Just Finished Reading: Gut – The Inside Story of our Body’s Most Under-Rated Organ By Giulia Enders (FP: 2014)

As I get older I’m becoming more and more interested in the workings (and the failings) of my body. Part of that is insurance – knowing what to do when things go wrong. A big part of it is to know what to do to keep things ticking along nicely for as long as humanly possible. Books like this really help in that regard.

Like, no doubt, many of us I essentially ignore my gut until it does something odd or embarrassingly distasteful. I’m sure that most of us do. As long as it’s doing its mundane job or food processing and elimination we leave it alone to get on with things. When it’s humming along nicely, as it does most days, I just ignore it. How wrong I was. The author, who is a doctor of microbiology, makes the whole thing not only interesting (and frankly funny) but shows just how important our digestive system is – not just in extracting food and nutrients but in its role in our mental health too (go figure). One of the things that immediately jumped out at me was the fact that some skin diseases/issues had been greatly assisted if not actually cured by the partial removal of tonsils! How counterintuitive is that!

The gut turns out to be more complex, more diverse and has much more of an influence on our physical and mental wellbeing than we ever though. Biologists are only now getting a handle on what goes on in our stomach and intestines. Long held assumptions of where our gut flora come from, how they operate, how they’re different in different populations or even between individuals are being proven to be inadequate at best. It’s all, as the author gets across in style, very exciting.

I did get a few funny looks reading this – both on the bus and at work – more so when people noticed my chuckling away as I read and the best pooping positions and much else besides in almost (but never quite) crude language. Never one to beat around the bush the author brings the gut out of the shadows to present it in polite society without the sniggers. Bathroom activities are one of the last taboos and because of that lack of public discourse can lead to unnecessary suffering and great problems down the road. Knowing what problems look like, feel like and smell like could, in these cases, be a literal life saver. Not being embarrassed to discuss such things with family, friends and your doctor is a healthy indication that you’re looking after your gut. Highly recommended for anyone who ever wondered what happens in your body between mouth and toilet bowl.