Thx, have gone out today and purchased a kit from the local Kobushi brewer which I found out is also a great fermented drink full of probiotics.

Hi Pia-i work in dermatology so would love to be able to tp recommend seaweed capsules for my patients in the UK-so please add me to you list
karen.benson@nhs.net

Well the best thing you can probably do is get some fermented foods into your system. My favourite is homemade kefir as recommended by Michael Mosley, buy the culture kit to get you started and then make kefir forever! Keep recycling the kefir. It takes a bit of getting used to but is a great source of probiotics.

I have been diagnosed with H Pylori and am now on my second coarse of antibiotic Tripp,e treatment in three months as it returned.
I am looking for help in treating this including dietary solutions .
Thanks

Dear Pia

Please add me to your list of people who wish to purchase your seaweed capsules. Like some of the others, I suffer with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and am keen to try these.

I have signed up on Psychohealth to the e-newsletter and like Molly, I would be interested to have any other information on this.

Thank you Jennifer

Hi Pia,

I’d love to be kept up to date with the seaweed capsule progress also. I’m yet another psoriasis sufferer and would be very interested in trying these out.
in the mean time, what is a good type of seaweed to add to general food?

I have signed up on Phycohealth to the e newsletter, I’m just wondering if there was any other place for information.

Thanks, Molly

IS there an Australian brand anywhere in Brisbane?

Hey there we make labne all the time at home. We use a good quality greek yoghurt and line a small strainer with a new chux cloth. The strainer sits on top of a bowl to cathc the liquid. Pour the yoghurt into the chux and tie up like a plum pudding. We just use a rubber band and leave it in the fridge overnight or a day then use as it for a spread or chunks in a salad or rolled into balls. It never lasts long enough to store in oil as we eat it all.

What are the recommended yogurts that Dr Moseley mentions in his book….he said that they are on the website but I can’t find them.
Thank you.

I’m a bit daunted at the prospect…have watched the video….can’t figure out when/if to put water in the jar as it looks like you just pack chopped veg in the jar and knock down with rolling pin? And do you put the lid on the kilner jar or leave it open? If closed, do you have to open it from time to time to release gas?

Thank you – that’s what I thought.

I think I was just expecting more from the app cost.

Be interesting to see things progress and the public educated.

I have not yet been eaten by my hoarded cats, although got severely nibbled last week! I agree, I tried to make a shopping list for the week, and realised that it would more likely cover a month of mains whilst the salad stuffs etc would need to be stepped down and bought more frequently. It’s not just storage, it’s coughing up the dosh for a months’ worth of proteins.

There are apps out there such as ‘thedrop’ (and http://www.getdrop.com which tells you about the connected scales) that will scale down recipes down for you by you inputting the recipes and then you select the serving size you want and it recalculates everything. Thedrop is free as they are trying to sell you the scales, so I would be really interested if anyone is using it and what they think.

Would be wonderful if the Cleverguts app had all the book recipes in it, would scale recipes up or down and create shopping lists for you, substitute ingredients (as thedrop does) plus give you calorie and nutritional info. But then I guess it would be more than AU$8!!

Hi there, I came across a site that will calculate calories, carbs, protein and other nutritional info just by you inputting the ingredients and how many people it serves. It seems to be UK based, so works in grams and normal measurements rather than US measurements. It is at verywell.com, go to menu, tools and Recipe Nutrition Calculator. It will then calculate a ‘nutrition label’ giving you the details as if you were buying this ready made in a store. Seems pretty cool to me.

There is also a more detailed analysis at https://www.fitwatch.com/tools/recipe-analyzer but the measurements and items are a bit weird to me as they are US based, and also include pre packaged foods as well as raw ingredients, so I found it a little difficult to use.

Would be great to hear if anyone has heard of any other sites or apps, or has calculated all the calorie and nutrition info for all the recipes in Michael’s book already?!!

