Super Gut: A Four-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight by William Davis

Super Gut: A Four-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight Reviews

• 
  Donna

  This is Nonfiction Health. I had a love-hate reaction with this one. The gut biome has been getting more and more attention in recent years. This book covers the importance of having a good gut biome for overall health. So for those who are new to this information, then you might find this helpful.
  
  Now there were a few turn offs here. He spends some time pointing fingers at others and their research and assumptions. But then he'd also make statements (that sounded an awful lot like assumptions) that came across as huge blanket statements because there were no references mentioned. That was annoying.
  
  The last thing is that the "four-week plan" lacked organization. Just when he was speaking with passion and urgency, it ended. I would have liked to have had more of that throughout. So...2 or 3 stars? I'll go with 2.
• 
  Karen R

  Another good resource from the author of Wheat Belly. Common-sense advice for those of us who have digestion and gut issues. Davis incorporates science, fascinating information on how the evolution of food has impacted our health, steps to safely get back to having a healthy gut and a bonus of including recipes. A few simple takeaways I plan to adopt is to focus on shopping the perimeter of a grocery store and sticking to whole foods, probiotics and organics in order to strengthen my microbiome. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
• 
  Diane Hernandez

  Ten years ago, the author of Super Gut published Wheat Belly. The book, which advocated restricting wheat, was a hit! I even followed its plan for years. So, I was excited to see he had written a new book.
  
  Unfortunately, Super Gut is a disappointment. The new diet incorporates the Wheat Belly diet but is even more restrictive. Hard-to-source, expensive foods and supplements are suggested. I recommend skipping Super Gut and reading Wheat Belly instead. 2 stars.
  
  Thanks to Hachette Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
• 
  Julia Bowen

  I could write a 3000 word diatribe on why I hate this book, but I will stick to the basics:
  
  The author cherry picks his data to justify his suggestions, which are both classist and sexist. He completely lost all credibility when he suggested that c-sections and formula feeding lead to poor health outcomes for babies. Not only does that blame women for things out of their control, he then blames the mothers gut health for passing on poor gut health to their children.
  
  Now if the solution were simple, this book may have given a couple tips for the reader to use. However, the author argues the only way to achieve gut health is to never use any OTC or prescription medication, never eat anything processed or with additives, and take high cost supplements. This is obviously not a sustainable way of life for the majority of the population due to cost alone, never mind the insane amount of restriction and lifestyle change required.
  
  But I digress… this book was terrible, don’t waste your time.
• 
  Shannon McGarvey

  Great book. I feel like I could actually get my children, and some of my, chronic issues under control.
• 
  M Burke

  While I’m the ideal audience for this book—someone already bought in to the importance of the microbiome, avoiding processed food, and game to make my own yogurt—I found the tone overly fearmongering and claims seemed like overstatements of the existing science. The author’s premise is that the majority of people have undiagnosed SIBO and they should pay for an expensive device or tests to identify it and then make yogurt with specific brands of probiotics to address it. He’s right that most people have metabolic syndrome and that conventional healthcare systems rarely address the root cause. And research into specific strains of bacteria and their impact on health outcomes is early, so interpretation of the research is somewhat of an art. But the “follow my protocol or you’ll regret it for the rest of your life” tone was a turn-off. On the plus side, if you do want to try his yogurt recipes (in which you ferment specific strains for 36 hours to make far more CFUs than in store-bought yogurt), he makes it easy to find those strains on Amazon.
• 
  Trina

  Thank you Libro.FM for the ALC. my rating may be skewed because I listened to the audiobook and therefore didn't see citations/references etc.
  
  As someone with on-going gut issues, I wanted to like this, but it seemed to fall mostly into the same advice that the author criticizes others for: scrap grains and sugar and you'll be "slender" and have good skin. Sure, he goes into specific gut components that he suggests need to be balanced (make his yogurt...where on earth do you find the strains he mentions?), but the evidence sounded almost exclusively anecdotal. It's also pretty laughable that he doesn't think his diet is restrictive! Not just gluten-free, but GRAIN free--you can't even have rice! Or you can, but the examples he gives are for major occasions so like "it's my birthday! I can have ONE slice of pizza." It also talked a lot about supplements....which are money makers just like prescription drugs...not to mention their regulation varies dramatically. Ugh. Disappointed.
• 
  Alicia

  This book was just okay. I had high hopes for it but the 4-week plan was unclear and needed to have a better execution. Furthermore, living in Canada prevents us from getting a lot of ingredients listed to make your own yogurt, etc. and it’s an expensive journey. Worth it? Possibly. But I’m not willing to fork out the cash for all the equipment and hard-to-find ingredients. Not to mention, time consuming. There are some elements I will incorporate, including the Clove Green Tea, though. And I do love the recipe ideas at the end.
  
