How The Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impact Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health

I recently finished reading The Mind-Gut Connection by Emeran Mayer.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT

  Rating: 3.25/5 stars

"Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with the latest discoveries on the human microbiome, a practical guide in the tradition of Wheat Belly and Grain Brain that conclusively demonstrates the inextricable, biological link between mind and body. We have all experienced the connection between our mind and our gut—the decision we made because it “felt right”; the butterflies in our stomach before a big meeting; the anxious stomach rumbling when we’re stressed out. While the dialogue between the gut and the brain has been recognized by ancient healing traditions, including Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine, Western medicine has failed to appreciate the complexity of how the brain, gut, and more recently, the microbiome—the microorganisms that live inside us—communicate with one another.

In The Mind-Gut Connection, Dr. Emeran Mayer, executive director of the UCLA Center for Neurobiology of Stress, offers a revolutionary look at this developing science, teaching us how to harness the power of the mind-gut connection to take charge of our health. The Mind-Gut Connection shows how to keep the brain-gut communication clear and balanced, heal the gut by focusing on a plant-based diet, balance the microbiome by consuming fermented foods and probiotics, fasting, and cutting out sugar and processed foods, promote weight loss by detoxifying and creating healthy digestion and maximum nutrient absorption, boost immunity and prevent the onset of neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, generate a happier mindset and reduce fatigue, moodiness, anxiety, and depression, prevent and heal GI disorders such as leaky gut syndrome, food sensitivities and allergies, and IBS, as well as digestive discomfort such as heartburn and bloating, and much more."

There were some interesting facts in here. Like did you know that your gut has its own nervous system made up of 50-100 million nerve cells, as many as are contained in your spinal cord? Or that 95% of the body's serotonin is stored in the gut?

Overall, I felt like the book was written at an easily digestible (see what I did there) level equivalent of a YA reader. There were anecdotal stories from the author's practice, references to studies involving rats, and a bunch of non-proven theories. Even though there were no footnotes for the research studies mentioned, the back of the book does cite sources referenced vaguely earlier.

The author advises pretty much the same stuff you hear from every other source out there talking about eating for health: eat real, non-processed foods, eat smaller portions, eat probiotics and fermented foods, eat more plants and lean meats, and pay attention to and address your emotional and spiritual health too. Everything is connected.

I don't know if I just already knew a lot on the topic or if this book was pointed toward people who didn't know that only eating meat and cheese and starches can affect more than just your waistline. It held my attention all the way through but I guess I had hoped for a more in depth, more scientific read.

Check out Mind-Gut Connection, and discover how intertwined the mind and gut are.

Happy Reading :)