The G Plan Diet: The revolutionary diet for gut-healthy weight loss

I never wrote a book review and this is the first I'm writing prompted by negative reviews. Until recently my diet consisted of healthy (I know I know) M&S microwaved meals. Living alone I cooked rarely and I have never enjoyed cooking at all. When I do cook, it's pretty simple and limited as I'm not creative person. Give me a pepper and salt and I'm happy. Having some gut related issued recently, after seeing the programme on Tv I decided to give it a go. I was entering world of fresh ingredients and making things from scratch. My blender which was gathering dust for the past 10 years was suddenly out, my equally old Le Creuset suddenly sees a daylight on a regular basis and not once a year for Christmas. Someone said in their 1* review - it's expensive. Yes, it is was not the cheapest. The reviewer quoted £75 spent for the first 5 days for family. I spent £70 for myself - believe me I was buying from scratch! I like the idea of batch cooking as it makes things easier in the following week. Someone commented on pseudo science and buzz words. Well, guess what. I didn't read the whole narrative. I was simply interested in recipes and if they are going to work for me. I'm a person who has never done any sort of diet. I like my food, I like freedom of food and I hate constraints. But, having looked through the recipes - if they are not too difficult for me, if there are no too fancy foods etc etc - I decided I can do the first five days. It's only five days at the end. Someone said something about food being bland. Well, as I said, I'm user of salt and pepper only. Introducing things like ginger or garlic on a regular basis into my diet- and not to forget about turmeric, ground cumin, fresh or ground herbs - I don't think it is bland at all. Tomorrow I'll be starting my third week. I got used to doing a smoothie in the morning (fraction of time - and another discovery - I didn't know you can freeze banana!), where before I didn't eat breakfast at all. I didn't cut out coffee (recommended) and I drink a bit of cold water in the morning with my meds (instead of recommended hot water with lemon ). I've noticed the difference after two full days. Feeling swollen and bloated like a balloon is no more. The weight is coming down in a healthy steady way and the food - at least for me - is so varied! I really can't understand people moaning about monotony of recipes. My dinner is my lunch (saving); my cooking takes really not much time and I actually can understand people who say cooking relaxes them. I like my daily ritual of grating ginger, crushing garlic, getting lemon zest or squeezing juice, using things I have never bought in my life before (yes, I do eat butternut squash but it was the first time for m to buy eat and peel it - which I had to google how to do it!). My second week was bit more expensive than the first one as I stock on lot of things which can be stored and stored and stored. But from the recipes for the third week, I can say that the third one will be least expensive as big amount of things are in my cupboard now. Also, I hate coconut water. I've tried it once and spat it. However, I absolutely don't mind it in porridge (also first for me) or in smoothies. I have many , many 'first times' with this diet. And me being choosy and limited in terms of food (give me a piece of steak), I must say - I'm happy with it. But the biggest bonus - I've stopped having certain problems - which was ultimately the goal.

Saw this G-plan book diet put to the test on TV, when excellent results were obtained, and the lady testing the plan was really happy with the food, losing 1 lb per day on average overall, and planned to continue with it afterwards. The food looked wonderful, and tempted me to buy the book. I haven't been disappointed. This is the first time I've ever tried a diet where the menu is dictated for every meal, but I'm now on day 16 of the plan, I've lost 5 kg in weight so far, and have enjoyed most of the meals. Hubby (also sticking to the diet for support) has lost 4 kg and been amazed at how much food he's been able to eat and how much he's enjoyed it. Breakfasts are a free choice from a list of mainly smoothie recipes - all of which have been enjoyed so much that both my husband and I will continue to use the recipes in the future. The recipes for the rest of the meals are generally tasty (only two that we haven't liked much so far), and there are some that will be cooked for our main meal in future even when we're not trying to lose weight. The range of foods that are allowed in the early days is pretty limited, but the portions are pretty huge, and, despite having a good appetite, there have been some meals where I've just not been able to finish them because I've been too full - amazing! Foods are added back into the diet after the first 5 days, and with three meals plus two snacks per day there is much variety. We have stuck religiously to the recipes and restrictions throughout, and have bought ingredients that we'd never previously even heard of, but they're all very healthy and we've really enjoyed most of them. The book is clearly written, but I have knocked a star off as it's quite time-consuming to work out how much of everything you will need to buy if you go shopping twice a week (it has a list of the ingredients you will need in each Phase, but not the quantities), plus the book being a paperback does not lend itself to staying open whilst following a recipe, particularly when half of it is on one page and half on the following page (not facing page). The downside is (as another reviewer pointed out) that you have to buy spices and store-cupboard ingredients at the beginning which you probably haven't already got, and which may be difficult to find where you live. This makes it expensive and time-consuming to get the ingredients into the house ready for when you need them, but overall, the food bills are fairly comparable to the average food spend I would imagine. We have struggled to get everything in the fridge (several bags of spinach leaves take up a lot of room!), but it has certainly been an adventure - and with a good health benefit. The variety and quantity of food is amazing, and despite already loving veggies, I can honestly say I have never eaten so much spinach, fresh ginger, bananas, nuts, seeds and lemons in my life before. Where "protein" is included in a recipe, there is usually a choice of say, chicken, salmon or tofu, so the diet is suitable for both meat-eaters and vegetarians alike. I'm very pleased I bought the book and stuck to the diet, even though it's been quite time-consuming. I'm so impressed with not being hungry yet still losing more weight than when I've tried calorie-counting in the past. I have no way of knowing how my gut bacteria are changing, but I certainly think that something's improving on the digestion front, and my waistline is certainly improving.

