The Mind Gut Connection by Emeran Mayer MD: Book Review

10 Mar The Mind Gut Connection by Emeran Mayer MD: Book Review

Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health by Emeran Mayer MD, explains the science behind the connection between our mind gut and digestive system.

As someone who has a general interest in health, I found this book to be an interesting read, although I did ‘dip’ in and out of the book and at times went ahead to see what the secret was to a happy mind gut. The content, while explained simply, was still a little over whelming.

The author presents the latest research on the effect of the mind gut on our overall well-being. The insights into microbiota (gut flora) offer hope to suffers of gut disorders like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). In essence, medical doctors had thought that our brain controlled our digestive system, when in fact the science now proves that the gut impacts our mood, choices and health. The mind communicates with the gut, but your gut also talks to your brain.

In The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health you will learn;

• The importance of intuition and gut feelings
• How we can optimize our gut health to live a long disease free life.
• The relationship between our digestive health and the emotions that make us who we are. Some may even call it our soul!

A big ‘take away’ for me was learning about the effect of unhealthy childhood memories on the mind gut and the resulting long term health outcomes. As a parent it is a natural to want to give your child a happy childhood filled with healthy memories. Sometimes it isn’t always possible and I now see the importance of the link between your child’s mental well-being and the mind gut. It is so important to seek support if you or your child is not processing their life experiences in a healthy way.

Intuition affects most of our everyday decisions. Learn why an upset gut could be responsible for poor decisions and how you can make better intuition decisions in the future.

The good news is that according to The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health it is easy to optimise mind gut health.

• Essentially lots of probiotic rich foods like kim chi, sauerkraut and yoghurt.
• Consider a good quality probiotic supplement if taking antibiotics.
• And of course eat lots of fruit & veggies
• No processed food
• Red meat once or twice a week
• Follow a Mediterranean style diet
• Include social connection at meal times
• Daily exercise like walking most days and cardio workouts 3 x per week

For anyone that has family or friends living with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) there is hope that with some awareness around the research presented in The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health we are all closer to some answers. In Science Translational Medicine Magazine (March 2017) it was reported that germ free mice have successfully received a transplantation of fecal microbiota from patients with irritable bowel syndrome and this alters gut function and behaviour in recipient mice. These results indicate the potential of microbiota directed therapies for IBS sufferers. See link here for more information http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/9/379/eaaf6397

I recommend The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health to anyone who has an interest in mind gut/ digestive disorders, pursuing a healthy lifestyle, parenting and the science behind why we need to look after not just our guts, but our minds as well, to live a long disease free life.

IDEAS WORTH EXPLORING: Mediterranean Diet, Probiotics, Microbiota 

This book has a 4 out of 5 star rating.