Reddit mentions: The best abdominal disorder & diseases books

I was in a somewhat similar situation a few months ago. My Crohn's was "in remission" but I was still having gut cramps. I did strict paleo for awhile and that helped some but didn't completely get rid of my cramping. I found the FODMAP diet online and figured it was worth a try and I was surprised by how much it helped me. I used this book as my guide and it's pretty thorough but not over-the-top crazy like some diet books can be. I had to cook all my meals for myself the first couple weeks to make sure I didn't accidentally eat something that is "not allowed" but now I can be a little less strict and not have bad symptoms. It did take the full two weeks of the elimination diet before I noticed a change in my symptoms so if you don't notice a change immediately it might still help!

The hardest part was cooking without garlic and onion but chives and green onion are decent replacements. For the most part, I base my meals around a typical "paleo" meal with more cooked veggies/potatoes and less meat and I make substitutions for the non-FODMAP friendly foods. I think corn is the only approved food that I have issues with sometimes...I'm pretty lucky in that respect. Of course, don't eat foods that you know don't work for you just because the diet says they're safe! I'm happy to help more if you have questions...just let me know! Best of luck to you and I hope you can find some safe foods.

\> I have no idea what to do with this information. Posting it in hopes of opinions.

Did you doctor not interpret it for you? Kinda weird not to.

Well I'm no expert but from my understanding these are nothing to be worried about. Secretory Iga is not that well validated of a marker. Overgrowth of Bacillus is nothing to get in a sweat over (however Diagnostic Solutions says this: " Common group of gram-positive bacteria in the Firmicutes phylum. Some strains are used as probiotics. High levels may result from reduced digestive function, SIBO, or constipation. ) [You can view the GI MAp interpretation guide here: https://www.diagnosticsolutionslab.com/sites/default/files/u16/GI-MAP-Interpretive-Guide.pdf ]

The only other thing is the zonulin which just tells you that you have leaky gut and not so much as to what/why. Sounds like you already knew that going in.

Moving forward if you have gut symptoms I would go through a good gut healing program with a good practitioner if you can afford it. Otherwise find a good self help protocol to follow (the best I've come across is Dr Ruscio's in his book).

Then again if you have a diagnosis of ME/CFS I might find a good practitioner with good experience treating it (PM me if you want me to send you the info for the best one I've found with 14 years experience and will likely see you remotely).

Lastly you could consider a SIBO test if you haven't already. Good luck. Stay strong :)

Your mom sounds like she loves you both a whole shitton. I think that your mom probably hasn't allowed herself to grieve. Maybe try getting her a book? There's this great book out there called Colitiscope: Living with Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who is coping or any family member. It's not only funny as hell, but it's really useful for pulling someone out of a funk. It's honest and real.

Also, don't worry about your boyfriend. I've dated guys who could handle it and guys who couldn't and the ones who can, are okay with it. They can manage it just fine. :) He's with you for a reason! Also, you have to remember that there are probably many things that you do for him that would drive other people. Your "issue" may be a lot more public than many others, but I am certain he has his own as well.

I know exactly what you mean. I've been depressed in the past, and it was really bad. I am going to suggest therapy again, because it's actually pretty helpful. I didn't want to go for the longest time, but when I finally did, I could've hit myself. It was like, "Why didn't I do this before?!"

Yeah, I would much prefer my un-healthy colon and pretty okay life to prison... :D I think you win there!

Your last sentence is something everyone should read. Define your life and go live it!

There are certain strains of bacteria that help with constipation symptoms. I just did a quick google search and found this link (which seems to be helpful) http://www.constipationexperts.co.uk/blog/2014/08/best-probiotics-for-constipation.html I would do some more research on this of your own before you buy a probiotic.

With probiotics, the more strains generally the better, because a more diverse microbiome leads to overall better health and immunity.

Also, try to get the highest CFU that you can. That's the number of bacterial cells in each unit.

If you're not seeing results after a couple weeks, I'd suggest upping your dosage by 2-3x. Once you've re-established a good colony in your gut, you can take "maintenance" dosage of 1x/day. It may take awhile before you reach that point though.

Another way to get good bacteria in your body is to consume kombucha, kefir, or other raw fermented foods like sauerkraut every day.

