Healthy Gut, Healthy You: The Personalized Plan to Transform Your Health from the Inside Out Paperback – February 6, 2018

(I am going to update this review intermittently as I progress further through the 8 Step Program that this book provides.)3/4/2022:So you have stepped yourself into the realm of learning about the gut microbiome. Congratz to you my fellow person. Though this is just one review from one person, I am going to already tell you humbly, yet rightfully, arrogantly; you are making the right decision in purchasing this book.My reason for buying this book: Crippling Depression. “What’s that look like?” you may ask:“I’m not good enough for anything. I can’t make friends. Social phobia, is what I came to, very loosely, define it as, as I finally learned about it one day in my empty, seemingly meaningless life. Wow, I can’t even make eye contact. I’m awkward af. People see me as a weirdo and I can see it in their eyes, their facial reactions, their emotional behavior and affect towards me. Why am I the way I am. God, why did you make me smart enough to know what I do is wrong in front of the presence of others but not smart enough to know what to do right around them? I wish I got hit by a car. Or somehow something can just kill me instantly. To put me out of my misery. And for the sake of those around me so I wouldn’t be such a burden to them. Dang, I slept until 4pm again. And late to work as always. I can’t do anything right at work. I can’t even count the number of items that I’m supposed to be giving to the customer, without losing count. Right the customer, the very thing I’m so afraid of. The very reason why I gave up trying to work in the first place. Well it’s not like I can keep a job if I wanted to, I’m always sleeping on the job. Well, since I don’t work, I can at least enjoy my free time at home right? LOL. You’re funny! Fun? What’s that? Watching Netflix; reading a book; listening to music; hanging out with people who I was lucky enough to care for me; draw; browsing Youtube and anything else on the internet; it’s all a bunch of EFFORT! YEAH; those who know what anhedonia is, you feel me. Not only am I a piece of sh*t but so are the circumstances of my life: sh*t. Like all the cringy things I ever did in the past, why can’t those haunting thoughts ever leave me alone. What if I don’t die early and I have to live the rest of my life the way I am now? I can’t do this… And I’m too cowardly to take my own life too.………Okay, so my life is sh*t. So what? I can try to at least watch the short versions of inspiration TED talks… Hmm that seems like some useful advice I can try, what could it hurt? This breathing technique seems to help… sometimes. So from what I’ve seen, there ARE people out there that have it way worse than me and can still be happy. I’m going to give therapy another try. Sigh, after months of therapy life still seems to suck. CBT works for me kinda but not really…? No matter how many highs I get where I feel like things are actually getting better, things still always fall back to baseline where things are: sh*t.”………….So that was a very dramatic painting of my life (thank you, thank you) before I bought this book. It was nice and colorful to reach the attention of those that understand what real sh*t feels like. Especially after trying so much but to no avail. It was in November 2021 that I purchased this book. And of the SEVERAL books that I bought during that time, to feed my voracious appetite for the knowledge that (at the time I thought) COULD potentially change my life, it was this book that I now hold as my “bible” of transformative health.Honestly, this was just another try, another attempt, of a multitude of attempts, to improve my life for the better. But several months down the road of applying the things that I’ve read from this book, it didn’t become just aNoThEr try. It became THE SOLUTION that made (I’m not going to say ALL the difference because I don’t want anyone to get the impression that this is the “solve all” book) SO much positive difference to the quality of my life now. In short, my depression and my propensity to think so negatively and lowly of everything and myself is at least 70-80% gone. It doesn’t feel like I have to use effortful coping mechanisms to improve my experience of life; life is just better now. I can actually LIVE life like it is meant for. And also important to mention: my mind is actually sharper now (which was a possibility that I never imagined could even happen to me). Things are nowhere near perfect but that’s the thing, better is better. Truthfully, my energy and day time fatigue is still something that needs to be improved but I’m only on Step 3 of the 8 step program given by this book. I will say as a disclaimer to be as genuine as possible: my positive thinking was not given to me like someone who miraculously got new superpowers and began using them after attaining them. I’ve made lots of mental efforts to shift my frame of thinking (depressed readers, please do not be discouraged by that). BUT it was the transformation of my physical health from this book that has redefined and restructured my mental health to be at a new mental