What Traditional Food Systems in Yunnan Teach Us About Health
This article is a practical travel reflection written from Shenzhen after a trip to Yunnan. The “official” reason for the visit is…
How Urban Agriculture Can Combat Hidden Hunger
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Re-making My Gbiota Beds (Update)
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The Gbiota Project: Rebalancing Diet, Soil, and Gut Biology
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Principles of a Gbiota Bed: Building Living Soil for Gut Health
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Personal Motives Behind the Gbiota Project
Chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart attacks, and strokes cause enormous personal suffering and place the greatest strain on modern health systems.…
Diabetes Updates: What Monitoring, Stress, and Exercise Teach Us
Two new diabetes articles are now available, covering both the scientific evidence for reversal and the practical steps to achieve it. Diabetes…
The Sad Tale of Reversing Diabetes: Why the Message Still Isn’t Landing
Diabetes does not have to be a one-way path to worsening health. The newer model is simple: fat build-up can block insulin…
Yangtou Village Diabetes Farm Stay: Operating Plan
Type 2 diabetes is now so common that the standard medical system is overloaded. A farm-stay retreat model can help by teaching…
Soil vs Dirt: Why Soil Biology Matters for Wicking Beds
Older soil science focused on sand, silt, clay, and nutrients like NPK. Modern soil science adds the missing piece: biology. Biology is…
Gbiota Retreats for Reversing Type 2 Diabetes
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Honest Food for Metabolic Control and Preventing Diabetes
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Gbiota Thinking: The Path to Restore Gut Health
Modern nutrition advice keeps changing, yet obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, and dementia keep rising. That tells us the problem is not…
From Wicking Beds to Gbiota Beds: The Food Strategy
For many years, simple wicking beds helped people grow food during drought and hardship. Since then, the world has changed. We now…
Reversing Diabetes and Gut Biota: A Practical Refuge Model
Type 2 diabetes is no longer seen as a one-way decline. The core issue is not “burnt out” pancreas cells, but fat…
Fixing Diabetes: Food, Rights, and a Practical Community Plan
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Health From Food Using Modernised Traditional Agriculture
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Phytonutrients: Why Living Soil Makes Food Taste Better
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Joining the Gbiota Club: Purpose, Rules, and How It Works
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How Sugar Blockers and Baby Greens Improve Gut Health
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New Food: Why Modern Diets Are Making Us Sick
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The Food Revolution: Rebuilding Soil, Food, and Health in Society
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Gbiota Club Aims & Code of Conduct: Growing Food for Gut Health
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Sugar Blockers and Baby Greens: Natural Control of Blood Sugar and Appetite
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Food for Health: Rebuilding Health Through Soil, Biology, and Community
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Join the Gbiota Club
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Questions and Answers: Practical Wicking Bed Advice
This question and answer article brings together real conversations between growers and Colin Austin, addressing the most common practical issues faced when…
The Simple Mechanics Behind Climate Change: Why Global Warming Is Not a Mystery
Climate change is often presented as complex and mysterious, yet the basic physics behind it has been understood for more than two…
Adapting to Climate Change Through Water, Soil, and Biological Systems
Climate change and water scarcity are no longer future risks; they are present realities that demand practical, system-level responses. This article explores…
WickiMix: Turning Organic Waste into Living Soil Through Biology
WickiMix is a biologically active soil regeneration system designed to convert waste organic material into living, fertile soil. It works by combining…
Climate Change and Al Gore
This article reflects on the global impact of Al Gore’s work on climate change, particularly his film An Inconvenient Truth. It argues…
“We’re Not Running Out of Water?” — Politics and Queensland’s Drying Future
This article examines the tension between political reassurance and scientific reality in Queensland’s water debate. While confident public statements may calm concern…
Queensland Water Restrictions: Why an Arid Climate Needs Arid Solutions
South East Queensland is often described as being in water crisis, yet the real issue is not a lack of rainfall but…
Why Water Tanks Matter: Rethinking the Marsden Report and Short-Term Water Policy
The debate over water security often suffers from short-term economic thinking that ignores long-term risk, climate change, and system resilience. The discussion…
Climate Change, Drought and Water Supply
With dam levels falling and water security under threat, many people are asking whether current shortages are simply part of Australia’s natural…
Global Warming and Government Policy
This article examines the contrast between Australia’s increasingly proactive water policy and the far less convincing response to global warming. While there…
The Howard Turnbull Water Plan
This article reflects on the Howard Turnbull Water Plan for the Murray–Darling Basin and places it in the wider context of Australia’s…
Queensland’s Water Crisis and the 2006 State Election
In the lead-up to the 2006 Queensland State Election, water emerged as one of the biggest public concerns. This short update explains…
The Doctor and the Water Crisis: How Local Solutions Can End a Man-Made Shortage
This article explains why the so-called water crisis is largely man-made and how communities can manage water successfully using simple, local technologies.…
An Independent Water Think Tank: Innovation, Creativity, and the Future of Water
This page introduces an independent water “think tank” focused on innovation rather than politics or commercial interests. It explains why water management…
Watropy: The Paradigm Shift in Water Thinking
Watropy is a simple but powerful idea: water has value not only by volume, but by how long it stays useful. In…
The Phantom Water Crisis
“The Phantom Water Crisis” argues that the so-called water crisis is not mainly caused by a lack of rain, but by how…
Wanted: Regenerative Farmers to Grow Food for Health, Soil, and Climate
This announcement is a call to regenerative farmers who want to grow food that supports real human health while restoring soil and…
News from China: Scaling Wicking Beds for Food Security and Climate Action
This update explains the progress of international work to scale wicking bed technology as a practical response to food insecurity and climate…
BioPack: Rebuilding Living Soil Through Biology, Fungi, and Practical Regeneration
BioPack is a simple, practical way to rebuild tired or degraded soils by reintroducing the biology that creates fertile structure. Each BioPack…
A Sustainable World: Why Pragmatic Climate Action Matters More Than Perfect Solutions
Building a sustainable world is not just about cutting emissions. It is also about feeding a growing and increasingly affluent global population…
How Agriculture Can Capture Carbon and Help Resolve Climate Change
This research summary explains a practical, large-scale way to mitigate climate change by changing agriculture. The core idea is simple: plants already…
Queensland Floods — What Role Does Climate Change Play?
The Queensland floods of 2010–2011 raised a hard question: was this simply another natural flood, or a sign of a changing climate?…
Scaling Wicking Beds: Large-Scale Adoption for Food, Water, and Climate Resilience
Wicking beds are usually seen as a backyard method, but they can also be scaled up to deliver major public benefits: more…
About This Site: Soil, Water, and the Search for Sustainable Solutions
This article explains the origins and purpose of this site. Colin Austin outlines how severe soil loss in Australia led him to…
Why I Run This Site
This article explains why this site exists and what it is trying to achieve. Colin Austin reflects on his personal motivations, his…
Carbon Capture in Soil: Why Humus Matters More Than Total Carbon
Capturing carbon in soil is often described as a simple fix for climate change and poor soils, but it is not that…
Technology and Politics of Soil Carbon
This article explains why Kyoto-style carbon rules have struggled, and why soil carbon needs a different approach. Colin Austin argues that soil…
Resolving Climate Change III — How Science Can Fail Us
This article explains why climate change is real and urgent, yet so hard to solve. Colin Austin argues that modern “reductionist” science…
Resolving Climate Change II — The Eco-Corporation Model
This article argues that climate change is not only an environmental issue but an organisational and economic one. Colin Austin proposes that…
Resolving Climate Change I — How Innovation Can Help
We are not winning the climate change war. Emissions continue to rise, targets have been shaped by politics rather than physics, and…
The Waterright Philosophy 4: From Subsurface Experiments to Microflood and Wicking Beds
In the mid-1990s, Colin Austin asked a simple question: are there better ways of applying water? Horticulture had become more efficient, but…
Irrigation Publications and Technical Guides
This downloads page provides access to key Waterright resources on water, irrigation efficiency, and practical solutions for growing food with limited water.…
How Microflood Improves Flood Irrigation Efficiency and Crop Yield
Microflood is a practical irrigation upgrade that turns traditional flood irrigation into a far more efficient system. It was recognised internationally with…
Solving the Water Crisis Video Series
The “Solving the Water Crisis” video series shares Colin Austin’s search for practical answers to the global water crisis. What began as…
Water Wit and Wisdom: How Innovation Can Solve Australia’s Water Crisis
Water Wit and Wisdom steps back from technical debates about water and instead examines how we think about water. It explores why…
The Waterright Philosophy 1: Soil Regeneration Through Water and Biology
The Waterright philosophy grew from practical experience rather than theory. Faced with severely degraded soil on an old goat farm, Colin Austin…
The Future of Food Growing: Water-Efficient Food Growing for a Changing Climate
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The Wicking Bed Basket Scheme For Healthy Food
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Publications And Topics On Water, Soil, And Irrigation
This page lists Colin Austin’s publications across water, irrigation scheduling, salinity, soil, climate change, and practical farm innovation. It includes books, manuals,…
Regenerating Soil Using Improved Flood Irrigation
This article explores how improved flood irrigation and wicking-based systems can regenerate soil, reduce water loss, and restore soil biology under increasing…
