Gut by Giulia Enders | Book Review
June has come to an end and the Nourished Book Club has reached the completion of our very first book of the series! This month myself and anyone else that wanted to be involved, learnt more about our guts by reading the insightful book, Gut by Giulia Enders. Well done to everyone who read along, it’s been a pleasure to have you join me!
A book about the inner workings of our digestive system, Gut takes a deep dive into our fascinating internal environment. Starting from the top entrance of our gut, the mouth, Giulia walks us through the entire digestive system and provides plenty of information and insight into each area. This book pairs entertainment with education and was a pleasure to read. This complex system is broken down into easy to digest knowledge and made relevant to our day to day lives. It truely gives you an understanding
Some of my key take aways and favourite fun facts from the book Gut are:
We produce 1 to 1.5 litres of saliva during the day, every day. Our saliva also has antibacterial properties.
Some immune cells receive training in our tonsils, where they learn to differentiate good from bad.
Alcohol can multiply the amount of gas producing bacteria in our system.
Our stomach is strategically designed so that liquids can easily pass through the short side, while solids hang around for longer and are digested in the longer side.
If our small intestine surface was ironed out it would be 7kms long! This also means the surface area of our digestive system is around 100 times greater than the area of our skin.
It is only the last metre of our large intestines where faeces are formed, the rest is considered quite a clean environment.
Speaking of faeces, it is made up of 3/4 water. The remaining 1/4 is one third bacteria, another third undigestible vegetable fibre and the last third is a mixture of substances the body wants to get rid of.
Our appendix is made almost entirely of immune cells and stores healthy bacteria.
There are 3 enterotypes (types of guts) this is determined by the types of bacteria that predominantly make up our microbiome.
90% of nutrition comes from what we eat, the remaining 10% from our gut bacteria.
Our microbiome weighs around 2kg.
How cool is that! Our guts are so fascinating and the above facts are only just starting to scratch the surface.
One of our lovely Nourished Book Club members gave the following feedback:
‘An Interesting book, it helps you understand the inner workings of our very complex body. It easily explains things that we would otherwise not understand or know. It also makes us aware of all the little things that we have inside us that are constantly working away without us realising!’
- Anna
I highly recommend this book for anyone that wants a greater understanding of our gut health while being entertained along the way.
I’d love to hear from anyone else that read along, tell me your thoughts and key take aways in the comments below.
To anyone that wants to join in for the July book of the Nourished Book Club, we are reading Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. This book is all about vulnerability and how it can change the way that we interact. If you’re interested to learn more, you can also watch her documentary ‘The Call to Courage’ on Netflix or one of her viral TED talks.
Can’t wait to get started with this next book, stay tuned for the next book review at the end of July.