  I want to thank NetGalley and Hachette for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
• 
  Jess Morrison

  Despite some useful information, the claims in this book are so ridiculous as to be laughable.
  
  Make my magical yogurt and you’ll be just a step away from Bradley Cooper in Limitless!
  
  Mary in Canada ate my yogurt and reported more youthful skin, communed with fellow humans and nature, joined Mensa, and achieved nirvana! This could be you!
  
  Any responsible dietary advice should be backed by peer-reviewed science, and direct you to real, whole foods, not supplements, pills, contraptions and artificial sweeteners.
  
  This book feels like a thinly-veiled way to direct you to buy specific products from obscure websites. It seems likely that the author is receiving commissions from retailers.
• 
  Rachel Meyers

  I hoped to love it, but only liked it in part. It has some interesting information I felt was worthwhile, but it does have a very, very one direction and focus specific approach to healing and sickness that does not touch on some things I have read from other sources may be helpful for gut healing such as fasting... it did not even mention fasting. It was very much of the same mentality that it claims causes alot of issues... this one thing is almost the only or main thing that is causing all illness (yes it has causes that are various) and this is the only way to healing that issue... one example is it's advice that all people take this certain pharmaceutical and then take this very specific brand of blended herbs and then another very particular brand of something else... not sure I buy the only way to healing it is selling... just an example of why I was disappointed, other reviews give the same thoughts more specifically. I am glad for having read it in part, with a few grains of salt.
• 
  John Biddle

  Dr William Davis' book Super Gut is a detailed explanation of what goes wrong with the gut microbiota and how to fix it. There was a lot of good information in it but the focus was too much on SIBO and SIFO, and that wasn't clear until I started to red it. Great if you have one or both, not so great if you don't.
• 
  Boris

  This book has some solid ground to start off, but quite quickly drifts into some shady parts of self-diagnosing, "natural antibiotics", and "miraculous testimonies". It is a shame because gut health and microbiome research are quite interesting and fruitful without unscientific trials and testimonials, and this book has some good insights. This book is pseudoscientific, and ungrounded, with some correct and solid parts, but not due to direct research from this book.
• 
  Lorena

  In Super Gut, Dr. William Davis (of Wheat Belly fame) offers an interesting discussion of gut dysbiosis, including small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and small intestinal fungal overgrowth (SIFO). He writes in a lively manner that is easy to understand, although I thought the text was needlessly repetitive. I appreciated all of the peer-reviewed studies he cites, although I think he overstates his case at times.
  
  He presents a four-week plan to heal your gut, as well as protocols to eliminate SIBO, SIFO, and H. pylori. He recommends a low-carb/high-fat (ketogenic) diet, which I don’t think is safe for everyone, so you should probably check with your personal doctor before attempting this program.
  
  The book includes over 40 recipes, including yogurts made from specific strains of bacteria chosen for specific health benefits, other ferments, beverages, main dishes, and desserts. I haven’t had the chance to try any of his yogurts yet, but I am very curious to try them. I did try the Clove Green Tea, Matcha Strawberry Key Lime Smoothie, Yakisoba Noodles, and One-Minute Strawberry Ice Cream, which were all delicious. There are no photographs accompanying the recipes (at least not in the ARC I received), and no nutrition information is provided, which is frustrating if you are trying to track your carbs. TIP: I use a nutrition tracking app called Cronometer that gives me good estimates of carbohydrates and other nutritional content of my meals and beverages—it makes life much easier!
  
  The back matter includes resources, healing protocols, and references.
  
  While I’m not sold on all of Dr. Davis’s recommendations, I do think this book is a valuable contribution to the literature on gut health, and it’s worth checking out if you would like to improve your health.
  
  I was provided an ARC through NetGalley that I volunteered to review.
• 
  Bee

  Fantastic! William Davis takes so many of the missing puzzle pieces relating to a healthy gut microbiome and fits them neatly into a plan of action that seems relatively simple to implement. Everything he brought out makes so much sense, and I look forward to trying numerous things from this book. Highly recommended for anyone with autoimmunity, inflammation, ‘mystery’ chronic illness, as well as common diseases and disorders.
  
