Natural Weight Loss: Healthy Bacteria and Probiotics

Healthy bacteria and probiotics will help you lose weight. Did you ever have one of those friends who could eat anything and not gain weight? Their secret to success may be in a trillion little friends inside of their intestinal tract: their intestinal flora.

Researchers at Washington University recently discovered that obese people have completely different bacteria in their gut than do skinny people.¹ This study also showed that in order to change your weight, you have to change your bacteria. Many people who are fighting against the bacteria in their gut just can’t shed those pounds.

These “fat” bacteria actually cause you to absorb more calories out of your food than the “skinny” bacteria. This means even if you’re eating the same amount and type of food as someone else you could be getting far more calories than you’re bargaining for (and more than what are shown on nutrition labels) because your gut is invaded by the wrong type of bacteria.

But how did this happen? How did these pathogenic (unhealthy) bacteria get here?

If you can answer yes to any of the following questions, you will likely benefit from taking steps to improve your intestinal flora:

1. Do you eat less than one serving a day of fermented food (yogurt, sauerkraut, miso etc.)?

2. Have you ever taken antibiotics without taking probiotics at the same time?

3. Are you overweight?

4. Do you have less than two bowel movements per day?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, it is vital that you take steps to improve your intestinal environment.

Antibiotics kill off many of the good bacteria, can strip out the good bacteria, and some intestinal conditions can even wash away your healthy bacteria. Also constipation (less than two bowel movements a day) allows foods to rot in the intestine and changes the environment, which makes it harder for good bacteria to stay healthy.

If your good bacteria gets stripped away or weakened, then your intestines can become colonized with pathogenic bacteria, paving the way for altered absorption, chronic disease, and obesity.

Here are a few tips to help with natural weight loss with healthy bacteria and probiotics.

1. Take 1 capsule of probiotics or eat lacto-fermented food high in probiotics (sauerkraut, miso, tempeh, organic yogurt, kim chee) with every meal. The food cannot be cooked or contain preservatives which will kill the probiotics in the food.

2. Avoid sugar and processed foods which will create more pathogenic bacteria in the gut.

3. Make sure you have 2 fully formed bowel movements per day.
 

References

1. Turnbaugh PJ et al. An obesity-associated gut microbiome with increased capacity for energy harvest. Nature. 2006 Dec 21;444(7122):1027-31