Veggies all same in the final wash-up

TITLE: The Gut Makeover Author: Jeannette Hyde Publisher: Hachette Australia RRP: $32.99

EATING for health need not be expensive.

Organic vegetables and fruit prices can seem astronomical. It’s a mental battle the buyer goes through while cruising through the stalls at markets dotted around the Gold Coast each weekend, weighing up the benefits of eating fresh food free of pesticides versus the assault on the wallet.

But nutritional therapist Jeannette Hyde, writing in Gut Makeover, says vegetables picked up cheaply at other stores can still deliver the same benefits as the organic produce, provided you’re prepared to give them a thorough wash.

This might be hotly disputed by organic produce devotees, but Hyde is adamant.

“As long as you wash nonorganic vegetables and fruits thoroughly, you can enjoy the colours and fibre to enhance your microbiome,’’ she says.

Her book, Gut Makeover, is timely. Obesity has come under the spotlight this past week, with the Bulletin reporting that doctors are performing weight-loss surgery on more than 1000 morbidly obese locals a year.

Consumers have to be realistic and weigh up one part of their lifestyle with another when hunting and gathering. On the one hand, you might be shocked by the prices of organic goods, but compare them to what you would pay for fast-food and convenience products.

“Remember, junk food isn’t always cheap either,’’ she writes. “For the same price as a big brand pizza you could treat yourself to a good-quality organic steak or a packet of wild Alaskan smoked salmon which would cover your protein needs for a couple of meals.’’

As the book title suggests, Hyde has written a fourweek gut health plan to “transform the body, boost spirits and strengthen the immune system’’.

Wanting to look and feel good in the long term means having to create a high-performance digestive system.

The plan is to repair the gut and then repopulate it with good bacteria.