Hi I have been using home brewed milk kefir from e bay purchased grains so that it only costs me 5 minutes per day and the cost of the milk to feed them. I have had the best improvement to my and my husband’s health EVER and I’ve been subjecting the poor man to every new nutritional idea I can find for years!
I thoroughly recommend fermenting your own kefir. It is really easy. I think that the most natural products from foods usually turn out to work best for optimum health and I’ve also read that probiotics delivered in liquid form deliver the most viable probiotics. So before you spend loads of money on shipping supplements I would try kefir.

I was told to take the probiotics along with a FODMAP diet and noticed a significant improvement in my symptoms.

Thanks for the tip of Symprove they do ship to Australia and sound good and Bioceuticals

Does anybody know if probiotics will help or exacerbate FODMAP intolerance?

I am in Australia and gave been diagnosed with IBD. With the aim of not being on medication for the rest of my life, I saw a dietitian who specialised in IBD and she prescribed a probiotic from the Bioceuticals range. Check out their range of probiotics; I was told they are one of few supplements with strong research evidence behind them.

I wonder if the protein shakes are causing or worsening your son’s digestive issues. Digestive disturbance is a well known ‘side effect’ of such products.

Protein shakes may be loaded with additives (eg. sweeteners/ flavourings/ colours), are based on proteins (eg. whey/ soy) well known for intolerances/ allergies, are not chewed (saliva and mastication are part of digestion), are highly refined (poor source of vitamins/ minerals/ fibre/ healthy fats), may contain traces of other problematic substances (eg. lactose/ casein).

Furthermore protein shakes are often overused: a higher dose of protein than the body can handle at one sitting, or used to *regularly replace* instead of *occasionally supplement* a properly balanced and varied wholefood diet.

Brilliant thank you x

Hi, I’ve dropped in from the 5:2 diet after reading the Clever guts book, I’ve suffered from excess stomach acid form 20 years but don’t have GERD. I have been on PPIs for that length of time, in increasing, finally ridiculous strength. I’ve lost some weight on the 5:2, mostly around the waist, and am now on a mission to cut my meds. I’ve currently halved my Nexium and Ranitidine, which I’m doing gradually because I understand if you cut it out too quickly it can make the problem worse. As far as diet is concerned, I only drink decaf tea and coffee and limit alcohol (should stop it altogether!) The biggest boost I think, has come from drinking daily kefir like Sue C – I use the water type mainly because I don’t like the taste of the milk variety, – and have increased my water intake considerably. At the beginning, I found fasting made my acid worse, but it soon settled and now I only eat two meals a day, brunch and dinner in a window of about 8 hours. My glob is to cut my tabs to one a day. I’m getting there. Good luck

Hi,
I’m just popping in from the 5:2 diet and would suggest that, for any calorie values, download the app My Fitness Pal, go to the recipes, put in the ingredients and it will calculate it for you. Hope that helps!

All the books website talk about how you loose weight whilst doing the diet. I am trying to do this diet with my 20 year old son who is currently trying to put on a stone as he is a rugby player. He has struggled for a few years eating for every mouthful that goes down he has to Wait for the biggest burp ( can’t do this in public places it’s so loud) to come up before he can eat the next mouthful and when I’d gets worse he has bad acid and heartburn and sometimes Hes sick form it. Taken him to doctors cameras down every blood test, poo test nothing – he is extremely fit and healthy otherwise.

Want him to do the diet to try and give his body a clean out but he’s desperate not to loose weight as he finds it very hard to put on . He takes protein shakes can he continue to do this whilst on the diet? Any ideas on how to feel fuller and get more calories in would be great.

I also saw the ‘Food Unwrapped’ program. It would be interesting if the researcher had also tested ‘0% fat’ yoghurt to prove that fat is the reason for probiotic survival.

Just read ‘Clever Guts Diet’ and decided to ‘treat’ myself to a course of yogurt with live cultures (Yeo Valley Natural). Is there any guidance on how much and when during the day it should be consumed? Or is it an ‘any time and any amount’ situation?