Water for Food: How Wicking Beds Build Climate-Resilient Agriculture With Less Water
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Soil Carbon, Climate Change And Solutions For Australia: A Scalable Path Beyond Kyoto
Kyoto is now decades old, yet atmospheric carbon continues to rise. This submission argues that the real issue is not talk, taxes,…
Water And Soil References: Books, Research Links, And Sources
This page brings together key references that shaped the WaterRight and soil regeneration thinking, plus a large set of web links collected…
Colin Austin Part 2: A Life Of Innovation In Water, Soil, And Sustainable Systems
Colin Austin is an engineer, inventor, and founder of Moldflow, a software company that helped shift plastics mould design from “gut feel”…
Colin Austin: A Life of Innovation in Water, Soil, and Sustainable Systems
This article tells the story of Colin Austin, an Australian engineer and innovator whose work spans advanced computer modelling, irrigation reform, soil…
Wicking Beds: How Underground Water Storage Changed the Way We Grow Food
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Droughtproofing in Ethiopia: Low-Cost Irrigation Lessons for a Water-Scarce World
This article describes a practical droughtproofing project developed in Ethiopia to address food insecurity during severe drought. Invited by World Vision to…
Micro Flood Irrigation: A Low-Cost Manual For Using Water Better
Micro flood irrigation is a simple, low-cost way to deliver water to plants without chronic under-watering or over-watering. It was designed to…
Making the Most of Water: How Irrigation Scheduling Improves Crop Growth and Saves Water
Making the most of water is not about applying more or less by guesswork. It is about understanding how plants respond to…
Irrigation Scheduling: Measure Water Use, Control Irrigation Depth, Grow Better Crops
Irrigation scheduling is one of the cheapest ways to save water and improve plant growth. It is not just about avoiding wilt.…
WaterRight Irrigation Scheduling: Use Irrigation Depth and Evaporation to Save Water
WaterRight is a practical way to schedule irrigation using two simple measurements: how far water penetrates into the soil (irrigation depth) and…
Adaptive Irrigation Scheduling: An Easy Way to Stop Wasting Water
Poor irrigation scheduling is one of the biggest drivers of wasted water, and it can also cause environmental harm. Traditional “scientific” methods…
Anticipatory Irrigation Scheduling: Using Evaporation, Soil Depth, and Rainfall to Save Water
Anticipatory irrigation is a practical and commonsense way to use water better by working with rainfall, evaporation, and soil behaviour rather than…
The Gbiota Philosophy 2: Irrigation Scheduling That Saves Water
Poor irrigation scheduling is one of the biggest hidden causes of wasted water and reduced plant growth. Many growers apply too much…
The Gbiota Philosophy 4: Local Water Harvesting in Australia
Australia is often described as a dry continent facing inevitable water shortages, yet the reality is far more complex. On a per-person…
Irrigation Scheduling Using Crop Factors and Soil Water Holding Capacity
Good irrigation is not guesswork. It is about matching water supply to what your plants actually use, and what your soil can…
00 and the Soil Princess: A Story About Soil, Power, and Survival
This story blends fiction, politics, soil science, and water management into a single narrative that challenges how the world values its most…
Soil Maker: A Practical System for Rapid Soil Regeneration Using Biology and Water
Healthy soil is the foundation of food, nutrition, and long-term resilience. Yet much of the world’s soil is being degraded faster than…
Water Salinity Solutions For Australia: Flushing Salt, Smarter Irrigation, Better Policy
Australia’s water debate is not only about drought. It is also about salt. Each year, millions of tonnes of salt are mobilised…
Micro-Flood Irrigation: A Low-Cost Way to Use Water Better
Micro Flood looks like old-fashioned flood irrigation, yet it can behave very differently. By splitting a long bay into short “micro blocks”…
Water, Soil, and Irrigation Publications: Two Decades of Innovation and Research
This page brings together a chronological overview of publications that document a long-term exploration of water, soil, irrigation, and sustainability. Spanning more…
Solving the Water Crisis: Why Australia Has Plenty of Rain but Still Runs Out of Water
This article introduces the Solving the Water Crisis DVD series, a practical and challenging exploration of how we think about water in…
Water, Salinity, and Irrigation Reform in Australia: Technology, Policy, and the Missing Link
This article explains why Australia’s real water crisis is not only drought, but salinity and soil sodification caused by how irrigation water…
Lessons for Australia: Rethinking Irrigation, Water Efficiency, and Basin Rehabilitation
Australia faces many of the same water challenges seen in parts of Africa, including unreliable rainfall, water scarcity, and recurring drought. This…
Sustainable Irrigation and Salinity: How Water Management Can Secure Our Future
This summary draws on lessons from the long history of irrigation to explain why many irrigation societies have failed and what can…
Innovative Solutions to the Water Crisis
This article explores a practical, innovation-led approach to solving water scarcity. It traces how unconventional research methods led from early engineering work…
Solving Australia’s Water Crisis: Why Systems, Not Rainfall, Are Failing Us
Australia is often described as “the driest inhabited continent”, yet the raw facts point to a different problem: we receive substantial rainfall…
Minister’s Reply on Water Reform and Water-Saving Innovation (2006)
In May 2006, Malcolm Turnbull MP replied to Colin Austin’s letter about Australia’s water policy and new technologies to harvest more rain.…
Innovative Water-Saving Technologies: A Practical Path Beyond Dams and Drought
This article summarises Colin Austin’s practical, innovation-driven approach to Australia’s water challenge. It explains why “competence research” often produces incremental gains, while…
Dear Malcolm: Proposal to Help Solve Australia’s Water Crisis
This short letter sets out a straightforward problem and a practical next step. Australia receives an enormous volume of rainfall overall, yet…
Eco-Village Accommodation In Queensland: Heritage Stay At Kookaburra Park
Looking for a slower, healthier way to live (even if only for a week)? Kookaburra Park Eco Village offers a calm heritage…
Micro Flood Irrigation: A Practical Way to Grow More With Less Water
Micro flood irrigation is a low-cost, high-efficiency way to water plants without the usual problems of under-watering, over-watering, salinity build-up, and nutrient…
The Realities of Global Warming: Why Soil Carbon and Water-Smart Farming Matter
Global warming is a risk we cannot afford to “wait and see” about. Even if we reduce emissions, fast-growing economies and a…
Global Warming: Are We Missing the Biggest Carbon Opportunity?
Global warming is usually framed as a problem of reducing human emissions, yet this overlooks the far larger natural carbon cycle. Man-made…
Global Warming and Soil Carbon: Practical Actions Communities Can Take Today
Global warming is no longer an abstract or distant issue. The real challenge is practical: what can individuals, communities, and farmers do…
Response to Green Paper on Climate Change and the Carbon Trading Scheme
This submission argues that climate change cannot be solved by emissions cuts alone, especially while rapidly developing countries expand. It proposes a…
Wicking Bed – A New Technology for Adapting to Climate Change
This article explains why global climate negotiations such as Copenhagen struggle to deliver real change, and why agriculture offers a practical path…
Plants Absorbing Carbon Dioxide
Plants already absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere—around thirty times all human-made emissions. Yet atmospheric carbon levels continue to…
Food Production and Climate Change
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Climate Change: The Real Obstacles to Global Agreement
International climate agreements repeatedly stall, not because the science is unclear, but because economic structures, social realities, and political systems make coordinated…
Wicking Beds: A Practical Technology for Adapting to Climate Change
Climate change presents two linked challenges: reducing carbon in the atmosphere and protecting food production in a world of increasingly erratic rainfall.…
Open Letter to the Prime Minister: A Climate Strategy Using Soil Carbon and Wicking Beds
This letter outlines a practical way to strengthen Australia’s climate strategy by pairing carbon trading with real, measurable carbon reductions. The core…
Innovation, Soil Carbon, And A Practical Plan To Tackle Climate Change
This article explains why we are not winning the climate change fight, and why “just cutting emissions” is unlikely to be enough…
China Floods and Droughts: A Wicking Bed Research Proposal for Climate Resilience
China and Australia share a similar challenge: major food regions are being hit by stronger flood and drought cycles, now made worse…
Invitation To Join International Research On Soil Carbon, Water, And Climate Resilience
Climate change is driving a tougher flood-and-drought cycle, and the normal tools are not reducing atmospheric carbon fast enough. This invitation outlines…
Resolving Climate Change With Wicking Beds: A Practical Plan for Carbon, Water, and Food Security
This article explains why climate change is so hard to solve politically, and why soil and food security may be the most…
An Improved Agricultural System for Climate Change Resilience and Soil Carbon Capture
Climate change is already amplifying floods and droughts, placing growing pressure on global food production systems. This article explains a practical agricultural…
Resolving Climate Change: Why Soil Carbon and Innovation Matter Now
Climate change can feel distant until extreme weather turns up at your door. After Queensland floods sent water under my house, I…
Reaping the Benefits of Water-Saving Irrigation Technology in Australia
This article draws together long-term research into irrigation efficiency, salt balance, and soil water management to explain how Australia can grow food…
The Doctor And The Water Crisis: Why Dams Fail And Decentralised Water Wins
This story uses humour and a sci-fi lens to make a serious point: Australia does not mainly suffer from a lack of…
Make the Most of Water: Practical Irrigation Methods for Maximum Growth
Water is often the limiting factor in growing food, especially in dry regions and disadvantaged communities. This article explains a simple, practical…
Secure Water in the Murray–Darling Basin: The Facts and the Hard Choices
The Murray–Darling system has been over-allocated for years, and there is simply not enough water to satisfy every user and still protect…
Watropy: A New Way to Think About Water Scarcity in Australia
Australia’s water problem is not simply “not enough rain”. It is that much of our rainfall has a very short useful life…
Alternative Water Resources for Australia: Water-Harvesting for the Future
