Your Gut Heals Within 24 Hours of Eating Whole Foods | Dr. Will Bulsiewicz
episodePreviously titled “How To HEAL Your Gut Microbiome for Better Mood, Weight Loss & Disease Prevention” — renamed by the publisher on Sep 3, 2026
Transcript
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What is the importance of plant diversity for gut health?
Well, I'll give you three things and they all connect back to the microbiome. I would start with food. The food is our most powerful lever that we can pull in terms of shaping and changing the microbiome. And there are simple choices that anyone can make. And this doesn't have to fall under a dietary pattern or a label. It's just changing the way you eat.
What would be, for that first one, what would be the top five foods that everyone should eat daily to optimize their gut microbiome?
Okay, I can give you a top five, but can I start with this essential rule? Yes. Which is diversity of plants. All right, so eating as much variety of different plants in our diet. We have to be intentional about this if this is what we want. Because the problem is the food system is not going to do that for us. You go into the supermarket, they've distilled it down to 75% of the calories in our supermarket is three foods. What are those three foods? Wheat, corn, and soy. Wow. Yes. That is 75% of the calories in the supermarket. Now, granted, most of those are ultra-processed. I'm here to advocate for real food. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seeds, nuts, and legumes, that's at least five.
We could add mushrooms. Those are broad categories. We can get more specific if we want to, but to me, it's about getting that variety. This is not just an idea or a concept. This is actually scientifically proven. In a study called the American Gut Project, which, by the way, was international, but it was run out of UC San Diego, what they found is that At the end of the day, when they did their analysis, above everything else, there was this one rule. The diversity of plants in your diet was the number one factor in predicting who had the healthiest gut. And the number is 30. 30 per week. 30 different plants per week. Now, all fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seeds, nuts, and legumes. Include those 30. They count. Okay. All of them, right?
So, you want to have 30 different... Ingredients every week of plants. At least. Wow. At least. But you know what? I don't even know if I've tried 30 different plants in my life. Lewis, you and I need to spend more time together. Exactly, right? It's like 30. Wow, that's incredible.
You start to take a smoothie. It could be Monday morning. Take a smoothie, bananas, blueberries. Greens of your choice, whatever ones you like. Chia seeds, hemp seeds. Chia seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds. We're already up to six. Okay. Right? You want to add in some raspberries or some other kinds of berries. We could easily get this up to 10. Gotcha. Gotcha. You're making pasta sauce. Oh. Why would you just do pasta sauce? Why not throw some plants in there? Oh, there you go. Right? Onions, garlic, basil, oregano. Those count too.
Spices count. Why is the... If someone's like, listen, I just like my five to 10 plants a week. I eat healthy plants. I eat mostly plants. I eat non-processed foods. Is that good enough? Or is it really more about the...
Adding more and more of the diversity as possible as opposed to just broccoli and spinach by itself. The average person in the United States, 10% of their calories comes from actual plants. The number one plant is the potato, right? We're not talking about optimal nutrition here.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the importance of plant diversity for gut health?
1:04–10:11
2
How does fiber and GLP-1 hormone influence satiety and weight loss?
10:11–15:30
3
What are the effects of ultra-processed foods on the gut microbiome and brain?
15:30–20:44
4
How quickly can taste buds and cravings change with diet?
20:44–26:00
5
How does exercise shape the gut microbiome and improve mood?
26:00–34:45
6
Can the gut microbiome influence mood and mental health?
34:45–45:01
7
What is the impact of eating meals together on family health?
45:01–51:49
8
How often should families eat together to reduce disease risk?
51:49–1:13:24
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The School of Greatness
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