Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

CLEAN floored me and as soon as I finished the book a few years ago, I went on Dr Jungers cleanse. I was impressed by the breadth of clear explanation and understandable, logical science. Plus it worked. Even moi, the partial skeptic (after 40 years of carrot juice and raw beets), I felt like an improved me. The things he said about glowy skin and sparkly eyes were- surprisingly-true.I kept looking in the mirror.I was hooked and followed Dr Junger and his CLEAN TEAM online. I continued the cleanse a few times a year; and always with great support.I didn't think it could get any better but then...Voila... CLEAN GUT upped the game.I found it revalatory and read it cover to cover.How wise and clever of Dr Junger to pinpoint the gut as the point of no return for wellness and illness. How clearly-elegantly even- he states his agrument.It was intriguing to learn how our gut effects every cell in our bodies; either directly or indirectly. How it even has a mind of its own and is continually relaying electromagnetic signals all around the body. Amazing! And of course CLEAN GUT will an eye opener for so many readers as they discover that a diet of pills for a variety of symtoms, might not do the trick. That, for example, a skin rash, might be pointing to a gut disfunction, inflamation, and serious cellular imbalance. And that to achieve good health-one must take health by the scruf of the neck -in this case the gut- and give it a good shake out. Literally a clean up from the inside out.He outlines the 4 parts of the gut and cogently describes the functionality of each. But the trick to his writing, which one has to admire, is that all is written for the lay person to understand; yet with enough compelling scientific detail to satisfy any sceptic.Interestingly, in a recent article in the NY TIMES, Michael Pollan, discusses the remarkable discoveries about the garden of flora populating our gut and how these 3 trillion microbes largely determine our health. It's in the air and as usual Dr Jungar is ahead of the tide.His book describes in detail just how we get sick and follows with what we must do to get well. There is even a recipe section at the back as there is with CLEAN. (Interestingly, of all the organic, vegan, meatless recipe books I own, I always come back to the recipes and principles in CLEAN-and now CLEAN GUT. It changed not just how I ate, but how I think about food).I cannot begin to express my gratitude to Alejandro Junger, for shaking up my thinking about how we can construct-from the ground floor- our own good health and the health of our family and loved ones.Green Granny

Excellent Read! There are many books in the market with information on digestive issues, but in my opinion, this author offers the most concise, safe and effective way to get your gut back up and running. Dr. Junger had my system working again in a matter of days. I find it especially helpful that he includes a diet plan that is specifically geared toward easily digestible foods that are low on the glycemic index and anti inflammatory all at the same time. I'd lost 10 pounds in the first two weeks while eating what he suggests and avoiding what he finds not beneficial. I was constipated for many years so my journey to full health is not over, but I am eliminating like never before and am fairly confident this book has the answers that many other books I've read do not. I am not an overly impressionable person, but the information in this book has been in the back of my mind with every meal I eat. The other books just didn't work whereas Dr. Junger's plan produces fast and lasting results.Thanks Dr. Junger for saving my life. I was so sick I had toxemia. I had been chasing a cure for nearly two years. I am back to my old self now and feel better than I have in a very long time.

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 have suffered from rashes and hives for the last 8 months. I have tried to heal this condition through my MD, allergy doctor and holistic medicine, with no effect. Some of the holistic supplements made me terribly sick. I even tried a raw diet, with no help. I purchased Clean Gut and have been on the diet for 9 days. Almost all of my hives and rashes are gone. It was difficult at first as I am sulfate intolerant and coconut is not an option for me, also I have to make all of my nut milks myself. Even with the extra efforts I have had to make, I feel incredible. I have not felt this good for years. I seriously intend to follow this diet the rest of my life. Also, I have not taken any of the supplements because of fear of sulfites. Just the clean eating has improved my life 95%. I am hoping this diet will heal my gut and I will eventually be able to tolerate an occasional gluten treat. Maybe I will also loose the sulfate issue, I can only hope.This diet is worth putting in the time. All cravings go away and energy is restored. Marvelous diet!!

This book is life changing. I have read both of Dr. Perlmutter's books, Brain Grain and Brain Makers, so I am very familiar with the need to heal the gut. What I love about this book is the way Dr. Junger describes the gut in a very easy to understand fashion. He offers analogies and makes it very real and easy to grasp. This really helped me get my son to read it and buy in to the approach. His story is fascinating and the way he writes makes it interesting and engaging, not a dry diet or health book. His recommendations and diet plan is excellent and very easy to understand. It comes with some recipes at the end and online support links. I very much love this book. My entire family is starting the 21 day cleanse tomorrow morning.

Clean Gut is an interesting read for many reasons. For me, it was almost like four books in one. It starts out like a memoir about the author's medical career, influences, and health struggles. Then the book transitions to a lesson on "the gut" and how our overall health is influenced heavily by our gut health. Next, the Clean Gut Program is outlined (similar to Whole30 with some variation). And finally, the end of the book wraps up with a lot of recipes that look pretty good. A lot of the gut and nutrition information was not new to me, but it is always interesting to read about it from another perspective. What I liked the most about this book was the author's kind & relatable advice on personalizing a health program, how it's ok to fall off the wagon, and strategies for making lifelong change. This aligns with the work I do at www.happyliving.com. My biggest takeaways from Clean Gut don't have much to do with the gut itself... so a better title might be, "We're all human and that's ok, here's how to create sustainable change in your life." Overall a good book to skim through & pick the parts that resonate!

