By Carly Smith
Good for Your Gut is a book that tackles gut health from every angle. In the first part of this comprehensive read, Desiree Nielsen shares her knowledge and expertise on the digestive system and discusses the ways in which the entire body reaps the benefits of a healthy gut. Nielsen narrows in on the different components of the digestive system, explaining how each part—from chewing food to having a bowel movement—is connected to our overall health and well-being. She covers topics that commonly arise with gut health, like the use of probiotics and the low FODMAP diet, and offers her well-researched opinions on them. She touches on individual ingredients, supplements, and body movements to create a well-rounded, holistic approach to understanding our digestive systems.
The second part of Good for Your Gut is a cookbook. Nielsen’s recipes are divided into six categories including, but not limited to, heartier meals, snacks and sides, and baking and sweets. Each recipe is labeled as heal, protect, or soothe to further assist readers in identifying how the recipe will help their gut. There is also a small section with meal plans, and the book includes a thorough index for quick referencing.
The formatting of Good for Your Gut makes it very readable. Even with an abundance of information, the book is neither intimidating nor hard to digest. Topics are categorized appropriately, and chapters transition smoothly from one to the next. In the cookbook portion of this read, each recipe comes with a list of ingredients, a set of instructions, a description of the food, and a rundown of how the food fits into certain diets (e.g., gluten-free, nut-free, low FODMAP). All of the recipes are plant-based. Some recipes also include tips and notes to help readers maximize their enjoyment and understanding of their creation. It should be noted that the recipes do not include a traditional nutritional breakdown listing calories, fat content, sugar content, protein content, etc. I appreciated that these were omitted from the recipes because nutritional information is so much more than a label with grams and percentages; the choice not to include them reinforces Nielsen’s idea that gut health requires a lifestyle change rather than a specific diet that can be forgotten about after a short period of time.
Not only does Good for Your Gut provide an extensive look at our guts and their role in the body, but it also offers easy-to-follow recipes. With information backed up by reputable sources, this book broadened my understanding of my food/body/mind relationship and what I need to stop and continue doing in order to build better gut health. This book isn’t just suitable for folks with digestive problems or conditions like SIBO and IBD. It’s suitable for anyone looking to learn more about health and more specifically, food’s role in our health.
Thanks to Penguin Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.