Australia receives vast amounts of rainfall each year, far more than our population actually needs. Yet chronic water shortages persist. This article…
The Gbiota Philosophy: Local Water Harvesting in a Dry Land
Australia is often described as a country facing severe water shortages, yet the total volume of rainfall far exceeds what we actually…
The Coming Food Revolution: Living Plants, Better Soil, Better Health
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Combating “Fat Tummy” Disease by Changing Gut Biology
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Join the Revolution: the Fight for Human Health
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The Survival of Our Species: Soil, Water, Food, and Gut Biology
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G-Biota and Reversing Type 2 Diabetes: Why Gut Biology Matters
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GBiota Responses: Fermentation, Gut Health, and Diabetes FAQs
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Letter From China: Fermented Food, Gut Health, and Why We Age So Differently
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What an Ordinary Chinese Town Reveals About Diet, Gut Health, and Aging Well
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Pragging Diet and Diabetes: A Practical, Individual Path to Reversing Type 2 Diabetes
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Diabetes and the Eco-Village: Wicking Beds, Minerals, and Practical Recovery
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Preventing Chronic Disease with the Gbiota System: Food, Gut Biology, and Better Habits
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Dodging Diabesity: Practical Steps to Reverse Diet-Driven Disease
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Gbiota Adoption: Growing Food That Restores Gut Health
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Gutivars Strike Back: A Spielberg-Style Story About Gut Health and Diabetes
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Reversing Diabetes by Health Farm Stays: The Future of Eco-Villages
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The Choice Is Yours: Reversing Type 2 Diabetes with Food, Data, and Gut Health
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Reversing Type 2 Diabetes the Yangtou Way
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Stay at Our Gbiota Village: Practical Support for Diabetes Recovery
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Shade Houses and Wicking Beds: An Easy Way to Grow Organic Vegetables
Growing vegetables through hot, wet Queensland summers is difficult because of heat, insects, weeds, disease, and heavy rain. This article explains a…
Safeguarding Future Food Supply with Wicking Bed Technology
This report explains how wicking beds can help safeguard future food supply by saving water, improving soil quality, using nutrients more effectively,…
Vision for Food Security, Water Shortages, and Climate Change
This vision outlines a practical way to improve food security, reduce water waste, and address climate change by capturing carbon from the…
The Next Great Change: Soil Carbon, Wicking Beds, and the Future of Food
This article looks thirty years ahead and argues that the next major shift in society will be driven by environmental services rather…
The Coach Scheme for Wicking Bed Technology
This article explains the Coach Scheme for wicking bed technology: why it exists, how it works, and what coaches do. It traces…
Why This Site Exists: Innovation for Future Generations
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Community Action on Water: Why Harvesting Small Rains Matters
Australia does not suffer from a lack of rainfall. What we suffer from is a failure to capture it. Most rain falls…
Harvesting Smaller Rains: Water Storage, Wicking Beds, and Anticipatory Irrigation
Droughts are part of Australia’s natural cycle, but we still waste the water that falls in the smaller rains. The volume is…
Anticipatory Irrigation: Using Timing to Save Water and Reduce Evaporation
Anticipatory irrigation is a practical, common-sense approach to watering crops more efficiently by working with rainfall, soil behaviour, and evaporation rather than…
The Origins of Wicking Beds: Lessons From Drought, Soil, and Water
Wicking beds did not begin as a backyard gardening idea. They emerged from practical work on food security during drought, where the…
The Vision for Wicking Beds: Origin, Purpose, and Soil Biology
Wicking beds are often described as a water-saving trick, but that misses the bigger point. Modern food systems are excellent at producing…
From Dirt to Living Soil: The Science Behind Soil BioPacks
Soil BioPacks were created to make soil biology practical for ordinary growers—so we can grow vegetables that are not just “big and…
Wicking Bed Liners Explained: Are Plastics Safe for Growing Food?
People often ask what lining materials are safe for wicking beds, especially when plastic films are involved. In this newsletter Colin Austin…
Wicking Beds and Nutrition: Why Soil Quality Matters More Than Water Saving
Gardening Australia recently showed how to build self-watering containers and asked people to focus on water saving. Colin Austin agrees the design…
De-Boggling China: Food, Farming, and Health in a Rapidly Changing World
Halfway through a trip to China, Colin Austin is “de-boggling” — trying to separate real insights from quackery while looking for Chinese…
Wicking Beds and Modern Diets: A Practical Path to Nutrient-Dense Food
Wicking beds are often promoted as a convenient way to save water and reduce the effort required to grow vegetables. While this…
Ying Yang Food Explained: Nutrient-Dense Growing for Better Health
Modern diets often deliver plenty of energy—fats, sugars, and refined carbohydrates—yet fall short on minerals, trace elements, vitamins, omega-3, and plant-based phytochemicals.…
Preventing Chronic Diseases with the Gbiota System
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Ying Yang System for Optimal Nutrition: Fresh Plants in Wicking Baskets
This month’s newsletter focuses on wicking baskets, also called the Ying Yang system. While the concept is simple, understanding why and how…
The Truth about Diet and Health: Insights from Colin Austin
This August 2014 newsletter explores how to separate reliable science from hype in nutrition and health. It highlights the importance of neurotransmitters,…
Fresh Vegetables Made Easy: Wicking Baskets for Health and Nutrition
The wicking basket system is revolutionising access to nutrient-rich, home-grown food. By providing a simple, low-maintenance way to grow fresh vegetables packed…
Grow Fresh Vegetables with Wicking Baskets and Beat Processed Foods
The Healthy Food Association is transforming access to nutrient-rich, home-grown food through the innovative wicking basket system. By simplifying cultivation and delivery,…
Taming the Hungry Beast: Understanding Sugar Addiction and Diabetes
High-fructose sweeteners and ultra-processed foods have created a powerful, addictive drive in many people — a “hungry beast” that drives overconsumption and…
The Rise of the Hungry Beast: How Processed Foods Drive Diabetes and Illness
Modern technology has transformed the world by boosting productivity, lowering costs, and giving us access to more food and products than ever…
How Home-grown Vegetables and Wicking Beds Can Help Prevent Diabetes
This newsletter reflects on the human cost of modern diets, particularly diabetes, and the importance of growing fresh vegetables in nutrient-rich soil.…
Gin Gin State School Wicking Bed Project: Educational Gardening for Schools
This community project at Gin Gin State School in Queensland brought teachers, students, parents and local volunteers together to build outdoor wicking…
How Wicking Worm Beds Maximise Water Efficiency and Boost Plant Growth
This article explores the practical and biological principles behind wicking worm beds—a sustainable and water-efficient growing system. By creating an underground water…
Wicking Beds Under Construction: Beginner’s Guide to Reservoir Gardening
This practical guide walks you through building a wicking bed from groundworks to planting. It explains site choice, excavation, liners, reservoir construction,…
Open vs Closed Wicking Beds: How to Build the Right System
This article draws on practical instructions for building efficient wicking beds — whether open-in-ground or closed container types. It outlines how to…
Stones vs Organic Materials: Optimising Wicking Bed Performance
This article explores the development and functioning of wicking beds, comparing the use of stones and organic materials. Colin Austin explains the…
New Developments in Wicking Bed Technology
This article explores the latest developments in wicking bed technology, highlighting design innovations, soil improvements, and water management strategies. Modern wicking beds…
Weather and Wicking Beds: How Climate Impacts Gardening and Soil
This article explores how weather influences the performance of wicking beds. Drawing from Colin Austin’s research and field observations, it explains how…
The Complete Guide to Operating Modern Wicking Worm Beds
This article provides a detailed guide on operating modern wicking systems, from small garden boxes to large-scale beds. It explains setup, soil…
Soil BioPacks: Building Living Soil for Healthier Crops
This article introduces the Soil BioPack, a living ecosystem of plants, fungi, bacteria, worms, and minerals designed to regenerate soil and improve…
The Evolution of the Modern Wicking Worm Bed System
This article traces how the wicking worm bed developed from simple subsurface watering ideas into a practical, highly productive horticultural system. It…
Wicking Bed Support: Coaches, Services, and Local Guidance
This article gathers experienced gardeners, designers, and permaculture practitioners around Australia (and beyond) who offer advice, design, and construction services for wicking…
The Future of Agriculture: Adapting Farming to Climate Change
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Sustainable Food Security Strategies for Local Communities
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Solving the Food Crisis with Soil, Water, and Community Action
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Diabetes and Phytochemicals for Healthy Blood Sugar
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The Healthy Food Association: Growing Together for Better Health
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The Science of Nutrition: Why Soil and Trace Minerals Matter
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The Biology Revolution: How Living Soils Transform Food Production
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Homegrown Nutrition: Wicking Beds for Healthy Soil
Jung Chang, the author of "Wild Swans," highlighted health, belief, and belonging as keys to a good life. This article explains why…
How Soil, Food Quality, and Lifestyle Shape Modern Health
This newsletter explains why some wicking beds fail, why they may smell, and how soil biology, water balance, and nutrients affect plant…
Why Aeration Matters in Wicking Beds (and How to Improve It)
Healthy plant roots need both water and air. In wicking beds, water rises from a reservoir into the soil, but if the…
Understanding the Core Principles of Wicking Beds
