially have put it out of kilter. Many thanks again for your advice and time.

Got interrupted earlier, so forgot to say that the *balance and variety* of wholefoods in the diet impacts the *balance and variety* of micronutrients (minerals/ vitamins/ essential fatty acids) in the diet. This, rather than a specific food allergy or intolerance, may be contributing to your gut issues.

Some micronutrients are not found in many wholefoods so insufficiency or deficiency is fairly common in the West. Examples include vitamin D (oily fish), magnesium (cocoa/ some seeds), long chain omega-3s (oily fish again), haem iron (organ meats/ some fish/ red meat). This potentially impacts gut health: omega-3s are anti inflammatory, magnesium is key in muscle relaxation and nerve function, vitamin D boosts immune system activity.

Although humans can convert vitamin D during exposure to UVB rays (ie. sunlight), this depends on latitude, season, time of day and skin colour. Here in the UK we can only convert vitamin D for half of the year so dietary intake (or supplements for ‘at risk’ groups) is critical.

Many fibre rich wholefoods (wholegrains/ beans/ lentils/ seeds/ nuts) are also mineral rich. The processed, refined or white alternatives may have *some* of the lost micronutrients replaced (depends on product and country). Some ‘free from’ products are very poor nutritionally, just empty carbs.

Wholefoods that are calorie dense or higher in fats are best for maintaining or increasing weight. Clever Guts friendly calorie dense foods include very oily fish (mackerel/ herring/ anchovies/ sardines/ pilchards), traditional aged or unpasteurised cheeses, free range or organic egg yolks and whole eggs, nuts and seeds (hazelnuts/ ground linseeds/ chia), avocados, olives and olive paste, extra virgin olive oil, no added sugar whole coconut (toasted chips/ dessicated/ block creamed), coconut oil, low sugar dark chocolate/ cocoa.

Many of these do contain fibre, but the soluble fibre in certain seeds (chia/ flax) and fruits (olives/ avocado) tends to be gentler on the gut than the insoluble fibre in some grains (wheat/ rye) and vegetables.

It is also worth playing with different preparation methods for nuts, seeds or grains to make them easier to digest. For example toasting or soaking in liquid overnight both work well with hazelnuts.

HTH!

The detailed food and symptom diary is important to track the balance and variety of your diet before during abd after (compare to official healthy eating guidelines). Also to track the effect of each change on your gut behaviour and the microbiome *as they are now* (post wheat free, post FODMAP, this time of year, current activity level, current stress, sleep patterns and so on).

That is not to say that your older food and symptom diaries are not useful. You might analyse them for balance and variety with fresh ‘Clever Guts’ eyes. What you replaced wheat products with, average daily grams of fibre, type of dairy product, type of fats, brightly coloured antioxidant rich foods …

The meal plans are examples only: your food diaries should help determine which foods types are eliminated or introduced and when. Particularly note Dr Mosley and co “don’t recommend removing too many foods at one time, so it might be helpful to do R&R in several stages.” (p.190) And “inteoduce foods one at a time with a gap of at least three days between each one.” (p.193)

does anyone know how good the Jalna brand of yoghurt ( pot set) is in australia plse ?

Hi,
Last year I was referred to an NHS dietitian. I did a food diary for her for 1 month. The only thing we could definitely identify as an issue was wheat based products/foods and although I avoided them, no change.
I then, under her guidance tried the FODMAP diet – no difference. Unfortunately that dietitian has now retired and I haven’t bothered to ask for another as I read the Clever Guts books and thought that this was the way ahead.
I started the R&R phase 11 days ago, (didn’t do the diary as I have all the diary data from last year) I’ve pretty much stuck to suggested meals / recipes adding only a good variety of vegetables to them.
It is clear to me that my gut is having difficulty with all this veg / fibre and although it was noisy before, it has now gone up a decibel or 2 with associated increase in wind. I understand that this is due to the increase in veg / fibre but I need to eat a fair amount as I really can’t afford to loose more weight. I’ve been steering clear of potatoes/rice/pasta(wheat free).
I’m considering doing a low fibre diet for a few days just to calm things down but I feel that is a move in the wrong direction.
Has anybody got any suggestions for what I could eat that will maintain my weight whilst following the ‘Clever Guts’ rationale and allow me to back off on the veg/fibre amounts which are clearly having a bubbly field day in my gut.
Thanks,
Pete

Which food types/ groups are you referring to? How are you defining ‘intolerance’, has that been medically diagnosed (doctor/ registered dietician)?

