Thanks jilly, yes I agree. Yes me too – I found 7ish is about right. I THINK that I get best results when I mix about 1.5 tsp into food rather than liquid. There are so many variables that effect my sleeep but I do feel it helps. Inulin has also been good but is more expensive that potato starch.

I think the theory is that the starch feeds your good gut organisms – keeping them happy and doing all the good things for u and your system that we now now they do …which somehow also directly or indirectly enables better sleep.

Hi Jo t,

There’s another post here called “Biome testing in Australia” where one pserson has tried SmartDNA (SmartGUT) in Victoria & there’s reference to another company, Microba, who are due to provide a similar service by the end-2017. I understand they’re a commercial offshoot of UQ (University of Queensland). Google will find them.

Hi Vibka,

Have you received your test report from SmartDNA & is it readable/interpretable by us laymen?
And what of the interpretation & advice provided by their recommended Naturapath?
As it’s an expensive exercise, I’d appreciate your feedback before doing the same.

I also note that another company, Microba, are due to provide a similar service by the end-2017. I understand they’re a commercial offshoot of UQ (University of Queensland). Google will find them.

I have been making kefir for years and have a slightly different method which is easier and cheaper, in my opinion.
I was given kefir grains to start (or when I accidentally lost mine) and have often offered grains on Freecycle so it is often possible to get them for free.
I don’t find you need anything like the volume of grains shown in the video – one will do fine for a large jar of milk. In fact, I haven’t tried it but I suspect that even part of a grain would do – it would just be easy to lose.
The advantage to having a little clump of grains (say a teaspoon’s worth) is that they are more likely to float to the top like a small blob of tapioca or sago, whereas a tiny quantity can sink a bit invisibly. That would be the only time I would use a sieve which is an extra step and spoils the set.
I just sit out the jar on my countertop and after 36 hours or so find the kefir has set. As long as I can see the kefir grains, I just remove them with a spoon or even my fingers and pop them in another jar of milk, then refrigerate the made kefir.
If you haven’t been stirring or jiggling the kefir around, that nice set consistency means you can eat it with a spoon like yogurt. Or you can shake it up to make it more of a drinking consistency.
I have found that if my kefir clump grows (usually in a blob rather than multiple individual bits) I can pop a bit in the freezer in case I lose the fresh one. Or of course give more away…

I was just searching for somewhere in Australia?!?!? Anyone know of places here to be tested now

I can understand your frustration Juliant, I think a few others are feeling the same.
Like a number of other bloggers, I decided some time ago to experiment by myself. I wasn’t sure what taking the teaspoon “early evening” should be, presumed it related to what time you retired for the night. I go to bed at about 11.00pm so experimented and found I was taking it too late, so changed to 7.30pm and this worked very well. I don’t know how it works, but it does. It sounds absolutely crazy, I can’t imagine what on earth is in potato starch, but it works for me. I was mixing this in kefir at first, but with no luck. Then one of the bloggers told me that kefir was a bit of a stimulant , so I changed to almond milk, and this appears to be OK. Obviously any other milk is alright, plus any other liquid that you wish. I was not sleeping at all well and had tried all sorts of things and was forced to take the odd sleeping pill just to catch up on sleep….but I do not like doing that, but sometimes you get desperate.
Give it a go, nothing to lose.
Good luck, jillyB

Ideally you would break the link between boredom and eating, plan ahead another way to occupy your hands and your time. Sometimes that includes changing other parts of your routine, such as sitting in a different chair to watch TV.

The act of chewing as well as the sweet taste can fool the body to expect food.

I don’t know why some recipes are such large volumes or so many servings. Anything that includes water (eg. Vinegar/ lemon juice) is a risk for harbouring undesirable microbes. I would not leave dressing made up in the refrigerator longer than any other food item.

Does anybody know about vitamin B12 deficiency, and the role Propionibacterium shermanii has to play. My 40 year old daughter has had a course of Vitamin B12 injections and is now looking to improve her diet. She has 3 year old twins, so needs to be in top form!

Frankly the level of admin and moderation on the site is quite disrespectful. I am beginning to wonder if it’s just all about a bit of market for the book.

Maybe that wil get a response.

I have only done a few fast days when I have really restricted my calories to the recommended 500. When I have tried to exercise on these fast days or even the day afterwards I find it really difficult and lacked my usually performance. I went for a simple run and I was so slow, usually I can keep to about 5min per km or less and this run I wasn’t even able to run at 5:15min per km. Does your body take awhile to adjust to be able to exercise when you have no ready carbs to burn?

