The Gut Healing Protocol: An 8-Week Holistic Program to Rebalance Your Microbiome

by Kale Brock

Heal Your Gut Holistically

Mounting scientific evidence is confirming what Hippocrates said some 2,400 years ago, that, "all disease begins in the gut." Nurturing and maintaining a healthy intestinal microbiome has become a topic of great interest to both mainstream medicine and progressive health enthusiasts. In The Gut Healing Protocol, Australian health journalist Kale Brock delivers a comprehensive, holistic 8-week program to overcoming the common diet and lifestyle-related problems of inflammation and intestinal permeability through healthy diet and stress management endeavors.

The Gut Healing Protocol contains over 30 recipes to help friendly bacteria predominate in your gut, and actively heal gut lining that may have been damaged by the consumption of toxic foods and other adverse lifestyle practices. Other highlights of the book include: 


A scientific round-up of the gut; how it works and how it can influence your health
How antibiotics can leave you vulnerable to gut dysbiosis and strategies to heal from such damage
How leaky gut can impact health throughout the body—especially inflammatory and autoimmune conditions—and how to heal with targeted foods and supplements
The “gut-brain” connection, including how most of your “feel good” hormone serotonin is made in the gut and the profound effects that this has on brain function
The roles played by the various microbes who live on and inside of you
Why eliminating certain foods can drastically decrease the inflammation in the gut
Extensive description of the proper integration and benefits of prebiotics, probiotics and fermented foods 
Details about the functional medicine strategy of “Weeding, Seeding & Feeding” to heal a damaged gut
The destructive effects of common gut irritants like wheat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, and artificial sweeteners
Complementary holistic healing strategies such as anti-microbials, alkalizing foods, bone broth, proper chewing, food combining, oil pulling, and supplementation
Taking BEEMS time (Breath, Eat, Earth, Move, Sunshine) to support physical and psychological health
Intensive FAQ section discussing troubleshooting and commonly misunderstood topics including as FODMAP, SIBO, constipation, veganism and gut health, dealing with conflicting mainstream medical advice

The Gut Healing Protocol is a lively and engaging read that offers the information and practical guidance you need to become well versed in the gut microbiome. You'll finish with the confidence to heal a damaged gut and enjoy optimal immune, digestive, physical, and cognitive function for the rest of your life.

250 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2017

Reviews

[Joel Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was enjoying the book and felt that the science was fairly good until Mr. Brock began citing anti-vaccine quacks.

The microbiome does influence the immune system. The immune system will likely have a better response if the person being vaccinated has a healthy gut. However, there's no reason to jump to the idea that you should not vaccinate people if they don't have a "balanced" gut microbiome.

There are a few things wrong with this. First, the conclusion that vaccines are worthless if the gut is out of balance is an extreme view that is not supported by any scientific study I'm aware of. Second, having an idea is called having a hypothesis. Carefully controlled scientific studies are necessary to make conclusions. Trusting the "gut" instinct of a quack anti-vaxxer ruined the book for me.

[Ivan Kraljic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everything I needed to know from this book was essentially spelled out in the interview I heard which led me to buy it. Every second sentence ends with an exclamation point! Presentation of some seemingly decent scientific studies but I am not sure of the author's ability to discern the good from the bad on his own account. He clearly has talked to many experts and that lends to the better parts of the book, but his own kooky and/or new-age intuitions that he brings to them are a little hard to stomach. Especially for someone with as damaged a gut as myself. Good enough tips from an non-ideal presenter. I wanted to give two and a half stars, but the perverse, shoehorned-in anti-vaccine section led to rounding down instead of up.

[Alexandra Posadzki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Take it with a large grain of salt! I enjoyed the positive, empowering tone of this book but some of the science underlying it was poor. I especially cringed at every mention of "food combining" as there is absolutely no scientific evidence to back up this concept. I will be doing a gut repair protocol soon that will include some of these principles (for instance, cutting out grains and sugars and re-introducing foods gradually and slowly) but I won't be following it religiously.