If you have a food intolerance with a genetic basis – such as to the milk sugar lactose – that will not disappear and reappear, but ‘dose’ or amount at one sitting does affect symptoms. This varies from person to person. Wherever possible/ practical avoid regular milk and other higher lactose dairy. Instead have the recommended servings (UK three per day) from lower lactose dairy: kefir, strained live yoghurt, traditionally aged cheeses. If all dairy is problematic you *may* have an allergy, so discuss this with your family doctor or dietician.

Foods such as refined/ processed grains, added sugar and artificial sweeteners Dr Mosley recommends “keeping to a minimum during and after the programme” (p.188) This fits with official healthy eating guidelines. For example the World Health Organisation says added sugar should be *maximum* 5% daily calories.

Similarly Dr Mosley advises to have alcohol only “in moderation and with food.” (p.194) Official healthy living guidelines give both daily and weekly maximums, and recommends regular alcohol-free days.

Having a wide variety of different wholefoods means over the day, the week, the month and the year. It covers eating some foods seasonally, and eating different combinations of foods (ie. different recipes). This is because nutrients work together: they increase or reduce each others absorption, and balance out each others function in the body.

Even with commonly eaten foods such as onions they can be varied day to day. Red onions, banana shallots and green/ spring onions are different, or you can substitute leeks. It is increasingly easier to source brown, orange and yellow tomatoes, and nutrients are more or less available when the tomato is cooked/ sunblush or fresh raw.

Hope my ramblings help a little!

After reintroduction, is it more important to eat things only two or three times per week, or would smaller quantities every day be the same? So what is more important, to avoid food intolerances recurring, the frequency or the quantity?

Hi all,

After suffering from chronic urticaria for the best part of 2 months, I was given the clever guts book to read which made me think more about how my gut health could affect my condition. Since January 20, I have been on a strict elimination diet of eggs, chicken, Brussels sprouts, oats, vita weets, steak, water and cabbage. I have noticed a reduction in my severe outbreaks but these were normally at their worst after a night of a few drinks and bad meals. Using anti-histamines and steroids, I still struggle to keep my everyday facial rash (hives) to a minimum along with the constant feeling that my skin is on fire. I find the best cure for this is dunking my head in buckets of ice a few times a day but this only solves the problem for half an hour at a time.

I was prescribed the elimination diet from an immunologist and put on a failsafe diet which has been hard to implement except on a basic level however the long term effects do not seem to be helping much.

Has anyone had specific experience with hives in particular? I haven’t had a gut test or anything done yet but am considering it in the near future to double check there isn’t something more sinister going on.

Any similar testimonies would be appreciated. The world of intolerance and severe urticaria seems like a lonely one lots of the time!

Regards,

Matt

What is your current diet like in terms of balance and variety? How much sugar, refined/ processed carbs, prebiotic fibre, healthy fats (oily fish, olive oil etc) do you have on an average day?

If your current diet is really far off official healthy eating guidelines, you may need to improve that alongside adding probiotic rich foods. If your current diet isn’t optimal, but not terrible across the board you may well get some noticable benefits from switching in some live/ fermented wholefoods.

My fingers are crossed for you!

It’s great you have a GP who is up to date/ open minded to new approaches. It’s also helpful that you have done those previous elimination diets. Knowing what you *are not* intolerant or *are not* allergic to can help guide where you go next.

Experts from the American and British Gut Projects have repeatedly tested their own, relatives and colleagues gut microbiomes, as well as those of populations eating a traditional hunter-gatherer diet and those eating a junk food heavy diet. This suggests that the microbiome changes seasonally, during and after pregnancy, day to day and even meal to meal.

Just found this topic, my wife suffers from multiple sclerosis, which is another inflammatory auto-immune disease. Have any MS sufferers been included in the trial?

Thanks for such a detailed reply!

The elimination diet was supervised on each occasion, but I did stop having sugar, gluten and dairy all in one go on one occasion, so I guess it makes sense to remove one thing at a time.