I'm not interested in Diet books, but I'm always interested in the best information to keep me healthy and happy. We only get one body - so I'd like to look after it. I heard Amanda Hamilton on Radio 2 on the Steve Wright show, and she is definitely on the cutting edge of latest thinking when it comes to nutrition. Looking after your gut (i.e. digestive system) is the best thing you can do to be healthy, happy and full of energy. I'd already come to this way of thinking through a number of other sources (Patrick Holford, Dr Gundry et al) and so was excited at the new book. I like the recipes, I like the context around the recommendations, and I like that this isn't a 21-day only book: the 21 days are to get you into that way of eating and thinking and then there is advice of how to make this a permanent change in your life. The only possible downside I can see with this book - it's aimed at people that are already somewhat nutritionally aware, so if you come from a very bad nutritional place (living on pies, steak, chips and sponge puddings, all washed down with buckets of beer) this might be too much of a stretch. Overall, fantastic book, and one that will be going in my favourite books. Definitely recommended for anyone who cares about being healthy and happy.

Bought this for my husband who has suffered with his digestive system for years. Its easy to follow with the meals all set out for each phase and he did lose lots of weight, not that he needed to. We eat healthly and had quiet a lot of the ingreients in but even so buying the gluten free, other organic ingredients & supplements was really expensive especially the first week £70 more than normal. After that our shopping bill went up by £30 per week. Did it help, a little bit but not as much as we hoped so after 6 weeks he stopped using it.

The headline says it all: it really works! It is not another fad-diet, quite the opposite - it will change the way you eat. I don't have any food allergies (gluten, lactose etc), but with years progressing noticed extra pounds (quite a few). Watched some program on TV and decided to give it a go - it's only 21 days! The most important: quickly noticed that portions are sufficient (on the large side), brilliant way of batch cooking (saves time), no fancy ingredients which you cannot buy locally, no annoying calorie counting. So no excuses! Some recipes I liked so much that I included them into my normal cooking ('Warming broth' is soooo good and 'Lentil bake' too). Some people here comment about ingredients or exotic spices. I got everything locally (small town) between Tesco and Waitrose, even Lidl (cheaper, but for me required a trip to the next town) has most of it. If you never cooked from scratch or lived on pies plus fish and chips, then it will be a revolution. Otherwise, just some planning is needed. The book lists the ingredients for each phase, so use the guide and flick through pages noting down how many carrots, bananas or chickpeas tins you will need ;-) Buy for one faze only, less stressful. The only things I didn't try are kimchi and kombucha - maybe in the future. For now, sauerkraut will do. Quickly noticed changes in regularity, yet with no bloating even that you consume pulses. Difficult for me was caffeine elimination, but doable. If you stick to it, you will lose pounds, but most importantly, you will feel better.

In December, I suffered from a nasty virus which left me on antibiotics and pain killers like co-codamol for a month. I literally felt like a squeezed lemon with a really bad system/gut. I decided to investigate ways of replenishing my gut flora when I came across this wonderful book suggested by a friend. I did the 21-day plan, probably working the first week harder than most because I needed to loosen up sever constipation. I added a few natural things to alleviate the constipation but on the hole followed the suggestions and diet plan recommended by the books nutritionist. The first bit I suffered from cravings but once I got into the flow, I felt my energy levels and system do a complete turnaround. I have lost over 10 kg in weight, and I never intended to lose weight, also struggled to bring my weight down in the past, not that I am overweight. What I like about the diet recommendations is most of what is recommended is very natural and healthy. In the beginning it feels like you need to prepare a lot but once you get into a routine, it feels easy and natural. The recipes are surprisingly tasty; you always expect healthy food to be a little flavourless but these healthy foods are yummy. I loved this book so much I bought a few for my friends with less than healthy lifestyles so that they can get expert nutritional advise for under a tenner.

Only 2 days in but must say, I wouldn’t have ever tried any of the 4 recipes I’ve had so far but my god they are all sooooo good! Smoothies in the morning are so refreshing and the soup/broth on the first day is almost like miso soup, so good. It’s not the cheapest but some people may find they have most the ingredients in the house already. Book is full of good info about being healthy. Only negative, although I still recommend buying it, I bought it last week for £1.50 and it’s now £6 odd.

This book is superb, well thought out so that you have dinners and lunch the next day, with some extras to freeze for when your pushed for time, great if your working and need things easy. The recipes are not hard to follow. Outlay can be a bit pricy, but once you have all the main ingredients its not so. I lost 7lbs in the 21 days and found all the food delicious and filling, was a bit hungry on the first 5 days, but after that not so, the portion sizes were big, I found I couldn't finish them and often could get another meal out of it, and I have a big appetite! I think this is a diet concept that I will continue to use, probably Mon-Fri and have weekends off going forward, although I don't really want to eat the foods I used to now. I feel more energetic and lighter, the best diet I have been on.