The forums and recipe function on this (free to access) site are intended for users to connect with other users. There isn’t much here because the Clever Guts book and website are very new. Over time more users should register and more recipes should be posted.

I don’t have the app, but for £5 I would be expecting some sort of exclusive function. I guess that includes recipes?

Welcome to the forums anyway!

Hello
I’m a registered user for the web site but can only find a handful of recipes & I don’t understand why?
I’ve purchased the app which is great, so would assume I’d have access to the same recipes on both platforms.
Am I looking in the wrong place perhaps?
Thank you 🙂

I agree -as apps go, £5 is expensive and its pretty useless and very poor value

‘Small Bites’ by Paul Gayler spans the Mediterranean (tapas), Middle East (mezze) and Far East (dim sum). Would suit couples more than singles tho.

Mezze/ tapas dishes in general are based around vegetables, pulses, olive oil, fermented dairy whilst being fairly light on grains. Not sure why I didn’t think of this avenue earlier!

Hi Baxters Mum, if you haven’t got one already, I’ve made one in Microsoft Word. Depending if you want to print it out and fill it in manually, or use it on a computer, I can also save it as a PDF. If you (or anyone else) would like a copy you can email me at sarah.bravo@icloud.com specifying file type, and I’ll send you a copy.

Yeah, I was hoping it would offer more tools to help. However, it is still in development I hope, so I’m waiting for more functionality to appear. Otherwise, it’s not really doing anything for me at the moment. 🙁

I’d simply follow the recommendations in the clever guts book plus Diet Myth by Tim Spector and see how you get on with the caveat of not making too many changes at one go..

GutsyChickpea: thanks for posting that list/ chart, I am sure it will help others. 🙂

Thanks very much Firefox and gustychickpea – very helpful information

Also, brief list of veg + values per 100g – In terms of eating lots of variety, guess it makes sense to eat all the veg you can, but in different portion sizes, rather than totally cutting out a veg?

Values from my local Tesco so obviously just rule of thumb and will change depending on ripeness, type etc;
Veg Kcals Carbs Sugars Fiber
Sweet Pot 98 21.3 (5.7) 2.4
Celeriac 25 2.3 (1.8) 3.7
Swede 13 2.3 (2.2) 0.7
Turnip 16 2.4 (1.9) 0.8
Carrot 42 7.9 (7.4) 2.4
Parsnip 76 12.5 (5.7) 4.6
Beetroot 41 7.5 (6.7) 2.4
Butternut 42 8.3 (4.5) 1.6

Brussels 51 4.1 (3.1) 4.1
Cabbage 36 4.1 (4.1) 4.1
Broccoli 40 3.2 (1.9) 2.5
Cauliflower 38 3.0 (2.5) 1.8

Leek 27 2.9 (2.2) 2.2
Kale 40 1.4 (1.3) 3.1
Chard 24 2.9 (0.6) 1.6
Spinach 29 1.6 (1.5) 2.1

Cucumber 11 1.5 (1.4) 0.6
Celery

Courgette 20 1.8 (1.7) 0.9
Aubergine 25 6.0 (3.5) 3.0
Marros 14 2.2 (2.1) 0.5
Tomatoes 20 3.1 (3.1) 1.0
Peppers 36 6.4 (6.1) 1.6
Mushrooms 8 2.2 (2.1) 0.5
Fennel 17 1.8 (1.7) 2.4
Radish 14 1.9 (1.9) 1.0

Green Beans 31 3.1 (2.2) 3.4
Mangetout 38 4.1 (3.4) 2.6
Babycorn 42 6.4 (5) 2.6
Sugar snaps 38 4.8 (3.6) 1.5
Asparagus 29 2.0 (1.9) 2.1

Beansprouts 47 2.1 (2.1) 1.8
Pak choi 19 2.2 (1.2) 1.0
Samphire 26 1.5 (0.1) 5.0
Choi Sum 14 1.4 (1.4) 1.2
Okra 40 3.0 (2.5) 4.0

Hi suzywoozy,

Agree, was initially very confused with the discrepancy. However I think the key word there may be ‘reduce’. I’ve been on the low FODMAP diet for a long time, which completely removes both, and can testify that eating no onion or garlic at all can have a significant negative effect on your microbiomes!

