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.

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. thanks to anyone who can reply.

The arguments about the underlying theories seems to go on forever. The more interesting question is what does the experimental evidence actually say?

For example in this video by Michael Greger MD
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-mediterranean-diet-or-a-whole-food-plant-based-diet/

He sites this paper about using a “plant-based” diet to reverse Coronary Artery Disease (CAD):
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25198208

Participants eliminated “dairy, fish, and meat, and added oil”. It was only a small-ish study (198 patients all of whom already had CAD), but of those who adhered to this plant-based diet, only 1 patient has a stroke (0.6%), whereas 13 of the 21 patients (i.e. 62%) experienced “adverse events” related to CAD.

Could it be that eating animal products at all is much worse for us than the current nutritional theories would seem to predict?

J

Just made my second batch of yogurt in my yogotherm maker. I use homogenized milk organic and it comes out great. I’ve read a lot about whey separation and I don’t get that..curious as to why not? Clues?

i guess i just mean constipation as in not passing anything for a day, and the next passing a few tiny hard stools (then followed later by soft stools)…. not chronic, i know, but noticeably different from my normal routine…

gut muscles could be out of shape, i guess… how do i get them in shape? just eating healthily, i guess?

Well I am hoping that these are the first steps towards a happy and healthy gut! 🙂

How are you defining constipation?

Medically constipation is often defined as no bowel movements for three days and/ or having to strain excessively.

HOWEVER if it follows using laxatives or a bout of diarrhoea, the large intenstine may have started out empty. The large intestine is a big old beastie, and can hold three days worth of food waste.

As far as straining, it could be that you are unaccustomed to the feeling of normal movements? Or that your gut muscles have become a little lazy?

But it is always worth checking with your family doctor, practice nurse or pharmacist.

I think they key is in the precise wording. Having said that, a previous thread – ‘Confused by Meal Plans’, Newbies forum – suggested there are two slightly different versions in circulation!

So from my copy

“Foods which commonly cause gut problems include gluten, dairy, eggs, soya …” (p.190)

“We don’t recommend removing too many foods at one time, so it might be helpful to do ‘Remove & Repair’ in several stages.” (p.190)

“Choose from fish, eggs, chicken, game red meat, soya, nuts, tofu, tempeh ….” (p.192)

This is particularly relevant to flexitarians, vegans, vegetarians and pescetarians. Without dairy, eggs, soya products, gluten grains AND pulses simultaneously, the diet would be restrictive to the point of needing medical supervision!

HTH.

In the book the in the R & R section it says to avoid Soy in the R&R phase then over the page it says eat lots of high quality proteins including tofu/soy. So I am a bit confused whether I should be eating it or not. Can anyone point to some kind of clarification?

Probiotics are live microorganisms that are the identical or resembling to microorganisms found logically in the human body. Bacteria normally found in the body execute some jobs, as well as breaking down foods, serving the body to take in nutrients and preventing the take-over of bad bacteria that can be the reason of illness.Probiotics, which sometimes are called good bacteria, are found obviously in some foods, as fine as in over-the-counter supplements in the form of pills, powder or liquids.When consumed, probiotics travel to the intestines and colonize. They are thought to synthesize minerals and produce vitamins and enzymes that help our immune system and keep the intestines healthy.

I finally found it in my Audible account. Thanks!

i’ll look out for that… thanks…

symptoms have changed over the last few days… constipation followed by loose stools.. any thoughts or suggestions?

i haven’t eaten anything different, perhaps increased in the intake or rainbow veg and seeds..

no worries if not, you’ve been helpful enough!

Antibiotics are the appropriate medical treatment for such bacterial infections. Kidney infections can be particularly serious if not treated promptly. Other unpleasant possible outcomes of leaving a bladder infection untreated include interstitial cystitis.

As regards further investigations, a doctor should request a urine sample for testing. Has this not been done?

There is advice on reputable websites (eg. UK NHS, relevant charities) about how to reduce the risk of reinfection. This advice relates to sexual intercourse, general intimate hygiene and keeping hydrated. Some find cranberry drink (no added sugar, check the percentage juice) helpful. These are to be done alongside any prescribed treatment not instead of.

HI just read on page 268 the Clever Guts Diet that oats have high levels or resistant starch when raw (11g) but when cooked drop to (0.3g. Does anybody know if soaking them like bircher muesli also has the dropping effect? thanks so much

I am worried about a young friend who has to have repeated antibiotics due to repeated episodes of bladder & kidney infections. What’s the best course of action to stop these ongoing infections? I can’t help wondering why doctors don’t look into this problem properly. They just keep on doling out the antibiotics.