In fact this time my GP (who makes her own kefir from raw milk!) suggested increasing my intake of probiotics as she feels it might help my CFS / ME – hence me wondering if it’s possible to increase the health of your micro biome by adding in probiotics etc, even if you don’t necessarily cut out all the ‘bad’ stuff.

I know sugar is probably an important one to quit, but I did feel horrendous last time I did that! I’m asking here partly as it’s v hard to get hold of my GP, and largely because I thought it would be good to have people’s experience to learn from.

It is possible to minimise kitchen time whilst still eating healthily, especially if you have a freezer, slow cooker/ crock pot, stick blender, microwave oven.
Frozen vegetables and fruits, canned beans lentils and tomatoes, canned oily fish, cooked smoked fish, frozen seafood all need minimal preparation. It is possible to throw the ingredients for a stew/ casserole/ soup into the slow cooker in literally five minutes. Go about your day and come home to a hot meal.

HTH!

For example “IF you have mild IBS or problems with abdominal pain and bloating, you MAY want to reboot your gut bacteria.” (p.186)

And “we don’t recommend removing too many foods at one time, so it may be helpful to do R&R in several stages.” (p.190)

And “introduce foods one at a time with a gap of at least three days between each one.” (p.193)

From the example planners take away how varied they are, and that nutrients is eliminated foods are replaced by other foods (seeds and nuts instead of grains and pulses).

Have you been completing the detailed food and symptom diary (p.187)? Analyse that for the *balance and variety* of wholefoods within and between food grous, as well as identifying potentially problematic foods.

Many DIY elimination diets are very restricted in food types and/ or calories and/ or micronutrients. This can make you feel awful or even be dangerous, so such diets should be medically supervised.

Clever Guts is more about eating a balance and wide variety of nutrient dense wholefoods throughout. It is worth rereading pages 190 to 196, rather than focussing on the example meal planners.

Hi all,

I’m new here and just wondering if anyone could advise me. I’ve been reading the Clever Guts book and also have the cookbook, and am aiming to introduce more pre- and probiotics into my diet. I want to see if this might help my Chronic Fatigue, which I’ve had for years. Has anyone found that increasing probiotic consumption is beneficial on its own, without the Repair and Recovery phases?

I ask for several reasons. One is that I’ve done various elimination diets over the years, all of which have left me feeling absolutely dreadful for several weeks. I can’t really afford to feel awful now that I have an energetic 7 year old to look after. Also, the benefits (aside from weight loss and a decreased desire for sweet things) were hard to quantify. The other issue for me is that removing so many things in the repair phase takes quite a bit of planning and energy, which I’m particularly low on at the moment!

Any thoughts welcome!

A proven treatment for oral thrush – Candida – is an anti fungal mouth rinse such as nystatin (prescription only in many countries). You may find this improves symptoms in other areas, since inflammation in the mouth/ gums can spread.

Diet wise you might check the balance and variety of fermented dairy products (live yoghurt/ traditional cheeses, from cow/ sheep/ goat milk), amount of oily fish (for immune boosting vitamin D and anti inflammatory omega-3s), and a really wide variety of brightly coloured non starchy vegetables (minimal sugary fruits).

Some with IC find that acidic foods worsen their symptoms, and both kefir and fermented vegetables can be quite acidic (natural sugars convert to acids). Traditional aged cheeses are less so because much of the lactic acid is lost when the whey is drained from the curds.

HTH!

Where are you in the Clever Guts process? Did you remove and reintroduce foods slowly and stepwise (p.190 + 193)? Have you been maintaining the detailed food and symptom diary (p.187) before during and after each cycle? Are you maintaining balance and variety within and between food groups?

It is not ideal to self treat a self diagnosis by restricting the diet for anything more than a short period. This can cause or worsen micronutrient deficiencies or imbalances.

If possible consult your dentist, family doctor or a registered dietician. Your detailed diary will be invaluable here. The conditions you mention could suggest low grade systemic inflammation, or irritation affecting part of the nervous system, or that a medication has affected the oral microbiome (via reduced saliva, antibiomicrobial action).