  A huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.
• 
  BookishlyWise

  Some new and good to know information but the topic isnt that vast that it needed this huge book. You get to know about various microbes and floea and fauna living in our gut stomach and colon and how to eat healthier. Good advice overall and some of the stuff it tells about is surely doable like wating more fermented foods.
• 
  Shannon

  DNF @ 60 percent because anyone who promotes an MLM like doterra as part of medical advice loses all credibility for me. Also, the unbearable smugness of "you'll know more than doctors!" and the repeated conflation of Victor Frankenstein and his creation were just too much in combination.
• 
  Holly

  Nothing new here.
• 
  Karen

  Once you get past the big words (as in "enterobacteriaceae") prepare for an education on just how important gut health is and according to Dr. Davis, bad gut health can cause all kinds of problems and diseases. He lists the different gut bacteria and what certain ones can do to improve your health...Lactobacillus helveticus to reduce depression and anxiety and L. reuters for deeper sleep with extended REM. When making yogurt you can add these or use Kefir as your yogurt starter. A clove green tea recipe looks interesting as cloves can help rebuild & repair your intestinal mucus. I think they are just beginning to find out just how important our "gut bacteria" is.
• 
  Bonnie H.

  SO much information. I did feel a little overwhelm or information overload. I recommend taking it in small chunks and take notes, highlight, and tab. The information is presented well and easily understood.
• 
  Marcie

  Very informative but you need some level of background knowledge about the gut. It is not a beginner book.
• 
  Riccardo Lo Monaco

  I can’t wait until they research this stuff more. And that’s all this really needs to turn into a 5-star book: for it to be backed by fact and for its recommendations to actually be attainable.
• 
  Silvia

  Very informative book about our guts and how to get them healthier.
  
  Love the "yogurt" recipes in the Appendix.
  
  Must read if you are embarking on your own serious health learning and advocacy.
• 
  Greg Talbot

  Physical health, and increasingly mental health, are mainstream topics of discussion. A healthy lifestyle has components of awareness and routine for accretive benefits to living longer and better. William Davis's contribution to the discussion, beginning with "Wheatbelly" and further researched here with "Super Gut" brings appreciation to the gut-microbiome.
  
  Davis looks at home modern diets and environments have dramatically changed guy flora. C-sections, pesticides, nutritional deficiencies, ketosis dieting, are all examples that have changed the relationship between the guts of modern WEIRD diets and those of our ancestors. Here we look at the increasingly identified culprits of good gut health - SIBO and SIFO (small intestinal fungal/bacterial overgrowth). Although not discussed here, the microbiome effects from covid-19 leave a patterned imprint on the gut as well. The effects of dysbiosis go far beyond GI issues. Inflammatory diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, skin, dementia and even the far-reaching social disease of depression and anxiety.
  
  Holistic health and ayurvedic already seem leagues beyond traditional western medicine (traditionally most medical doctors have minimal discussion of nutrition or gut bacteria) in combating GI issues. Here Davis explores alternative paths beyond herbal remedies for symptoms. Super yogurts, cultivated with strands that positively impact the upper GI system (L. Gasseri; L. Reuteri) are given stardom attention. He also explores mucus/intestinal lining clove-green tea recipes for attentional repair.
  
  In the afterward Davis reminds us that incremental changes are necessary for positive outcomes. Health habits, compound interest, relationship building - these things take time, effort, and functional systems. The majority of us don’t have the time to wait for western medicine to catch-up or nor should we trust in big pharma. Supergut provides history, medical studies, and some really wonderful recipes for yogurt fermentation.
  
  For many like myself, the research of alternative medicine to improve gut health is a no brainer. For others, the proof may be in your homespun probiotic pudding. Either way, a valuable contribution to an essential topic.
• 
  Will

  I think a lot of the negative reviews here are missing the point. Yes, the actual four week plan is fairly contrived, but the book itself has excellent chapters on the microbiome. Dr. Davis thinks most Westerners suffer from SIBO, and that many chromic/autoimmune issues are a result of microbiome disruption. Whether or not you are willing to take his assertive predictions (of still developing research) in stride probably has to do with the level of need you have for intervention. And that's really the issue with the book, I think. It's a protocol developed for a niche group written in a way that generalizes the subject for a mass audience. It makes sense from the perspective of someone who believes that it applies to the majority, but it's not quite a bridge for general readers without gut issues to arrive at the same place (which is a willingness to make major lifestyle changes, and generally experiment with very-high-count probiotic supplementation.)
  
  I would highly recommend (1) watching some of the author's talks and podcast appearances on youtube, (2) try supplementing the L. reuteri yoghurt for three weeks, and if that's something you want to pursue further, then (3) come back and read the book to add detail to your knowledge of his medical perspective.
  
  --5 star knowledge in 2 star book--