Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health Hardcover – Clean, April 30, 2013

I just completed reading two books that turned my thinking about health and medical issues on its head. The two books are Alejandro Junger's "Clean Gut" and Susan Blum's "The Immune System Recovery Program." Because the two books complement each other, I will review them together and post the same review for both books.Both books present very similar arguments and plans for health improvement, but have different presentations. I found reading the two of them in conjunction with each other helpful.Junger's "Clean Gut" is stronger on summarizing the argument made by both books. He compares modern medicine, with its specialists, focus on the use of drugs, and symptom reduction focus to trying to fix a dying tree by painting its leaves green, when instead, one should be feeding the roots of the tree. In his words (p. 27), "(T)he gut is the root of health, and gut repair is the mother of preventative medicine." His book provides somewhat more elaboration than Blum's does on the mechanics by which gut dysfunction can translate into disorders such as asthma or skin rashes.Blum's "Immune System Recovery Program," however, I thought was more useful for implementation of a recovery program. While Junger's book is targeted at anyone, whether ill or not, Blum's book is targeted at those with autoimmune disorders. The first chapter summarizes the triggers of these diseases: our poor modern diet, chronic stress (and associated adrenal fatigue), gut issues, and liver overload because of our high load of environmental toxins. Accordingly, Blum presents her program in four parts: Fixing your Diet, Reducing Stress, Healing your Gut, and Reducing Toxic Load (Liver support). Each of the four parts is presented in three chapters: one that explains the issues and how problems develop, one that has a series of self-assessments and a three tier recovery program (the three tiers being food, supplements and other things one can do on one's own, and medical support). She suggests focusing on trying to resolve issues with dietary changes as the primary method, then adding supplements and other self-care regimines (e.g., meditation, exercise) as warranted by the severity of the issue, and proceeding to medical support if self-help does not improve things. I like the self-assessments and the systematic nature of her program.In contrast, Junger's program is more of a one-size-fits all approach (to start, anyway) focused on gut repair, with one month-long program divided into two phases: a three week diet change where one removes common allergens, takes a variety of gut-cleansing and gut-supporting supplements, adds meditation and exercise, reduces toxic exposures, and then in week four, adds back the two most-often missed allergens, gluten and dairy, one at a time, and then removing them again if one sees a change in bodily reactions.In other words, what Susan Blum might have you do over a period of 3 months, Alejandro Junger condenses to one intense month. Some might prefer Junger's approach, but that means, for example, taking several supplements to reduce "gut dysbiosis" regardless of the existence or severity of symptoms. He believes everyone will benefit, while Blum's approach focuses on doing the gut dysbiosis reduction program only if one scores high on related symptoms. So there is a difference in treatment philosophy here, but the overall programs are remarkably similar.One quibble I have with Blum's book is her ordering of the chapters. Her discussion of immunity, like Junger's, puts gut issues at the center, so I thought that the chapter on healing the gut should have come earlier in the book. Placed in Part 3, the centrality of the gut to immunity kind of gets lost.However, Blum deals more with problems caused by low stomach acid--heartburn and even asthma (see also Jonathan Wright and Lane Lenard's "Why Stomach Acid is Good for You" and Jamie Koufman's "The Chronic Cough Enigma"), which could be helpful to those for whom those are issues would in particular benefit more from Blum's gook.Both books provide illustrative case studies, recommendations for specific supplements (sold on their associated websites), and a series of recipes.I vastly preferred the recipes in Blum's book. I am a vegan, and there was just too much meat in Junger's selection of recipes. In addition, the recipes had very long lists of ingredients and seemed more complex to prepare. Blum's book has some recipes featuring chicken and fish, but the majority of the recipes are vegan, with shorter ingredient lists and less complicated directions than those in Junger's book.Blum also provides for free on her web site a series of guided programs for each of the four steps. I've signed up for all four, but since they haven't started yet, I can't say anything about them, other than that, while the program is free, each suggests that you buy an associated "started package" for that step, which ranges in price from about $80 to almost $400. But buying the starter packages is not required to participate, and you can find many of the supplements cheaper online than by buying them from her.In sum, I thought both books were useful--Junger's for the cogency of the argument (and the greater power and detail of his personal story) and Blum's for her self-assessments, systematic approach, and attention to detail. If I had to buy only one, I would buy Blum's. If I could afford them both, I would read Junger's first and then follow up with Blum's.As for how this all works? We'll see. I currently am suffering from asthma, low iron stores, and an elevation of thyroid antibodies. I've bought some of the suggested supplements, have put myself on a gluten-free diet (I was dairy-free already, being vegan), and will see I am feeling and how my blood test results are in December, by which time I expect to have gone through all four steps of the program.I'll try to remember to update in December (on the Blum review only, since it is the details of her program that I will be following).