I’m ready to start the Phase 1, I was checking the ingredients and I got through the ACV dressing, it seems like it’s a lot of Olive oil for 1 or even 2 servings, do you think is ok to keep most of this dressings on page 232-234 on the fridge for a few days, without them to lose their properties?
Thanks!

Usually when I’m bored I will eat so I would sometimes opt to have chewing gum to try not to eat anything? But I haven’t read anything in michaels books about his thoughts about gum. Obviously most gum and the ones I have would contain artificial sweeteners which would not be ideal but would it be better to chew gum rather than break a fast?

Thanks I was looking for the same!

I get an Australian on at the Chemist Warehouse it’s made by Melrose and it’s organic.

Hi I’m new to this and I have a question about fermenting carrots. I put them in a clip jar with a seal as I didn’t have a screw top one, I followed the recipe in the book and about 6 days later I opened the jar and found a couple of small spots of mould. My first question is did I do something wrong and second can you cook them still or will that kill the bacteria.

It all depends on what is in the “self tanners” . You say you have leaky gut- what leads you to that conclusion? The skin has its own unique microbiota – and if disrupted then yes, you get the equivalent effects to gut dysbiosis

Navgosal: eczema is AKA dermatitis. In the same family as atopic eczema is irritant contact dermatitis and allergic contact dermatitis. Distinguishing is very difficult. Allergies cannot be cured but milder ones can have their symptoms reduced.

Self tanning is not suited to sensitive/ reactive/ eczematous type skin. You have to exfoliate (attack the skin barrier), often with harsh foaming surfactants. Then layer on (often fragranced) chemical soups.

Diet is highly relevant in those with any of the asthma-eczema-hayfever inflammatory triad. But so is skincare. We need to support our skin’s faulty barrier function, strengthen not destroy or irritate.

Hi Nav

I’m no expert but if it’s just when your using self tanners then it sounds like a reaction to it. I’m not sure if healing your gut will help as your skin is sensitive to the chemicals. Maybe try a natural self tanner which is out there, maybe less harsh?

I have eczema and when I try to use self-tanners, I get an eczema-like reaction. I’m not sure if it’s eczema or if it’s an allergy to it. Is it possible that if I heal my leaky gut, I can get rid of this allergy/reaction to self-tanners?

Thanks,
Nav

The situation for olive oil availability maybe about to get worse, as when in Umbria this summer in an area where they’re proud of their oil (around Montefalco and further west near Todi) everyone was in despair because of disease attacking the olive oil trees and also an insect attack which had decimated the flowers earlier on. Some tree species seemed to be doing ok but others are predicted to have a tiny harvest this year.
They are relatively small producers around here and if you have holiday you’ll get to know them well (visit and taste in the cantinas) and the variety of cold pressed extra virgin oils they produce. They’re also all very keen on slow food ideas, not to mention their lentils.
Kind farming friends gave me one of their few remaining bottles from last year but said they doubted they’d have anything this November.
If you search around this area most producers seem to be pretty good and genuine and will show you their production.
Our friend’s oil which in a normal year one can buy on the farm is a fantastic yellow green colour with a fruity light almost lemony taste and has quite a late kick on the back of the throat , which maybe the oleocanthanol, but I’m guessing here.
So it will be interesting to see if the price of oil changes. But this is just one part of Italy , whether other places have had the same problems. Maybe other people know…

CAW100: me again … My comments hereafter are general info, NOT targeted at your medical issues/ medication.

The ‘standard’ prescription dose of D-3 in the UK Is 800iu. This is to treat diagnosed insufficiency/ mild deficiency and based on the best quality scientific evidence available.

‘At risk’ groups of UK adults (as per NICE guidelines) are recommended to supplement at least 400iu D-3 a day again based on best evidence.

Other countries have different official guidelines based on the risk/ benefit/ availability of strong sunlight to their populations. In the UK (and similar latitudes) we can only convert vitamin D when exposed to sunlight for ~6 months of the year, and not early or late in daylight hours.

Hence dietary sources and body stores are critical throughout the cooler months. Oily fish intake is poor, and few healthy eating plans emphasise it sadly.