Here in Europe we have the PDO system. Under this system only cheeses that are made and matured in a particular region, from local milk, using specific traditional methods, can be labelled with a particular name and use the PDO logo.

You may well be able to find other traditional/ artisan/ small production (microbe loaded and gut friendly) cheeses from a good delicatessan, cheesemonger or farm shop.

Dr Mosley mentions *Greek feta PDO* which is made from pasteurised sheep and/ or goats milk. I like the barrel-aged stuff.

Prof Tim Spector – British Gut Project, The Diet Myth – mentions trials with unpasteurised hard cheese and people taking antibiotics. This group includes French *Comte PDO* (cows milk), Swiss *Gruyere PDO* (cows milk), Swiss *Emmental PDO*, Italian *Pecorino romano PDO* (sheeps milk). There is a study on Pecorino romano and heart health.

Then there are softer unpasteurised cheeses, such as French *Camembert de Normandie PDO* (cows milk), French *Roquefort PDO* (blue, sheeps milk), some French *Epoisse PDO* (rind washed, cows milk), some Spanish *Manchego PDO* (sheeps milk), British Stichelton (blue, cows milk). There is a study on Roquefort and heart health.

HTH!

grand, thanks for that…

i’ll look forward to researching cheeses when the time comes!

Very pleased to read that you have offered further medical tests and a referral.

I love traditional cheeses. And I love that research suggests health benefits! According to the experts, we are looking for any or all of:

– sheep/ goats/ cows that live outdoors on a natural diet (higher levels anti inflammatory fats)

– UNpasteurised milk (wider variety of microbes)

– matured in a traditional way, such as rind washed or cave aged (encourages certain groups of microbes)

– different types of cheeses, eg. soft and hard, blue veined, white rind (variety of microbes again).

I’ve just asked a similar question regarding a recipe in The Clever Guts Diet Recipe Book. I see you’ve had no replies on here but were you able to find the answer? If so, I’d love to know.

I’ve just made, and enjoyed, the Black Bean Beet Burger recipe, from the Clever Guts Diet Recipe book, but should the 150g of quinoa be the weight before or after it’s cooked? They didn’t hold together but that’s probably because I didn’t chill them before cooking.

thanks a bunch for this. most helpful..

i’ve been to the docs this morning, and have to return a couple of samples, and am being referred for a colonoscopy. you never know, they might find something!

i’ll deffo try and boost my oily fish, eggs and nuts seeds… i think i’m doing ok with the rainbow of veg.. have tried a few chia pots too. an acquired taste, maybe..! i’ve been eating fermented cucumber, hoping that it might help, kimche too..

can i ask what cheeses you recommend? i’m not sure what traditional aged cheeses might be

cheers

j

Since you have eliminated the worst offenders – sugar, refined grains, dairy – it seems a shame to reintroduce those. Maybe check the balance and variety of the diet at this point using your food diary?

So how many servings of low sugar fruits and non starchy vegetables, if you are eating the full rainbow (blue/ black, deep green, yellow/ orange, red), enough fibre and mineral rich bulking stuff (seeds, nuts, gluten free wholegrains) and so on.

You might consider reintroducing free range or organic eggs – intolerances are not a major issue, you don’t seem to identify an allergy, they can help bind the stool, are nutritious and versatile. Don’t overdo your portions (one not two or three at first) because sulphur containing eggs can lead to smelly gas depending on the balance of the gut flora.

Then fermented or probiotic rich foods (p.136) one by one and in small quantities at first.

As far as portion size and greed goes, it depends which food group. Given you have lost some weight but do not need to, ensure you are eating enough energy dense/ nutrient rich wholefoods. So seeds and nuts (again!), olives, avocados, coconut, low sugar dark chocolate. If or when you reintroduce dairy, traditional aged cheeses fit into this group.

Most fruit and vegetables are primarily water, so their bulk should not stress the digestion any more than drinking liquids. But the prebiotic (fibre, FODMAPS) content of some can be an issue for irritated or inflamed guts. Berries are not normally problematic so can be eaten regularly, but then we have the issue of what to eat them with when cutting sugar, sweeteners and milk!

You are right to be cautious. There is so much unscientific, useless – even dangerous! – health advice on blogs and forums, from alternative practitioners and others working in fields allied to health (eg. some personal trainers).

