Posted April 6, 2016

“Happy Gut: The Cleansing Program to Help You Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Eliminate Pain”
By Dr. Vincent Pedre, M.D.

By CHIARA DIGIALLORENZO

With a generation crazed and consumed by the fad of health and wellness—let’s just say educating, understanding and applying healthy living and eating habits is completely in.

“Happy Gut” is a step-by-step guide, which simply outlines the trivial importance of digestive and internal health stemming from every single thing that is put into the body’s gut.

Dr. Vincent Pedre, a leading internist and renowned functional medicine practitioner, brings his readers on a user-friendly journey that will transform internal health function essentially through a shift in diet and lifestyle choices.

Surprisingly, millions are completely unaware that their gut is the reason for their underlying health issues. For those suffering from digestive problems, allergies, asthma, autoimmune disorders, fibromyalgia, migraines, chronic fatigue or uncontrollable weight gain or loss—“Happy Gut” is a must-read for you.

Even if readers do not fall into one of these categories, the book is still informative and approachable. Every person has a gut, therefore; everyone should understand the fundamentally important impact of its health.

“Happy Gut” has a precise and thought out objective from the beginning, unlike most health books that fall victim of over-complicating the science for readers. Dr. Pedre’s writing style is concise and scientifically simplified.

For example, when explaining the science behind leptin and its relation to weight loss, Pedre will follow all of his “science talk” with an easy to comprehend sentence such as “basically, when we are internally inflamed, more of the calories that we eat are stored as fat and weight gain occurs.” No previous or elaborate scientific knowledge is necessary because Pedre keeps it basic.

The book’s five parts bring the reader through the process of gut C.A.R.E. – Cleanse, Activate, Restore and Enhance. Each chapter is organized by different topic headings, including charts, explanation tables, categorized lists, meal plans, recipes and a twenty eight day happy gut diet and food journal along with personal accounts of his patients and their symptoms.

The patient profiles add a sense of realism to the science and health plans that Pedre proposes. They illustrate the symptoms and their intended outcomes, along with eliciting a feeling of honesty and inspiration to the reader.

For instance, “twenty one year old Jamie was brought in to see me because he couldn’t put on weight and was having behavioral issues. His diet included fast food, processed foods, and lots of sugar, bread, pasta and dairy… Jamie was willing to make small changes in his diet, and we started him on an anti-yeast protocol, which included reducing his sugar intake and taking a daily probiotic supplement.… When Jamie returned one month later, he appeared to be a different person… He was less fidgety; he spoke for himself, noting that he was sleeping better and that his anxiety was markedly reduced, without antianxiety medication, mind you.”

It was also quite refreshing to read of a medical approach directly split between two schools of thought; in this case, both Western and Eastern methodologies, merging functional and integrative medicine techniques.

In a society so driven by pharmaceuticals and simply taking a pill to get better, Pedre truly clarifies why this is not the right answer. Popping a pill masks the issue; it doesn’t address or fix the factors that are precipitating the symptoms.

Based on medical research, Pedre shows readers how to reverse what is happening in their core, specifically through fixing problems within the gut by eliminating food instigators and allergens, cleansing the gut of parasites and bad bacteria’s and re-fueling the gut with probiotics, vitamins and other nutrients essential for healing and maintaining optimal gut health. Many have absolutely no knowledge the importance of this at all.

Personally, I found the book to be the impetuous for a complete transition of my bodies overall health. Not only did I experience weight loss, but also I can better understand my thyroid disease and celiac’s disease. I can recognize where, why and how these problems are happening internally. The diet is specific, but can be easily followed and is simplified through the delicious recipes included. The spaghetti squash with garlic infused oil and pine nuts as well as the coconut brown rice were crowd favorites.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone dedicated to successfully achieving the best internal health and lifestyle possible. Pedre is groundbreaking and brilliant!

• “Happy Gut: The Cleansing Program to Help You Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Eliminate Pain”
• By: Dr. Vincent Pedre, M.D.
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Release: Dec. 29, 2015