Hi CAW100: Yes, my mistake, Dlux 3000 is plenty. BEWARE! Granola can be extremely high sugar. Suggest look on the back of the pack, look for Max insoluble fibre and MIN sugar. Do you like porridge? Best is steel cut oats- in terms of max insoluble fibre. Aim for minimum 20% and ideally 30% plus

Hi KML

There are several offerings – all at different prices and different levels of analysis and “added value” – happy to advise. If interested feel free to email me graham.phillips@manorpharmacygroup.co.uk

CAW100: granola you would weigh/ measure the ingredients then again the serving after cooking/ before eating. As it loses water in the oven the calories/ fat/ carbs/ sugars are concentrated. Nutrition information per 100g and per recommended serving is on the package, or on supermarket website/ app if loose item, or on Self Nutrition Data. You can adjust the serving to UK weights or US cups on that site.

If you are not a maths person, there are sites like FitnessPal to calculate recipes or post here and we will happily try.

HTH!

CAW100: it Is a royal pain when you begin your detailed food and symptom diary, but weights (solids) and volume (liquids) is absolutely critical. Without you cannot know number of servings, balance of food groups, ratios mentioned.

For example in the UK a serving of any fresh/ frozen fruit or veg is 80g. This is a HUGE overflowing soup bowlful of salad leaves, half many fruits (apple/ banana), only two florets cauliflower.

Hi I have a question for someone. I’ve followed the instructions for carrots. Is it ok to still cook them or will cooking kill the bacteria? Also I opened them after a few days and found a couple of spots of mould present. I didn’t use a screw top pot, the one I used was a clip down with a rubber seal. Did I do something wrong?

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.

Thanks again for your input. I have realised that the dried fruits are high in sugars. My husband thought they would make a change! So we will go back to frozen mixed berries (in winter) and top up with fresh seasonal fruits. They are the only ‘sugars’ I consume during the day really apart from my granola, which doesn’t have a great deal of honey & maple syrup in, just to bind it really. I haven’t been logging weights in a food diary as I find it difficult to calculate and am not even sure how accurate it would be. If I can find a reliable chart that is British food stuffs (most seem to be aimed at the American market) then I may try.

Did you mean 400iu or 4000iu re VitD3? The spray I have (DLux) is 3000iu as I have been reading that we require considerably more than 400iu. And I have no idea what triggers a flare. I’ve tried tracking it and it can be a variety of things from doing to much of something (I was rolling out pastry and my left wrist flared!) to weather (low pressure in particular). Particular foods never seem to have been an issue. I am also aware that stress is a big factor.

Hopefully I am on the right track.
Thanks.

Thanks Graham. I’ve dropped you an email.

Hi Steve

You are correct- the British Gut was never intended to provide a detailed report or interpretation. However I am one of a number of specifically qualified practitioners who can help with both interpretation and lifestyle advice. Feel free to contact me direct if interested graham.phillips@manorpharmacygroup.co.uk

SteveMaggs: Map My Gut seems to be the official interpretation service.

And/ or read the books/ blog authored by the founders of the American Gut Project (Prof. Tim Spector, Dr. Jeff Leach, Prof. Rob Knight).

SteveMaggs: that is exactly what you have done.

From the BGP website front page it “is an open source crowd funded project … Participants are asked to make a contribution to the project … Although this gives a ‘snapshot’ of your microbes, it DOES NOT provide any interpretation for you at a personal level.” [their emphasis]

My results came back, but I’m a little bit disappointed as, although you get a lot of detail, there’s minimal context as to what it all means. They give you a percentage of each thing found, but I don’t really know whether that’s good or bad.

I feel a bit as though I’ve paid to help the British Gut project to do research, as opposed to providing me any usable and errrr….digestible (pun intended) information.

I assume we need to find some kind of expert who can interpret our results?

I went through British Gut. Which I think is the one recommended in the book.

I’ve had the results, but it’s just a list with percentages. I’m struggling at the moment to know what the data really means.

Great post.

Hi, I agree with you that it depends on you that how much coffee you are using.

Thanks Firefox for you input and info on pharmacy laxatives.

Hi JNSD,
My younger brother was diagnosed with UC at 19 (now 26). He managed to get his gut symptoms into remission by combining the traditional drug therapy with a diet called The Specific Carbohydrate diet (based on gut health and promoting good bacteria in the gut). He has maintained the diet continuously and believes this to be the main cause of his remission. The diet involved gradual removal of gluten, lactose and all processed meats, as well as anything with high pesticide readings, artificial colours and additives. He makes everything from scratch and although time consuming, it has meant he has quality of life again. Not sure if you suffer from the secondary effects of the condition, that include calcification of cartilage and arthritic symptoms… he has found that the diet helped with this too. I can’t recall his gastroenterologist but his rheumatologist is prof. stephen hall (in melbourne).

