When we think of our gut health, we mostly only think about concerns that relate to our digestion and stomach issues. However, do you know that our gut health affects virtually every aspect of our health – skin health, immune system, mood, energy levels, and yes, even weight! Maintaining well-supported gut bacteria and gut microbiota is crucial in staying healthy overall.
Simply put, good gut health positively affects your overall body, and when it comes to weight, it means that it can help you lose weight. However, if your gut health is not in good shape, so probably would you too. Therefore, if you want your stomach health to work for you rather than against you, you must take care of it to reap its benefits. So, to that effect, you may now be wondering how gut health and weight loss relate and how you can use your gut health to benefit your weight loss. We’ve got the answers to those questions and more, so let’s dive in and learn about gut health and weight loss!
The Relationship Between Gut Health and Weight
Before we talk about taking care of your gut health and weight loss, let’s first talk about how your gut health and gut bacteria can affect your weight, be it weight loss or weight gain.
One of the major factors that affect your health and weight is what you eat. Specifically, if you eat a lot of saturated fat, you will get more bacteria that are called Firmicutes. This bacteria is said to be efficient at absorbing calories from the foods you eat. That being said, it’s not the kind of efficiency that you would have for yourself!
Once you lower your saturated fat intake and switch to eating diets that are concentrated in whole grains, leafy greens, beans, and a few types of meat, your Firmicutes level goes down and, hence, your gut microbiome will be less efficient in storing calories for you. This way, your body will naturally get leaner.
Also, research shows that the lack of diversity in our gut microbiome could increase our cravings, especially junk food cravings. This is because some bacteria simply want sugar and other foods that are unhealthy for us. If there is a lack of diversity in our gut microbiome, these bacteria could easily dictate to our brain what they want – sugary and other unhealthy foods – and hence, we tend to crave these foods. On the other hand, the more diverse our gut microbiome is, the less influential a single (and typically evil) bacteria would have on our brain.
In order to achieve effective weight loss, we must maintain good gut bacteria, alongside gut bugs (yes! they’re a real thing), and keep inflammation at bay.
How To Keep Your Gut Healthy: 4 Top Tips
Now that we know how our gut health affects our weight, it’s time to talk about the things that we can do to keep our gut healthy. Here are some of the simple things that you can do so that you can take care of your gut health.
1) Watch What You Eat
We have already talked about how your food choice can positively or negatively affect your gut health – and with that, your weight. So, be mindful of what you eat so that you can promote optimal health not only to your gut but also to your overall health.
As a general rule, aim for foods that are rich in fiber, prebiotics, and probiotics. We will talk more about the foods that are good for your stomach health later.
2) Manage Your Stress Levels
Chronic high levels of stress are simply painful for your gut and overall body. Unfortunately, in our modern lifestyle, we’ve become accustomed to thinking that stress is just a normal part of our lives – it’s not!
Working out, taking walks, having fun, getting into new hobbies (or being more involved in the ones that you have), meeting with family and friends more frequently, and having a pet are just some of the ways to decrease and manage your stress levels.
3) Get Enough Good Sleep
Another way to manage your stress levels is to simply ensure that you’re getting enough sleep – and good, quality sleep, for that matter.
When we think about relaxing, many of us think that getting some sleep is the solution, which is as long as we don’t oversleep. However, in a big turn of irony, many of us fail to get enough sleep.
Aside from affecting our stress levels, our sleep has an impact on our gut health. Simply put, lack of sleep can badly impact our gut. What’s worse is that it can lead to more sleep issues. So, be sure to get enough sleep at night – and of course, have a goodnight!
4) Drink Plenty of Water and Stay Hydrated
Drinking plenty of water is simply refreshing! But aside from its obvious benefits, drinking plenty of water and keeping yourself hydrated benefits your gut as well – specifically, it positively affects the mucosal lining of our intestines. It can also positively affect the balance of good bacteria within your gut.
Best Foods for Gut Health
As we have mentioned above, foods that are high in fiber, prebiotics, and probiotics are good for your gut. Here’s how each of them works to benefit your gut.
Fiber
Fiber aids in regulating the speed of your food as it moves through your gut. This means that it will lessen the load for your gut and digestion, hence causing fewer digestive problems and keeping your overall gut health in good shape. If you feel you’re not getting enough fiber with your daily diet, consider adding a fiber supplement to your routine.
Fiber-Rich Foods
- Nuts and seeds
- Fruits (berries, pears, and banana)
- Whole grains
- Peas and beans
- Potatoes with skin
Prebiotics
Prebiotics are special types of fiber that our body cannot digest. As a result, they are consumed by our gut bacteria, which in turn feeds and nourishes them. In addition to food, there are many prebiotic supplement options available as well.
