Thank you so much for taking the time to come to the class Michelle, I so enjoyed meeting you and having you there. Thank you also for your kind words. I hope you met some new friends and found some new foods to try at home.

Hi Melanie, thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful review of Gut Therapy. I am so happy the information presented resonated with you. I loved having you in class and I'm appreciative Dabble brought us together. I hope to see you again.

Hi Donna, thank you for attending and participating in Gut Therapy and for your review. To clarify for those who have not taken the class before, this is not a meat-based class, however 2 of the 4 foods presented for their biological effects for healing the gut do have animal based proteins in them. There are biochemical reasons for each food presented for its healing effects.

Thank you so much for attending Gut Therapy and for your thoughtful review Emily. I truly enjoyed having you there and I hope you had the opportunity to meet new friends with similar interests. Thank you again Emily!

Thank you for your time and consideration of the material presented in the class Rachael. I can appreciate your impression and I recognize the feeling of having your views and beliefs questioned. I have experienced this feeling many times myself and have found it hard to accept that the conventional wisdom I grew up accepting was never validated and that many the claims made were not substantiated by evidence. In my 3.5 year-long masters program through the regionally accredited University of Bridgeport's Human Nutrition program, I have had many of my beliefs questioned by new science. To address some of your concerns about the information provided in the class: High blood pressure is just a symptom and the root cause, be it kidney dysfunction or otherwise, must be determined before sweeping dietary recommendations like "restrict you salt intake," should be prescribed. The 1988 Intersalt Study, a worldwide epidemiological study found no relationship between salt and high blood pressure. A newer meta-analysis from 2012 found that a low salt diet actually increased cholesterol, renin and triglycerides, here is the study: doi: 10.1038/ajh.2012.52. GMO foods were brought up at the class because glyphosate resistant transgenic plants interfere with our gut bacteria and the shikimate pathway, which is the pathway by which our bacteria produce essential amino acids that we as humans need to stay alive and healthy. There are numerous well-conducted studies on this. The 'cherry-picking' study I referred to in class was The Seven Countries Study by Ansel Keys that began in the 1950's. The findings of this study actually presented no correlation between saturated fats and heart disease but it was later used to say there is a correlation and thus the low-fat crazy in the 1950's began. Here is the latest meta-analysis on that topic from 2010, again presenting no correlation between saturated fats and heart disease: doi: 10.3945/​ajcn.2009.27725. I thank you again for coming to the class Rachael and I wish you health and happiness in your journey.

Hi Dana, thank you very much for attending the class and for your thoughtful review. I appreciate your critique on the animal-based portion of the healing foods presented. There is a physiological basis and benefit to all of the healing foods presented in the class, half are vegan and half are animal-based, and based on my research and experience, many of us require both in order to heal a leaky gut- not to say that it cannot be accomplished otherwise. Probiotics found in fermented vegetables are a cornerstone of this healing. In fact, the cabbage we used to make the ferment is high in the amino acid glutamine. Chronic conditions such as leaky gut have been proven in numerous scientific studies to be healed by glutamine however the most abundant and bio-available source is found concentrated in animal protein. Bovine colostrum has also been scientifically proven to heal a leaky gut, here is a strong study: Co-administration of the health food supplement, bovine colostrum, reduces the acute non-seterodial ant-inflammatory drug-induced increase in intestinal permeability. Clin Sci (Lond). 2001;100(6):627-33. In summary, there may be numerous well researched and strong studies out there on healing the gut through a vegetarian/vegan-based diet and I truly hope that you find them and can use them to support your journey because that is all that matters, your health and well-being and I support you in that journey fully. Thank you Dana.