Do you know someone who tells you that losing weight is just a matter of eating less and exercising more? That is like telling someone with depression to cheer up.

At Natural Bio Health We know that it can be very difficult to lose weight and even more difficult to keep it off.

One important reason is your gut health. Science now tells us that to lose weight and keep it off, you must have more skinny bacteria (Bacteroidetes) than fat bacteria (Firmicutes). With the right amount of skinny bacteria, we can absorb fewer calories. With more bad fat bacteria, we tend to extract more calories from our food and gain more fat.

So what to do? The first thing to do is to eat more fiber – at least 35 grams per day. This includes salads, vegetables, low sugar fruits, and some non-GMO whole grains. Avoid sugar which increases the fat bacteria kind. Eat real food – not processed. Monitor the use of antibiotics and don’t forget the kids. Antibiotics also kill good bacteria. Repeated use of antibiotics can damage your immune system and has been linked to many chronic diseases including obesity.

Rx: Take vitamin D3 every day . The lack of D3 causes changes in your gut microbiota. This can lead to dysbiosis and inflammation.

Rx: Take a pharmaceutical grade probiotic every day (like this one) and you may need digestive enzymes. Protease is an enzyme that will help your gut break down your food.

*Remember: 65% of your immune system is in your gut.  (Check out our post on your immune system) Avoid fat bacteria to ensure a healthy weight and easier weight loss!

Reference:  For more information on good bacteria and bad bacteria in the gut, refer to this scholarly website: http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/46/Supplement_2/S96.long.