Conran Happy Leons: Leon Guts: Recipes to help you live better

I was excited to receive this having recently read a lot of Tim Spector's books on this subject and Michael Moseley's Clever Guts. For me, it felt a bit bandwagon-y and not particularly genuine. A lot of the info felt like it had just been lifted from the afore mentioned authors and rearranged rather than a genuine knowledge of the subject. I don't know, I was underwhelmed. I was surprised more thanks and credit wasn't given to the research. Maybe I am just in a bad Monday mood today!

If I'd been able to see inside this book before I ordered it I would not have bought it. Turns out it's just a book full of pretty much everything I don't like. Very disappointing. Surely you can have good gut health without the need for buying such items as millet grain (whatever that is), amaranth seeds, jackfruit, black rice, edamame beans, milk kefir, raw and unpastuerized apple cider vinegar, dried wakame seaweed (to name but a few of the ingredients in this book)? If you like these kinds of things then you might like this book but if not you might want to think twice. Also, hardly any meat recipes.

Was really excited to receive the latest cookbook from Leon to add to my collection and it didn’t disappoint. This might be their very best yet. Loads of really useful information is written on diet, microbes, gut-brain axis, fibre and gut health in general. The recipes are broken down into sections on high fibre foods, rainbow plant-based foods, live, active cultures, omega-3 fatty acids and lower sugar sweets. Each recipe also states whether it is suitable for dietary needs: gluten free, soy free, nut free, dairy free, vegan, vegetarian and if it’s suitable for freezing. It is a mix of foods suitable for breakfast/brunch, dinner, dessert and drinks. Lots of useful tips are highlighted in the book too. All in all a great book which should not only make you happy to cook with but a very happy tummy afterwards too.

Everything I’ve made so far has been a little bit bland; though maybe that comes with the territory when it comes to ‘gut health’ recipes

Helpful and not too technical book that deals with recipes for fermentation and supporting gut health.