Eat Dirt: Why Leaky Gut May be the Root Cause of Your Health Problems and 5 Surprising Steps to Cure it

My wife has been chronically ill for over five years. She got sick during the latter portion of our engagement. She was 23 years old when we got married. After a year of doctors visits they diagnosed her with Epstein-Barr and discovered she also had a parasite from when she had traveled abroad before we got married. Even after clearing these up, she was left with the blanket ‘chronic fatigue’ diagnosis. We’ve spent five years going to medical doctors, naturopaths, chiropracter’s and homeopathic practitioners. We have spent tens of thousands of dollars on all these treatments, and to marginal success.Everything changed six months ago when a family member recommended this book. I read it and listened to it (via Audible). I told my wife it appeared to be fit her symptoms, and we couldn’t see any harm in giving it a shot. We had thought we were eating healthy before, but Dr Axe had an approach to healthy eating that, although not exactly radical, was still different than what we had been previously exposed to. So we decided to give it a try.Within two weeks we saw a dramatic difference. Within a month we saw more improvement than we had seen in the last five years. Six months later my wife is her old self again. In fact, we think she may actually have more energy now than she did before she originally got sick.Now, it’s to be noted that we have not reincorporated wheat, cows dairy, refined sugar or refined oils back into our diet yet. We are intending to gradually reintroduce and she how she responds. Perhaps I will give an updated review at that point. But I will say this with absolutely sincerity: This book has done more for my wife than any doctor, chiropractor, naturopath or homeopathic practitioner. It was worth more than the tens of thousands of dollars we’ve cumulatively spent on all of them. I’m not a healthcare provider and I won’t pretend to be. But I do believe the ‘proof is in the pudding’ as it were. I hope this expression of appreciation works it’s way to the author of this book. Please feel free to use it or message me to give a more thorough testimonial. Because it’s, quite literally, the least we can do for how much we have gained from your work. After five years we have our life back. Thank you very, very much.

The first thing I did, I YouTubed Dr. Axe and watched a few of his videos and thought that the information was great. And decided to purchase the book. Imagine my surprise when I saw things in his recipes that completely contradicted what he said was supposed to be used. There were eggs; in the video he w talked about eliminating egg whites do to their mucosy consistency; there were bananas; tropical fruits were supposed to be completely eliminated. Also there were no time frames given in the book as far as how long to focus on each section of healing/regeneration process. Long story short, I decided to return the book after just a few glimpses.

I have been obsessed with Dr.Axe since discovering his YouTube channel. I have been anxiously awaiting Eat Dirt and it does not disappoint. This time last year I was 35 pounds lighter, muscles were well defined and I felt great. All of that started to change in May of 2015. I compete in ocr & exercise 5-6 days per week as well as eat very clean. That did not change, however weight started to come on. After 15 pounds, I went to my primary and she reluctantly tested my thyroid. When it came ask normal, I took that to mean it was within my control. I dug in deeper with my nutrition. I went vegan. I worked out more. I started experiencing depression and anxiety, extreme fatigue, horrible pms. I was up 27 pounds and went back to my primary. She reluctantly ran a full thyroid panel, although she felt it was unnecessary as we shouldn't worry until I was up 100 pounds...what?? I asked her if it's not my thyroid, what could it be. Her response, "I don't know." She referred me to an endocrinologist. 3 days later my labs come back normal and they inform me that the endocrinogist will not schedule with me because my thyroid is fine.That's where conventional medicine left me.I started researching and stumbled upon Dr. Axe. I immediately started implementing his recommendations into my daily routine. The depression and brain fog started lifting. The weight gain stopped. The energy started coming back. I got my life back!Now I'm ready to kick this weight to the curb by implementing what I have learned in Eat Dirt.Some of my favorite quotes in the book:"We CAN heal. We just need to summon the collective will to change some of our long-standing but extremely damaging habits – especially our deadly addiction to being clean. ""On a cell for cell basis, we are 90% microbial. We don't just live on the earth – the earth lives in us.""While this is cutting edge science, the solutions could not be any simpler. All we need to do to load up on our old friends and get more of these microexposures is easy, fun stuff we probably already love to do: get back to eating seasonally and locally. Spend more time outdoors. Hug our dogs after they roll around in the leaves. Let our kids to make mud pies get their hands dirty on the playground.""Go "forest bathing." Go on a short walk in the woods, and take many deep breaths, consciously bringing the scent of the trees into your lungs. This form of aromatherapy is a practice called "shinrin-yoku," or "forest bathing," in Japanese. Researchers there found breathing in the antimicrobial organic compounds called phytoncides - the woods' essential oils - decreased cortisol levels and blood pressure, enhanced immune system function, and stabilized nervous system activity.I found a local doctor of functional medicine and I was diagnosed with estogen dominance, low progesterone, low DHEA, adrenal fatigue and leaky gut. If you are suffering from any of these issues, you need this book.I will return to this review in a few weeks to report how I feel with the Eat Dirt plan.

Like many books out these days, the consensus is that process foods are bad for us. This book is similar to Whole30 as to not eating dairy, processed foods, grains, various oils, etc. The only difference is the foods that are suggested are protein powders. This book has many requests to download various documents, and questions to take. Suggestions of which leaky gut you have and to follow to see they help. I did review some recipes which sound interesting. I've done whole30 twice, first time my skin was amazing. 2nd time my psoriasis took off. I'm going to follow the recommendations for my leaky gut and see what my outcome is.