Wicking beds work by keeping soil at a consistently moist level through capillary action, using an underground water reservoir instead of frequent…
Why Fine Soil Outperforms Stones in Wicking Beds
Using stones or coarse materials in wicking beds is often counterproductive. This guide explains why fine, organic-rich soils perform better, how proper…
Wicking Bed Soil vs Stones: Maximise Water, Nutrients, and Plant Growth
This article explains why using stones (or coarse sand) and cloth at the base of wicking beds — a common practice —…
Changing the Diabetes Paradigm
Colin argues that diabetes is not caused by genetics or fate, but by a modern food system that overwhelms our intelligent control…
Wicking Bed Technology Explained: Grow Nutrient-Dense Vegetables with Less Water
Wicking bed technology is a sustainable gardening method that saves water, improves soil fertility, and promotes healthy plant growth. Using an underground…
Dodging Diabesity
“Diabesity” is Colin’s word for the modern epidemic of diet-related disease – diabetes, obesity, heart attacks, strokes, dementia, leaky gut and more…
Soil Regeneration for Healthy and Sustainable Wicking Beds
This article argues that human health and soil health are intimately linked: modern food often lacks essential minerals and phytochemicals because soils…
How to Build Water‑Retaining Soil with Sponge and Wicking Beds
This article explores the principles of regenerating soil for vegetable growing using wicking bed baskets. It highlights how soil biology, water management,…
Personal Motives
This project is not an abstract health theory for me – it began with watching my wife battle diabetes, face possible amputation,…
Principles of a Gbiota Bed
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Mk 11 Wicking Beds: Efficient Gardening for Vegetables
This newsletter explains the principles and practical use of Mk 11 wicking beds, a system designed to save water, recycle nutrients, and…
The Gbiota Project
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Preventing Chronic Diseases with the Gbiota System
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Mk 11 Wicking Beds for Nutrient-Rich Gardening
Wicking beds Mk 11 provide a practical, low-cost solution for growing nutrient-rich vegetables at home. By carefully separating air and water layers,…
The Gbiota Club
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Sponge Beds for Gardening: Create Fertile, Water-Retaining Soil
Sponge beds are a low-cost method for building biologically active, mineral-rich soil from poor parent material. They use recycled organic waste, staged…
How to Grow (or Buy) Healthy Food
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Tips for Preventing Stinky Wicking Beds
This article explains why some wicking beds can smell bad and, more importantly, how to prevent or fix that problem. Stinky wicking…
Soils to Supply Essential Nutrients
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WickiMix Manual: Practical Guide to Soil and Bed Management
The WickiMix system is a practical soil management method designed for wicking beds, sponge beds, and conventional garden beds. By combining living…
Soil Biology — The Key to Healthy Soil and Nutrition
This article explains why soil biology is the foundation of healthy, fertile soil — not just chemistry or texture. Living soil, alive…
Real Soil — Why Soil Life Matters for Our Health
This article argues that true human health begins with living soil. It explains how modern processed‑food systems, intensive farming and sterile soils…
WickiMix: A Practical Approach to Living Soil
This article presents the principles of “WickiMix” soil preparation for wicking beds in a clear and memorable way. It explains how combining…
Soils, Minerals and Biological Health
This article explains why truly “living soil” is essential to good health. It describes how trace minerals, soil biology and proper soil…
The Gbiota Club — Growing Soil, Food, and Human Health
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Transforming Parent Soils for Healthy Growing
This article explains how to turn basic soils — like clay, sand, or potting mix — into fertile, living soils for gardens…
How Nature Creates Soil: Understanding the Journey of Soil Formation Across the Earth
Soil is the foundation of life, yet often overlooked. Modern agriculture treats it as inert, managed by chemicals rather than understood as…
Growing for Health: A Community Guide to Nutrient-Dense Food Production
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The Development of Wicking Beds through Soil and Water Systems
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Gut Biology from Food
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Soils to Grow Food That Will Make Us Healthy
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Living Soils, Fungal Composting and Health
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Phytonutrients
When I was about 5, I was a naughty boy. We were told that we were not allowed to pick apples from…
How I Grow Wickimix
WickiMix is grown based on the practical observation that good soil is formed in the root zone of specific plants. My aim is…
Why WickiMix?
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Soils for Wicking Beds
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Health Starts in the Soil & Community Supported Agriculture
Human health begins in the soil that feeds our food and ultimately our gut microbes. Healthy, biologically rich soil creates healthy plants,…
Intelligent Control System & Blue Zones
Our intelligent control system, shaped by evolution and supported by gut biology, regulates appetite, fat storage, cravings and long-term health. Blue Zone…
Food for Health & Growing
The intelligent control system that manages appetite, fat storage and overall health depends on nutrients and soil-based microbes found in genuinely fresh,…
Breed Beneficial Gut Microbes at Home
Our intelligent control system depends on living microbes that originate in healthy soil. By learning how to breed and maintain these beneficial…
Gbiota Technology: Gut–Brain Food and Eco-Balance
Our intelligent control system relies on the biology of living soil — the microbes, minerals and ecosystem cycles that humans evolved alongside.…
The Essence of Life and Our Intelligent Control System
Our bodies are regulated by an intelligent control system that evolved over millions of years. This system manages appetite, fat storage, immunity,…
The Wicking – Gbiota Bed Story
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Health Starts in the Soil Part 3
The trillions of cells in our guts do more than digest food. They form part of an intelligent control system that manages…
Bed Depths for Wicking Beds
Many people have asked about the depths of the beds. The rules are pretty simple. The reservoir zone should always be less than…
How Water Moves in Soil: Gravity, Flow & Biology
While the physical construction of the bed may not be so important it is essential to follow certain rules to ensure the…
How to Replenish Your Gut Microbes
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Food, health and sustainability
Our food should keep us healthy and be produced in a sustainable way. A couple of hundred thousand years ago, when we…
Soil for Wicking Beds: Biology, Minerals and Health
Healthy Plants vs Plants That Make Us Healthy The most common question I am asked is about soils for wicking beds. That’s…
Soil Biology: The Key to Healthy Wicking Soils
Soil biology is the key — my aim with WickiMix is to provide a concentrate and inoculant where people can create their…
Soil Journey: How Nature Creates Fertile Soil
Where to start regenerating soil? Well nature has been making soil for a few billion years so let us see what we…
Real Soil: Growing Healthy Food in Living Soil
I am a great believer in science, however I am concerned about the way science is used (or abused). Antibiotics must be…
Transforming Parent Soils for Healthy Wicking Beds
Parent soils, such as clay, sands and potting mixes can be transformed into soils suitable for wicking beds. Here we start by…
Types of Wicking Beds for Healthy Soil & Plants
Wicking systems rely on the attraction between soil and water so water (and nutrients) will rise up from a water storage to…
Why We Need to Change the Modern Food System
For the first few billion years the earth was just a barren rock. Then microbes appeared, they broke down the rocks and…
Energy and Regeneration in Wicking Beds
Food gives us energy and regenerates our bodies. Most commercial foods now contain a lot of energy or calories based on simple…
How to Replenish Your Gut Microbes
The microbes in our gut are critical for our health but in an effort to feed the ever increasing population and avoid infectious diseases we have adopted a food system...
The Gbiota Mission
The Gbiota technology breeds beneficial microbes in the soil. Plants are grown in the soil which when eaten, transports the microbes from the soil into our guts. The microbes in...
Breeding your own gut microbes
We may live in our cities of concrete and steel, but we are totally dependent on the Earth’s Ecosystem to survive. photosynthesisOur energy comes from the sun captured by photosynthesis...
Extinction or survive and thrive
The wrong fat in the wrong place is at the core of the modern epidemic of chronic diseases. Three out of four people now die from a chronic disease, which...
The Gbiota Story
The Gbiota Story
The Gbiota Mission
The Essence of Gbiota Breed beneficial microbes in living soil. Grow plants in that soil and eat them fresh so the microbes…
Will it work?
I may be a woke greenie concerned about the communities well being but I read a lot. One morning I was having my after breakfast read, this time “I’m So...
Changing the system
We all want to live a long and healthy life, free of disease. That depends very much on the food we eat. We need food for energy. Our modern food...
What does Gbiota do?
Gbiota enables people to breed beneficial microbes at home under controlled conditions so the beneficial microbes out-breed any harmful microbes. To live a long and healthy life you need beneficial...
Gbiota Overview
Necessity is the mother of invention In my case, necessity came from my wife, a medical doctor, who developed diabetes. It got progressively worse to the point where her foot...
The quiet conflict
The world is in a state of quiet conflict between those who care about their fellow humans and their future and the anti-woke destructors. The battleground is food that keeps...
A compassionate society
Life is good, we are living longer and the supermarkets are full of healthy food. Sounds great but is it true? My daughter, when she was about seven taught me...
Understanding your gut-brain
We show the process of – breeding beneficial microbes in organic – growing plants in this soil using the flood and flush system so the soil breathes and soil blood...
Innovation is a funny business
Let us look at the story of food and health. In the past, and that means going back a million years to the first humanoids there was no epidemic of...
Good microbes
You can grow the good gut-bugs at home in containers, gbiota baskets – even if you live in an apartment with no garden and no growing experience. You grow plants...
Food Change
For the first few billion years the earth was just a barren rock. Then microbes appeared, they broke down the rocks and made soil which led to plants flourishing. Next...
