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

by William Davis

In your third week of this health- and microbiome-rebuilding program, let’s get comfortable with prebiotic fibers. They are the water and fertilizer for your garden of bowel flora, crucial for cultivating microbes and health. For maximum benefit, include a source of prebiotic fiber in every meal, a habit that will make this important strategy effortless over time. In the Super Gut program, we go beyond prebiotic fibers by using other strategies that also enable beneficial species to proliferate. » Start with small quantities of prebiotic fiber–rich foods, such as 1 teaspoon of inulin or acacia fiber in coffee or yogurt, half a green unripe banana, or half a raw white potato coarsely chopped and blended into a smoothie or shake, or 1 to 2 tablespoons of a cooked legume. Most people tolerate up to 10 grams of prebiotic fibers during their first few days of week 3. » Build up to 20 grams or more of prebiotic fibers per day from a variety of sources to help cultivate bacterial species diversity. » If you prove intolerant to the initial level or to the increase in prebiotic fibers (excessive bloating, gas, or diarrhea), consider stopping them while continuing other Super Gut efforts (probiotics, fermented foods) for another four weeks, then try to reintroduce prebiotic fibers. If intolerance persists, move on to the SIBO and SIFO management program in Appendix B because prebiotic fiber intolerance is a reliable sign of a severely disrupted microbiome or SIBO.