Hit it from all angles and get as many different types of bacteria in your body, and slowly increase your fiber and water intake, and you should hopefully see some relief within a few weeks!

I would also HIGHLY recommend checking out this book The Microbiome Solution, it's extremely helpful and contains a lot of great information about healing your gut for the long term.

For acne usually you have to do hardcore lifestyle changes. The video from "acneanswers" seems promising, i haven't seen it all though.

In general for acne you should:

• Take care of your digestion, this book is awesome: Digestive wellness
  
• Another overall health book i really like is this: The Ultramind solution
  
• In general avoid dairy products and foods high in glycemic index.
  
• For start these are enough, if you finish the above books then you will find your way by yourself ;)
  
  About dermabrasion and microdermabrasion, in a few worlds:
  
  
• Demrabrasion is for deeper scars and if performed by a VERY good and experienced in this procedure physician can have great results.
  
• Microdermabrasion is for thinner scars, it is has lower risk for complications but still an experienced and well trained physician is needed.
  
• You can find many reviews around the web, check http://realself.com.
  
  I think you have lot of homework to do xD
  Good Luck
  
  PS: These books are gold, read them!
  

Hey, it's not as hard as it looks at first, although it is tough. Do yourself a favor and spend a few bucks on Dr. Suskind's book, here.

It has a great section of meal plans and recipes for all the stages, and how to monitor your progress. It's super helpful.

As for the intro, I stayed away from dairy, and just ate blended apple sauce, bone broth, eggs, soft ground beef, and gradually added in the yogurt, and slowly expanded from there. Good luck!

*sigh

I guess this keeps going.

In my field, I always like to check the opposing view of what I've been taught and what is standard dogma.

I work for a company that makes nutritional supplements. Fish oils are huge. So when I come across something like this I dive right in with an open mind. Same with fiber supplements and so this becomes very interesting. Linus Pauling is derided as a loon? I guess I'll read Linus Pauling then, he won two Nobel prizes back when they meant something and his work is in text books for chemistry and biology. (Take your vitamin C, btw - weak collagen is aging and cardiovascular disease.)

I'm a contrarian and that's how I find the truth. This also helps by Christian faith. It's just how I operate.

So when I say gravity could be wrong (and I include incomplete in that) as an example, it means that I'm open to it being wrong because our understanding very well could be incorrect or incomplete. And this is what smart physics people (like Tesla) believe as well. How else does a field advance to the truth? It gets wobbly standing on the shoulders of mere men.

And you're still doing the atheist quoting thing. Yeah, well* YOU SAID:

You can quote me until you're blue in the face. Mankind's understanding of how things interact and fall and attract is evolving. Maybe gravity is wrong, maybe it's a secondary force to something more fundamental, maybe the virtues are holding everything up and pushing them around. I don't know. But if my bible said it was the virtues, then the virtues it is.

You could watch whatever you want on YouTube, it's a good medium for ideas and things. Try this, but make sure you have adblock, my new favourite: https://youtube.com/watch?v=t_W12HoHKJs

Oh buddy, I understand and just hate that feeling that doctors aren't really on your team. Or that they will throw treatments at you but don't take your quality of life seriously as an important part of your concerns. You should absolutely keep your appointments and keep working with specialists, but I have to say that a lot of the big leaps forward I have made have been self directed. If you haven't tried the low-FODMAP diet yet, you can start right now, this instant! So many people on here have had amazing success with it. It doesn't cure IBS, but the degree of relief is worth the hassle. I'd say the only caveat is that if you need to get tested for celiac disease that you shouldn't cut out wheat yet, but if that isn't a concern then you don't need to wait to ask your doctor. I can't even say how much this book helped me http://www.amazon.com/Digestive-Health-REAL-Food-Anti-Inflammatory/dp/0988717204. The elimination diet is very strict for a few weeks, transitioning into low-FODMAP, but the biggest leap forward I have had was when I buckled down and followed this protocol.

Does your insurance let you self-refer? I had a difficult time making that call as well, but I was able to refer myself for therapy and I actually have one regular therapist and one who specializes in IBS. Neither of these are a cure, but have helped me navigate this experience of being chronically sick.

