GUT MAKEOVERS: LOSE WEIGHT, REGAIN HEALTH!

It’s a typical January topic:  Create The New YOU in the New Year!  But you’ve never heard this method to lose the weight and feel great!   This method is entirely novel due to a silver bullet tool.   Science is proving that it is the Gut Microbial Balance that’s keeping people from losing and keeping the weight off.

 

IT ALL STARTED IN 2008. 

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded and kicked off a second, major research project called The Human Microbiome.  (The first one was the Human Genome Project.)  These are MASSIVE, multi-year studies.  And we are now beginning to see specific probiotic products coming to market based on the findings from this research.  This will go on for many years because we are figuratively at the tip of the iceberg of solutions coming from this Project!  And one arena of research which is beginning to get traction in the scientific/medical community is on weight loss.    With the incidence of diabetes on the rise, this is an important area of health to get on the right track before that can begin.

 

From the New York Times “Eat Well” section on Dec. 29, 2016 comes one of the most compelling articles I’ve seen on the care and feeding of your gut microbiota community.  This article clearly conveys that what we eat effects which type of microbes we feed in our gut community (called the “microbiota”).  And what you feed grows.  What you do not feed dies off or becomes marginalized, affecting your overall health on many levels, including your ability to lose/maintain a healthy weight, prevent/reverse diabetes, and reverse/eliminate Allergies and Autoimmune conditions and support Women’s Health, to name a few.

 

 

LOTUS BLOSSOM CLINIC IS DOING IT

Since 2014, we have continually grown our knowledge, focus and use of probiotics with ourselves and our patients.  We now carry several products with targeted bacteria for specific health conditions.  AND, we are currently investigating and planning to customize beneficial bacterial blends of our own, beginning with the weight loss strains.  Starting here–along with a targeted food-as-medicine program–will give people weight loss results which may have eluded them for decades.  Along with that, this course of action can and will help prevent diabetes, reverse and eliminate allergies and women’s urogenital issues, and more.

 

 

FEED THE BENEFICIAL BACTERIA.   

In a medical journal called Clinical Nutrition Experimental, an article from December of 2015 caught our attention:  “Losing weight for better health:  Role for the gut microbiota”.  The 10  Weight Loss Studies published from 2006 to 2015, using both human and mice subjects, drew some helpful–and startling–conclusions regarding two aspects of weight loss:  1)  the STARTING gut community balance prior to beginning a weight loss program has a direct effect on the amount of weight loss, waist circumference reduction & insulin resistance improvement of the weight loss program,  and 2) the gut balance changes created by different weight loss protocols can lead to very different success rates.

 

FACTS FROM WEIGHT LOSS STUDIES

As with anything in our bodies, there is typically more than one thing involved in creating better health.  The studies I’ve read all acknowledge that diet and other environmental factors influence the microbiota.  And, the field is shifting from measuring individual bacterium for specific conditions to the approach of studying “gut microbiota ecology”.  This is the landscape of the gut—studying the interactions and dependencies of many microbes as they help us perform metabolism, acquire energy from our foods, etc.   This is a New Frontier in Medicine that offers huge promise and is already providing health solutions in ways previously unimagined.

 

HAD TROUBLE LOSING WEIGHT?   –or know someone who has?  

It could really be “Not Their Fault”, particularly if the person has been using sound approaches to their eating and exercise!   Several studies of particular interest for these people looked at 4 types of diets.  It turns out that the way the diets feed—or don’t feed—bacteria in the gut effects the BALANCE and MAKEUP of the Microbiome, which in turn leads to the result—losing little or significant weight or having greater success.  AND, these studies also identified that it is CRITICAL TO HAVE A GOOD GUT BALANCE before the diet begins.   Discovering and correcting any imbalance BEFORE dieting can change the system and release the pounds!    (Please note, I’m fairly certain these diets DIDN’T include high amounts of wheat and rice.  “Carbs” in these studies were more likely to have been vegetables and fruits). 

 

Here are the 4 diets, and a snapshot of some of their results as described in The Clinical Nutrition Experimental, December 2015,

  1. High Fat & Low Carb Diet – Reasonable reports on weight loss. High fat created loose bowels, quite possibly due to a reduction of beneficial Bifidobacterium species.   In other words, this diet did NOT feed an important, “good” bacteria.
  2. Low Fat & High Carb Diet – less effective for weight loss than the High Fat & Low Carb Diet!
  3. High Protein/Low Carb Diet – Created a potentially deleterious (really bad) fecal metabolite profile. Metabolism was set to STORE fat rather than burn it.  It also creates an anaerobic condition (you’ve probably heard the term “acidic environment”).  This is a setup for cancer.   This diet created reduction in several other Beneficial Bacteria.  Again, this diet did not properly feed the “good” bacteria.
  4. High Protein/Medium Carb Diet – This diet was the most successful in terms of weight loss of the studies presented. It correlated with the creation of several helpful fatty acids and greater numbers of helpful Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species.  Results included greater weight loss and reduction in waist circumference.

 

We are curious to see the results of a High Carb/Low Protein Diet, but that wasn’t in this particular set of studies.

 

RICH IS GOOD

One thing seems consistent.  The study results I’ve seen agree that a rich microbiota leads to better health.  Rich means a lot of diversity—many types of microbes.   Typical weight-loss-resistant people have less microbial diversity, and they are particularly deficient in certain types of bacteria.   Diversity in this case improves weight loss (and maintenance), insulin regulation (prevent diabetes), immune responses (reverse allergies, cancer, autoimmune conditions) and more.  So, keep eating a variety of prebiotic and probiotic foods.  Connect with us to learn more foods and supplements already formulated and available to help you.  Learn how to make cultured foods on your own counter for pennies!

 

CONCLUSION

Now, with the results from the Human Microbiome Project, you can make strides to lose stubborn weight and transform other chronic health conditions using the data and conclusions from the mountains of research which has already been done.   You and your medical professionals can select and more effectively use certain combinations of the millions and trillions of types of bacteria.  And, of course, this is a very evolving world.   Are you ready to check out this New Frontier?  Attend one of our Food Classes or call us to set up a consultation to learn more about how food and the pre-probiotic worlds can help you and your loved ones.   Check out our class schedule of “Events” at our website www.LotusBlossomClinic.com

 

May you be Rich in Beneficial Microbes in 2017 and beyond!

 

Dr. David and Deb Martín and Staff providing acupuncture, massage, reiki, food healing, 

www.LotusBlossomClinic.com

(239) 277-1399

 

Serving the Greater Fort Myers area, including Cape Coral, Estero, Lehigh, Bonita Springs & Naples

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