I really loved the *idea* behind the Clean Gut program and the logic of it made sense to me. I had high hopes for this to be the solution to my health problems.However, the program itself is difficult to do, especially if you are on a budget and have a family. It is also difficult if you work.Initially I felt well doing the program, except for a headache but I did not start out taking the saccharomyces boulardii and I also think I developed a bad reaction to the berberine. I became fatigued, achey and began to have stomach pain with an overall feeling of sickness. For two days I had such bad stomach cramps I felt like I was going to expel my intestines with a bowel movement. I was so lethargic I could not be productive, go to work, or even get in my car to go anywhere.By trying the supplements one by one I have pinpointed it down to taking the berberine and if I take too much of the probiotics I start feeling tired and getting brain fog.Also, the diet is very restrictive and it is a challenge to come up with meals to have other than just meat or fish and salad for lunch and dinner. You have to be really creative and even then you end up eating the same meals over and over.I lost 5 lbs in 10 days and my husband lost 11 lbs in 10 days. I feel well if I limit the probiotic to once a day and either not take the berberine or only take one with my evening meal, even though if I do take it in the evening I still get aches in my legs, a headache and irritability. I have had trouble sleeping since doing the program, however I wake up early and I'm able to stay up a little later. I have enough energy for light duties if I limit the supplements accordingly. I do not have enough energy or strength to do my weight training exercises or heavy yard work, hiking etc.There are several things I've been thinking about... For one, is this true weight loss or will I gain most of it back as soon as I eat some starchy vegetables? I believe a lot of the weight loss has come from loss of water and also debris/matter that was in my intestines. Another question I have is that I still do not know for certain that this program works. Weight loss is one thing, but claims that the program will increase or solve nutrient absorption problems (one of my issues) or even other diseases is quite another.After doing the program I am not convinced that this program does accomplish what the author, Dr. Junger claims. I mean, I would like for it to be true, who wouldn't? But lets be honest, it would take some time to prove those theories.And I would like to caution people about taking some of these supplements long term. I have read that berberine in particular can be harmful to the flora in the digestive tract if taken more than a couple of weeks. That is one of the other things that doesn't make sense to me is taking the antimicrobials simultaneously with the probiotics. I would have thought the order would have been first to take the microbials to kill the bad stuff and then repopulate the good with the probiotics - but hey what do I know?And I also read that it's not good to take digestive enzymes for a long period of time because our body will stop making it's own.After saying all of that, I would recommend the book and the program, even not knowing if it really works (other than weight loss), what do you have to lose? But I do wish the book was more comprehensive in giving information about the supplements, how they work, what their side effects are and maybe a couple of alternatives if someone were to have bad reactions to them. I also wish there were more alternatives to the diet, for example if a person does not have any allergies or problems digesting rice, beans or potatoes it would make the 21 says much easier to accomplish with a couple of other food choices. And it also offers a bit more energy for people who are active if they can add in another food option (like whey protein).The book itself has a few glaring mistakes that someone proof reading really should have caught before it went to print. And the website with the "support community" is just OK. Basically the "staff" there just reiterates what is said in the book and there are corrections listed for the mistakes and some recipes. I however did not find any new knowledge there and it was a bit confusing because they also have recipes and "community support" for his other book and program, so many people were confusing the two programs together thinking they could eat plums for example which are allowed on the "Clean" program, but not the "Clean Gut" program.I would urge people to think for themselves, do their own research, maybe try this program and if they have to make adaptions, to try them also. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Be courageous and take your health matters into your hands!

