What leaps out at me from the food types/ groups you do mention is the low variety, and the potential lack of fibre, which should bulk out and firm up the stool.

Are you/ were you eating plenty of oily fish, other seafood, whole eggs, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, whole unprocessed grains (eg. steamed brown rice/ jumbo rolled oats)? Or primarily meat from land animals with processed ‘staples’?

Hi there,

I suffer from IBS and have recently found out I am possibly intolerant to potatoes and yeast thanks to doing a hair sample test (??).
A friend today recommended I try Kefir but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea or not. I really don’t want to make my symptoms worse and at present feeling rotten.

As regards the ‘remove & repair’ phase/ elimination diet …

Have you maintained a detailed food and symptom diary (p.187) beforehand and throughout? Was your previous diet balanced nutritionally (vitamins/ minerals/ essential fatty acids) or were you relying on supplements? Which specific foods did you add, subtract, increase and reduce during phase one?

Sorry to read of your ongoing digestive problems.

I don’t understand what you mean by “digested your stomach lining” nor “emptied your stomach”. Do you mean a stomach ulcer or ulcerative colitis or something else? Do you presently have vomiting or diarrhoea or both?

Are you on any medication? What is your doctor’s explanation for the intermittent gut symptoms, if you are “healthy as a horse”?

Hi all,

I have had an awful experience on the elimination diet and I am desperately seeking help and suggestions.

Before beginning the elimination diet I have always had food sensitivities after digesting my stomach lining 5 years ago. Prior to that I had a stomach of iron. After digesting my stomach lining I have avoided most dairy products, all yeast products, all products with durum wheat, pork, potato and any processed foods with the exceptions of staples such as gluten free pasta, flour, etc. I avoided these products due to constantly being sick and these products showing up time and time again as irritants on food intolerance tests that I had done over the years. I found that my stomach was mainly good when I avoided these foods, and I would only have symptoms (diarrhea, flatulance, abdominal pain) once every couple weeks or less.

After reading the elimination diet book and getting tired of avoiding so many foods as a way of life, I thought that the elimination diet would be the answer to solve my problems. Right before beginning the diet I went to the doctor and had blood tests, breath tests and a stool test done to check that there was no underlying cause of my symptoms. This is something I have had done several times over the years so there was no surprise when I was told that I was healthy as a horse.

I have now been on the elimination diet for 5 weeks and can’t take it any longer. I was planning on reintroducing foods earlier but haven’t been able to due to constantly being sick. I have followed this diet to a T and am more sick than I ever have been in my life. I can’t pinpoint what is making me sick and it seems to be everything I eat. At the beginning I had a couple of good days, but then started getting diarrhea every couple of days. I am now at the point where I have diarrhea every single day, multiple times a day and it is drastically affecting my quality of life and my outlook. (Yes I am going back to the Dr’s as soon as I can get an appointment in the small town that I live in). Today for example I have emptied my stomach at least 3 times. And all I have eaten today are vegetables, 2x pieces of fruit, plain meat with seasoning and oil. The previous days were much the same.

I am now afraid that this diet has done more damage than ever to my stomach and if I try to reintroduce foods I will react even worse. I am at a complete loss and am devastated at the experience that I have had on this diet. If anyone has any suggestions to offer as to why my elimination diet experience has gone so wrong or what might be causing my issues then I would be happy to listen.

This may seem like a daft question and it probably is, but I’m very new and unsure so please be patient. I bought 3 kilner preserving jars, that come with vacuum seal screw top lids. I was worried about the gas building up inside my jar so turn the vacuum seal disk upside down so that it doesn’t seal like a vacuum but the jar is still closed. I’m wondering if this was the correct thing to do or should they in fact be vacuum sealed?

Also how well sterilised do the jars need to be, I boiled my jar in water before as per instruction that came with the jar. But because of where I live, when I took the jar out of the water later on they have a white powdery cover, due to the lime in the water. I dusted this of with a clean towel, but I’m wondering if I have sabotaged my sauerkraut?

Final question, I have lots of liquid being produced but not sure if it is bubbling, is it still working?

The ‘four’ diets I understood you to refer to are low carb high fat, blood sugar diet, intermittent fasting, Mediterranean diet and gut health. Apparently I can’t count to ‘five’ diets after three bottles of wine in as many days! 😉

Your initial post emphasises weight loss and relief of constipation, not gut health?
For a balanced and varied microbiome Dr Mosley and other authorities in the field advocate a *really wide variety* of prebiotic and probiotic wholefoods.

