The 28-Day Gut Health Plan: Lose weight and feel better from the inside. Jacqueline Whitehart

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Part 1

       FEEL BETTER FROM THE INSIDE

INTRODUCTION

      Do you get that Christmas dinner feeling every day of the week? Does your weight seem unaffected by what you eat and how often you exercise? Do you sometimes feel drained and bloated after a meal? Do you get bouts of spotty skin even though you’re way past being a teenager? Does your stomach sometimes keep you awake at night?

      Talking about our gut-health problems is a taboo subject for many of us. If you’d been up most of the night with stomach pains, would you mention it to your friend over coffee the next day? Would you mention your loose bowels at the school gates? Of course not. We keep the pain and anxiety well hidden. And if the pain and symptoms just get worse year on year, do we complain? No, we just get on with it and learn to manage the symptoms.

      If you want weight loss, a flat stomach and a healthy digestion then let me steer you in the right direction. I challenge you to follow the 28-Day Gut-Health Plan. In four weeks, you’ll lose weight – up to 3kg (7lb) – and it will all come off your tummy. You’ll banish food cravings and restore the healthy bacteria in your gut. You’ll take the first steps towards permanent weight loss, a healthier digestive system and a fitter old age.

      What’s more, with over 80 delicious recipes tailored to the programme, you’ll find the plan to be both simple and tasty.

      There are some really useful quizzes and trackers in the book and if you’d like them in a printable and reusable format, they are all available (at no cost) via www.52recipes.co.uk/28G

      Finally, I’d like to say that I’m always here to answer your gut-health questions and help you overcome your personal hurdles. You can contact me by email at [email protected] or get in touch via 52DietRecipes on Facebook or Twitter.

      Yours,

      Jacqueline Whitehart

IS THE 28-DAY GUT-HEALTH PLAN FOR YOU?

      Do you suffer occasional symptoms of gut sensitivity – bloating, gas, cramps or loose bowels? Do these symptoms appear quite randomly yet you can’t tie them down to a particular foodstuff? Perhaps you suspect you might be intolerant to some foods but sometimes you can eat them without suffering any problems. The good news is that this plan can help you pinpoint the level of your food intolerances, reduce the symptoms and feel better and finally slowly reintroduce the food.

       Severe Food Allergies

       If you have a severe food allergy, such as nut or egg allergy, or suffer from coeliac disease then you should be following expert treatment. This book is absolutely no substitute for professional medical advice. The book can still be used to find other intolerances as long as you first seek expert medical advice.

      If your weight loss has stalled (or hasn’t even got going), then your gut could be holding you back. Your digestive system is like your second brain, telling you what to eat and when. When those signals get confused because your gut is a bit toxic (sorry for the bad news), then it tells you to eat when you’re not hungry and gives you irresistible cravings. We’re going to give your gut a deep clean and find out the foods your gut likes and the ones it struggles with. As a result, your cravings will disappear and you will naturally lose weight. It’s not uncommon for someone following the gut-health programme (but not thinking about weight loss) to easily lose half a stone.

      Cutting out trigger foods also forces us to cook more real food. Do you believe your ready meal doesn’t contain gas-inducing veg? Wrong. It’s in the stock. Think your cereal bar is good for you? Wrong. It contains at least twenty ingredients including five kinds of sugar or sweetener.

      But don’t worry. I know you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen, which is why I’ve included a whole section of easy and delicious recipes for you to try. My recipes are always fresh and simple, use common ingredients and have been tried and tested by me. All those faffy bits that restaurant chefs like to add to make their food look beautiful (but take half a day to prepare) … they’re not in my kitchen.

      Onions and garlic are two of the more common causes of a sensitive belly. They are potent, gassy vegetables and even the tiniest amount can set many people off. I’ll introduce you to a new cheap and easy-to-get-hold-of spice that you’ve probably never even heard of. Add a pinch of this to a dish to add natural onion flavour, without the tummy consequences – and without the chopping! What is it? You’ll have to keep reading to find out!

      Gut sensitivity affects as many as 10 to 15 per cent of people in the UK and that figure is rising. And that doesn’t even include the thousands – perhaps even millions – of people with mild or occasional issues who just battle on and never visit the doctor or discuss it with anyone.

      What I’d like to show you in this book is a way to get to grips with the causes of your gut-health problems. For just one month, we’ll cut out possible trigger foods and introduce them again in a controlled fashion. You’ll get your own personalized guide to foods you can eat with no problems, foods you can eat in moderation and foods to avoid.

      The trigger food groups that we’ll be looking at are: milk, red meat, nightshade (such as tomatoes and chillies), gassy vegetables and wheat.

      Please don’t think, ‘That’s it. You’re telling me not to drink milk or eat bread ever again.’ First of all, it is rare to be intolerant to both wheat and milk. And even if you find foods that you are intolerant to, you’ll hopefully still be able to eat them in small quantities. You’ll know how to choose the right foods for you. I’ll give you the tools to help you make your own choices. It’s like drinking alcohol. We all know that it gives us a hangover the next morning, but sometimes we do it anyway. You might find that tomatoes give you a rotten tummy ache, but occasionally you’ll think it’s a price worth paying.

       A LITTLE BIT ABOUT DIFFERENT GUT SENSITIVITIES

      One of the things that you quickly find when exploring gut sensitivities is that no two people are the same. How we react to certain foods and how our digestive systems behave is unique to us. Yet the mechanism is the same for everyone. And the root causes of all digestive issues are the same: inflammation of the gut lining, foods not being digested properly and the aptly titled ‘leaky gut’.

      In this book, I’ll look at the root causes of digestive issues and explain how this can lead to IBS-like symptoms: stomach cramps and bloating and also to inflammation throughout our body. Frequent headaches, sinus pain and achy joints can all be linked back to our digestion.

HOW DOES THE 28-DAY GUT-HEALTH PLAN WORK?

      The 28-Day Gut-Health Plan is a unique and simple programme that anyone can follow. With a scientific basis, down-to-earth advice and delicious recipes, The Gut-Health Plan delivers wellness, weight loss and a healthier gut.

      The plan acknowledges that there are five common food triggers, as I’ve already mentioned – wheat, milk,