By We may have been focusing on the wrong thing for weight loss
I will admit it; I never thought I focused on the wrong methods to lose weight successfully. I would follow my body-building diet of eating several meals daily filled with protein, hardly any carbs and veggies. That worked while I trained as a body-builder, and It should do the job again. But sadly, back then (about four years ago now), it didn’t work. I would uncover a bloated belly, and water retention and going to the bathroom was dreadfully hard (and unpleasant as well!) I didn’t understand why this strategy didn’t produce any results, seeing as it did for about 99 per cent of the population. But I was missing something in the equation of weight loss. Sure, I began fasting, and that made a difference. But, what created the most profound changes was my gut health (and fasting did help heal my gut). We underestimate how important our gut health is for longevity, fitness and weight loss. That community of microorganisms lurking in our intestines reside in the trillions, outnumbering our human cells by 10–1. Our gut is the CEO of digestion and metabolism and protects us from infection by strengthening the immune system. In addition, a healthy gut microbiome can aid in preventing the onset of weight gain and obesity. To have peak health and hit those weight loss targets, you must diversify the number of good bacteria in your gut. There are several ways to do this, apart from taking probiotics (which is important too) and eating fermented foods — in other words, we also have to feed our guts pre-biotics.
So, what are pre-biotics, then?
In the simplest terms, they are foods like garlic, onions, artichokes, asparagus, green bananas, legumes and chicory. Pre-biotics help to encourage the growth of probiotics and maintain healthy gut bacteria. You also get the added benefit of absorbing your food a lot better. That’s very important if you suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies. It could be as simple as increasing your healthy gut microbiome to fix this problem. There is also some evidence that eating pre-biotic foods helps reduce our appetite — not to mention the added weight loss benefits of probiotics.
What can you do to bring your gut back to health?
It’s not as hard as you think to begin getting all that good nourishing bacteria into your gut again. What creates the most profound change is the diversity of bacteria — and that’s simply a matter of ensuring you have a lot of different foods.
Here are the most important ones you should try to include daily
One: Eat fermented foods daily when you take (or eat) probiotics, as these taken together will help restore your gut bacteria. Two: Try not to take any antibiotics if you can help it, as they kill your good gut bacteria and cause a lot of diarrhoea and inflammation. Three: Take up an enjoyable form of exercise. Exercise is good for health and longevity, but it can also help keep your gut in good shape. Four: Try not to eat processed sugar and any toxic artificial varieties you can find in soft drinks and sugar-free bars. Five: Eat abundant fruit, veggies, and whole grains and eat in season. Try to stay away from any processed foods. Six: Reduce your stress levels. Stress can cause all sorts of problems for our bodies, and our guts are no exception to this as well.
Key takeaways
Weight loss is not always about the calories you consume and burn; the health of your gut also governs it. Science is now just hitting the spot of how important it is to take care of our gut bacteria as part of a healthy lifestyle — rather than a side thought. All we have to do is eat a variety of whole foods, vegetables and as many pre-biotic and fermented foods as possible. That, mixed with exercise, laughter, and fun, will put you one step ahead of the weight loss game now and for life. I’m on Youtube! Please help grow awareness of health, lifestyle and well-being holistically, and follow my YouTube channel here.
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