Having tried the latte recipe I am not sure I can get enough turmeric in every day. Firstly does anyone know how much ground turmeric we should aim for?
Secondly would curcumin and black pepper supplements work? If so what dose? There are so many to choose from. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks

Not sure whether to post on Welcome or Newbies , but here goes. I’m a 70 year old Clever Git from Sydney Australia (love that name). After reading the book a few things have been absolute revelations to me – thank you Michael Mosley! You have offered me hope.

I now know how I tipped myself over the edge into bad biome land. A prolonged peroiod of severe stress in my life. During this time I had a take-away for 7 years and despite what people thought about my increasing size it wasn’t food. It was 7 – 8 diet drinks a day, so as not to eat and besides I never had time. Minimum 4 but usually 6 anti-inflammatories per day to enable me to stand for 13 – 15 hour days. Stress, NSAID’s and artificial sweetners!

I recently had a colonoscopy thinking the diagnosis would be IBS – instead it was gastritis which affects the stomach more than bowel, although there lots of crossover with both. I’ve tried every diet for weight loss and the only result I had was an intense paleo to re-set grehlin levels which took my cholesterol from 4.3 to 8.6.

I am just getting over a recent flare-up and my tummy is still very tricky so I’m doing the re-boot but watching for FODMAP issues as well, which restricts food considerably. I was prepared to go to Israel for a month but have been advised that trial is over. Now only for pregnant women and pre-diabetics. I emailed DayTwo and .. of course the personalised diet is only available in Israel and USA. I am considering following up if I can get it in USA. They’re probably inundated with requests.

Through this Forum I’ve found a website offering faeces testing in Australia which will be an excellent start to see what my biome garden has grown.

Is there anyone else out there from Australia with Gastritis? It’d be fantastic to swap tips we’ve discovered on our journey to improved health. Really, I’d almost resigned myself to a life of never knowing what would trigger a flare and taking a week to deal with it. All replies welcome!

Hi. I’ve just finished reading the Clever Guts diet book and am now thinking about what changes I want to make. I tried 5:2 fasting when that book was released but didn’t get on too well with it. Recently I’ve experimented with fasting 16:8 and that seems to work better for me – my eating window was 1pm-9pm. Would this still be effective in terms of improving gut health, i.e. is eating late going to impact on this? Should I think about trying 5:2 again? Many thanks

Surprised nobody has yet mentioned Symprove – http://www.symprove.com. In trials it was one of only three products which delivered the number of bugs as advertised, survived stomach acid and reproduced in the gut. You need a three-month course and it’s not cheap, but it does seem to help. It’s a liquid you keep in the fridge by the way – even took mine on holiday to the US!

Count me in for the study. I assume the Newsletter will advise when and where?

Hi Gigi60, thats fantastic! I purchased the book a week ago and saw Dr Mosley on Insight last Tuesday. I’m recovering from a bad flare-up of gastritis and as much as possible following the re-boot but with FODMAP overlay .. it severely curtails what you can eat. The faecal test is a great place to start. I’ve been looking everywhere. Great work. Thanks for the post !! I am absolutely considering going to USA to do the Day Two personalised nutrition plan.

Try and limit fats and alcohol. Sadly nuts are off the list. Your body will let you know what doesn’t agree with you.

They are a capsule that should be refrigerated, although they say on their website that they can be out of the fridge for short periods of time while travelling – although they don’t say how long that short period is, guess it would depend on the outside temperature. I think I might buy the VSL 3 ones when away.

Hi Evie – it won’t be long. Watch this space and I have you on our newsletter list.
Best
Pia

Yes so hard to know which ones might be effective. On looking at the Faulding ones they only have 1 type of lactobacillus so suspect not great whereas a powder I bought recently had 10 strains. It was expensive and neither my husband or I liked the taste even if tried to disguise it. As didn’t like it I have not kept what the name was. We travel quite a bit and especially like to have them when traveling so really need a capsule that you don’t need to refrigerate. Would like to know how you go with the Udo’s. Are they a capsule that is non refrigerated?

Thanks for your info Gigi. Guess I’m being a bit impatient as know it can take time but worried it won’t improve. Just hoping the clever gut diet might be able to get results where I can improve past where I was before having it out. I don’t think I could have all the foods on it though as suspect foods like nuts and seeds eg flaxseed might not be a good idea at this stage.