Prebiotic-Rich Foods
- Vegetables (garlic, onion, Jerusalem artichokes, leek, shallots, spring onion, green peas, and sweetcorn)
- Fruits (White peaches, custard apple, watermelon, rambutan, pomegranate, and dried fruits such as dates)
- Nuts and seeds (Pistachio nuts and cashews)
Probiotics
If prebiotics is the food of our gut bacteria, probiotics are the gut bacteria themselves. By adding probiotics or gut bacteria to our system, the more balanced and diverse our gut microbiome would be. Among other things, this will ensure that good bacteria will dominate the bad ones, hence promoting overall good stomach health. You will find that many foods that are fermented will include probiotics. You could also consider a probiotic supplement if you feel like you need more within your daily diet.
Probiotic-Rich Foods
- Yogurt
- Kimchi
- Sauerkraut
- Pickles
- Kombucha
- Miso
- Tempeh
- Traditional buttermilk
- Certain types of cheese (e.g., cheddar, mozzarella, and cottage cheese)
- Fermented foods
Top Supplements For Gut Health
While regular exercise, enough sleep, and the right types of foods are enough to take care of your gut, taking supplements can also boost your efforts in keeping your gut healthy. If you are looking for a supplement for your gut, we suggest that you try out these brands.
1. MegaSporeBiotic Probiotics
MegaSporeBiotic is a probiotic supplement that is 100% spore-based and broad-spectrum probiotics. Its unique formula is designed to recondition your gut by promoting diversity to your gut microbiome. It can also aid in promoting and maintaining healthy bacteria. MegaSporeBiotic⢠is also shown to promote a healthy gut barrier function.
GET THE BEST PRICE ON MEGASPOREBIOTIC2. BalanceMD
BalanceMD is also a broad-spectrum probiotic supplement. What separates BalanceMD® from other probiotic supplements is that this supplement contains not only probiotics but digestive enzymes and potent botanical ingredients, making it potentially effective in promoting overall gut health.
GET UP TO 40% OFF BALANCEMD3. Dr. Tobias Probiotics
Dr. Tobias Probiotics is formulated with around 4.4 billion CFU spore-forming probiotics. Also, it has added prebiotics to further nourish its probiotics. As a probiotic supplement, Dr. Tobias Probiotics promotes a healthy gut, proper digestion, and an improved probiotic immune system.
GET THE BEST PRICE ON DR. TOBIAS PROBIOTICS4. LiveWell Collagen
The last thing we would think of when we talk about gut supplements is a collagen supplement, but hear us out on this.
Collagen peptides such as the LiveWell Collagen are in themselves a potent supplement that does wonders for their own – particularly for your skin, hair, nails, muscles, and ligaments. But aside from them, collagen peptides can promote the healing of our gut lining. This is essential not only in improving our digestion but also in preventing disorders such as the leaky gut.
Collagen peptides can help heal the lining of the gut, which helps improve digestion and prevent/treat gastrointestinal disorders like leaky gut. Collagen also contains essential amino acids like glutamine, which are very beneficial in promoting digestive health. By healing the gut lining and promoting good digestion, our immune systems also benefit, especially when it comes to efficient nutrient absorption.
USE CODE “SHARE10” FOR 10% OFF LIVEWELL COLLAGENFAQ: Gut Health and Weight Loss
Can good gut health help you lose weight?
Part of achieving weight loss is making sure that your gut is properly maintained. If it isn’t, you can run into a lot of difficulties when it comes to losing weight. The bacteria in your gut is the only thing that can break down certain foods, so if the bacteria in your gut is not healthy, then you will have a hard time breaking down food.
What are the symptoms of an unhealthy gut?
There are many different things that can point to having an unhealthy gut. Some symptoms include digestive issues, bloating post meals, stomach pains, inability to achieve weight loss, and more.
Which probiotic is best for weight loss?
There are many different probiotics to choose from on the market. Dr. Tobias Probiotics and MegaSporeBiotic Probiotics are two high-quality options that can help support your gut bacteria.
Should You Try A Gut Health Supplement?
If you are trying to achieve weight loss, then making sure your gut flora, gut bacteria, gut microbes, healthy bacteria, and microbiome are all healthy is key. It is very difficult to achieve weight loss when these things are out of wack.
While there are different types of bacteria, it’s important to recognize that there are good bacteria that are necessary for maintaining healthy gut flora. Foods like fermented foods, probiotic-rich foods, prebiotic-rich foods, and fiber foods are helpful in keeping your system in good status.