Not all prebiotics are bulking agents, far from it. Selecting inulin alongside a vegetable-rich diet seems illogical. Inulin isn’t widely used as a laxative within mainstream medicine or alternative/ natural health. Ispaghula husk, flaxseeds and lactulose are.

As you are probably aware from being on this forum FOS is a known and effective prebiotic advocated for use to help repopulate the gut with healthy bacteria -along with probiotics, that is why I am using it – a side effect is that it help reduce constipation

Why have you opted for inulin in particular to address your constipation? Natural sources of inulin (alliums/ asparagus/ Jerusalem artichokes) are fairly low carbohydrate, and it is easy to include the alliums (onions/ shallots/ garlic/ leeks) in a vegetable-rich diet. Even as a reformed veg-phobe I cannot imagine life without them!

Furthermore newcomers to inulin as a supplement report bloating gas and/ or constipation as side effects. Constipation is more often addressed with mucilagenous (gel-forming) fibres such as ispaghula husk or flaxseeds. Other microbiome-friendly laxatives include lactulose (consult your pharmacist or family doctor).

HTH!

Thank you for your reply Firefox. I don’t know what you mean by “four diets”

Without knowing much more about you, AND much more about the four ‘diets’ you mention, we can’t answer your questions.

Clever Guts is not a short term weight loss plan nor is it very low carb/ ketogenic; it is moderate carb and emphasises a really wide variety of wholefoods for improved health and nutrition over the long term. I haven’t read Dr Mosley’s other ‘diet’ books but expect them to be similarly varied and flexible.

Vegetables are primarily water: most cannot bulk the stool. If you are limiting or avoiding pulses and grains you must substantially increase seeds and some nuts to supply minerals and a variety of fibres.

Anyone??

Hi everyone, I have been on the remove and repair stage for a week. Do I repeat the plan in the book for every week or can I add different meals in? Thank you x

Keep an eye on this thread Janeish, but I would suggest ignoring some of the spammy links to companies that aren’t providing low-iodine seaweed:
https://cleverguts.com/forums/topic/seaweed/

I’m thinking of doing the BSD med diet low carb and combining it with IF 16:8 and I’m wondering if I’ll lose weight. I’ve been doing a low carb high fat diet (not BSD) for 12 weeks and have lost 12lb. Which I’m really pleased about 😀😀 BUT my biggest issue is that I’ve been constipated throughout despite eating loads of veg and drinking 3 litres plus of water a day. I take magnesium and FOS/inulin too but still remain bunged up!! I have IBS and problems with my gut and took the advice given on the Clever guts site on sorting my gut out before I did the LCHF diet. I’ve also had issues with sugar and have probably been pre diabetic in the past. As well as the low carb high fat I’ve been doing IF 16:8 for 5 days each week
I’m now realising that I can’t keep the low carb up as a way of life if it means I’m constipated all the time and I’ve got about 7-10lb more to lose. So I started thinking I need to be eating more pulses like beans, lentils and seeds etc – they’ve always worked for me in shifting things!! I see there’s a.BSD med diet Low carb high fat version

So my point is if I do a BSD low carb med diet – which allows me to eat pulses and seeds and do IF 16:8 as I’ve been doing will I continue to lose weight?
Has anyone got any experience of this and successfully losing weight? And sorting out their constipation!,
Thanks for reading 😀

A really wide variety of (probiotic and prebiotic) wholefoods is key to the success of Clever Guts, and any healthy eating plan. For many of us that necessitates plenty of experimentation with recipes and repeated exposure to unfamiliar foods.

If it is impossible to stop the antibiotics it will be particularly important to consume a really wide variety of probiotics each and every day. Dairy products and unfiltered/ unpasteurised apple cider vinegar are fairly easy to ‘disguise’ in soups, smoothies and salad dressings.

HTH!

The overall balance of fatty acids in the diet is key in managing hypercholesterolaemia. Most Westerners should substantially increase long chain omega-3s and monounsaturates, plus substantially reduce omega-6s and saturates. So far more oily fish, olives, avocados and hazelnuts; far less intensively farmed meat, processed dairy, sunflower and many other vegetable oils.