Anyway, I am just so sorry you are having a frustrating time right now and I want to give you hope that there are some things in your power to do for yourself as well as waiting for help from your doctor.

Oh lord. Increasing fiber is excellent advice for most people. Unless the fibers you're eating are causing overgrowth of gut microbes. It's the overgrowth that causes problems -- think fermenting beer or rising bread dough: lots of gas is produced. Plus if the microbe colonies in your gut get too large they pull fluid into your intestines, causing loose stools, you get the picture. Why this happens for some people with some fibers isn't clear yet, but we can at least treat it.

Huge disclaimer here that I'm not your doctor, I don't know your weight or diet history.. and there are some situations where I wouldn't recommend this because it can be triggering for anyone with a history of eating disorders and it would be a bad idea if you are low weight, but look up FODMAPs if they haven't had you try it yet.

The key point is that it is not a diet you stay on forever, it's just a trial to see which particular starches are causing your problem, and how much of them you can tolerate. It's supported by lots of studies in the medical literature. The first week or so is a full elimination, and if that doesn't give you relief, stop the trial because the problem is somewhere else. If it does give you relief, the best book for a good explanation of how to do the full protocol is here:

https://www.amazon.com/IBS-Change-Carbs-FODMAP-Elimination/dp/0982063520/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

I know, the title sounds like some fad diet book or something, but the author is a professional RD and GI stuff is her specialty, it actually is a very high-quality and thorough guide.

The other thing I was thinking of.. if you're have a lot of bowel movements a day, we see that in people with insufficient pancreatic enzymes. I've seen it in particular with patients after partial removal of the pancreas, when doctors forget to prescribe supplemental enzymes. Basically, your pancreas secretes enzymes into your small intestine that help digest the food you eat. If for some reason you're not producing enough, or there's a blockage so the enzymes aren't getting into the intestines (common in cystic fibrosis) doctors can provides the enzymes in pill form to take with your meals.

But this is really rare. The IBS stuff is faaar more likely so I would try the FODMAP trial first.

There was a Russian doctor who made the case the fiber in our diets isn't the panacea it's been made out to be and wrote a book. I haven't read it, but have read some of his online comments and he makes some good points. I think the fiber = good thing simply got popularized without much scrutiny as these things often do and the media took off with it. My diet is high in fats (butter especially), animal fats in particular, eggs, fish, meat and veggies with some carbs and almost no sugars. My weight is proportional to my height with a BMI of 24.4.

https://www.amazon.com/Fiber-Menace-Constipation-Hemorrhoids-Ulcerative/dp/0970679645

No worries. My post about my pee smelling sweet was hilarious.

I started an elimination diet with the help of this book https://www.amazon.com/dp/0988717204/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_038vzbNHJX37A

Typical meals for me right now: eggs, coconut oil, meat, avocado

Fish/chicken, carrots, olive oil. Almost always have a can of sardines with this meal

A smoothie with full fat coconut milk, hemp seeds, sunflower seed butter, cocoa butter, trace minerals (by Morningstar minerals), frozen raspberries & ice

This site has some good info on why special low carb diets help IBS&IBD http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info

Hey. Welcome to the UC club. I to have just been diagnosed. The blood comes and goes for me. There is a fair bit of research in to food and IBS however not so many links with IDB. However I am specifically trying something called low FODMAP diet. There is a lot of research and independent studies backing it up and it isn’t that restrictive (apart from onions, no onions).
I’m also keeping a food and symptom diary on an app called Cara hoping to find a link.


The books I’m using are.
The Complete Low FODMAP Diet

The Complete Low FODMAP Diet Cookbook

FODMAP Navigator

Have a look the diet may be useless or it may work wonders. Everybody is different. Take care and good luck.

Please get this book. It radically changed how I deal with the disease. I hope it helps you too.

https://www.amazon.com/Self-Healing-Colitis-Crohns-3rd/dp/0971752648

I'd say find a Dr. in your area that takes the problem seriously and won't do the "all in your head" nonsense. There are a lot of good Doctors out there,but as they say, you might have to kiss a lot of toads to find the prince Doctor.
I've been fortunate in this regard.


