The Skinny Gut Diet: Balance Your Digestive System for Permanent Weight Loss

by Brenda Watson C.N.C., Leonard Smith M.D., Jamey Jones B.Sc.

Overview

The secret to permanent weight loss revealed. The real reason diets fail has nothing to do with calories and everything to do with the balance of bacteria in your gut. A simple guide to show you how to finally achieve your ideal weight.
The 100 trillion bacteria that live in your digestive tract—which make up 90 percent of the cells in your body—are the real reason you gain or lose weight. When those microbes are out of balance, chronic health conditions can occur, including irritable bowel syndrome, fatigue, and obesity. By balancing the good and bad bacteria, you can finally achieve your ideal weight—for good. 
         In The Skinny Gut Diet, New York Times bestselling author, public television icon, certified nutritional consultant, and digestive health expert Brenda Watson offers an insightful perspective on the little-known connection between weight gain and an underlying imbalance of bacteria in the gut, or what she calls the “gut factor”—the overlooked root cause of weight gain. Drawing upon the latest scientific research, Brenda illuminates the inner workings of the digestive system and provides instructions for achieving a healthy bacterial ecosystem that spurs weight loss by enabling the body to absorb fewer calories from food, experience reduced cravings, and store less fat. The premise is simple: curtail sugar consumption (and its surprising sources) and eat more healthy fats, living foods, and protein to balance the gut bacteria. The result? A skinny gut. 
         The Skinny Gut Diet centers around an easy-to-follow diet plan. A 14-day eating plan, dozens of delicious recipes and sage advice help you achieve—and maintain—digestive balance and sustained weight loss. With inspiring real-life stories of ten individuals who transformed their health on the Skinny Gut Diet, Brenda empowers you to become your own health advocate so that you can finally shed unwanted pounds and enjoy optimal health and vitality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780553417951
Publisher:	Harmony/Rodale
Publication date:	10/07/2014
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

BRENDA WATSON, C.N.C has dedicated her career for over 20 years to helping people achieve vibrant, lasting health through improved digestive function. A dynamic health advocate and celebrated Public Television health educator, she is among the foremost authorities in America on optimum nutrition, digestion, and natural detoxification methods. She is the author of The Fiber35 Diet, a New York Times bestseller, and eight other books on gut-related health.

LEONARD SMITH, MD is a board-certified, general, gastrointestinal, and vascular surgeon. Currently, Dr. Smith is on the volunteer faculty at the University of Miami Department of Surgery and Department of Integrative Medicine.

JAMEY JONES is a health and science writer with a background in botany and nutrition. She has coauthored Heart of Perfect Health, The Road to Perfect Health, and Gut Solutions second edition with Brenda Watson.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Gut Factor-What Stands Between You and Your Skinny Jeans? ix

Chapter 1 A Remarkable Discovery-Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? 1

Chapter 2 Gut Bacteria-The Surprising Weight-Loss Solution 14

Chapter 3 Where Did It All Go Wrong? 32

Chapter 4 The Proper Care and Feeding of Your Own Gut Bacteria 59

Chapter 5 Your Gut Connection To Obesity And Other Common Conditions 67

Chapter 6 The Gut-Brain Connection 84

Chapter 7 The Skinny On Food 93

Chapter 8 Teaspoon Tracker 109

Chapter 9 The Get Lean Phase 117

Chapter 10 Power Tools 137

Chapter 11 Skinny Gut Supplements 156

Chapter 12 The Stay Lean Phase 169

Chapter 13 Food and Recipes to Get You Started 175

Chapter 14 Rescue Kit for Success 227

Acknowledgments 238

Appendix 241

Gut Science Dr. Leonard Smith 241

FAQs 252

Resources 253

Notes 266

Index 273

Editorial Reviews

08/18/2014
In this diet guide, Watson (The Fiber35 Diet) and coauthors Smith and Jones promise readers the “inner weight-loss secret waiting to be revealed”: restoring “gut bacteria.” Watson begins by writing that, more than 30 years before, she was overweight and suffering from fatigue and migraines. Since finding her own solution, she’s become determined to help others do the same. Suggesting she has quite a following already, the book features plenty of enthusiastic quotes from former participants. The basic premise is that if people can identify what’s making them fat—sugar addiction or carbohydrates, for example—they can then escape the “vicious cycle.” There are plenty of ideas put forward here, from probiotics made simple to a handy “Teaspoon Tracker” featuring an equation to help dieters decode nutritional labels. And there’s some frank talk about bowel movements, acid reflux, and moods. But mostly, there are meal plans and lists of foods to eat or avoid during the “Get Lean Phase” and the “Stay Lean Phase.” Watson also includes over 50 pages of recipes—from butternut chowder to chicken Milanese to kefir ice cream. Watson’s matter-of-fact and upbeat approach may encourage readers who have previously failed at this approach to succeed. Agent: Bonnie Solow, Solow Literary Enterprises, Inc. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"Nobody knows more about the Gut than Brenda Watson. She is one of my teachers. Her knowledge of how it works and how to eat will be transformative and reading The Skinny Gut Diet will be life changing."
—Suzanne Somers, New York Times bestselling author

"Author Brenda Watson has compiled an astoundingly comprehensive yet user-friendly guide to a promising health frontier: management of gut flora to achieve optimal health and weight. If you have been looking for a source for informed, insightful, real-world advice on participating in this explosive and exciting movement, Brenda's Skinny Gut Diet is destined to become the classic."
— William Davis, MD, New York Times #1 bestselling author of Wheat Belly

"The Skinny Gut Diet opens the door to success not only in terms of weight loss, but more importantly, for giving the reader a user-friendly plan based on the most well-respected leading edge science that will clearly enhance your health and longevity."
— David Perlmutter, MD, New York Times #1 bestselling author of Grain Brain

From the Publisher