Managing Your Gut Health to Lose Weight Healthily
Research shows that the gut microbiome — the bacteria that live in your intestines — can influence your ability to lose weight. In this article, you will learn the three ways your gut bacteria could be making it hard for you to lose weight and how to start and follow our protocol for balancing gut health:
Here are the three ways your gut bacteria could be making it hard for you to lose weight
1. Telling you what to eat and how much
Your microbes communicate with your brain through the vagus nerve. They impact your satiety and hunger-control hormones and can increase your hunger. An unhealthy gut can alter your mood; higher stress and anxiety drive preferences for carb-rich foods. A disrupted gut microbiome can also affect your tongue's taste receptors for fat and sweets.
2. Increasing inflammation
An altered gut microbiome can impact your intestinal wall junctions by making them loose and inflamed. Chronic low-grade inflammation can lead to obesity. The gut microbiome can also contribute to inflammation by producing harmful byproducts, which can enter the blood and turn on inflammatory responses. This can lead to increased fat storage.
3. Impacting your blood sugar control
A diet low in fiber and prebiotics does not produce enough butyrate – This essential short-chain fatty acid is protective against obesity and insulin resistance. Adequate insulin helps regulate your blood sugar and turn it into energy. Butyrate also reduces inflammation and makes you feel full more quickly.
Follow our protocol for balancing gut health
A positive change in your diet and/or lifestyle can impact your gut diversity positively as fast as three days!
In your visits at Nutrily, we may suggest that you undergo a 6-step R protocol for balancing gut health:
1 - Reduce
We focus on the first steps, individualizing for each client and noticing what needs to be a priority. Some people will need to cut back on alcohol or avoid smoking tobacco/marijuana, to avoid constant inflammation. Others need to start decreasing the number of processed foods they eat. We can also work on managing stress levels during this phase.
2- Remove
If a person has ongoing digestive issues, we may start with an 8-week low-FODMAP protocol. For others, we may perform a food elimination/reintroduction diet focusing on the top food allergens and foods that commonly cause intolerances. We start with 1-2 food groups at a time, so it’s not restrictive or overwhelming for the patient.
3- Replace
We help the liver and gut work on detoxification and ease digestion processes, where bitter greens, ginger, prebiotics, digestive enzymes, acid, bile, papaya, and/or pineapple may be added to help.
4- Reinoculate
We can work on adding probiotics in different strains, storage methods, and dosages. We will recommend probiotic-rich foods, like kefir, kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, tempeh, as well as prebiotic-rich foods, fiber, such as inulin found in endive, asparagus, leek, onions, garlic, wheat, artichoke, herbs, and green banana and fructooligosaccharides, which is found in onion, garlic, tomato, green banana, oats, barley, wheat, and honey. Some will benefit from a prebiotic supplement that includes either inulin, FOS, or psyllium. Others will benefit from a symbiotic that adds both pre and probiotics.
5- Repair
Certain supplements like glutamine, glucosamine, type 2 collagen, and bone broths are beneficial during this phase.
6- Rebalance
We focus on lifestyle again. An anti-inflammatory and antioxidant-rich diet is crucial during this stage. As well as the addition of body-mind modalities and spirituality, sleep hygiene, an exercise regimen, a daily self-care activity, as well as being around gardening or animals and away from highly processed foods are all helpful.