The diet plan contains less than 1/2 onion per day on most days (Assuming you remove the extra onion in the Ratatouille, which seems sensible) and equally moderate amounts of garlic. This is probably a decent ‘reduction’ from the average person. Particularly as we’re also cutting back on harder to digest fiber.

Despite being on the FODMAP for so long I haven’t found it too difficult to reincorporate this amount of onion and garlic, in combination with the lower-carb nature of the rest of the diet. A birthday party deviation, whilst fun at the time, definitely wasn’t worth it the next day!

Very strongly recommend consuming the amount of flax recommended (with lots of fluid of course). This helps move things through your gut quicker and minimises the amount of time prebiotics can sit in your gut and be turned into gas. The green flax bread isn’t great, but slathered with hummus and treated as ‘medicine’ it’s rather effective. Crackers are genuinely tasty, if a bit dry. Otherwise in smoothies or sprinkled on thing your taste buds shouldn’t notice it but your gut will!

Well, keto diet is very low in carbs. During the week you eat only proteins, fats, and fibers, and during the weekends you eat rice or cooked potato. I would not recommend it to anyone except professional fitness models and bodybuilder during the competition season. It should be taken very seriously, consultation with a trainer, nutritionist, and using keto calculator is a must. This is not a keto diet. 🙂

Hi All,
In the book on page 174, under point 5, Michael writes: “Having a warm bath or hot shower at least an hour before going to bed can also be helpful, as long as you cool down afterwards. It is the drop in body temperature that cues your brain that it is time to sleep. That is also why you should try to sleep in a cool room”.
I don’t think it has to be at least an hour before going to bed. When I was working with dementia residents in a nursing home we found that quite a few of them slept better when they had their shower just before going to bed. And I myself have a nice hot shower just before going to bed and while doing so I think about letting all the worries from the day be washed away… But, our bedroom is cool as we don’t have any heating in it, and I jump into bed without any night attire, so the cool sheets probably do the trick. And then I warm up again and drift off… 😊
Cheers, Vibka

Hi Nurse,
Does the CDSA Level 4 test analyse the microbiome in 2 weeks? I’d like to hear if anyone has a result from them yet, because after 6 weeks I still have no result from SmartDNA. The test cost me $330.
Cheers,
Vibka

About SmartDNA: They referred me to a naturapath in Melbourne who does Skype consultations, which is great for me as I live in the northeast of Victoria. She sent me the test kit and on the 27th July I took a poo sample and posted it. Since I didn’t hear from SmartDNA at all, I called them 2 weeks later to hear whether they had received the sample. I know Australia Post is slow these days, but that slow? Anyway, on 14th August they finally debited $330 from my visa card (so obviously they received the sample) and since then I have heard nothing. I know it’s supposed to take about 6 weeks (so that was yesterday), and I have been waiting patiently. I have sent an email to the naturopath and hope to hear from her soon to get a result. So in a nutshell, there’s a test available in Australia, but you have to be patient. 🙂

Oh idiot me, I completely missed the bit in the recipe about adding water. Note to self, read recipes better!!

Thanks for the help all, cheers

Submerging the vegetable in an appropriate liquid (pH, salt content etc.) reduces the chance of undesirable microbes growing, and increases the chance of desirable microbes growing. With the right recipe and ingredients the fermented food tastes ‘right’ and – critically – is safe to eat.

Never randomly add water to a food, drink, household product or cosmetic product you intend to store. That alters the conditions, potentially allowing undesirables to grow.

There is a video somewhere (YouTube?) of someone (Dr Mosley’s wife?) making Clever Guts purple sauerkraut.

