Gut by Giulia Enders

"Periods of stress mean the brain borrows energy; and, as any good housekeeper knows, good budgeting is always better than running up too many debts."

When your gut isn't good, then really, nothing is. I'd been hearing a lot about this book and being someone who is often stressed and suffering with some rather irritable innards, I was  interested to explore this work further. 

Julia has an engagingly simple way of describing the mysteries of our insides, including some of the strange mind to gut connections that are intriguing.The illustrations that accompany the text are delightfully childlike, which is not such a bad thing to be when discussing the shape of your number twos. It seems of late that I've been reading a lot about different ways of seeing the world and all the action that is going on and yet hidden from view. That seems vastly appropriate here. 

Apart from practical advice about how to sit more effectively on the throne, this captivating read really demonstrates some of those wonders that we don't think about within our body. In our fast paced lives today, where everything goes bing, it is our guts that are saying - enough already, and who could blame them. Be careful what you put in, chill out, all those things we think instinctively are probably spot on and yet we tend to do the opposite.
I can't believe I actually read a book recommended by my Aunt Norina, this is a first. Perhaps it is just a sign that we are all in a topsy turvy place right now, hell bent on trying to achieve unrealistic expectations, stressed out by high rents and incomes that don't rise at the same speed, and our alcohol intake goes up to combat it while doing the opposite. Love your gut and yourself just a little bit more and I'll try and do the same.

 5 out of 5, because you should go with you gut.