Conquering Irritable Bowel Syndrome
by Nicholas J. Talley is a good book to read to understand stuff.
He also has excellent lectures on You Tube.

Indeed The Second Brain is a fascinating read on this topic.

Most of the body's serotonin is created in the gut. Even stranger, the colon, like the brain, has its own internal nervous system.

It sounds like you're dealing with a lot. :( All this pain and struggle can certainly take it's toll.

The truth is, no diet is really going to eliminate all of your symptoms (if there was such a diet...we'd all be on it!). It's more about finding a diet that helps a bit and fits your lifestyle. Every day is a new day; every meal an experiment.

I did a very strict FODMAPS diet for a few months, and while it didn't help with many of my symptoms (ibs-d), it certainly eliminated the pain and gassiness for me. I didn't fart for like three months. It was ... weirdly amazing.

That being said, it sounds like you have a lot of things going on. I wouldn't get your heart set on the idea that a FODMAPS diet will cure you, because it probably won't. But, it may help your symptoms.

I based my diet on the info found in this book: http://www.amazon.com/IBS-Change-Carbs-FODMAP-Elimination/dp/0982063520/

Like rootyb said, most likely an irritation. It might also depend on your fat intake, too much too quickly and it will cause this problem, and if you go way too far you'll throw up (you know how I know that?! lol)

You might want to check out fiber menace, I know /r/keto and /r/paleo say fiber is OK but I am not so sure, but this book is by no means perfect, read the reviews for reasons why.

"Consciousness" is a very complex subject.

This might be a bit of a narrow example, and a specialist could elaborate more, but I would like to direct you to the enteric nervous system, which consists of one hundred million neurons and many of the same neurotransmitters that are found in our brain, including the usual suspects associated with our mood/consciousness (serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine).

The wiki mentions that the enteric nervous system has been described as a "second brain", which I believe is referencing this book by Dr. Michael Gershon, chairman of the department of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia University.

The seat of our consciousness appears quite layered. I would love to hear the thoughts of a deafblind individual on this topic.

I haven't read that many, but these two, I like:

• http://www.amazon.com/150-Healthiest-Foods-Earth-Surprising-ebook/dp/B004R1PZL2
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Starts-Food-Discover-Whole30-Unexpected-ebook/dp/B008C20TDG
  
  And although not specifically about nutrition, this one's in my to-read list:
  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000R4FGP8

It is a fascinating subject. There has been quite a lot of research done into the gut, If you want to read more about this, I recommend reading The Second Brain: A Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous Disorders of the Stomach and Intestine

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060930721/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_HkH0xbGK6Z1XK

This is a good start... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0970679645/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0970679645&linkCode=as2&tag=zchealth-20&linkId=6SJ35PICOCRHWG6C

I went complete carnivore on Jan 2nd, 0 fiber or vegetables since then and have 0 issues with bathroom habits, bloating, etc. Fiber is not necessary for a healthy, normal functioning digestive system.

It is a dollar as kindle version.

http://www.amazon.com/Fiber-Menace-Constipation-Hemorrhoids-Ulcerative/dp/0970679645

I do not know about conspiracy.

But the book is solid and lists the studies.

Yeah I think for me it's probably a mix of both. There's a book about your gut being your second brain...found it...https://www.amazon.com/Second-Brain-Groundbreaking-Understanding-Disorders/dp/0060930721...which I should probably read one day.

I used to get heartburn on some of my runs, especially if I ran at night. I made some diet changes, and it has gone away almost completely. No meds needed. This book was really helpful to me: https://www.amazon.com/Heartburn-Digestion-Surprising-Explained-Clinically-ebook/dp/B007WZHCWK

For years, I had considerable cystic acne as an adult.

I went to specialist and most treatments suggested were topical or steroid based. I then went to see a naturopath and once I straightened out my gut health (mostly via nutrition) it completely went away.

I followed the protocol in this book, it was invaluable for me: https://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Gut-You-Personalized-Transform-ebook/dp/B078ZLMRCL

The Second Brain should answer a lot of your questions.

I don't think they do..

I personally don't eat any fiber.

http://www.amazon.com/Fiber-Menace-Constipation-Hemorrhoids-Ulcerative/dp/0970679645

Relevant book: fiber menace.