Different microbes need a very varied conditions to grow. Always water, but different temperatures, different access to oxygen, different pH (acid/alkaline), different ‘food’.

So soft fruit can can get mouldy, or turn into wine or cider! Milk can go sour and taste disgusting, or become yoghurt or kefir or cheese.

Hi PeterCr

You could add water but add salt to it. (from the recipe: ‘add a half-teaspoon salt to 100ml filtered or spring water, and use this to top up until the kraut is fully submerged’)
You will probably find more juice is created as the ferment gets going (mine often overflow as I overfill the jars….) but if you don’t cover the kraut with liquid it will discolour.

Maybe start out with five or six portions spread out over your three meals. I wouldn’t worry about anything you only have a little of or use for flavouring – mild chilli, garlic, ginger – unless you suspect these as problematic from your detailed food and symptom diary.

For convenience you might try frozen mixed fruits (strawberries/ raspberries/ blackberries/ blueberries/ redcurrants/ blackcurrants) or frozen mixed vegetables (mediterranean or peas corn broccoli bell pepper). It isn’t difficult to separate out larger chunks when still frozen, so reducing or altering the variety .

Vegetables rich in insoluble fibre also tend to be stringy in texture or, when raw, need a lot of chewing to thoroughly break down. Freezing or cooking or blending breaks down the structure somewhat. For a list try the Self Nutrition Data website:, you can list by nutrient (eg. fibre) and/ or by food type (eg. vegetables). I *think* you can also reverse sort (lowest first).

I agree 20 to 30 types is difficult when limiting soluble and insoluble rich vegetables, as well as sugary fruits! Perhaps just start with a few ‘safe’ options and add one a day, only small portions of alliums/ inulin rich and of cruciferous/ fibre rich ones?

Suzywoozy: I can see why you are struggling!

I don’t think the suggestion to reduce/ avoid the alliums and other inulin rich vegetables (list on p. 125+) is in my edition. Which begs the question is your book or mine the most up to date!

Both inulin rich (soluble) and insoluble fibre rich vegetables can cause uncomfortable/ painful gas if overeaten or in sensitive guts (e. IBS).

Supplementary question. I have now spent an hour or more with the rolling pin trying to get enough juice to cover. But whilst I can get it to an inch or less from the top I cannot get enough juice to cover.

Perhaps I can use water to top up the juice a little to cover? Otherwise I just don’t seem to be able to make enough.

I can see that a weight might help but having scoured the house for something that will work I cannot find anything. We don’t normally keep rocks lying around sadly.

Cheers

Thanks Firefox.

It’s in the same section – page 191 in my book in the Remove and Repair section
During the the remove and repair phase try to avoid:” …… “Initially reduced highly prebiotic foods such as onions, garlic and leeks. All these can be reintroduced in the second phase”

I also would have found helpful a list of “Non-fibrous, plant based foods” as google searches for such don’t bring up much and I am struggling to find the 20-30 different types it is suggested we eat, whilst avoiding the fibrous and the highly prebiotic.

Hi all, I just got the book yesterday and am trying the Sauerkraut recipe.

I see on the second page it mentions water. However I cannot see any reference to water in the recipe.

What is the water for?

Thanks

I am taking apple cider vinegar twice a day as I had beeturia after eating Beetroot which confirms I have low stomach acid. Looking back I can see that my food problems became worse after a major operation so an antibiotic link for me.

I can’t see why garlic should be avoided, since the relatively small quantity used in an average dish won’t give a huge ‘dose’ of prebiotics. Well not compared to the enormous quantity of cauliflower ‘rice’ per person!

I haven’t followed the meal plans at all, preferring my own Mediterranean or Middle Eastern style recipes, much more fish and seafood, and not to bother baking bread substitutes. But I don’t have major gut issues, haven’t eaten wheat daily for a long time, and have previously established my tolerance for traditional dairy and various vegetables.