Managing Change
The third mega-change If you think the world is going through a difficult period you are right. We are going through our third mega-change and managing this change is not...
hormones
Hormones that control our appetite
Superclinics
We are facing an epidemic of chronic diseases, obesity, diabetes, heart attacks and dementia. In the real world people just carry on with their normal life until their health deteriorates...
Integration trials
Surely the aim for any community is for its members to live a long and healthy life. Yet we are not doing that well with well over half the population...
Ignobels
I have created this section for health professionals. This may seem a little odd as I have no medical qualifications apart from being married to a medical doctor, who became...
Health Professionals
Why is it that some people are fit and healthy, enjoy a long health span with hardly a visit to the doctor while despite the sophistication of modern medical research...
Health span or Epidemic
Why is it that some people are fit and healthy, enjoy a long health span with hardly a visit to the doctor while despite the sophistication of modern medical research...
Change for the better
Gbiota, at its core, is still about paradigm shifting but the scale of the battle is just so much bigger. Chronic diseases are the biggest health problem across the globe....
Intelligence
Our gut-brain comprises trillions of cells which communicate with their neighbours to create swarm or group intelligence which regulates our bodies – our intelligent control system. If our gut brain...
Taste, hunger and healthspan
Is humanity in danger of extinction? Probably not. Is our modern comfortable lifestyle in danger of extinction? Definitely yes and it is happening right now. Can we do anything to...
Gut health
There are trillions of microbes of thousands of species in your gut. Each cell can communicate with its neighbour to create swarm intelligence which controls our bodies, including our appetite....
The Health Myth
Across the globe people are getting fat leading to an epidemic of chronic diseases. Here is why and what we can so about it. In our gut, we have trillions...
Fake food
An Introduction to the Gbiota Movement for a Healthier Future With eight billion people on Earth, food production has dramatically increased, yet humanity now faces two significant threats: climate change...
Health Challenge
Ask around “What is the biggest health challenge?” no not dinosaurs, you are likely to get the very short answer “fat” for the simple reason that the wrong fat in...
Your choice
We are at a crossroads and have two options. In option one we can live in a society dominated by marketing hype, where we buy health bars full of sugars...
Gbiota introduction
What is Gbiota? Gbiota is a social movement that aims to create a thriving, sustainable society with a food system designed for long, healthy lives. It emphasizes recycling over depleting...
Organics save us
Modern food is that it may be hygienic, triple wrapped in plastics, but it is inert lacking the microbes which form our gut-brain which regulates our appetite so we overeat...
Introducing the Gbiota technology
The Gbiota technology breeds beneficial microbes in “Wickimix,” a specially enriched soil, for growing nutrient-packed plants that enhance your gut biota that supports natural appetite regulation, combats chronic diseases, and...
Welcome
Thrive and survive The microbes in our gut form an integral part of the intelligent control system which regulates our bodies and is vital for health. In the past, these...
Changing the Health Paradigm
We are living longer, thanks to major advances in medical science. In the past people died, often when young, from infectious diseases now we die predominantly from chronic or non-infectious...
Mind and body
We are living longer, thanks to major advances in medical science. In the past people died, often when young, from infectious diseases now we die predominantly from chronic or non-infectious...
Game changer
As a celebrated engineer recognized for his groundbreaking work in Computer Aided Engineering, Colin’s expertise in adaptive systems sparked a revolutionary idea: What if chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity, and...
Summary
Food is the key to health. Junk food is tasty, convenient, inexpensive but not healthy. Genuine organic food may be healthy but is very expensive. But there is a third...
Essence
Chronic diseases, overweight, diabetes, heart attacks and dementia are the major health issue of our time. They are caused by the wrong fat in the wrong place. Conventional thinking is...
The Trial
We know that the world’s biggest health issue is the epidemic of chronic diseases, obesity, diabetes, heart attacks and dementia and that these are caused by the wrong fat in...
Healthy food – intro
Junk food is tasty, convenient, inexpensive but not healthy. Genuine organic food may be healthy but is very expensive. But there is a third type of food which is both...
Community Benefit
My wife Xiulan, a medical doctor and surgeon became diabetic, the professional medical advice given to us was that diabetes is an irreversible chronic disease, it will steadily get worse,...
Ecosystems
We must create an ecosystem, a food ecosystem in which humans can thrive. Charles Darwin taught us that creatures evolve to thrive in their local environment. Humans now have the...
Chronic disease
Gbiota is a community benefit organisation aiming to prevent the current epidemic of chronic diseases, overweight, diabetes, heart attacks and dementia. These are all caused by the wrong fat in...
Health paradox
Chronic diseases, obesity, diabetes, heart attacks and dementia cause a great deal of personal distress and cost Governments billions of dollars. They are very difficult to cure but can be...
Prevention better than cure
Two-thirds of the population are overweight, the wrong fat in the wrong place is the root cause of all chronic diseases. Diabetes is the fastest-growing disease with half a billion...
Health – prevention first
Across the globe, we are suffering from an epidemic of chronic or non-infectious diseases. We know that these chronic diseases are caused by the wrong fat in the wrong place...
Society
Two-thirds of the population are overweight, the wrong fat in the wrong place is the root cause of all chronic diseases. Health systems are creaking at the joints with not...
Food – we love it
Food – we love it. But it is making us fat and sick and growing it is destroying the soils and planet on which we all depend. What has gone...
Prevention
Across the globe we are suffering from an epidemic of chronic or non infectious diseases. Three out of four people die prematurely from a chronic disease. The social and economic...
Friendly bugs
Our bodies have an intelligent control system which regulates our bodies, particularly our appetite and immune system. Our gut is an integral part of this control system. If we have...
Welcome to Gbiota
We teach how to grow plants as pre and pro-biotics. That is the easy bit, understanding and applying the science of breeding beneficial microbes in a special soil, Wickimix largely...
Community Health
We are in the midst of an epidemic of chronic diseases, overweight, diabetes, heart attacks and dementia. They say eat less exercise more but that does not work. Our gut-brain...
Jenny
Jenny, one of our Gbiota members asked a simple question. I am told that my answer is one of the most important articles on how to sustainably grow healthy food...
The plan
There are two problems. The short-term problem is that our current food system is deficient in the microbes which form our gut biome and essential minerals which have led to...
Riddle
Look around the world and back over time and you will see the great riddle of three communities. We see low tech communities with a poor food system, lack of...
Gbiota: Breeding Beneficial Microbes in Soil
The Gbiota process of breeding beneficial gut microbes starts in the soil where the conditions are controlled so the beneficial microbes out-breed and out-compete the harmful microbes. This is called...
Applying technology
With all our modern technology and automated production capacity, we should only need to work a couple of days a week to have everything we need and live a healthy...
Applying Technology
With all our modern technology and automated production capacity, we should only need to work a couple of days a week to have everything we need and live a healthy...
Technology
I do hold this belief that technology should work for the benefit of the community and it is not. It may be making a handful of people rich beyond imagination...
Become a Healthy Food Ambassador
The global food crisis is not some threat for the future, it is here right now, it is not just about poor people starving in some remote country it is...
Serious think about food
Has the world gone mad? We have mega companies spending billions of dollars on advertising so we buy food that makes us fat and sick and die before our time....
Think smarter
I want to sell you a concept. It is free you don’t have to pay me anything but you do have to think seriously about it for five minutes and...
Thrive and survive
At the start, the earth was just a dead inert rock. Then the microbiota appeared, we don’t know from where, but they broke down the rocks making the nutrients in...
Smart young girl
There is a nice story about a smart young lady who stalled her ageing car on a busy road. Try as she might she could not get the car started...
Gbiota Soil Blood, Flood-and-Flush Irrigation, and Foliar Spray
Last updated 8th August with section on foliar irrigation Our basic inputs are organic waste, manure and volcanic rock dust. All cheap, readily available and sustainable. The microbes, particularly the...
Breeding Wickimix
Last updated 8th August with section on making Wickimix in Gbiota boxes Wickimix is simply a growing medium, soil teaming with life and nutrients and is central to the Gbiota...
Tim Spector
It is well known that our gut biota plays a major roles in our health. Many researchers, such as Tim Spector, Professor at Imperial College, London explains this in his...
Enhancing gut health
This was made as a page by a professional graphics designer, I am republishing as a post as I like the graphics
Food not pills
A million years ago the first humanoids appeared, they had a food Eco-system based on eating plants from living soils. These microbes bred in the soil, protected them and they...
Library
List of all articles
Real food
Ever think about what food is doing to your body? There are foods for energy, replace parts as they age and wear and to feed our gut. There is more...
Making a Gbiota box July 24
Update on how to make Gbota boxes July 24
Gbiota overview
Pick and eat plants grown in living soil – that is the way to feed your gut-brain which controls your appetite and how much fat your body stores. The wrong...
The essence
Describes the underlying principles of the Gbiota movement
My teddy
The heartless massacre of ordinary people by powerful militia and the possibility of World War 3 cannot go unnoticed. Neither can the waves of hungry refugees moving across the globe...
The Great Food War
Will the power of mega-corporations that control our food system reign supreme leaving the community fat and sick and destroying civilisation as we know it as the supply of essential...
Growers wanted
Growers wanted At this moment Gbiota is used by a pretty determined bunch who are prepared to the bother of making their own Gbiota beds and boxes. However, it is...