Most health professionals agree that a *properly balanced and very varied* wholefood diet is ideal. If anyone but an expert with access to your medical history and/ or food diary advises anything else be suspicious!

If you want or need to avoid a whole food group or food type over the longer term – for example gluten grains or cows dairy – check with a doctor, dietician or pharmacist how best to substitute or supplement. There is also sensible advice on reputable websites (health charities, UK NHS, US government, registration bodies for dieticians/ nutritionists) and books written by medical professionals.

Keep it up with the oily fish, ensuring variety (mackerel, sardines/ pilchards, trout, herring, salmon) because different species have different nutrients. Other seafood/ molluscs and crustacians (oysters, scallops, mussels, crab, prawns) and seaweed/ sea vegetables are good sources of minerals including zinc and iodine. So longer term work on variety.

If you have been avoiding most grains, do have plenty of other fibre and mineral rich foods, these should help ‘bulk’ and firm the stool. Clever Guts suggests gluten-free grains and certain seeds and nuts. Ground flax or linseeds and chia seeds are particularly good because they are very rich in soluble fibre. IIRC they are both good sources of magnesium, as are pumpkin seeds.

Limit sunflower seeds, their fat and mineral profile is not helpful. Some people find ‘harder’ nuts and seeds (hazelnuts, almonds, pumpkin) are gentler on the gut if they are soaked in water for a few hour or toasted before eating. If you soak flaxseeds or chia the soluble fibre forms a slimy gel, as it would in the gut. Hence their use in recipes such as the chia pots.

i forgot to mention, after seeing the kinesiologist, i was recommended taking various supplements, including colloidal zinc, glutamine and Lactobacillus Rhamnosus. they said it’d help. i took it for around 5 weeks, whilst avoiding gluten and tomatoes, but i’m not really sure i felt any benefit..

i have been eating plenty of oily fish, over the past three weeks, some dark chocolate, plus pumpkin and sunflower seeds with at least one meal a day…

i was wondering if over-eating might be something relevant. i’m not overweight, but sometimes am a little greedy with portion sizes!

thanks again for your response. i didn’t mean to pry, but you get so much advice online that is unsolicited you have to be careful!

so you reckon i should do this gradually… i just don’t really know where to start! so have a ‘normal’ diet and add one meal from the R&R menu or something?

cheers

From a ‘standard/ average’ food and symptom diary one can consider the amount and types of fibre (and mineral) rich foods eaten, the amount and types of sugars and refined/ processsed starchy carbs, the balance of inflammatory to anti inflammatory fats, amount and variety of brighly coloured non starchy vegetables and low sugar fruits.

Aside from prebiotic fibre some of the most common nutrient deficiences are magnesium, vitamin D3, long chain omega-3s and haem iron (esp. women). All are potentially relevant in gut conditions. Foods rich in these are oily fish, certain seeds, cocoa/ low sugar dark chocolate, organ meats (such as liver), more oily fish!

We frequently overeat – serving size and/ or frequency – processed wheat, other white carbs (rice, peeled potatoes), sugar added or sweetener added snacks and drinks, land animal muscle meat, dairy from intensively farmed cows, certain nuts.

Hopefully some of my generalisations will click with your memories of your pre-Clever Guts diet.

I am no longer practicing, but worked in and studied healthcare for a couple of decades. My roles were in lifestyle healthcare and included nutrition consultations. I worked with both the general public and UK National Health Service staff. Barely anyone met the basic diet and lifestyle guidelines!

Try not to grasp at straws or go in ‘all guns blazing’ – easier said than done! – work steadily, mothodically and logically. The detailed food diary (p.187), staged eliminations (p.190), and slow reintroductions (p.194) are accepted practice in healthcare.

The average Westerner’s diet is restrictive, poorly balanced and poorly varied. Christmas and New Year we are even worse! This leads to a ‘bad’ gut flora and micronutrient deficiencies (vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids).

If your gut is already inflamed and easily irritated, making too many changes at once can worsen this. Whilst you atill have loose stools key micronutrients are being flushed out, ‘good’ microbes don’t have the chance to feast on the banquet of wholefoods you are supplying, can’t evict the ‘bad’ microbes.

hi there.

thanks for replying.

can i ask, are you a professional in this field, or a fellow sufferer, or both?

i have been keeping a food diary since i started the diet, but not before. it hasn’t really brought up anything of any significance. to be honest, i feel like my symptoms have possibly been worse over the last three weeks, since i started the diet.

i keep fairly fit, am not overweight, don’t smoke, sleep fairly well and don’t consider myself that stressed normally, though i have had anxiety episodes in the past.

yes, the meal planners are guides, but i guess a lot of us are grasping at straws here not knowing what to do. following the R&R diet seemed like a possible solution..

i’m wondering how long i should stick it out if it isn’t improving things…

Quantity of each food (weighed, measured, recorded in the diary) is highly relevant. Do hold onto your diaries for your GP, or anyone they might refer you to in the future (registered dietician, gastroenterologist).

