GUT health is a hot topic at the moment. Research has found that looking after our microbiome (the trillions of bacteria, viruses and fungi in the gut) could have an impact on everything from our immunity and our brain to our weight-loss efforts and heart health.
Plus, scientists are increasingly discovering the link between our gut and our mental health.
As such, looking after this area of your body can only be a good thing. Here we’ve found three genuinely interesting bedtime reads that can help you to better understand your body’s bacteria, and how to keep it in good order.
1. Eat Yourself Healthy: An easy-to-digest guide to health and happiness from the inside out by Dr. Megan Rossi (£16.99, Penguin Life)
Learning to love your gut is all about arming yourself with the right knowledge, but it can be difficult to sort fact from fiction when there’s so much misinformation out there. In this fascinating book, dietitian Dr Megan Rossi breaks down the latest research around the gut to share easy-to-digest, expert advice on common complaints such as IBS and bloating, food intolerances and fatigue.
As well as lifestyle tips, there are more than 50 delicious gut-boosting recipes that can help you to feed your intestines and transform your health from the inside out.
2. Gut: the inside story of our body’s most under-rated organ by Giulia Enders (Scribe UK, £12.99)
In the newly revised version of this Sunday Times bestseller, German scientist Giulia Enders takes a deep dive into the fascinating connection between your gut and your brain, which is still a burgeoning area of research. Looking at ground-breaking studies around psychobiotics, she reveals everything you need to know about the gut-mind axis.
Delivered with her trademark wit, Enders also attempts to explain some of the biggest gut health questions, like: Why does acid reflux happen? Why are some people gluten and lactose intolerant? How does the gut affect our weight? A must-read for anyone looking to understand more about their microbiology.
3. 10% Human: How Your Body’s Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness by Alanna Collen (HarperCollins, £9.99)
This gut bible will completely change your understanding of how our lifestyle choices can influence major diseases. Author and biologist Alanna Collen explains we are just 10 per cent human because for every one of our cells, there are nine ‘impostor’ microbes.
As such, the 100 trillion or so of them in our body can have a big say in our health, including our weight, immune system, our mental health and even our choice of partner.
Collen also believes that many of the Western world’s biggest health concerns – like obesity, mental illness, digestive disorders, allergies and even cancer – have a relationship with our gut, and she lays out the science and research to back up her theories.
Helpfully, she also suggests some key ways that we can change our microbes for the better, laying out a guide to hacking your gut health and supercharging your health and happiness along the way.
