Review The Microbiome Solution by Dr Robynne Chutkan MD Great Health Naturally

You will never successfully lose weight or experience truly great health on all levels, including mentally, if your gut health is not your priority. I believed this before reading Dr. Robynne Chutkan’s latest book, ‘The Microbiome Solution; A Radical Way To Heal Your Body From The Inside Out’, but now I have read it, I believe it even more so and I am passionate about getting this message out there to more people who need to hear it.

The Microbiome Solution, the latest book by integrative gastroenterologist Dr. Chutkan, discusses ground breaking research on the microbiome (the collective name for the trillions of bacteria live within and on us), and explains in great interesting depth, how depleting the good bugs within us can not only cause gut problems (often caused by our ‘hyper-hygienic lifestyle’), and many other illnesses, but also offers you a diet and lifestyle plan to remedy this like no other.

This Book Is For You If Any Of The Following Health Problems Apply

Dysbiosis is the medical term explaining a microbial imbalance on or inside the body. The following is an interesting and eye opening list of conditions that Dr. Chutkan lists in her book that she has most commonly seen in her office, in patients whose root cause may always be dysbiosis. Missing this point is what may be the reason your health problems are not resolving also I have concluded;

  • an out of control appetite,
  • weight gain,
  • hormonal problems,
  • food cravings,
  • bloating,
  • yeast overgrowth,
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS),
  • Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD),
  • Small Intestinal Bowel Overgrowth (SIBO),
  • leaky gut,
  • parasites,
  • coeliac/gluten sensitivity,
  • vaginosis,
  • food allergies and sensitivities,
  • and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS),
  • depression and
  • skin conditions including acne, rosacea, and eczema.

To Be Healthy, You Need To Be A Little Dirty

What is important to note is that all of the patients that Dr. Chutkan has seen with the above named conditions, have gone on to make varying levels of improvement to their health, with some health issues resolving completely for some patients, when they applied the Live Dirty, Eat Clean diet and lifestyle (and were move forgiving to a little dirt being present in their lives!).

In recent decades, the medical community has told us to be scared of microbes, and by destroying them whenever possible, will help eradicate disease the world over. Now, through heaps of well carried out studies, we know otherwise and in fact, people are suffering with a wave of new hard to diagnose health problems as a result.

Dr. Chutkan highlights in her book, all of the many problems to health we have created by acting over zealousy with bleach containing cleaning products, and consuming too many antibiotics, just to name a few of the ways we are killing our immune building important microbes. Remember, you don’t just take in antibiotics through your doctor prescribing them, as unless the animal meat you eat is organic, it can contain large amounts of antibiotics which are used to fatten an animal up and increase profit for the farmer.

Dr. Robynne Chutkan goes on to explain exactly why coming into contact with an array of germs is so important (the younger the better), and here is a quote from this point in the book where she discusses this;

“We need interaction with dirt and germs to train our immune system in how to respond appropriately to stimuli in our environment – what to react to and what to ignore. An immune system that doesn’t get up close and personal with enough germs early on is like a kid with over protective parents, ill equipped to deal with problems when they eventually happen.” 

Chutkan also goes on to say in the same chapter, called ‘The Hygiene Hypothesis and Our Modern Plagues’,

“I certainly don’t mean to romanticise poverty or suggest that economic growth and development are bad things, but it’s worth pointing out that modern practices such as chlorinated drinking water, industrial agriculture, pesticides, sanitation, and antibiotics, while improving our lives in many ways, have created unforeseen health challenges.”

Poorly Cared for Microbes Could Destroy Your Good Health At Some Point

Dr. Chutkan clearly emphasizes in her new book that everyone is at risk from developing dysbiosis if you provide the right conditions for negative microbes to thrive, but the following can ramp up your chances quite considerably;

  • being born by C-section (as you miss out on being given the first dose of good bacteria when you leave the birth canal during a vaginal birth),
  • eating too little fibre,
  • consuming artificial sweeteners,
  • eating too much sugar and fat,
  • drinking alcohol,
  • having an infection,
  • and not managing stress properly.