The small amount of lactose in milk in the odd cup of tea or the prebiotics in a clove of garlic should not be enough to affect anyone with a food intolerance. However for someone with a true food allergy even small ‘transgressions’ can reverse progress.

A couple of small/ UK official (125ml) glasses of wine isn’t a massive problem. Often the issue is the amount we actually have (eg. pub standard 175ml, home 250ml) and/ or what else we nibbled on and forgot to record!

Given the famlly history and your own medical history, you have a good case for a specialist referral if you are not able to resolve matters through overhauling your lifestyle, including Clever Guts.

HTH!

Sorry to read you are feeling low, this may be telling depending where you are in the world (eg. seasonal affective disorder, low vitamin D). Similarly your ongoing loose stools or gut inflammation may have affected micronutrient levels (minerals, electrolytes). Any imbalances or low levels can take some time to get back to normal/ healthy.

Did you complete and analyse your detailed food and symptom diary in a ‘normal’ fortnight (not Xmas or other celebrations/ social events)?

What did your diary throw up about the *balance and variety* of your usual diet or any potentially problematic food types?

How does the rest of your lifestyle (weight, physical activity, smoking, drinking, sleep, stress) fit with official or Clever Guts guidelines?

The meal planners are examples, we all need to adjust and adapt based on our previous diet and lifestyle and the detailed food and symptom diary.

https://www.makesauerkraut.com/easy-ways-to-eat-sauerkraut/

hi there

i’m new here. i read the clever guts book over christmas, and it sounded like a good thing to do. i’ve suffered from IBS type symptoms for most of my life, most noticeably over the last ten years or so. i’ve tried cutting out carbs, triedcutting out tomatoes and gluten (after seeing a kinesiologist), and tried various IBS medication (prescribed by my GP). none of this has helped, and i’m getting a little desperate to try and find a way of improving things.

i generally get loose stools, pretty much every day, with maybe one day a week when i don’t. that’s the only symptom really, apart from gas sometimes. i’ve had stool sample checks done through the GP/hospital and they’ve come back with nothing. Both my dad and my sister have suffered with IBS-like symptoms most of the their lives, but they have been diagnosed with colitis, and kinesology worked for them, but not me.

after reading Michael’s book, i thought i would try the ‘Remove and Repair’ part of the diet. I have followed it pretty strictly for three weeks now (with one accidental bit of milk in my tea and a couple of glass of wine), but found no change at all.

i haven’t followed the meal planner ‘meal for meal’, but tried pretty much everything listed, spread over the last three weeks, with nothing else.

i’ve lost about half a stone, which i guess is a bonus, but i’m pretty disappointed with nothing else happening!

one other thing, i have found some of the information a little confusing/contradictory. a lot of the recipies contain garlic and onions, but it says in the book to reduce the amount of prebiotic food like this in the R&R phase. also butter is mentioned in some R&R recipies, but it says that shey should only be introduced in the 2nd phase.

I don’t know what to do next. quit the diet? Go back to my GP?

i’d love to hear of some advice from Michael or anyone qualified in these matters, as i’m feeling pretty low about all this.

thanks

J

Kefir, being fermented, can be a problem for those with a histamine intolerance. Histamine is also a neurotransmitter that can make you alert and wakeful.

Define meat!

Do you mean just land animal muscle meat (processed and unprocessed, intensively farmed and free range), or do you mean land animal muscle meat, organ meats, oily fish and other seafood?

Key factors n normal blood pressure, cholesterol and inflammation (all contribute to atherosclerosis) are weight/ body fat, physical activity levels, balance of fatty acids (inc. omega-6 to omega-3 ratio), intake of sugars and refined/ processed or otherwise high GI carbs.

The amount of oily fish, nuts and some seeds, intensively farmed meat and dairy are highly relevant in the ratio of inflammatory omega-6s to anti inflammatory omega-3s. For health vegans absolutely need to supplement long chain omega-3s (DHA and EPA). It is prohibitively expensive to take a decent dose of marine algae ectract, and the balance of DHA and EPA will still be off.