I noticed the discrepancy regarding cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, kale), but missed the same for the allium family (onions, leeks, garlic). Which page is the advice to avoid on please?

I assumed the fortnight meal plans were to suggest the structure of a day or week and not prescriptive, since it is recommended to remove and to reintroduce in stages over a period of time. I noted that the same dishes are not eaten day after day, as many of us do at breakfast and lunch.

I follow a way of eating very popular in South Africa, called Banting. It is sometime called the Tim Noakes diet. Elsewhere around the world it is called LCHF (low carb high fat). Most people who switch to this way of eating find fasting very easy once they are fat adapted (i.e. using fat for energy rather than sugar). So my recommendation would be to try LCHF for six weeks or so before you try to fast. One rule of eating this way is only eat when hungry so many find that the fasting naturally comes, if you are not hungry at breakfast and skip it then if you didn’t late night snack there might be 14-16 hours of fasting between breakfast and dinner. If you are not hungry at lunch this might become 18-20 of fasting. Other fasting resources are available on You Tube from Dr Jason Fung. There are many ways to achieve fasting – its just working out whats right for you. Good luck.

Vassily are you still on your amine and salicylate diet and have you ever taken antibiotics.

Does anyone have amine, glutamate or gluten intolerance. How were you diagnosed and what mental and physical symptoms do you get. Has the cleverguts diet helped.

Sorry, I don’t have an answer for you but I do have the same question. Just reading the book for the second time and noticed this too. Eager to get started 🙂

I am interested in the seaweed capsules as I have hidradenitus suppurativa (blocked sweat glands). Fortunately it isn’t to severe as I have zinc capsules which has helped settled it but not totally and thought the tablets could be beneficial. If I could be told where to purchase them would be helpful.

i’ve had life ending constipation off and on for a year now and while looking for remedies saw acv promoted as this cure all, no negative side effect, miracle elixir, so i incorporated it into my diet, drinking about 4 tsp daily diluted in water. my stomach problems eventually went away with the introduction of probiotic pills into my diet, but about 2 months ago i decided i wanted to improve my health and change my diet. i started drinking acv again and tried various different diets, and by the end of the 2 months, my stomach was completely destroyed and clogged up again. it suddenly hit me that i started to get these problems about a week or two after i started drinking acv again. the reason it took me so long to see the obvious was because literally 100% of the internet promotes acv as a miracle elixir with zero negative side effects. i couldn’t fathom it effecting me negatively but it literally caused the complete degradation of my digestion and the quality of my life. it also then hit me that i was drinking a mild acid for months. how is that a good thing? how is that not something to be weary of? i got completely off acv, avoided trigger foods for a weak, and my digestion was back to 100%. moral of the story, don’t listen to anyone, just listen to your body. for example, people with gastritis are recommended to avoid milk but to consume real greek yogurt, but the exact opposite is the case for me. yogurt makes me feel nauseous and like shit and milk almost has a soothing effect on my stomach. don’t believe the hype and the miracle cures. listen to your body and find what works for you.

Hi
I have read the book and decided to start the remove and repair section. Looking at the meal plan included in the book it seems to include quite a few recipes with onions or garlic in when earlier in the book it suggests that strong prebiotics such as these should not be included in this phase. It also includes broccoli and some other vegetables which are listed as high in fibre and also to be omitted during this phase.

Did people tend to stick to the general advice in this part or the menu plans. I am a little confused!

Thanks

Is anyone dealing with porphyria? I have Acute Intermittent Porphyria and am trying to work out Intermittent fasting, 5:2, Mediterranean diet, etc, with AIP, and weight loss and diabetes.

It’s taken me years to figure out mine is from Acute Intermittent Porphyria and migraines. I focus on avoiding triggers, I use Stemetil which calms the nausea, and have a recovery plan which includes grazing on sweet rice pudding (high carb is the remedy for AIP). Not much help for you. Journal your symptoms and look for patterns, triggers, and do lots of research.