foundational ground and it has created a new psychological baseline where the ability to be positive is more consistently in my favor. In other words, I have a new frame of being and a mental structure that will prevent me from falling down to the depths of my old ways of thinking.Reasons why this book is my GO-TO book:1. It covers all the informational knowledge one needs to know regarding the gut bacteria and how it can influence our health, more or less, compared to the other books I’ve read.2. MAIN REASON: It has a step by step program that will allow you to understand the reasons for the changes you will be making in your diet/life and will hold your hand in guiding you to make the right changes to your gut health and body.To the critics and those who are easily influenced by negative reviews:The doctor who wrote this book has done such a worldly virtue to compact all the information you need to know about the gut bacteria, how it can influence your health, AND a step by step guide to get you to the optimal state you can be at with your body and mind. Please overlook the narrow-minded cynicism of thinking and believing that this book is just a marketing funnel to buy his heath products. YES, I will explicitly say this: you WILL be spending money in addition to this book as you progress through the program that he has provided. But, come on, think bigger man. This man can save your life! For someone who has given all else a try with little to no change for what I’ve always yearned for; a decent quality of life; discovering THAT person who can actually give that to me, bruh, Take. My. Money. You not only earned it but, you rightfully deserve it.If you’ve made it this far into my review: so you may not be having the same exact issues that I was/am having with my life. I would still say; give this book a try. I only absorb information that is relevant to me but from what I can pull from my own knowledge (from what I've read about it of course), gut bacteria has such a HUGE role in our overall health. Just do it. Once again, I am now on Step 3 of the 8 step program. Only Step 3! And this is the review that I am posting for it.Will keep yall posted on how things progress.

I am quite pleased with my purchase of this book and do intend to update this review after working through at least some of the protocol. For some background, I have a (western-trained) medical background, but I have been floundering with chronic IBS-D for years. I have been pregnant/nursing for several years, but now am finally able to complete a rigorous protocol without fear of harming incubating babies/nurslings. I haven’t yet started the protocol yet, but it is sound and methodical.This book is highly accessible in terms of pricing and verbiage. I do agree that it gets a little repetitive here and there, but I think he was going for thorough, especially for the lay-person gut-newbie.I disagree with the ‘money-grab’ supplement complaint that many have voiced. (He references his own line of products in his books). Seeing a functional medicine practitioner can cost thousands, between visits, testing, and supplements. It can be absolutely cost prohibitive. This plan is absolutely and intentionally DIY-able. For healing, depending on how sick you are, you’re going to likely need supplements anyway, so buy his or shop around, it’s pretty simple. If I wrote a book, I’d probably direct you toward my figurative robustly researched supplement line as well, lol. I don’t expect him to spend time, effort, and print space on advertising for someone else.To further negate the supplement money grab complaint, I found that he was SUPER conservative in his supplement recommendations— I.e. if diet changes clear your problems, great! You’re done! You don’t need probiotics or antimicrobials or HCl. He was also very conservative in his recommendations on testing. Gut issues (and subsequently, gut healing) are far-reaching, and you fix a lot of them the same way. Neat![Also, his DC (Doctor of chiro) credentials are front and center on the cover. Nothing sneaky about it. He is also a functional medicine practitioner, which requires significant further training and is essentially like another degree. If the MD label is important to you, go read a book by an MD. However, we have all likely been under the care of an MD our whole lives, and we are now somehow chronically ill…. Hm.]So yes, $30 for the book. Potentially several hundred dollars in supplementation, either with him or through other companies on whom you better do your due diligence. (Not all supplement companies are created equal.) Overall, it’s a steal. Thanks, Dr. Ruscio, for putting such a well-researched, succinct, personalizable plan into our hands for such an incredible price. I genuinely hope he makes piles of money from it over the years, because it is not a money grab, it’s the life’s work of a compassionate practitioner who has recognized that sometimes people get sick in seasons of life where they don’t have an extra couple grand floating around. I’m just a mom of three wild young boys who wants to be alive and well and chasing my grandbabies around in a few decades. Here’s to our health! Will update in 6m-1y!