My son was diagnosed with FPIES after having a severe vomiting episode. We had just switched pediatricians, and our new one told us to go to the ER for fear of his blood sugar bottoming out. The ER treated us like shit and said the issue was a stomach bug, despite of telling them our doctor said to come.

Regardless, FPIES does not have a test and what triggers it for one baby does not do it for another.

Not all pediatricians have heard of it, same for pediatric allergists. Our original pediatrician didn't care and just kept pushing medications down our sons throat. Our new one, who has experience with FPIES determined it by that trip to the ER based on symptoms that sent us there.

This book has been extremely helpful The FPIES Handbook

I know, I know. It goes against everything we've ever been told. Big shocker! Here ya go.

Yes. Yes I have. That book is ridiculous. It only recommends Omega-3 and some stupid turmeric juice. I highly doubt if the author has really gone through the brain fog we experience.
If you wanna read a book that is written by someone who really knows this issue, then this one is https://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Gut-You-Personalized-Transform-ebook/dp/B078ZLMRCL/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?keywords=heal+your+gut+ebook&qid=1557895172&s=gateway&sr=8-6

" You need fiber to stay healthy."

Unlikely. Fiber doesn't have any essential amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, or minerals. Dirt has more nutrients.

http://www.amazon.com/Fiber-Menace-Constipation-Hemorrhoids-Ulcerative/dp/0970679645/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1250051002&sr=8-16

All of the necessary vitamins are available in animal products and in fact more bioavailable in them.

I am familiar with Brock's diet/story. The (LIBERAL! jk, i consider myself liberal or at least progressive) media may tell us that Brock got diverticulitis because he didn't eat his veggies. They also tell us that we should be eating 7 servings of grains a day and 5 servings of fruit. I was diagnosed with intestinal issues when I was on a diet high in veggies. Since I cut them out no problems.

Vegetables are not necessary for a healthy diet. They can be an effective antidote/medicine if you are eating other stuff that you shouldn't be eating. And fiber is only necessary if you are constantly plugging yourself up with constipating foods.

http://highsteaks.com/do-you-need-veggies-to-be-healthy-a-response-to-marks-daily-apple-caveat-vegor/

http://www.amazon.com/Fiber-Menace-Constipation-Hemorrhoids-Ulcerative/dp/0970679645

A New IBS Solution: Bacteria-The Missing Link in Treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome Paperback – May 15, 2006
by Mark Pimentel (Author)

https://www.amazon.com/New-IBS-Solution-Bacteria-Irritable/dp/0977435601

The top answer by Anodynephilm is wrong.

Your digestive system has a complex nervous system that acts as a "second brain" It seems more likely that your feeling is a negative emotional association with that system that is perceived your somatasensory cortex, causing the undesirable feeling.

Sources:
The Second Brain
Digestive Intelligence
Damasio's books on feelings as perceptions of internal body changes.

If there is any support for the claim about blood leaving the stomach, please cite it and I'll stand corrected.

IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion, so not really a diagnosis at all since it doesn't say what you have as much as it says what is happening. IBS has historically and still is often seen by well-meaning physicians as 80% psychological. What were starting to understand is that there's a much higher chance that the anxiety and depression that are associated with IBS are probably caused by the same disorder that causes IBS and this changes gut Flora. IANAD buttttttt Drs are horrible at doing the differential Dx for this.

Look at Mark Pimentel's book

A New IBS Solution: Bacteria-The Missing Link in Treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome https://www.amazon.com/dp/0977435601/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7jXRDbBT923K8

Also. I'm serious. I've had IBS for 14 years. The food diary along with a structured food elimination diet may change things. Oh and a fecal transplant. Sounds gross because it is, but it's the #1 cure for C-diff according to best practices. It's just never done because it makes people go eww.

>This is a really bad faith argument. Coercion is between individuals or groups, not between non sentient things and forces of nature or one's own bodily functions and your conscious mind. This is a pretty bad form of reductionism.

Only for people ignore the complexity of sentience, and the murky neurology behind "conscious will" and subconscious action. We have loads of evidence illustrating what you perceive as free will, is merely your conscious mind explaining the actions of one of those "non-sentient" things that forced you to take an action. It just happens so fast you believe you had some control over it. (In reality, your "conscious" mind is mostly for training those parts of your brain to act in a certain way, rather than actually making decisions in the moment.)