Most registered dieticians, nutritionists and doctors agree that the ‘gold standard’ in reducing lifestyle diseases and their risk factors is the Mediterranean Diet. This includes plenty of oily fish and other seafood, small amounts of land animal muscle meats (mostly outdoor bred or wild), whole eggs, traditional aged cheeses (much from sheep and goats), plenty of brightly coloured vegetables and fruit, beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, olives and their oil, some red wine.

In my opinion a pescatarian Mediterranean diet is the healthiest of all, land animal muscle meat is not required for health. I also try to incorporate aspects of traditional South Asian and Nordic diets.

It is the inevitable consequence of marketing to multiple distinct yet overlapping population groups. There are those following only the Clever Guts Diet, those incorporating aspects of the Blood Sugar Diet or aspects of the Fast Diet. There are those from the United Kingdom, those from North America, those from Australia … and anywhere else the books have been marketed.

AFAIK Dr Mosley, Dr Bailey and both the consulting nutritional therapists are registered and practice here in the UK. Our official serving sizes are measured by weight (solids) and volume (liquids). Nutrition information – including a reasonably accurate calorie count – are based on this.

Other countries have different recommended serving sizes, different ways of measuring servings, different ways of working the calorie count. *Cups and handfuls for solids wiill never lead to anything better than a.ballpark figure.*

Despite the Clever Guts Diet being neither a weight management nor a calorie controlled diet (p.9), some readers were disappointed that the recipes were not number crunched. Thus the CG Recipe Book has ended up with calories per serving *estimated.*

I don’t know who was involved in the shambolic app, or their nationality, or how they *estimated* the calories for each recipe. I do know the app was released whilst Dr M and Dr B were armpit deep in marketing their respective books, and that Dr M has continued to present for the BBC, so I am guessing they had limited input!

Unfortunately weighing, measuring and number crunching is the only way anyone can track their calorie and macronutrient intake. There is no shortcut (sorry!).

Thanks for posts , the recipe is exactly the same in both app and recipe book, to be honest am disappointed that it is not clear , as got app and book to get the calorie info easily rather than working it out myself. Should I perhaps contact the authors of recipe book? Assuming Michael looks over info on app and books, wondering if he is aware. Really like the CG diet so it is a shame that have discovered this problem, making me wonder if calorie count for other recipes is different in recipe book to app. Thanks

I just found the Bailey/ Skipper version of the smoothie recipe on Google Books. More than half of the ingredients are subjective or variable.

It’s just plain *peculiar* that the berries are weighed, whilst spinach is “a handful” and the size of the apple/ avocado/ pak choi are not specified. Having said that the calories in the spinach and pak choi are negligible.

Is there an additional protein source (?nuts, ?seeds) in the app version? Is using all 800 calories in one fast day meal the norm?

I don’t think many here have the original Clever Guts Diet book, the CG app, and the CG recipe book.

Are the units of measurement *exactly* the same, for ingredients and serving size? OR are units roughly converted (say grams to cups)? OR are the units subjective/ variable (an ‘average’ fruit or a ‘heaped’ spoon, ‘mixed’ berries)?

If the recipes appear to be absolutely identical, crunch the numbers using an online calculator such as MyFitnessPal. For accuracy weigh dry ingredients and measure volume for wet ones. Measuring spoons and cups should be level since a watery liquid cannot be heaped!

If you are smoothie-making in a rush, or are more comfortable using measuring cups, by all means convert for yourself, noting how packed the cup should be for an accurate weight.

HTH!

If you make dashi from scratch, you might use that to poach your low carb vegetables and/ or low fat seafood. Then allow the soup to cool as much as possible before stirring in the miso paste. That way any probiotic microbes are warmed rather than scalded.

if you are a cookbook person, you might enjoy ‘Skinny Soups’ and ‘Skinny Salads’ (all recipes <300 cals). Or perhaps you have already come across Kathryn Bruton’s website?

HTH.

I am sorry you feel that way. The original post requested clarification/ explanation, which I took at face value.

In addition the quality and quantity of my responses are severely limited by this ancient smartphone (can’t scroll or edit in post) and my health (poor focus/ comprehension/ memory, ‘brain fog’, pain).

Dr Mosley warns that soya commonly causes gut problems (p.190) and recommends that pulses are avoided during ‘Remove & Repair’ (p.191). The majority of reactions will be food intolerances rather than food allergies, so most readers won’t need to avoid the trace amounts in filtered soy sauce.