Feed your gut brain
We need the right sort of microbes in our gut to be healthy. The microbes in our gut communicate with each other to form our intelligent control system which regulates...
Community benefit
My wife Xiulan, a medical doctor and surgeon became diabetic, the professional medical given to us was that diabetes is an irreversible chronic disease, that will steadily get worse, we...
Does it work
Overweight, diabetes, heart attacks, and dementia all have a common underlying cause – the wrong fat in the wrong place. This is not because we have turned into little piggies...
Getting started
How to grow gut brain food and live a long and healthy life
Making a Gbiota box
Here I extract the key points from the many previous points and collect into one spost
Save 100,000 legs from diabetic amputation
I have set myself the target of saving 100,000 people from a diabetic leg amputation before the end of 2025. I know how to do this, I am an engineer...
Food crisis
Food is one of the major threats to humanity, not an absolute lack of food – we produce more than enough energy food, carbs, fats and sugars, to feed the...
Your turn
How to reduce 8 million amputation
User posts
Enables users to make posts
Why we get fat
We get fat because our gut-brain says so
Not little piggies
We don’t get fat and sick because we are little piggies and stuff ourselves with chicken wings, chips and ultra-processed foods. We get fat because we have deficiencies in our...
Eco-balance
Humans have evolved to be naturally not fat – it is not good in the survival stakes. Our bodies naturally sense when we are full and our gut manufactures hormones...
Compost – Bin or Bury?
It is just a sad fact of life that our modern food system is not working the way it should, which means reduced health span (the length of time we...
Food, health and wealth for all
I present a plan that will lead to a better life so we and our grandkids can live a happier and healthier life – the plan is about future food...
Why we need to act
People across the globe are suffering an epidemic of chronic diseases, obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, and dementia. It is the biggest health threat facing humanity (See Survival). The underlying reason...
Gbiota boxes – made easy
Developing a simple Gbiota box for people living in apartments has been the focus of my development work – Why? The world is very different to when I was born....
Survival
Humans are the great survivors. We are the dominant species on Earth, spreading across the globe to every corner of the Earth that is vaguely habitable. Now we are under...
Map
This is a map of the site to direct you to the most appropriate posts
Newsletter 11 March 2024
“Colin, we know you are trying to persuade people of the benefits of eating healthy food full of living beneficial microbes, but we already know that, and what we want...
Innovation and managing ignorance
I recently wrote an article rethinking food and diabetes that described a simple and inexpensive technology which could dramatically reduce the eight million amputations that occur every year. You may...
Learning plan
There are hundreds of posts and videos on this site. This post arranges the key posts into a convenient learning schedule
Rethinking food and diabetes
We have known for at least twenty years that Diabetes gets serious when fat levels in the Pancreas increase preventing the Pancreas from making insulin. All the experts say the...
The Gbiota project
Overview of the Gbiota strategy
Growers and gut biota
Microbes breed in the soil, enter plants which act as natural pre and pro biotics which we eat to form our gut biota. This process is the result of millions...
Recycle to survive
Round and round it goes For some million years humanoid creatures have survived on this planet by eating fresh plants grown in living soil. The way it worked is simple....
Learning experience
Homeostasis Many of my readers know that I am a bit OCDish about how our food system is compromising community health. The medical facts are simple, everyone has an inbuilt...
Become a Gbiota supplier
The modern chemical industrial food system is highly productive producing large quantities of standardised energy food at economic prices. But the food is inert lacking the essential microbes to feed...
Help wanted with digital marketing
Help wanted with digital marketing Gbiota interest is how to grow gut brain food. Few people are going to Google ‘how to grow gut brain food’ and if they do...
Creating change
Every machine has a control system, even if it is a simple on /off switch. The human body is no different except our control system in incredibly sophisticated and to...
Prevention better than cure
The gut is a highly sophisticated organ that does much more than digest food. It forms part of a real brain which controls our bodies, particularly our appetite, what and...
Support
I often say that the process of growing gut brain food is easy and that is pretty much true but not as easy as tossing things from the shelves into...
Solving the food crisis
The world is suffering a food crisis, not in quantity – we are actually producing more food than the world needs – but in the quality that will lead us...
The best pro-biotic ever
What is the best pro-biotic ever, in fact the only one that really works for sure? Answer human breast milk. Puzzled scientists For many ears scientist were puzzled about some...
Food matters
It is well known that our gut biota plays a major roles in our health. Many researchers, such as Tim Spector, Professor at Imperial College, London explains this in his...
Hello
Gbiota Hello Many people know that chemical industrial agriculture and highly processes foods are not good for us. People react in different ways. Some people see this as their mission...
Gbiota 101
Gbiota basics – collecting organic waste to make labile compost – starting a new box – regenerating an old box
Gbiota overview 2024
Gbiota is an evolving technology and when some new bit of technology comes along I write a new article to describe what is new. This has led to hundreds of...
Join help
Explains the various membership levels and how to join
Try it
Just try it – it is neither expensive or difficult I am proposing that you make your own soil from food and organic waste, add mineral and microbes to create...
True Brain
Our gut is a true brain with intelligence. All those trillions of cells are communicating with each other like some super computer. Unfortunately we have no idea of the code...
Fire and food
Homo eructus, our ancient ancestor was a puny little creature that barely survived. But it discovered fire and learned to cook and the extra nutrients led to a bigger brain...
Conflict and aggression
Conflict and aggression or peaceful coexistence – these are the options facing humanity. Just look at what is happening in the world – people killing other people on every continent....
Modern Epidemic
Modern epidemic Food is the root cause of the modern epidemics of diabetes, heart attacks, dementia and feeling hangry. Hangry – angry because we feel hungry and not satisfied.
Help me help you
Help me help you My wife, Xiulan, is a medical doctor. She became diabetic and her foot started to turn black and our medical advisers told us they may have...
Fire, water and technology
Fire, water and technology There is an old saying that fire and water are good servants but bad masters, we must now add technology.
Fat and sick
Across the globe people are getting fat a sick from an epidemic of diseases like diabetes, heart attacks and dementia. Why? Our gut brain has trillions of cells which communicate...
Health starts in the soil
Health starts in the soil
Food and our nature
We know for sure that the food we eat can make us fat and sick, but what if it can affect our very nature, our DNA and make us a...
Try it
I am proposing that you make your own soil from food and organic waste, add mineral and microbes to create a soil teaming with beneficial microbes and nutrients and grow...
Inoculants
It is easy when growing Gbiota plants to become focused on the plants, which you can see, and forget that the real aim is to enhance the gut biota, which...
What science tells us
Let us look at what science can tell us about life as though our lives depend on it – as they do. Back to the start The earth is some...
Gbiota soil
Creating soil is the number two challenge facing humanity, after climate change. We know exactly how to do it, it has been happening for billions of years naturally covering much...
Tribox story
The Tribox is the grandfather of the latest Gbiota boxes. The top box is essentially a normal growing box just like the millions of pots that are used across the...
Survival
I like to know what is going on in the world so I am a bit of an avid news watcher but when I see all the horror that is...
Gbiota meaning
Ask me what Gbiota is all about and I would reply the survival of our species. You may think that I would be talking about climate change, the degradation of...
Gbiota intro
Welcome to gbiota.com the technical web for the Gbiota movement which is focused on improving gut health by growing plants in biologically active, nutrient rich soils. We have tried to...
Gbiota Biobox – practise
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Gbiota Biobox Theory
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What to Grow (and Eat)
What should I grow? Sounds so simple but it is not. Gbiota is about correcting deficiencies in our modern diet Gbiota is not about total self sufficiency – I have...
Why we need to change
Humans are an intelligent, innovative and naturally cooperative creature. Our very first innovation was when a ferocious beast was eyeing us up for it’s dinner but we found that if...
Our choice
We live in the Anthropocene which is just a flash way of saying that we now have the technology to choose how we live and die. We all have to...
Ecobox – how to
In this post I show how to build and maintain a Gbiota Tribox Growing soil is the key to the Gbiota technology so may I explain how it works. Plants...
Gbiota Tri Box – background
Modern food is full of energy but is low in the nutrients which feed our gut brain which acts as our intelligent control system which regulates, among many things, our...
Future of food
We are the first generation in history which decides whether we are a healthy people living on a healthy planet or let short term greed lead to our destruction. Here...
Making a Gbiota tribox
The flower pot method, using 40 cents flower pots, I described in an earlier post how-to-gpots is the cheapest way I know of applying this method, the stacked boxes I...
Good men
I full understand that there are many problems with our current food system, lack of critical mineral like magnesium, iron for women, zinc for men, B12 for vegetarians etc. But...
Homeostasis
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Gbiota food for health
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The How too
I have written a lot about the theoretical aspect of growing gut food – it is time to get down to the nitty gritties of setting up a Gbiota system....
Misinformation
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Diabetes gut food project
We are experiencing a dramatic increase in diabetes. Fifty years ago just 1% of the population were diabetic but this has increased to 14% and is steadily increasing. We think...
Growing Gut food
ou can read latest newletter under new posts (free) The new industry of growing natural pre and pro biotics Background We know that there are trillions of cells in our...
The Gut Brain Revolution: Growing to Prevent Modern Disease
Growing food to feed your gut brain Colin Austin 19th June 23 Technology – benefiting the community The difference between humans and the Dodo is that humans are a bit...
Food waste
‘I will just give these to the chickens.’ How can such a simple phrase lead to a major rethink of how we stay fit and healthy. You see I was...
