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The term “Daisy Cutter” makes me think back to high school, when we were learning about the war, bombs, political advertising, and fear mongering.
According to Wikipedia, a Daisy Cutter is a type of fuse designated to detonate an aerial bomb at or above ground level. Basically, it detonates the bomb when it touches the ground or any solid object.
The BLU-82 weapon system was nicknamed “Daisy Cutter” in Vietnam because it could flatten entire sections of forest. Pretty gruesome.
President Lyndon Johnson ran a now-famous television spot in 1964 that changed the way campaigns would promote candidates. The ad depicted a 3-year-old girl as she plucked daisy petals from a field. The ad is described here by Smithsonian Magazine:
On September 7, 1964, a 60-second TV ad changed American politics forever. A 3-year-old girl in a simple dress counted as she plucked daisy petals in a sun-dappled field. Her words were supplanted by a mission-control countdown followed by a massive nuclear blast in a classic mushroom shape. The message was clear if only implicit: Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was a genocidal maniac who threatened the world’s future. Two months later, President Lyndon Johnson won easily, and the emotional political attack ad—visceral, terrifying, and risky—was made.
So when I hear “Daisy Cutter” the first thing that comes to mind is a vicious nuclear bomb. Something meant to just BLOW THINGS UP.
The Immunity Code, a book about peak health, dieting, and supplementation, has created a protocol with the same name: “Daisy Cutter.”
Perhaps the title comes from the goal of the protocol, which is to completely and rapidly recolonize your gut bacteria.
The book says the Daisy Cutter protocol is so intense that it should only be done once a year. In this book, it is suggested to follow the eating regimen for a minimum of one day and a maximum of 7 days at a time. But he says the longer it’s followed, the more progress you will achieve.
According to an interview of the book author did with Ben Greenfield, the Daisy Cutter protocol is “not for the faint of heart — only do it if you’re prepared physically and mentally.”
In fact, he doesn’t recommend that his readers try the Daisy Cutter right away. The book author prefers they start with his “Apple Peels and HMO” protocol and his “Two-Day Core” protocol prior to trying the Daisy Cutter.
“… I would not do that upfront. It's very brutal. The daisy cutter is something to do like kind of once. It's just kind of like a thing you do to prove to yourself how powerful retuning the gut is. And I've gotten a lot of feedback since Ben's original show, most of it, 90% of it is Ben's super positive and people having these astounding results. It's like anything else. There's no 100% solution. Nothing works for everybody. So, there was a 10% where it just didn't work for. But it's a great protocol to get measurable effects by retuning the gut. You'll see massive drops in body fat, your poop stops smelling, it comes out real easy. And so, it's kind of like something that you could do. I would say like it's something that most to do once a year,” the book author told Greenfield on the podcast.
I felt like I was prepared so I decided to try the Daisy Cutter diet protocol for myself this week, to see how I would feel.
The book author says the goal is “massive recolonization overnight.”
The goal he says, is “to prove to yourself how quickly the gut can be totally recolonized.”
The book author writes that his Daisy Cutter diet involves three things:
1. Lots of bulk from cellulose-laden foods like raw green beans
2. Lots of protein
3. Little to no fat
Here is what you need to buy if you want to try the Daisy Cutter diet yourself:
• Egg Whites (amount equivalent to 16-24 eggs)
• Raw Green Beans (amount to fill 1 to 1.5 full dinner plates)
• Onions (optional)
• Capers (optional)
• Pesto (optional)
• Spinach or Kale (enough to a huge salad — mixing bowl size)
• Raw Asparagus
• Raw Cauliflower
• Green Beans
• Bok Choy
• Tomatoes
• Feta Cheese (small amount)
• Chicken Breasts, Tuna, or Turkey
• Garbanzo Beans (to replace the meats if you are vegetarian and the eggs if you are vegan)
• Fat-Free Vinaigrette Salad Dressing
Alright — you’ve done your grocery shopping and it’s the morning of Daisy Cutter Day 1.