Also consider that the percentage of fat in whole milk, kefir and live yoghurt pales into insignificance besides the percentage in many cuts of meat and hard cheese. And many Westerners have overly generous servings of meat and hard cheese. Recommended servings for adults in the UK are the size/ thickness of the palm for meat (100-150g) and a matchbox for hard cheese (30g).

Furthermore the scientific evidence firmly backs a Mediterranean-style diet for heart health, complete with •full fat* traditionally produced cheeses! It may be that the sheep/ goats/ cows are pastured, or the beneficial bacteria and yeasts that age/ mature the cheese, or the plant foods eaten alongside the cheeses … Or all of the above. If your GP isn’t advocating a Med-style wholefood diet, consider requesting a referral to a registered dietician.

I’ve very high cholesterol despite being on statins for years. Since I’m also on various antibiotics, I like the idea of trying new biome friendly foods to help repair the gut damage. I don’t like many of the fermented foods but I like the taste of many Kefir drinks / foods . However I’m told by GP to avoid them as they are usually full fat dairy based and so very poor for cholesterol . Anyone have good Kefir shop bought foods that aren’t bad for cholesterol? Many thanks.

Sounds silly but do ensure you chew each mouthful of your food really thoroughly: this is a surprisingly important part of the digestive process. Interestingly fermenting, slow cooking or making soups/ smoothies somewhat mimicks thorough chewing, noticably improving digestibility for some. Chewing well and fermented foods are both key parts of the Clever Guts Diet.

Until you are able to tolerate a balanced and varied wholefood diet, I would not recommemd attempting to increase your fitness with formal moderate to intense exercise. This requires putting the body into a state of stress, and increases the need for all macro and micronutrients. By all means increase your lifestyle physical activity through walking (at least 10,000 steps) and active hobbies or household chores.

Hi. There is a new company called Allele who are now doing it in Australia. Their sister company (of sorts I think) is Nourish Me Organics who sell kefir grains etc and they have a very informative Facebook group.

Nutrient dense foods that you should be including regularly include canned oily fish with the crumbly bones. This will supply various B group vitamins, vitamin D, anti inflammatory omega-3s, iron calcium and magnesium.

You might also experiment with a greater variety of seeds (ground flax, chia, pumpkin) and nuts richer in monounsaturates but lower in inflammatory omega-6s (hazelnuts, macadamia, almonds, cashews). Some people find nuts easier to digest raw but soaked for a few hours in water or toasted or as a nut butter.

Your diet does sound very restrictive, and could easily be low in multiple micronutrients. If you attempt to reduce carbohydrates still further by cutting oats and/ or brown rice you may also reduce some minerals and fibre to very low levels.

If you react badly to even tiny quantities of milk protein (casein/ whey) or wheat protein (gluten) you *may* be dealing with allergies not intolerances. It is important to discuss these with a registered dietician or gastroenterologist, who will want to see your detailed food and symptom diary and may supervise a full blown medical elimination diet.

Thank you for your replies so far, I am awaiting delivery of the Clever Guts book and will follow the reboot section. I think I do need a bit more variety in my diet having an IBS background I tend to stick to a fairly narrow selection of what I consider “safe” foods based around FODMAPS and worrying about possible reactions when I introduce a new food – almost food fear, but this is probably detrimental to my diet and me being able to progress beyond a fairly restrictive diet. I think I need to address the issues that are causing the stomach sensitivity (that is then further heightened by certain foods) although cows milk, cheese, cream and butter do upset my stomach – though as mentioned in an earlier reply my calcium level is probably deficient as a result. Certain foods, sugars, garlic and onions are most troublesome but others are tolerated at some times but not others. I am gluten free as I have found this easier on my stomach but use quinoa and brown rice instead. Thank you again for the replies – I look forward to my reboot (!) any further comments or recommendations very welcome!

Your food diary should also help you identify if you are lactose intolerant (milk sugar) or have an issue with whey/ casein (milk proteins). You may have an issue with cows milk products, but not sheep or goats, or with milk (high lactose) but not traditional aged cheeses (very low lactose) You likely know that dairy is the main source of calcium in the western diet, and hopefully have had medical advice on alternatives if you can not have any dairy.

Flaxseeds are a good source of some minerals, but only if ground because we cannot digest the tough seed coat. Whole seeds are still valuable for the soluble fibre which forms a gel when soaked or cooked.

HTH!

The only way to accurately know the effect of a given meal, prepared eaten and digested by you, on your blood glucose is to purchase a monitor and test regularly. You might discuss this with your family doctor or pharmacist.