People over profits
We know that the dominant cause of sickness and death in 1900 was infections disease and now it is non infectious diseases like diabetes, heart attacks strokes and dementia. The...
Real and fantasy
Gbiota is not simply about growing plants. We breed a wide spectrum of microbes in a growing medium calledGbiotamix and then grow plants so the microbes are packaged in the...
Invite to medical research
Excess storage of fat was largely blamed on our modern diet which could, it was optimistically thought, simply be resolved by diet, particularly the restriction of calories. The harsh reality...
Lamborghini and our gut
A dumb drunken driver in control of a Lamborghini is a dangerous combination. Our gut brain is the controller for our appetite. A gut biome which send out hormones to...
The Wickimix story
Chop my foot off – no way My wife Xiulan is a medical doctor, a gynaecologist and surgeon, so I was a bit surprised when she was diagnosed as diabetic....
Feed your brains
Our health span is set by our intelligent control system, our gut and head brains and these must be fed real food which is genuinely fresh before the beneficial microbes...
Unks and Ununks
John is still claiming that the modern supermarket food system is providing a reliable and abundant food supply with hygienic and energy packed food from all over the world regardless...
Upgraded beds Introduction
The world is changing at an incredible rate, climate change, the virus and the polarisation of the political system are immense problems, new technologies like artificial intelligence may seem beneficial...
Upgraded Beds
It is approaching thirty years since I was invited to go to Ethiopia to see if there was anything I could do to help feed people in one of those...
Welcome
Look at the news – fires, floods, draughts, refugees, political extremes, deliberate misinformation, the world is changing really fast – all sounds terrible so what to do? The biggest problem...
Food for Gut Health
The Gbiota club is a community of people that wants to enhance their gut micro-biome by eating plants grown in soil teaming with beneficial microbes, minerals and nutrients. Members can...
The food crisis
In the real world we all have to eat – and getting enough of the right sort of food that will keep us healthy is an issue. We know how...
The side hustle
It seems there are many people who understand the importance of gut health and how the trillions of cells made up from thousands of species talk to each other to...
Our gut
Right now you are successfully breeding beneficial microbes in your gut. That is good because most people want to live a long life, be strong, fit and healthy and avoid...
Our gut brain
The aim of the Gbiota club is to improve gut health by breeding beneficial microbes in a special soil, called Wickimix, to grow plants which act as natural pre and...
What is the Gbiota project
What is the Gbiota project? The Gbiota project is to enhance our gut microbiome by eating plants grown in a medium (Wickimix) where beneficial microbes that enhance our gut biome...
What is it all about
Energy food It varies a bit from person to person but about 80%, certainly the bulk, of the food we eat is just burned off as fuel for energy or...
The story of our guts
Our gut brain, made up from trillions of cells and thousands of species, which communicate with each other and has real intelligence is one of the truly amazing systems on...
Better gut health
Is it feasible that a couple of $8 plastic boxes could contribute to the worlds biggest health issue – excess fat in our bodies which lead to multiple health problems...
Health starts in the soil
For many years now I have been promoting the importance of gut biology and how we can simply and cheaply improve our gut biology by growing plants in soils teaming...
The Gbiota Bed Update
I have written many articles on making and managing Gbiota bed, in this article I want to give a simple description of the state of the art, I do this...
Overview
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Diabetes trial
Join the diabetes trial
Health span
We are living longer – our life span is increasing, but our health span – how long we stay fit and active is decreasing – why? The answer lies in...
Trench beds
Wicking beds can be modified to breed the beneficial biota in the soil, which enters the plants then our gut brain using the plants as natural pre and pro biotics...
Gbiota boxes – update
Gbiota boxes, as there name suggests are enclosed and separate from any parent soil. They do not have the benefit of access to the life forms which live naturally in...
The W’s
I started to write this as a welcome message for people joining the Gbiota social movement but it got a bit off track, but I had fun writing it and...
The Plan
Here is a plan of how we can make healthy gut brain food readily accessable for all the community.
Food and floods
Floods are making it more difficult to grow any food giving shortages and price hikes – how can we grow food with floods
Crazy world
Has the world gone crazy? Wars, food shortages, floods and droughts, prices through the roof, epidemics, the internet – one of the most important innovations of our era has sunk...
Key Points
Key points When I am creating a project I find it useful to make a list of the key points. I have done this with the Gbiota project but I...
No dumb donkeys
We live in the digital age where we seems to expect that any problems can be solve by a few minutes search on the internet. If you think this is...
Soaker beds
I developed the original Gbiota beds to grow plants which act as natural pre and pro biotics by having a moist, not wet soil. It is very easy to make...
In-Ground Gbiota Beds
Sump beds were developed first as a way of taking advantage of the partial flood and drain cycle. They have been used for some years now and being automated are...
Food for health
Historically four out of every five people died before their natural age from an infectious disease. Both medical science and our food system has responded by finding better ways of...
Community food
Growers breed beneficial microbes in organic matter in the soil, also adding rock dust which is broken down by the microbes into accessible minerals forming nutrient rich biologically active soil....
Welcome to worm pooh
Health and life span We all have to eat and what we eat determines our health and life span. Thanks to medical science our life span has been increasing, no...
How Gbiota beds work
Wicking beds are now very common across the globe. Many have a base filled with some inert material – often stones. These are just self watering pots – nothing wrong...
Food and the gut biome
The bulk of the food we eat is just burned for energy. We are really just a walking talking thermodynamic machine just like any other thermodynamic machine from a steam...
Health starts in the soil
Every day we here stories of doom and gloom about food, price hikes from floods and droughts, problems with the supply chain from Covid, lack of nutrients and beneficial biota...
Health starts in the soil Part 2
Every day we here stories of doom and gloom about food, price hikes from floods and droughts, problems with the supply chain from Covid, lack of nutrients and beneficial biota...
Action plan
Our gut brain is the key to good health. Consumer get fresh veggies which act as gut food which is genuinely healthy at an affordable price, growers get paid for...
Bit of a mess
Unless you are a total hermit you can’t have missed that the world is in a bit of a mess – Covid, bush fires, floods droughts and food shortages. When...
Community growers
If you looking at this web I assume you are interested in your health and understand that you just cannot be really healthy unless you are eating healthy food. You...
About Gbiota
The Gbiota Community An online community where groups can chat, exchange information – particularly on preferred plant species which are suited to the locality and season. You can share information...
elowyn
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Time travel
The aim of the Gbiota technology is to replenish our gut with living beneficial biota and the food it needs to thrive. Gut biota has a short life so it...
Why Gbiota boxes
Our gut brain consists of trillions of cells which communicate with eat other and send out signals saying we need to eat more of this or that or simply stop...
I am a person
The aim of the Gbiota technology is to replenish our gut with living beneficial biota and the food it needs to thrive. Gut biota has a short life so it...
Bioboxes basics
The aim of the Gbiota technology is to replenish our gut with living beneficial biota and the food it needs to thrive. Gut biota has a short life so it...
The paradigm shift
In the wonderful world of food the established paradigm, based on chemistry, has been incredibly successful. In my life time, incredibly short on a geological time scale, we have increased...
Gut health
We have two brains, one that lives in our head and another we can call Gertrude that lives largely in our gut. They both work in the same way with...
Gut biology basics
The purpose of the Gbiota local food movement is to help people set up viable, ethical, and sustainable businesses supplying their local community with gut food. To understand why this...
Local gut food
It is about breeding beneficial biology in the soil and in the guts of the creatures that live in the soil. This biology enters the plants which we eat together...
Join the Gbiota Club
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Community food
Let me tell you a story about food. In our modern society all we seem to want as adults is a catch phrase ‘Make plum pudding tasty again’ or better...
Making soil in Gbiota beds
The key principle of Gbiota bed is to breed beneficial biology both for the soil and for our guts – creating the conditions which favour the beneficial biology – so...
Gut health
Our gut is one of the most important organs in our body – made up of trillions of cells that communicate with each other – it has real intelligence –...
Mother bed
Gbiota beds were developed to grow plants to feed our guts. Technically they have been successful but may be a bit complex for many people, particularly pregnant ladies and mums...
Action plan for gut health
People don’t get fat and sick simply because they just happen to eat too much, they get fat and sick because their gut brain is not working as it should...
Alice
Our gut is not strictly part of us and we, or rather our mum, has to make it for us from the food she eats and feeds us as a...
ecobalance
Why our gut brain is so important Our gut is one of the most important organs in our body. It contains trillions of cells which communicate with each, like in...
Get started
Life, even our modern sophisticated life, is totally dependant on the microscopic biota that are virtually everywhere on earth – but particularly in the soil making inert minerals available and...
Gbiota box story
Over hundreds of thousands of years we have evolved a gut brain that automatically looks after us, without us even thinking about it – and it does it much better...
Opportunity
We all have to eat and the way we are currently growing our food is slowly but inevitably destroying our planet’s ability to grow the food we need. We are...
Introduction to Gbiota
This web is a bit different. We are not trying to sell you something – there are not special offers – buy now before prices jump – or any of...
Gbiota boxes
The purpose of GBiota beds is to breed beneficial biology in the soil. This biology enters the plants growing in the soil so when we eat the plants they act...
Immune
There are many plants in traditional medicine which are claimed to strengthen our immune system. There has been genuine scientific research into some of these plants which support these claims...