Hi
I think I have Candida , history of IBS type symptoms, diagnosis of IC. The Clever Guts diet has helped my digestion immensely, bloating gone and normal stools. However I think Candida is still present in my body… wake with thickly coated teeth, still experiencing IC symptoms, especially urethral burning. So thinking I need to do more to get rid of it, my question relates to the kefir and fermented foods. Given most anti Candida diets suggest no diary or fermented foods, should I avoid kefir and fermented veg? Thanks Susan

Modern wheat flour is usually very finely ground so needs little digestion, can be low in fibre and certain minerals, is selectively bred to be higher in gluten. In general the lighter/ fluffier the bread the more likely it is to be heavily processed.

As you realise, the overall impact of the diet and lifestyle are relevant. Which specific bread/ ingredients, accurate serving size, what you eat before/ with/ after (affects gut transit time and nutrition), stress levels, physical activity, sleep patterns, climate ….

So the detail of the food and symptom diary is important, as well as the length of time you maintain it for *before and during* changing the diet. Dr Mosley recommends keeping the diary for at least a week beforehand, and throughout the stepwise process of altering the diet and lifestyle.

Your diary will be invaluable for a dietician too. HTH!

Clomas: Ensure you replace the red meat with other sources of haem iron and vitamin B12. For example oily fish, which is also rich in vitamin D and long chain omega-3s. Some white meats are shockingly low in micronutrients: check out chicken breast on Self Nutrition Data.

With dietary health risks or benefits the type, amount/ serving size and frequency that the food is eaten is highly relevant. The standard western diet overly emphasises *processed, fatty, intensively reared* red meat products (sausages, bacon, ham, burgers, deli meats) and *intensively reared cows, pasteurised, longlife, sugar added* dairy products (flavoured milk, flavoured yoghurt, processed cheeses).

As part of a *balanced and very varied* wholefood diet – Clever Guts, Mediterranean – modest servings of game or outdoor reared red meats, live fermented cows milk, traditionally made aged sheep and goats milk cheeses (and a little well done toast!) is morelikely to benefit your health as a whole than be a detriment.

You can find abstracts and some full texts of published studies via PubMed and Google Scholar.

HTH!

That’s helpful, thank you. Have already embarked on cutting out red meat (not that it’s ever been a heavy feature of my diet) and will avoid charred food too – I do like well done toast. In my internet browsing, I’d come across possible links with dairy and as I’m a big kefir, yoghurt and cheese fan, I’d felt concerned.

I’ve just had polyps removed and spoke to the specialist last week who said the only thing we can control for to prevent bowel cancer is not to eat red meat and not to eat charred food – get rid of the barbecue 🙁
The rest is not something we can do much about – getting older, genetics for eg.

Hi Firefox7275,

Thanks for your recommendations. I’ve been keeping a detailed food and symptom diary for about 8 days now but the only obvious message I’ve had from it is that I need to totally avoid any sort of bread or cracker. I’ve thought that for a while anyway, so this confirms it.

Having said that, I’ve had the experience of being in Finland many times (I was born there) and eating bread with every meal and only having a problem with it if I eat white bread. All of the rye and mixed grains suit me well. It was the same in Botswana last year, where none of the bread I ate gave me any problems.

I’ve often wondered whether the wheat and other grains we use in Australia is processed more than these products elsewhere, and perhaps that processing takes something out of it that some of us need for digestion. As you say though, another factor may be that when I’ve been in Finland or Africa it’s been on holiday and my mood would have been quite different from the stresses of being at home.

I have a Thermomix so it’s not that hard to make soups easily. I guess my main problem is deciding what to make, so you’re probably right that I need to see a dietician, so I’ll go and see my GP about it.

Thanks!

Bree: Health experts recommend minimising added sugars, but a moderate intake of naturally occurring sugars – from dairy, vegetables, lower sugar fruits – is fine. Probiotic microbes need some carbohydrates (sugars or fibre) for fermentation to take place (converted to acid, alcohol or gas).

Different microbes survive different conditions, including being heated to a given temperature for a given period of time. Different cooking methods can cause ‘hot spots’ in different areas, stirring and standing time also affect how evenly the food is heated. So it is not as simple as microwave versus stove/ hob.

Ideally do not cook any live fermented food, but add it to the meal right before eating.