For fitness and health macronutrient (fat/ protein/ carbs) and micronutrients (minerals/ vitamins/ essential fatty acids) are critical. This comes from balance and variety of wholefoods: again the food diary is invaluable here. When sweating or having loose stools we lose key minerals. Since calcium is involved in muscle contraction and magnesium in muscle relaxation this can affect IBS and fitness performance.

Agree that the detailed food and symptom diary (p.187) is important.

Relevant to the digestibility – and thus your questions – is the weight and form of each food: ground flaxseed is different to whole flaxseeds, porridge oats (flaked + steamed) are different to steel cut oats or jumbo whole rolled oats.

Over the medium to long term Clever Guts emphasises variety, so not the same breakfast or lunch day after day. Plenty of vegetables and lower sugar fruits, which alters the carb/ protein/ fat/ fibre content and the effect of the overall meal on the blood glucose.

Ensure you are having a really wide variety of probiotic and prebiotic foods each day and each week, in order to feed a balanced and varied microbiome. So (for example) kefir and unpasteurised/ rind washed/ mould ripened/ goats or sheep milk traditional cheeses not just cows milk live yoghurt.

Also consider the balance of nutrient dense foods from different groups. So plenty of oily fish and other seafood, not (say) overemphasising chicken and beef. Plenty of seeds and pulses, not (say) overemphasising nuts or grains. Bright and dark coloured vegetables and berries, limiting sugary and starchy ones.

HTH!

Some antibiotics are more selective and some are more broad spectrum (act on many species of bacteria).

The Clever Guts Diet is flexible, individualised according to symptoms, personal taste, food availability, household budget … It is well worth periodically reviewing to ensure the balance or variety have not slipped. You might consider repeating the detailed food and symptom diary.

Hi, we have been on Clever Guts for a few months and feel so much healthier. I have recently had a very painful cystitis attack and prescribed antibiotics. I resisted for a couple of days because I was worried about my gut health but after three days of agony ( yes I tried everything) I’m now on antibiotics and feeling much better.

My question is what can I do to rebuild my biome? Can I limit the damage? Im eating yoghurt, upped my kimchi and sticking to Clever Guts diet, any other suggestions?

Thanks everyone

Hi happy.. Have you read the Reboot you Biome bit at the end of the CleverGuts book? It gives you a structured plan. Alternatively please share a typical week;s food diary (and symptoms) and I may be able to advise further.

I’ve downloaded the book on audible which directed me to tantor.com to print out the PDF however the password provided at the start of the audible but does not unlock what they refer to as the secret content which I am assuming is the PDF Continually referred to in the book. Can anyone help me please?

We had a few queries from people looking for the downloadable FOOD AND SYMPTOMS DIARY. It is still at the bottom of the Reboot Your Biome page but its in bigger print to make it more obvious – just click on it and the printable page will pop up.
click here to see it
https://cleverguts.com/reboot-your-biome

If you have gut symptoms and are about to make changes to your diet it often helps to have a detailed before and after document. And if you need to see a professional they will have more information to work from.
Hope this helps!
Clare

I just remembered we also had great success fermenting blackberries and raspberries. They were delicious. Don’t wash wild picked berries because they are covered in the yeast spores.

so far we have made sauerkraut with cabbage. We leave it the same as it would remain in a jar – about 3 – 5 weeks

Hello littlehellcat
I used to get severe urticaria if I went for a run that was over around 20 to 25 minutes. Not only would I get the itchy welts but also sneeze uncontrollably and my ears and throat would get itchy and one of my eyelids would swell out. Sometimes also my nose. The next stage of the attack would have me on the loo with severe abdominal cramps and bowel movements. The severe pain would last about 50 mins to an hour then it would subside. The swollen eyelids and nose would take much longer to go down. Eventually I saw a skin specialist doctor who said it wasn’t an allergy and said the only thing I could do was take antihistamine before I went for a run. One the night before a run and a fast acting one half an hour before run. This did work but I ended up feeling really sleepy for the rest of the day.
The thing is I also used to get sneezing when coming indoors from a cold day as though the sudden change in temperature had set if off. So similar to you. I also get a big reaction to mosquito bits.
I am currently reading ‘the clever guts diet’ and will start working on my diet to see if I can see improvements.
The good thing is that last year I moved out of London where I had been living for more than 35 years and now live on the south coast. Since I have been running down here I have not had to take any antihistamine before I run. I even managed a half marathon race without needing them! I am very happy with that and am now convinced that pollution must have some role to play even if it just means ones immune system has more to cope with.