I own both the Clean, Clean Eats and this book, Clean gut.I did the original Clean Cleanse a while ago and recently did another, shorter one, where I considered this book. There are a number of flaws with this book, which is why I would recommend the original programme to anyone interested rather than this one.The flaws are:- Contradictory food advice/no proper explanation on certain foods:There is no explanation in either books, why potatoes are bad for you. Most European /other language books/advice websites on the topic recommend cold potatoes, as the starch in it changes when it cools and is very beneficial for your gut. Both books simply "forbid" you to eat potatoes. No explanation or insight into why. More troubling, Clean Gut specifically includes eggs in many recipes, while at the same time listing them as one of the most frequent toxic triggers in the section on reintroducing food. So first you eat them almost every day (or every second day) and then you are to see at the end if they cause any problems?There is also no explanation why suddenly brown rice - something of a staple food for these cleanses - is now in the "bad" list. I also felt that the explanation why most fruit is now banned was rather far-fetched, and the notion about "go easy on Quinoa" is somewhat laughable.The new food also seems to be more focused on loosing weight. It tells you to only eat until you are 80% full. As if we had a gauge sticking out our mouths and could actually tell! If you however cut out all the potatoes, rice and quinoa, you will be very, very hungry and you will not be getting enough calories and fibres (unless you drink lots of shakes, I guess).- Style:The original CLEAN was very positive to read ("you can do this!", "your body is amazing!") and full of hope. This book is much gloomier ("all the things that are wrong with us"). It almost seems in parts as if this was ghost-written by a different person, or at least parts of it. This is also strengthened by the sudden use of Dr. Junger in the third person in chapter 7, when in other parts he always addresses himself as "I". There are number of idiosyncracies in style like this, and other parts of the book are clearly recycled from the first book. The worst part is the section on scope of the programme, which basically tells you that if you don't get better, than it is your fault/something worse is going on. For people who are anxious about their health/body, I would not recommend this book on this alone.- Overly focused on America and on selling stuff:The book is very US-centric and some things (water, food additives) don't apply to the UK. Quite a few recipes also use ingredients that you cannot easily find in the UK, but this is a minor gripe. What is more annyoing is that the list of recommended supplements has not only grown tremendously, but they are also so specialised that the book is clearly pushing you towards buying those supplements from the CLEAN programme company (which has their own website and sells in the US only). They don't say so out loud (although they recommend it), but the implication is clear. There's also a timetable on which day you should take which supplement. I couldn't help but wonder how much financial interest was behind the publication of a "new" and "improved" "breakthrough" programme.In summary, I think the original CLEAN got most ideas and directions right (eat less in the evening, keep 12 hours between meals, eat healthy, don't overdo it and don't overworry), so I would recommend that book over this one every day! Living healthy is a long-term task, it is not something that you can fix quickly with a 21-day programme, and I think the first book emphasised that much more with a much more positive attitude.

Works for me

This book made sense to me, and is helping me with adapted recipes for my IBS.I was desperate and I'm glad that I bought it to have on my shelf as well as an kindle edition.

Absolutely changed my life. For years I lived with issues, struggled, underwent intrusive tests to no avail. I caught the good doctor on TV and decided to buy his book. As soon as I started following it, the turnaround was phenomenal. I owe this guy my guttural happiness!

This is a well written boook. The author seems to know what he is talking about. I will follow some of the principles that he explains, however some of it is very hard core and I would find it a prohibitive diet to follow.