Why your GUT holds the key to dropping a dress size

LET’S be honest, the gut isn’t sexy or glamorous. When, over 35 years ago, the two of us met at medical school (before later becoming husband and wife), nobody wanted to dedicate their life to looking at the gut.

But that might well have been a mistake. It was Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, who claimed in the 5th century BC that ‘all diseases begin in the gut’.

Two thousand years on, we’re starting to realise just how profound that insight really was — not just for the prevention and treatment of disease, but for many health-promoting reasons, including weight loss.

That’s why together we’ve created a diet that focuses on gut health, the key, many scientists now believe, to well-being and a slimmer figure.

We both trained in medicine, though Michael has worked for the past 25 years as a TV presenter and documentary maker. But we’ve never known interest in the gut and its tiny inhabitants — the trillions of microbes that make up what’s called the microbiome — like there is now.

New research tools have enabled scientists to probe its previously secret world, and uncover more and more about the impact the thousand different species within your gut have on you, and you on them. Of course, when you think about it, that impact is bound to be profound: living inside you is a richer diversity of life than you find in a rainforest.

Thanks to advances in DNA technology we have learned more surprising things about the gut in the past few years than in all of previous human history.

It’s been a bit like Galileo inventing the telescope and using it to discover a new universe, one that is larger and more complex than anything earlier generations could have imagined.

But what we are learning is not just of academic interest. It’s becoming clear just how important the microbiome ( those trillions of microbes) is for keeping the rest of our body, and brain, in good shape.

We recently learned, for example, that the microbes in our gut can influence our mood, our immune system and our weight.

But in order to get the best from these bugs, you have to treat them right — and that means eating right. We’re acutely aware of the huge impact food has on every aspect of our lives, from the way we look and feel, to how healthy we are and how long we’ll live.

Our new understanding of the gut and its microbiome means we’re now able to fine tune our approach to eating to make it even healthier — and even more effective for weight loss.

Of course, this isn’t the first time you’ll have heard us talk about diets.

In 2012, Michael introduced the nation to the revolutionary 5:2 intermittent fasting diet. Later, we worked to produce The 8-week Blood Sugar Diet and recipe book, a game-changing approach to weight loss that not only lowers blood sugar levels, but can also reverse and prevent type 2 diabetes.

THEN, in May this year, after becoming utterly convinced of the important role the gut has in every aspect of our lives, we published The Clever Guts Diet, which was serialised in the Mail. It helped thousands of you live happier, healthier lives — and now, it can help you lose weight, too. So just why is this tangle of tubes hidden inside our bodies so key?

Well, as well as extracting energy from our food, the gut and the immune system are inextricably linked, with the microbiome playing a crucial part in keeping that system fully functioning.

Some scientists now believe there is also a direct link between gut health and brain health.

Buried in our intestines is a very thin layer of neurons, the same cells that are found in the brain, called the enteric system. Except, instead of being in one big lump, like the

brain, the neurons in your gut are spread out in a thin mesh that extends all the way from your throat to your rectum. This ‘ second brain’ doesn’t do much geometry or worry about tax returns, but it does orchestrate digestion and gut pain. When we talk about having ‘gut instincts’ we are reflecting just how closely our guts and brains are linked. Scientists are increasingly convinced that our gut microbes have an impact on our state of mind, and influence stress responses in our brains.

The tragedy is that a modern diet, and its reliance on processed food, plus the overuse of antibiotics, has laid waste to the microbiome.

This helps explain the recent rise in obesity, type 2 diabetes, allergic diseases and food intolerances. How so? These microbes are essential to our health. Devastating them through a bad diet and too many antibiotics has encouraged unhealthy microbes to flourish — those that encourage inflammation, possibly depression, and certainly weight gain. It’s simple: get your gut health back on track, and you’ll not only lose weight but promote good health overall. In the run up to party season, we’re all trying to shift extra pounds. And yet nobody wants to feel they’re depriving themselves. That’s why, along with nutritionist Joy Skipper, we’ve created a collection of delicious recipes that will give your gut — and you — a makeover without making you feel like a martyr.

We’ve created the ultimate tummy- flattening combo: Clever Guts meets 5:2, that incorporates everything we’ve learned about food and our bodies, and packs a serious health and weight loss punch.

USE this magazine to learn more about the basics of the plan and in a series of pullouts in the Mail all next week, you’ll start to understand why it’s so effective and how you can keep it going long-term. Every day you’ll find loads of mouthwatering recipes, too.

We’re even prepared to make a prediction: follow the Clever Guts meets 5:2 regime and you could lose as much as half a stone in four weeks. What better present to yourself than feeling healthier and slimmer this Christmas?