GutWise: Discover the Remarkable Microbiome Living Inside You

by Joy Goodwin

GUTWISE
Discover the Remarkable Microbiome Living Inside YouYour body has changed. But what if understanding why could change the way you look after it?

After sixty, things can feel different. Foods you once ate without a second thought may no longer agree with you. Digestion can become unpredictable. Weight settles differently. Sleep changes. Energy changes. And sometimes the word you want seems to wander off without leaving a forwarding address.

Meanwhile, an extraordinary community has been living inside your digestive system all along.

Welcome to your microbiome.

In GUTWISE, former registered nurse Joy Goodwin takes women over sixty into this hidden world, without frightening you, drowning you in scientific jargon, or promising a miraculous “gut reset.”

You'll

• What your gut microbiome actually is
• How it changes as you grow older
• What your microbes do with the food you eat
• Why fiber isn't simply one thing
• What resistant starch is and why cooling a potato changes it

But this isn't simply a book about digestion.

Your gut is part of a much larger, interconnected body. GUTWISE explores what scientists are discovering about the microbiome and the changes that come with aging.

You'll

• The fascinating two-way conversation between the gut and brain
• Weight, appetite and metabolism after sixty
• Energy and the mitochondria working inside your cells
• Muscle, protein and maintaining strength
• Sleep, movement, stress and your body's daily rhythms

And then we go shopping.

Because eventually all this science has to survive contact with the supermarket.

You'll learn why the front of the packet is advertising and the back is information, and why you don't need expensive “superfoods” to eat well.

You'll learn how

• Read food labels with a more critical eye
• Understand fermented and probiotic foods
• Shop for the life you actually live
• Keep nourishing food available for tired days
• Spend your food budget where it matters

Then we head into the kitchen, with simple recipes and practical ways to use ordinary foods to nourish you and your microbial community.

Because we're feeding the woman too.

There will still be birthdays.

There will still be restaurants.

And there will still be cake.

You won't be told that one meal has destroyed your microbiome or that you must force yourself to eat fermented cabbage because somebody on the internet said it was good for your gut.

Instead, Joy encourages four simple

Read. Question. Observe. Decide.

Her ten years as a registered nurse taught her to observe, notice changes, and look for patterns. Now in her seventies, she brings that same curiosity to her own changing body and the science of the microbiome.

Along the way, you'll learn

• Notice how your own body responds
• Question impressive-sounding health claims
• Recognize when experience gives you a clue rather than proof
• Know when a symptom deserves medical attention
• Make changes that fit your body, budget, and life

There is no perfect microbiome.

There is no single diet every woman over sixty should follow.

And getting older doesn't mean your body has failed.

That isn't damage. That's a life.

GUTWISE is about understanding the remarkable body you're living in now, looking after it intelligently, and then getting on with living in it.

You may even find yourself looking at yesterday's cold potato and

“Well, aren't you interesting?”

Your microbiome has been with you all along. Perhaps it's time you were properly introduced.
Get Your Copy today!

437 pages, Paperback

Published October 5, 2026