Delta
I am urgently looking for people or organisations to help improve the communities gut health and hence immune system by manufacturing and distributing Gbiota boxes. This delta virus is a...
updateAug21
This is an update on the practical side of making and managing Gbiota beds. I assume you are familiar with the previous publications and videos available under videos, blogs and...
Anthropocene
What should I eat so I am fit and healthy – what can eight billion people eat so they are fit and healthy and what will my great grand kids...
Overview
How gut food will enhance our gut biology and immune system – overview
Gut Biology Sources
Technical references on food, health and gut.
Index
post written to link to key articles on growing plants to feed our gut
What food does
I start with what food does which explains the various jobs that food does in our bodies and how innovation has dramatically increased the overall supply of food – far...
Food and innovation
food and innovation which has led to the wrong development of the wrong sort of food and a two tier society of haves and have nots – which is intrinsically...
Principles of Gbiota beds
Gbiota beds grow plants to enhance our gut biology – here is the basic principles of how they work
Spreading the benefits of Gbiota beds
how to implement this technology – spreading the benefits of Gbiota beds so that the whole of society can benefit
Changing the food system
In my life time the worlds population has increased three fold (actually 3.47) and they all those mouths have to be fed. We have seen the massive increase in agricultural...
Community Supported Agriculture
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The Gbiota story – continued
We know how to grow food with these essential minerals and biology and there are plenty of regenerative farmers willing to grow using these methods – but they need a...
Food and becoming adult
Our bodies have an inbuilt intelligent control system which regulates all aspect of our bodies including our appetite. The wide variety of species of micro biology in our gut is...
Greta Foodberg
In this article I show how Greta Foodberg and I are going to change the world’s food system. The good news it you only have to read the first and...
Making soil 101
Gbiota beds are not simply a watering system to grow cabbages – they are to breed the biology to grow plants as natural pre and pro biotics.
Feed your gut brain
Feed your gut brain My interest is how to grow plants that improve our gut brain – one of the most vital organs in our bodies and the key to...
Our gut brain
Modern food contains a surplus of energy food (fats and sugars) but is sadly lacking in the complex chemicals needed to regenerate our bodies. Our bodies sense this lack, sending...
Adapting to the food crisis
Learning how to adapt to the food crisis is the most important skill we can teach our kids. That means understanding how the world is changing then helping them change...
School Garden Project
In our gut are a huge number of micro organisms which talk to each to create an intelligent system – our gut brain. This gut brain controls our appetite, supports...
Health and life span
how food affect health and life span
Gbiota Videos
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Aquaponics by Igor
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The essence
Our guts do much more than help us digest our food. Our guts are part of the system which acts as an intelligent control system regulating our appetite, what and...
News flash 30 Oct 20
News flash for Gbiota club members When the virus has gone, as it surely will, the world will be a very different place. People will understand that the best protection...
Gbiota easy
This is the easiest way I know to grow Gbiota food, it is dead simple and works fine but lacks the automated flood and drain features of a full blown...
Dis-enabling
Yesterday the world changed. New Zealand has an explosion of new Corona cases. NZ was a beacon of hope. This shows just how contagious this virus is and how we...
Choosing a Gbiota smoothie
The main aim of a Gbiota smoothie is to improve gut health but they also contain the minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients essential for health. The plants in all Gbiota smoothies...
Alernative food
Nutrition must be one of the most controversial, topics on the planet. Go on line and an ocean of confusing and contradicting views fuelled by inscrutable scientific data, dogma powered...
Creating an Alternative Food System
Nutrition must be one of the most controversial, topics on the planet. Go on line and an ocean of confusing and contradicting views fuelled by inscrutable scientific data, dogma powered...
Creating an Alternative Food System
Nutrition is among the most controversial, opinionated yet critical topics on the planet. We are suffering from an epidemic of diabetes, obesity with it’s associated heart attacks and dementia which...
Nundah cafe
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Gbiota club home
The aim of the Gbiota club is to make Gbiota food readily and widely available at an affordable price. Gbiota food is essential to feed our gut biology which forms...
About the Gbiota Club
When you join the Gbiota club you get a stronger gut, immune and hormonal system by eating real food grown in nutrient rich biologically active soil. We are a social...
Making soil work
We have the technical ability to grow food, which is convenient, taste good and is cheap in a way totally divorced from the conventional methods of food production, no longer...
Q&A15April20
I now live in Bundaberg, Queensland, the latitude is about 25 ° which is in the band of deserts around the world. The winter climate is as near to perfect...
Q and A
My specialist expertise is in how the way we grow our food affects our health. Eating fresh vegetables grown in specifics ways can improve gut health and strengthen our immune...
Germination
Wicking beds are highly productive and water efficient, the reason why they were so water efficient is that the surface soil was dry so there was minimal loss of water...
fresh food revolution
For consumers it will mean fresh produce full of the essential mineral, phytonutrients and beneficial biology which leads to a healthy gut biology which controls our appetite and immune system.
Pioneer
Colin Austin, recognised as among Australia’s top innovators, is using the internet to fight the diabesity epidemic with Gbiota food.
The Gbiota Movement
I want my grandchildren to live in a society where everyone, regardless of their financial state, have access to food which will make them healthy. It is simply not a...
Soil destruction
Soil is created by biological action but the wide spread use of chemicals and mechanisation is slowly but persistently destroying the soil on which human life depends.
Tipping
We know that the current ‘fat in the wrong places’ epidemic (diabetes, dementia and obesity) has only occurred in the last fifty years and there was no such epidemic when...
Micro farms
I get angry about the way a few wealthy people manipulate the truth for their benefit leading to health and climate catastrophes. But not Auntie Maud, if she were alive...
Why We Need a Biofoodies Group
For thousands of years life has been getting better, we live longer, are fitter, taller and stronger and we have gradually been overcoming infectious diseases. The graph of quality of...
Xiulan’s story
Xiulan was not particularly concerned when she was first diagnosed with diabetes. She was a doctor, actually a surgeon and gynaecologist and had confidence in the health system.
Truth vs Misinformation About Food
We live in an age of unbridled information, much of it conflicting so how do we know what it true and what is false – and why does it matter?...
Changing the Diabetes Paradigm
This post looks at the paradigm shift needed to change the way we treat type 2 diabetes.
Gbiota beds – manual
living manual for building GBiota beds
Food for health
Do we really want our kids to grow up fat and diabetic, mums need to be eating food that feeds their gut biology, that’s what this story is all about.
Food basics
Do we really want our kids to grow up fat and diabetic, mums need to be eating food that feeds their gut biology, that’s what this web site is all...
Food for health
Gbiotafood was developed to provide the trace minerals and beneficial biology essential to health but missing in our modern food system.
GBiota Green Smoothies
Dietary advice can appear to be totally confusing with so many different opinions low fat, low carb, low meat, low eggs etc. Some people will never get fat and sick...
Why you Should Join the Gbiota Movement
Our bodies naturally self regulate (Homeostasis) we don’t need to think about breathing or our heart rate. A healthy gut biology leads to natural self regulation so we don’t need...
Gbiota food for gut health
The Gbiota bed growing system was developed to provide an alternative to the high fat and sugar, low nutrient modern foods system which is leading to major health issues.
Rock Dust & Why Soil Biology Matters
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Gbiota – Technology for the Benefit of Society
Humans are by far the most successful animal on earth for a simple reason: we have tools (technology) and we form cooperative…
Healthy Food Association: Registry of Coaches
This registry is a simple public list of coaches connected to the Healthy Food Association. Coaches provide their own details by email,…
Intelligent Control
Why is it that we are in the midst of a health crisis? What I call the fat in the wrong places…
How Life Works
The Two Great Synergies Life is powered by the sun. Plants use sunlight to combine carbon from the air and hydrogen from…
Three Functions of Food
We often classify food by nutrients — carbohydrates, fats, proteins — but it is more useful to understand what food actually does…
Food and Innovation: How Modern Agriculture Changed Our Health
Innovation is often associated with digital technology — phones, electric cars, and automation. But one of the largest shifts has been…
The Principle of Gbiota Beds
The aim of the Gbiota system is to restore and maintain a healthy gut by growing plants that act as natural pre-…
Spreading the Benefits of Gbiota Beds
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Adapting to the Food Crisis
The food crisis is not about empty shelves; it’s about food that’s energy-dense and nutrient-poor. That mismatch makes us heavier, sicker, and…
Choosing a Gbiota Smoothie
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Sugar Blockers
Gut Biology is Ever Changing Our gut biology shifts depending on what we eat. A typical modern diet encourages a gut biology…
History of Food
From Rocks to Soil About a billion years ago, microbiology began breaking down rock, releasing mineral sand forming soil. Plants grew, provided…
Understanding food
The Modern Health Crisis Obesity and diabetes have become widespread in just the last fifty years. The cause lies in how our…
Food Basics
“Do we really want our kids to grow up fat and diabetic? Health starts in the soil—and in the gut.” Why this…
Food for Thought
Feed our brains, our head brain and our gut brain and they will look after us. “Health starts in the soil—and in…
Blue zones
Feed our brains, our head brain and our gut brain and they will look after us. In parts of the world known…
Continuous Monitoring
Welcome to my site, which I created after some thought and practical experiments. My wife, Xiulan, a medical doctor, was having severe…
Health Starts in the Soil Part 1
Humans thrive because we build tools and cooperate. Today, rapid technological change and a highly processed food system mean we must use…