Hi
I have recently incorporated the 5:2 element of diet to my regime as read it is helpful in reducing inflammation ( and have had a recent flare up of an inflammatory condition). I am however very confused re calorie content of recipes, for example the clever guts app says the Dr Tim’s Healthy Gut Smoothie is 800 calories but in the clever guts recipe book it says it is 520! Which is correct ?
Thanks
Susan

The stuff I buy is unpasteurised, no msg, contains nothing artificial, so that’s not a problem. I’m puzzled though as lots of the cleverguts recipes contain soya sauce so what’s the problem with soya? I don’t remember reading that in the book?
This is the first time I’ve posted in this forum and I must admit I’m rather taken aback by the tone of the responses received so far….. Not exactly the “supportive” community I was expecting!

> Comparing the best of one diet to the worst of another is disingenuous.

Yes – that is all very well, but do you know of any other diet that will _reduce_ blood pressure so dramatically and if Dr Greger is to be believed, reduce atherosclerosis effectively to zero?

I am curious about whether having any meat at all in the diet a good thing or a negligibly small bad thing.

Theories are rife throughout science; everything can be debated based on what is considered quality evidence and how that is interpreted. Many theories are backed by a solid body of research and accepted by the majority in a given field. They remain fluid because there will always be new evidence.

The standard Western diet =/= a carnivorous diet, similarly the standard Western vegan diet =/= a herbivorous or whole plant diet. Consumption of highly processed, nutrient poor foods is rife in the West, including many vegetarians and vegans. The ingredients and nutrition profile of many ready-made meat substitutes and dairy alternatives are as bad as the animal versions.

‘Animal products’ is a huge category, everything from longlife processed cheese and formed meaty snacks to oily fish fillets, traditional ewes milk cheeses and free range organic eggs. There is positive and negative research for animal products, depending on the food type, quantity consumed, population group studied and other variables. See PubMed and Google Scholar for abstracts and occasionally full text studies.

Comparing the best of one diet to the worst of another is disingenuous. Most in dietetics/ nutrition/ medicine would agree that a *balanced, varied, well supplemented, wholefood* vegan diet is healthier than an *imbalanced, restrictive, processed* standard Western diet.

Can you source miso that hasn’t been pasteurised, freeze dried or otherwise processed such that most of the beneficial microbes have been destroyed?

Second issue is the ingredients. Miso often contains soy, monosodium glutamate, emulsifiers or other ingredients not recommended on a gu friendly/ wholefood diet.

Enzymes are proteins, so can be denatured (structurally altered and rendered ineffective) by cooking or the acidity of the stomach.

So what is the recommended way to take potato starch?
And at what time of day?

Well this is what I wondered at first, but then I’ve read lots of things from reputable sources extolling the virtues of miso, and as we know from cooking in general heat doesn’t necessarily kill all microbes. Plus isn’t it the enzymes in fermented food that’s supposed to be good for you too?

As a newbie I feel I may have used too much salt in my fermentation. I am using a Kilner fermentation jar with red cabbage mooli and carrots. I initially put in 3 tablespoons of sea salt and the added maybe 2 more. The jar is nearly filled to the top . The veg are weighed down and submerged and the airlock is on. There are a few tiny bubbles on the surface of the brine but it looks a bit cloudy. Can anyone tell me how long it will take for the ferment to start? Thanks Jo.

Wouldn’t the action of heating the miso to make soup kill all the beneficial microbes?

> Humans have not evolved to be either herbivorous or carnivorous, we are omnivores.
No offence, but I am not interested in the theory – theories can be created in both directions and debated forever! – what I am interested in is what does the latest evidence-based science actually say?

According to Dr Michael Greger – who incidentally has about the same number of followers on Twitter and Dr Michael Mosley – the whole food plant based diet (with meat only eaten on special occasions??) is VASTLY more healthy than a normal Western Diet. The evidence seems to suggest that this diet will eradicate atherosclerosis from a population _completely_.
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/how-not-to-die-from-high-blood-pressure/

The story of how Gr Greger got interested in also interesting.
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-story-of-nutritionfacts-org/

Either way, what does Michael Mosley say that the science says about eating animal products?

I’ve read a lot about increasing the amount of fermented foods in the diet, but I’m surprised not to have seen miso mentioned anywhere in the Cleverguts book or on this site. Is there a good reason for that? I was hoping that miso soup might be a really good way of increasing my ferment intake, particularly on fast days.