If only weight management were really as simple as they make it seem. Eat less, move more and in a caloric deficit you will lose weight; right? Wrong… Let’s talk about your gut health and weight loss today for a few minutes.
What is Gut Health?
If you try to keep ‘in the know’ of weight loss and health trends, there’s a lot of talk about probiotics, gut health and even diet changes such as dairy free and gluten free. Perhaps you personally have tried a supplement or reducing your processed food intake? It can be frustrating not truly knowing what your body needs. You see, the microbiome or gut plays a major role in the processing of nutrients and calories as well as influences how the body stores those nutrients and calories. If you are reducing caloric intake, exercising and still not seeing results, perhaps we need to shift our attention to your gut health?
Basic Ways the Gut Impacts Metabolism & Weight Loss:
1. Different bacterias are responsible for different functions. Some love to store fat! If your microbiome is out of balance, your bacteria could have an overabundance of “friends” trying to store some extra for the winter.
2. If your gut is off, you are likely missing many of the digestive enzymes needed to properly break down macronutrients, resulting in improperly stored calories as well as a lack of nutrient absorption.
3. The “bad” bacteria thrive on sugar. When we have an overgrowth of these bacteria, they will communicate their dietary desires to your brain encouraging you to eat more often as well as crave simply carbohydrates and sugars which are easily stored as fat.
4. Too much “bad” bacteria communicate stress signals to the brain, increasing cortisol the hormone associated with fat storage and blood sugar dips.
5. “Leaky Gut” leads to inflammation which negatively impacts metabolism. More on Leaky Gut >>