Hi
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I stopped thinking of my diagnosis and look at it in terms of symptoms. I found this helped a bit.
I’m going to keep going with my dietary changes as the link to the gut makes sense to me. I’ll watch out for the seaweed extract becoming available . Is there a link to the crowd funding site?
Thanks
Evie

Hi, there. I note that there is a lot of coconut cream and oil in the diet, which I believe is about the only vegetable-based fat that contains cholesterol. I’m trying to get my cholesterol down without going on statins and am concerned that clever guts might not be suitable. Should I ignore cholesterol from this source, or substitute coconut cream and oil for another good oil? Will I miss out on something good in the coconut by eliminating it? Cheers.

Hello,

I have just phoned NuriPATH.
They will put you in touch with a medical practitioner who is registered with them to fill in a request form for the test.

If you are wanting to go through your GP they will need to register your GP and send them the request forms.

A CDSA Level 4 test is the most comprehensive @ $360.
Results in approx 10 -14 days.

At this stage I do not want to involve my GP so will leave it at the monment.

If anyone hears of anyone else who tests please post.

Cheers

I have just finished the “Clever Guts Diet Book”, how fascinating. I too would be very interested in a testing facility was found in Australia. I am on the Sunshine Coast.

Does taking olive leaf extract effect the good bacteria?

My husband also had his gall bladder removed last January for similar reasons. We were told your body needs to adjust to not having a gallbladder and can take time to improve. He is back to normal now but still has to watch what he eats and eat similar foods than before surgery otherwise he feels nauseous.

I found this Australian company that does faecal testing for $220 for the CDSA5 test which is very thorough. They send you a home kit which you post back
http://www.nutripath.com.au

Hi Erukus
We ordered 2 kits from uBiome in the US and they are sending to Australia no problems. It just cost an extra $20. Kaje

I have just purchased Udo’s Choice Probiotics having googled best probiotics to use. They arrived today and I will let you know how I find them. Would be good if CG Admin could take a look at them to see if they are what they claim.

Hi Pia,

I don’t think it is that simple because UBiome does not service outside the US. It specifically mentions in the book for Australian tests to check this website. Is there any other info aside from this?

Thanks

I had my gall bladder removed 3 weeks ago. I had a poorly contracting gall bladder since 2009 and have avoided having surgery on it until now as was concerned I could have digestion issues if removed so was controlling it with diet -no spicy, no alcohol, avoiding fried foods, no cheese, no cream and generally lower fat foods. However I was recently diagnosed with several large gallstones and was a ” ticking time bomb” heading for more serious problems so I’ve had it removed. I also have mild IBS. Since its removal I am having a war with food with diahorrea, nausea and some light headedness. On doctors advice I have cut out gluten, lactose/ dairy, fruit ( except pear) high fat foods and foods I didn’t have before plus onions, garlic, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower . On a few days I’ve had improvement but then comes back. I’m wondering how to best apply the Clever Gut diet to help me get my digestion better in these circumstances as realise it would need to be modified but a lot of the theory behind it I am hoping could help just unsure what to apply and what wouldn’t be good idea? I would really appreciate Michael’s advice.

I am also looking for a good quality probiotic in Australia. I suffer from mild IBS and have been recommended to take them by GP. I am currently taking Faulding IBS support probiotic and sometimes I have thought they have helped and other times not so sure. I have had a fair amount of antiobiotics recently for tooth infections and then also with surgery so I have been taking them then but not sure if really helping or not as still got diahorrea from the antiobiotics.

Hi Evie
We had the most significant anecdotal benefit with a woman with severe psoriasis on the palms of her hands, but there were others. One woman had what she called “menopausal acne” of the face, while a dermatologist colleague in Sydney would have called it adult acne or Rosacea. This woman too experienced a reduction in symptoms during the trial a year ago. It is the diverse number of people and anecdotal improvements to symptoms of the skin that lead us to establish this second trial with a focus on psoriatic disorders. The first study wasn’t designed for that; but a number of people reported skin benefits, so we identified the need for this second study to include psoriasis as a focus. We are just setting up the way we will score psoriasis in this study using the dermatology PASI score as well as a wellness questionaire and index. In this study everyone will be their own control, so I think that if the seaweed extract capsules can really deliver outcomes for psoriasis, then this study will be well and truly designed to demonstrate that clearly. Although a number of clinical diagnoses of skin disorders will differ and the effects may be different across these – there are so many skin disorders being linked to the gut now that we hope there can in part be a common solution.

