The Mind-Gut Connection (Book Review)

The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversation Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and Our Overall Health is a book written by, Emeran Mayer, MD.

Learn how the mind and gut connect and how they communicate with each other.

You should read this book if:

• you want to learn more about the mind-gut connection
• you want to understand how the mind and gut work together to impact your mood, choices, and overall health
• you want to improve your gut health
• you enjoy reading scientific information for reinforcement.

TLC Book Tours sent me a free copy of The Mind-Gut Connection for reading and reviewing purposes. Thank you TLC Book Tours for having me as part of your book tour!

Introduction to The Mind-Gut Connection

The Mind-Gut Connection has three major parts:

Part 1: Our Body, The Intelligent Computer
Part 2:  Intuition and Gut Feelings: How the Mind-Gut-Microbiome Communication Informs Everyday Decisions.
Part 3: How to Optimize Brain-Gut Health

The Mind-Gut Connection has ten chapters.

There are 320 pages and this includes the bibliography.

Expect to learn how the gut works as well as how the brain/mind and gut communicate.

Expect to get lots of scientific information to back up how the mind and gut connect.

Dr. Mayer also shares case studies of patients he has personally helped with their gut health.

Note: Case studies always piqué my interest.

Take Home Points

I did my usual of highlighting information that stood out and here it is (a few):

1. “Today 154.7 million American adults are overweight or obese, including 17 percent of American children ages 2 to 19,  or 1 in every 6 American children.  At least 2.8 million people each year die as a result of being overweight or obese.” page 9
2.  “Amazingly the majority of patients suffering from abnormal gut reactions have no idea that their gut problems reflect their emotional state.” page 32
3. “Your gut microbes can listen in on your brain’s ongoing conversation and vice versa, and information flow through the biological channels that your gut microbes use to communicate with your brain is highly dynamic.” page 98
4. “Most patients with anxiety disorders, depression, IBS, or other brain and brain-gut disorders are particularly sensitive to stressful events, often experiencing a flare-up of GI symptoms when they’re under stress.” page 150

My Thoughts about The Mind-Gut Connection

The Mind-Gut Connection is an interesting book.  However, it is a little too technical/scientific for the average person who simply wants general/basic knowledge.

But if this topic is of interest to you, then you will stick with reading it because there is beneficial and helpful information in this book.

In the beginning, I had a hard time getting into this book even with my science background. Once I got through the tough spots, I was glad I kept reading because The Mind-Gut Connection has lots of informative nuggets.

However, I did enjoy reading it and learned a lot.  I was especially intrigued about how our childhood experiences can impact our gut health.  I can relate to this because I had a dysfunctional childhood.

Both my brother and I have gut health issues, but he has chronic intestinal issues.  My gut health issues are minor compared to his and I understand that my mother had stressful events before and even after his birth and not so much with my birth.

It is also amazing how our emotional state can impact how we digest foods and the effects it has on the microbes (bugs in our gut).  Although I learned about this in my coaching training, I got a deeper understanding and awareness for being mindful to emotions when eating meals.

Conclusion

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Mind-Gut Connection, even though it took some time for me to get into this book, I am glad I kept reading.  I know the author, Dr. Mayer, put a lot of time and effort into writing this book.

Note:  I want to you know that every book I review, I actually take the time to read it so that I can give a fair review.

The Mind-Gut Connection is a book I do recommend for those of you who want to learn more about how the mind and the gut connect.

I also recommend The Mind-Gut Connection for those of you who have gut health issues because you will learn about some underlying reasons why you have gut issues as well as learn how you can improve the health of your gut.

About The Mind-Gut Connection

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper Wave (July 5, 2016)

Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with the latest discoveries on the human microbiome, a practical guide in the tradition of The Second Brain, and The Good Gut that conclusively demonstrates the inextricable, biological link between mind and the digestive system.

We have all experienced the connection between our mind and our gut—the decision we made because it “felt right”; the butterflies in our stomach before a big meeting; the anxious stomach rumbling we get when we’re stressed out.

While the dialogue between the gut and the brain has been recognized by ancient healing traditions, including Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine, Western medicine has by and large failed to appreciate the complexity of how the brain, gut, and more recently, the gut microbiota—the microorganisms that live inside our digestive tract—communicate with one another.

In The Mind-Gut Connection, Dr. Emeran Mayer, professor of medicine and executive director of the UCLA Center for Neurobiology of Stress, offers a revolutionary and provocative look at this developing science, teaching us how to harness the power of the mind-gut connection to take charge of our health and listen to the innate wisdom of our bodies.

The Mind-Gut Connection describes:

• Why consuming a predominantly plant-based diet is key for gut and brain health

• The importance of early childhood in gut-brain development, and what parents can do to help their children thrive

• The role of excessive stress and anxiety in GI ailments and cognitive disorders

• How to “listen to your gut” and pay attention to the signals your body is sending you

• and much more.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About Emeran Mayer, MD

Emeran A. Mayer, MD, has studied brain-body interactions for the last forty years. He is the executive director of the Oppenheimer Center for Stress and Resilience and the codirector of the Digestive Diseases Research Center at the University of California at Los Angeles.

His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health for the past twenty-five years, and he is considered a pioneer and world leader in the areas of brain-gut microbiome. He lives in Los Angeles.

Find out more about Dr. Mayer and his book at his website.