I’ve just sent an email to: https://www.microba.com.au/home to see if they are testing yet.
They have a testing procedure that doesn’t rely on the outdated 16S rRNA gene amplification method, although I put my name on their mailing list this time last year and never heard back. They are based in Brisbane.

That’s genius, cathima. Can I ask which vegetables you ferment this way and for how long you leave it in the cafetière? Can’t wait to try this (I’m new to fermenting!)

Hi I am trying to get my guts sorted after many years struggling with various IBS symptoms. I am currently eating oats & linseeds with water for breakfast (basic porridge without dairy as I am intolerant) as I find it helps my bowels, but having previously eaten eggs in some form I am concerned that my blood sugar levels will raise quickly after eating this? I don’t react well to sugar in various forms and wander if going from a protein based breakfast to a carbohydrate based one is a good idea, although it does have a settling effect on my tummy? Also I am trying to increase my fitness as this has a beneficial effect on my stomach but need to fuel my body with the right food. If a lower carb based diet is advisable, how low should it be – i.e rice once a day or 3 times a week? I seem to have lost my way a bit with eating and am having to start again – any help or suggestions would be much appreciated – Thank you!

A few answers here and apologies for not keeping up with queries.
Zarbazan – most Nori has a low but good amount of iodine. You could eat about 10g per day of the commercial nori that we have tested from Asian food store shelves, and still stay well below the recommended upper limit of dietary iodine. In contrast, 10g of kombu would put one person over 30 times above the upper limit for dietary iodine. Kombu is still a great seaweed to eat in tiny doses like in salt blends to provide iodine but you only need mg’s of it. The irony of iodine is that most populations are still deficient in it; it is vital for brain health and hormone function, but we only need a tiny amount through our whole life, all the time.
We work with an Australian green seaweed that has even lower concentration of iodine than nori so that the dose can be increased for other nutritional components, including the dietary fibre, without risking high levels of iodine. In Australia we are looking to establish improved best practice around the species labelling and nutritional information of seaweeds for sale. I have even seen kombu for sale in Australia identified as nori – this would not be good for anyone sensitive to iodine and so these issues need to be addressed.
But as long as your medical practitioner has not identified that you cannot eat iodine in relation to your thyroid concerns, then nori is a safe choice to eat regularly, if sourced from a clean ocean area.

Dear Jay
We are still in the second clinical study, and final throws of being able to manufacture the seaweed extract capsules. We can keep you posted through our newsletter at http://www.phycohealth.com
We will be presenting the latest in research on this topic through our newsletters as well, including the 2nd clincial trial that we are underway with right now, and have 50 people with skin conditions participating.
Best
Pia

you can get seaweed online at The Cornish Seaweed Company

https://www.cornishseaweed.co.uk

Try using a cafetierre for fermenting veg. You can keep the veg pushed below the water line with the plunger.

Hi
The keto diet does not have to be particularly restricted and I don’t agree that it is nutritionally poor. It is worth exploring a website called Mark’s Daily Apple. Mark Sisson has a highly informative site and he reviews the literature on all sorts of nutritional and health topics in a very balanced and sensible way. He comes from a Primal approach to nutrition and lifestyle and advocates eating a wide range of foods. He has just published a book on going keto and why it is worth spending periods of time in keto or fat adapted, as a positive health choice.
Thankyou

After watching the Catalyst show I’ve been exploring gut biome testing in Australia and came across this forum. As I read through it I saw the comments about Nutripath and when I checked their website I found they gave much the same info as was covered in the Catalyst report including the GI Microbiome. Has anyone had a more recent experience with them, given the comments above seem to suggest problems with the other suppliers?

Just wondering if anyone has had any luck with improving their sinus problems after resetting their biome? I have heard that lactobacillus sakei is good but it is virtually impossible to get in Australia

My favourite olive oils are mostly Greek. I get them from IGA.

So, I read the recommendations of eating oily fish twice weekly and I wondered if smoked salmon is too unhealthy to count. I wouldn’t have access to naturally smoked salmon and I’m pretty sure they use chemical processes to give it the flavour.
Also, what about tinned tuna?
Cheers

Daneen, can you please stop spamming this forum, particularly given the fact that your seaweed is high in iodine.

A small dollop will break the fast.