Also--reductionist eh? Oh, I thought we were identifying basic elements of coercion in society, isn't it pretty important to identify the fact that coercion stems from actions that are not consciously derived?

>Don't cut yourself on that edge.

Go on and wake up tomorrow and decide you don't want to eat anymore. See how that works out for you. You tell me what its called when you're racked with pain from cramps because the symbiotic organisms through your intestines are producing a response that is coercing you through pain. Yes, that's right--you literally exist with organisms which are not human, but are essential to life--and they coerce you toward certain actions EVERY day.

Your gut, in fact, is often called the second brain--because it has tons of neurons, which developed in order to communicate with these coercive and beneficial organisms. Here is an 'edgy' book written by a bunch of edgy doctors.

Every day you fight entropy to maintain a system pulled toward dysfunction. The physics of the Universe coerce you....The very nature of life is coercive. There is nothing edgy about that, it is simply reality.

>What should I expect and are there horrible side effects?

What you should expect:

NNT is "number needed to treat," or the number of people who need to take a drug for one person to derive benefit. The lower this number, the better; for really good drugs (like antibiotics to treat stomach ulcers), the number is 1.1. For really shitty drugs, like some statins, the number is higher than 200; some drugs have an NNT of infinity: they don't actually work.

For Remicade, the NNT for Crohn's is about 3 (see page 12) in the short run. Long-term data are confusing; nobody really knows (except the drug companies, who would probably release this data if it were good for them). For Humira, it's about 7, with a range of 5 to 8. This means 2/3rds of patients taking Remicade will not achieve remission within 10 weeks, as defined by a CDAI of under 150. For Humira, your changes are between 12.5% and 20% of achieving remission.

In terms of risk, both drugs are given black box warnings for their side effects, which may include liver damage, infections (bacterial, viral, and fungal, including tuberculosis), demyelinating diseases, cardiac failure, lupus, lymphoma, blood disorders, etc. You will be required to sign a piece of paper that states you understand these risks, although I seriously doubt anyone will spend much time elaborating upon them prior to asking you to sign it. If you care to trouble your healthcare provider with elaborating upon the risk of developing, say, an opportunistic fungal infection like coccidioidomycosis or histoplasmosis, they will probably roll their eyes.

That said, thousands of people take these drugs every week, and none of these horrible side effects occur to them. But they do happen, and that's why the box warning is such a strong one: these drugs can kill you.

Also note that if you must discontinue TNF drugs, your body may form antibodies; these would make it less likely to be effective if you were to re-start them at some future point in time. Your body may form antibodies to these drugs, causing them to stop working suddenly even if you don't discontinue them.

Humira and Remicade are both the "heavy hitters" for colitis. They are very serious and extremely expensive drugs that should be given weighted consideration prior to starting them. They are big moneymakers for the drug companies, so the pharma reps sell them hard. Compare with un-sexy modalities like enteral nutrition, which works 50-70% of the time to induce remission (source: Oppenheimer, in her Beat Crohn's! book), and have no drug reps.

The title here is misleading... "ancient"???

Michael Gershon writes about his neurogastroenterological findings in "The Second Brain: A Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous Disorders of the Stomach and Intestine"

an Article here


Taoist healing may be where OP gets "ancient" from.
The following Taoist healing philosophy explains the Three Minds

(Smiling to the Second Brain)

It my own experiecne I have found my intestines becoming more sensitive to sugas and milk products against the will of my upper brain.
The argument here is also that we get diarrhea when scared worried or nervous, other autonomic responses to emotional states! do feed back

While not all Crohn's-specific, these are some that have helped me:

• Living with the Bully of Crohn's Disease - this book is anecdotal but has been the most helpful to me on how to deal with the emotional component
  
• Chronic Resilience
  
• Sick and Tired of Feeling Sick and Tired
  
• The Second Brain - this one is really more about the workings of the digestive system which was educational for me
  
  I would recommend NOT reading The Man Who Couldn't Eat, unless you want to scare the crap out of yourself. It was horrific.