CAW100: Might be worth tracking/ calculating the ratio of (mostly inflammatory) omega-6 to (anti inflammatory) omega-3 in your diet.

Most nuts, some seeds, vegetable oils and wholegrains are rich in O-6. Oily fish and eggs from seed fed hens are the only rich sources of long chain O-3s. There are short chain O-3s in flax and chia seeds, but conversion in the human body to the useable long chain format can be as low as 10%.

Also might be worth calculating the sugars in your breakfast. It may be that some days are surprisingly high, between the seasonal fruit, honey, maple syrup, dried fruit.

If you have been logging weights in your food diary this should be quite easy.

Weaglie: encouraging results, so pleased for you!

For constipation consider your hydration levels (inc. water in veg/ fruit, having coffee/ alcohol with not instead of water), soluble fibre intake (flax and chia seeds, prebiotic rich veg), physical activity level and timing of first meal (moving and eating stimulate the bowel), side effects of any prescribed medication.

If all that doesn’t help, as GrahamPhillips suggests prebiotic supplements may be useful. I have both inulin and lactulose (pharmacy laxative, safe for regular use) and find they have different effects. Check with your doctor or pharmacist before taking and, as GP says, start low and go slow!

Hi Weaglie: I’d make a conscious effort to increase dietary insoluble fibre (do it gently.. incrementally) so INULIN powder might help

Hi CAW100: the ideal dose of VitD is 4000iu so suggest you adjust accordingly. Slight tweak – fresh fruit rather than dry will likely preserve micronutrients whereas dry tends to concentrate the sugars? You seem to have a perfect lifestyle! Adding a variety of fermented foods can only be a good thing. Can you tell what causes your RA to flare? Good luck! Graham

Thanks Firefox. I only would have a standard 125ml glass every other night. Sometimes I’d have headaches because of sulphies in the wine but no other symptoms. It’s hard to know what is causing my gut symptoms as even though I’ve been on Clever Guts for 3 weeks, my bloating and cravings have gone but constipation remains. I will go back and read more about breaking it down into stages, maybe I have missed something that can help with my symptoms.

Thank you Firefox and Graham. I have one long black ground not instant but definetly rely on it as a ‘pick me up’. That has made me reconsier it!

Hi Graham, don’t worry I would never stop my meds without medical supervision! And I think I’m a long way off that yet anyway.
I have 3000iu/day spray (Dlux spray)
Typical breakfast bowl is fruit (mainly berries, the odd prune or date or dried apple/apricot, plus any other seasonal fruit) with a spoon of chia seeds and oat bran (plus occasionally flax seed) all soaked with unsweetened almond milk. I top this with goats milk yogurt and homemade granola (I put honey and maple syrup in my granola and cinnamon). And drink green tea. sometimes fresh fruit juice, but only a small glass to take my meds with.

Lunch – maybe homemade veggie soups, sometimes cheese and oatcakes. On a fast day I might have an apple with cheese and a handful of nuts. I’m doing really well cutting out sugar.

Dinner – red meat about once a week, or chicken. Fish at least twice a week and generally veggie meals the rest of the time. I almost always cook from scratch at home and have done for many, many years. I’ve generally had a healthy-ish diet for a long time. Its only recently I’ve been adding in sauerkraut (made my own – 2nd batch ready) which we add to a salad and I’m mindful not to have huge amounts. Since my new regime my digestion has been a lot better!!
Exercise – I attend a ‘move well’ class and our teacher is a qualified anatomy in motion practitioner and is very good. If I can’t manage something she will find other ways to do the exercises. I also walk a lot and try and get in at least 8000 steps a day.
Sleep isn’t always great, but I am trying to get in to a better routine. And I have been doing mindfulness meditation for a while now.
You’d think reading this I was Mrs Perfect-super-healthy!! Thank you once again for your input and support.

To Admin

Is anything happening on this potato starch study? I signed up a while ago but have heard nothing to date.

Include me in the potato starch study please. I’ve just ordered my potato starch as I am willing to try anything to give me a better night’s sleep

Cut the carbs and you’ll cut the central obesity it really is that simple.

PS: cycling is really good for cardio but so important to do some resistance / strength too