food

'Gut' gets up close and personal with one of the body's forgotten organs.

 

All too often, we focus on how we look on the outside and ignore what goes on within – we never seem to have enough time to get an adequate level of exercise in each day or eat a balanced diet. But sometimes, a book comes along that captures the public’s interest and rouses us to pay attention to an area we’ve previously ignored.

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Many of us have been persuaded to work on improving our brains for happier and healthier lives, thanks to Norman Doidge’s bestselling The Brain That Changes Itself and Barbara Arrowsmith-Young’s The Woman Who Changed Her Brain.

And, more recently, we’ve all been motivated to practice mindfulness to tackle stress, with the plethora of adult colouring in books  that are so popular right now.

Giulia Enders, author of 'GUT'. Image: Twitter.

But now it's our guts’ time to shine. Until now the gut has been mostly forgotten, until one is hit with a tummy bug or something more serious. So Giulia Enders’ debut international bestseller, Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Under-rated Organ, has really taken the world by surprise. Selling over 200,000 copies since its release in her native Germany (under a title that translates to English as ‘Charming Bowels’), don’t underestimate this book’s importance.

Enders is currently studying for her medical doctorate in Germany and was partly drawn to look at this organ thanks to a misdiagnosis in her late teenage years. Now in Gut, she demystifies allergy and intolerance issues, and clarifies the logical connections between our external and internal environments.

She covers defecation, constipation and other bowel movements, all relevant and important things to understand. As Enders points out, not only is our gastrointestinal tract our body's most under-appreciated organ, but it’s also “the brain's most important adviser”. Gut draws a plausible link between the brain and the gut and its ramifications for mental and physical health.

'GUT' by Giulia Enders. Image @vii.bii.

The book provides the reader with a practical understanding of the purpose and value of ‘good’ bacteria, as well as why balancing bacteria is necessary for our optimal physical and mental health.

Essentially it tells us to eat more sushi (for the cold white rice) and yoghurt.

Gut is a must read for anyone interested in looking after themselves – inside and out.

Buy the book here.

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