Hi Ian – your contact details are on my list great!

Andrew and Evie happy for you to add yourselves to our newsletter list at http://www.phyco.com.au

I am working hard on a crowd funding opportunity to accelerate the production for those who are keen to try sooner rather than later. There seem to be so many that suffer from skin issues which is tragic as I can hear the desperation for solutions. I am sure that an overall gut improvement through diet is a good approach until we can get more in production.

From reading around the internet I can glean things such as Christensenellaceae bacteria are associated with being lean whilst Helicobacter pylori can lead to stomach ulcers.
What I’d love to know is if I pay to get my and my family’s gut bacteria analysed might I then be able to work out what pro and pre biotics we should take in order to promote particular good or overwhelm particular bad bacteria.
Does such a list of associations exist from the American gut or British gut research and would I get access to that if I sent off for an analysis?
For example a family member who suffers from hemorrhoids has had improvement from taking kefir plus increasing dietary prebiotics.
If we found that a certain type of bacteria is common within populations who have hemorrhoids, perhaps we could target a good bacteria known to overwhelm the bad ones that could be causing them?
All very exciting. Many thanks if anyone knows.

Our daily bread is homemade sourdough. Check out sourdough.com. It is an Australian website. I use their starter recipe. It’s great. Good luck

Hi,
I’ve just made an enquiry with NutriPATH in Vic that do stool sampling. It appears to tick all the boxes but I’ve yet to hear back from them
Cheers
Gigi

I have just started thyroxine and also having tests for other stuff including coeliac, can I ask what symptoms you had for that oyster Pearl? I have toilet issues in the mornings only, wierd.

Hi Parkoskip and Nurse
I’m in NSW and would be interested if you find anything out in regards to the poop tests too
Thanks Emma

Hi Parkoskip,

I am in Adelaide. If you have any luck with tagc.com.au, please let me know.

Cheers

Diary printout –

I was wondering if someone could point me in the direction to print out the Daily Food and Symptoms Diary as mentioned in the book?
It mentions in the book that it can be printed from the resources section but I can’t locate it.

Ta

I am doing my government funded poop test lol! I was checking this same thing over the weekend ( I am on the Gold Coast) and I came across tagc.com.au who are in Queensland. Will be asking my GP on Wednesday to see if she knows of them. They are in Brisbane I think so probably worth a call. Let me know if you find anything of interest.

Hi Pia
I was diagnosed with Rosacea Lymphoedema. After a long journey with dermatologists and antibiotics ( which I refused) I started changing my diet and following an anti inflammatory diet. Although there are improvements in my skin I’m not quite there yet. I believe the answer is in my gut !
I’m continuing to try different diets but I’d love to buy and try your seaweed capsules for the inflammation. Where can I get them ?
Many thanks
Evie
Central Coast NSW

I have been on thyroxine for over a decade. There is no quick weight loss, I have found a consistent exercise regime and for me walking at least 8kms per day will take the weight off but once I stop then it returns. It has always been a constant battle and fatigue creeps back in. Since being dx with Coeliac I have tried different menu plans which are starting to have some effect. Great to see that there is a blog on Hypothyroid and I will check in with interest for future comments. Cheers and have an awesome day.

Thanks for your reply.
Yes, I have reached that wonderful age where the Govt. sends out the poop test kit for Ca.

I am inquiring about poop testing as talked about in “the clever guts diet”. Where the wonderful flora in out digestive system can be identified.

Nurse

I would love to participate in the potato starch research……long time trouble sleeping !!!!😞

Have a look in Aspalls website, they have an organic live apple cider vinegar which is much and I’m sure it’s mentioned in the book.

I make and take milk kefir, and have just started fermenting foods, purple sauerkraut and am experimenting with red onion and garlic. My main issue is that I have a slow transition. I’m under the hospital and they have cut all high fibre foods and limited others in my diet. Not best pleased as to me it’s totally alien and ‘unhealthy ‘. I’d be interested in your views and opinion on what you would recommend.