I've read a lot of nutrition books, been on many diets... all in an effort to fix my nagging health issues: migraines, arthritis, heart palpitations, nerve pain, constipation, anxiety, bloating, on and off again mild depression, psoriasis... you name it. I've also been about 5-10 lbs. overweight for several years and I just wasn't able to control my eating (I am a pastry chef). I just got so fed up with our medical system... giving me antidepressants for my constant headaches (15 days out of the month on average) that may have worked short term, but then stopped leaving me with unwanted weight gain and severe withdrawal symptoms. Doctors were just always trying to put a bandaid on things with prescription drugs. Never did I really stop and think, "why"? or "could it be something I'm doing"? If I did, I just couldn't figure it out on my own. I blamed some of it on the Lyme disease for which I was treated for three years (thanks to my doctor refusing to test me saying "you don't have Lyme Disease"! and treating me like a hysterical woman. Then I saw Dr. Junger on Dr. Oz. I have really strong intuition and I heard myself saying "this is the answer!" It was truly an "aha" moment.I read Clean (Clean Gut wasn't out yet) and immediately followed Dr. Junger's plan to detox and find out what foods were causing my symptoms. It became so clear what my triggers were because I felt so much better while I was on the plan. I found that after I went off of it in Orlando (impossible to eat healthy at Universal!) that my hands were hurting (I had not noticed my arthritis went away too on the program!), I had migraines, felt bloated, tired and just plain awful again. I had none of these nagging issues while I was on Clean! I also learned to control my cravings for food and junk food and make healthy choices. Lost all my extra weight and learned tons about my body. I highly recommend everyone try it!!!So I was excited for Clean Gut to come out! I read it in a day and I think it's vital for anyone with health issues - serious or nagging chronic ailments like me to follow this plan and clean out your gut, in turn fixing a lot of the issues we Americans suffer from. There is a lot of information on the gut which for someone like me who needs things explained before I follow any advice is important. After doing the Clean detox, this diet looks like a breeze and I'm sure I can easily follow it. It's different from Clean because this is more focused on fixing your gut and resetting it after a lifetime of toxins, drugs etc... For someone like me who was on antibiotics for three years until my body broke down with chronic infections, it's clear I need to accomplish this. Additional foods are eliminated in Clean Gut (like beans) and you are eating two meals and one shake rather than the two shakes and one meal in Clean detox.Dr. Junger just sees through all the $#@$% that goes on in the medical industry and tells us what we need to do to fix things ourselves. It's that easy, but your doctor isn't going to tell you these things because there is no profit in that and maybe they just focus on the diseased leaves, rather than what's going on in the roots (a great analogy in the book) because that's what they were taught in medical school. I can't thank Dr. Junger enough for opening my eyes, and he should really feel like he has done something good for people.I feel in my gut (sorry for the pun), that I have finally found the answer to my problems... but I will update after I finish the plan!

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've read both Clean and Clean Gut and the content is very different. Dr. Junger goes into far more detail about our digestive system, gut dysfunction, autoimmune diseases, infertility and depression in Clean Gut. I was surprised to learn that there are more foods allowed on the Clean Gut version that were not a part of Clean; a few nightshades, (such as tomatoes), lentils, grass fed meat and eggs. Last year I had tried Clean and loved it but eventually fell back into my old ways. Especially with my coffee/tea, dairy and the occasional wheat product. When Clean Gut came out it inspired me to try again. All I can tell you is how fantastic I feel after doing this program. I gave up caffeine, sugar, dairy and grains completely. Once I got past the first week it was like I was a whole new person. Now my skin is clear(eczema gone), my eyes are brighter and I have new energy. Plus I lost ten pounds. Despite the fact that he gives great detail on how to reintroduce the toxic triggers I feel a bit worried about consuming the foods that make me feel terrible. I know for a fact that wheat is the absolute worst offender (I get extremely ill and won't go into gory detail) and sugar makes me cranky, so I plan on going with this plan for as long as possible. There are terrific recipes provided, if a craving strikes the cocoa smoothies satisfy completely.If you're someone who can't give up rubbish foods this isn't for you, but if you're interested in renewed energy and feeling your best I highly recommend this book.

You can learn something from this book. I thought I'd never diet, though I am almost completing an elimination diet of 21 days to discover if I have allergies. Finally a doctor shares some useful information!

It has been just over a year since I bought Clean Gut and the difference it has made in my life has been dramatic. I have implemented the Clean Gut program into my life every four months and have shed 18 pounds. When I am not on the cleanse I have still maintained dramatically reduced sugar, gluten, dairy intakes and take the recommended after cleanse supplements. I also have maintained the morning shake as my breakfast daily. Nothing starts your day better than the delicious Clean Gut chocolate blueberry shake.I now sleep 5-7 hours a night max. I wake up fresh and not groggy. I use to get a bunch of acne and now my skin is clear and healthy looking. My energy levels are through the roof. For a 39 year old I feel like I'm 21 again.Do I indulge here and there? Of course, but it's guilt free indulgence. Highly recommend this book to anyone looking to change course on their health and diet. Quick 150 page easy read with recipes and supplement guide at the end.It's Life Changing it you complete the 28 days!!

Dommage qu'il ne soit pas encore traduit mais ce livre serait à mettre entre toutes les mains !Pour ceux qui pensent comme moi, que se soigner aujourd'hui ne passe plus par une médication mais bel et bienpar une hygiène alimentaire spécifique ! Alejandro Junger, ancien cardiologue à NYC, décrit très bien l'environnement actuel humain et ses méfaits sur la santé ; il offre des solutions basées sur la détoxification des intestins, appelés aussi 2è cerveau ! A lire absolument.

El libro es interesante pero casi no contiene evidencia científica, son todas creencias del doctor.No realice la dieta ya que para ello debía tomar como 20 pastillas diarias