“I’m sometimes shocked by the way scientists huddle behind closed doors to discuss their important research results without informing the public about them at all. Academic caution is often preferable to premature publication, but fear can also destroy opportunities.”
“While some of us might be sitting around thinking “Nobody cares about me!”, our heart is currently working its seventeen-thousandth twenty-four-hour shift—and would have every right to feel a little forgotten when its owner thinks such thoughts.”
“We humans have known since time immemorial something that science is only now discovering: our gut feeling is responsible in no small measure for how we feel.”
“The gut has not only a remarkable system of nerves to gather all this information, but also a huge surface area. That makes it the body’s largest sensory organ.”
“Looking closer at human beings, it becomes clear that each of us is a world of our own. Our forehead is a breezy meadow, our elbows are arid wastelands, our eyes are salty lakes, and our gut is the most amazing giant forest ever, populated by the weirdest of creatures.”
“More than 95 percent of the world’s bacteria are harmless to humans. Many are extremely beneficial. Disinfectants have no place in a normal household. They are appropriate only if a family member is sick or the dog poops on the carpet.”
“Every day we live and every meal we eat influence the great microbial organ inside us—for better or for worse.”
“Sweetness is not in itself unhealthy, we simply eat only the most unhealthy kind of sweetness.”
“Almost nothing influences our gut bacteria as much as the food we eat. Prebiotics are the most powerful tool at our disposal if we want to support our good bacteria—that is, those that are already there and are there to stay.”
“A stressed nervous system is like a taut bowstring—in a constant state of alertness and sensitive to any external stimulus.”