The following treatment and drugs can also cause dysbiosis;

  • antibiotics (remember your food can be a source too as mentioned above),
  • PP’Is (protein pump inhibitors) / antacids,
  • NSAID’s (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs),
  • steroids,
  • and chemotherapy.

Re-Balancing Your Good Gut Bugs Can Be Simpler Than You Think

But it is not all doom and gloom! Not at all. As by following the Live Dirty, Eat Clean food plan that is included in the last chapter of the book, you will go on to learn how to grow your garden of good and very useful microbes, to help you build your health back up again and resolve some niggling health issues that may have been long standing and irritating! By following the plan, your body will eventually crowd out the negative microbes and keep them in manageable amounts that won’t cause disease.

Tweaking your diet to eat fibre rich food is a big must for repopulating your gut with good mircobes as Dr. Chutkan explains that fibre is a prebiotic which is basically the favourite food of our good microbes, which helps to feed them, keep them alive and enable them to repopulate like we need. (This is similar to taking a probiotic supplement).

The recipes featured in the book were developed by Elise Museles of Kale & Chocolate, and are very simple, tasty and cost effective for the most part which impressed me I must say. And I highly recommend trying the mint choc chip dessert smoothie! Simply delicious.

The even better news is that with all your hard work (as giving up sugar can be very hard for some but is a favourite food of undesirable microbes), is that your microbiome responds really quickly and so you will be working on rebalancing your gut microbiomes after just 48 hours, even with a few small changes to your diet and lifestyle you may be able to only manage at first.

My Bonus Health Tips For Sticking At The Live Dirty, Eat Clean Diet & Lifestyle:

  1. Add in a few new foods each week until you find it a second nature to buy, prepare and eat these once ignored items.
  2. Document your health journey as you go, so that in this way, you come to learn of even small positive changes to health that are made and keep reading them over and over as it will act as motivation to keep you embracing the Live Dirty, Eat Clean diet and lifestyle plan to see if it can go on and truly resolve some health problems for you.
  3. Gradually build up to sticking to the plan in full, and do so for at least 3 months to see long lasting benefits to health.

For readers feeling really brave, that also have a severe microbial imbalance, Dr. Chutkan has also listed how to safely and effectively perform a stool transplant, and how to choose your donor. Fecal transplants are a ‘radical super-fix‘ that have been found to be effective in the following conditions, after all treatments and dietary changes were exhausted first:

  • Clostridium difficile (C. diff),
  • Chron’s disease,
  • Infectious diarrhea,
  • Irritable bowel disease,
  • Pouchitis,
  • Severe anti-biotic associated diarrhea and
  • Ulcerative colitis.

Everything May Be Connected to Gut Health

It seems that in most of the common health conditions that afflict us in 21st century life, a key part in the disease or problem occurring is a poorly looked after microbiome, which should be explored if you are trying to resolve your health issues or would like to prevent developing any. As thanks to lots of recent research, the many varied ways we are unknowingly disrupting our microbiome will eventually catch up and can show up in many ways, more than just constipation or diarrhea as was once thought.

By trying the Live Dirty, Eat Clean diet and lifestyle, I feel it will help people to learn the important foods that help keep our microbes happy and satisfied, which in turn will be felt by us as our health problems improve gradually.

This book is not just for those people living with the above health conditions, or taking the above medication, but is for everyone who is looking to prevent future health problems arising. As one day you may suddenly have to take antibiotics for whatever reason, but at least you will then be armed with the knowledge to prevent your health going downhill because of it afterwards.

Aside from educating you on how your gut microbes want to be fed, the delicious and simple recipes will help you detach from the convenience food the supermarkets would prefer you to buy which in many cases, are not always created with the consumers microbiome health at the forefront.

To purchase your copy of this book then visit the UK Amazon store, and stay tuned for an up coming Q&A with Dr. Robynne Chutkan and a giveaway of her new book, The Mircobiome Solution – only on the Great Health Naturally blog!

Have you had a positive result from changing your diet and lifestyle to help your good gut microbes flourish? Me and fellow readers of the blog would love to hear your story in the comments box below!