BREAKFAST:
• 8 to 12 egg whites (can add thin layer of pesto for flavor)
• ½ to ¾ plate of raw green beans
• Optional: onions and capers
LUNCH:
• Giant spinach or kale salad (big enough to fill a giant mixing bowl)
• Raw broccoli
• Raw cauliflower
• Green beans
• Bok Choy
• Tomatoes
• Feta Cheese (small amount)
• Chicken Breasts, Tuna, Turkey or Garbanzo Beans
• Fat Free Vinaigrette Dressing
DINNER:
• 8 to 12 egg whites (can add thin layer of pesto for flavor)
• ½ to ¾ plate of raw green beans
• Optional: onions and capers
• Note: This is an exact repeat of breakfast
So how did it go for me? Breakfast was not too bad. I ate breakfast at approximately 9:30 a.m. The sheer volume of green beans and eggs was A LOT.
I garnished the eggs with fresh pesto from Wegman’s, which was actually pretty delicious. I ate the green beans raw as instructed.
I did also have about 25 ounces of cold brew coffee with the breakfast and lots of cold water.
Lunch was also manageable. I think it helped that I didn’t eat lunch until 4:00 pm. so I was quite hungry and willing to eat almost anything by that point.
I had some pre-grilled chicken breasts from the day before that were delicious and the dressing helped to make the salad more appetizing. The raw broccoli and raw cauliflower were not … delicious. But they were tolerable.
I despise raw tomatoes so I skipped those and I ran out of time to add the Bok Choy so I skipped that too. But everything else was in my salad and it was quite large.
Dinner was probably the hardest part of the day because I don’t love eating eggs for dinner. Plus, you’re consuming a LOT of eggs. I probably had about 17 eggs during the day of my Daisy Cutter protocol and probably something like 50 to 60 raw green beans, if not more.
Tangibly, I felt more energetic throughout the day and had to do two bowel movements between breakfast and dinner, which was more than usual. Intangibly, I’m assuming there was some change in my gut bacteria.
But overall, I didn’t feel radically different, so the Daisy Cutter protocol was a bit of a let down for me.
By comparison, I felt much stronger results when I followed the Apple Peel and HMO (human milk oligosaccharide) protocol a few months ago. I started with red apple peels each morning for a few days and then added in PureHMO Prebiotic capsules each morning as well. Within just 2-3 days I noticed much healthier bowel movements, more energy, and dramatically less gas.
I do think it’s worth trying the Daisy Cutter diet just to see how it impacts you individually. We all have different baseline diets and baseline gut bacteria compositions. Thus, you never know how a diet will affect one person versus another.
The book believes that food (fiber) is the best way to alter your gut bacteria and theorizes that it is so powerful because of how bulky it is when it moves through your system. The book author uses the analogy of a pipe cleaner to describe the way that food can clear out your system from a 360 degree perspective.
There does not appear to be anything inherently dangerous about the Daisy Cutter protocol. Every food that you are instructed to eat is a natural whole food (save for maybe the pesto and dressing, which are combinations of whole foods, mostly).
I will say, that when I tried another one of the quick-fix diet protocols I had a very strange result. I ate a whole grapefruit and two semi-green bananas for breakfast, for lunch, and for dinner. The book author warned that you may have trouble falling asleep the night after doing this diet, because of how it spikes B-vitamin production. I assumed that he was exaggerating. But lo and behold, it was midnight and then 1:00 a.m. and I still could not fall asleep. I did not feel tired at all. It was truly amazing because usually I fall asleep rather easily and quickly.
So, you can never be sure how your body will react to a sudden and drastic change in diet, but even with that being stated, there is not anything truly unnatural about the foods within the Daisy Cutter protocol.
On page 256 of The Immunity Code cautions that “This is not for anyone with existing gut issues.” He states that the Daisy Cutter is only for those with normal digestion. He admits that it is “not fun” but says it works rapidly.
The book suggests trying the Daisy Cutter for one day at first and then adding an extra day or two depending on how the first day plays out. He does say that the longer you do it, the more powerful the results.
If you have tried the Daisy Cutter protocol and would like to share your results, I’d love to hear about how it went for you. Email me at BeauB@LayerOrigin.com to share your story.
Aging is inevitable, but why do some people age better than others? The answer lies in a mix of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Another key player is the gut microbiome, which might hold the key to longevity and health. Using a review by Ghosh et al. (2022), we explore the role of the gut microbiome in healthy aging, chronic disease development, and strategies to help you age healthily.
