It’s common knowledge that adopting healthy eating habits and increasing physical activity levels are both effective strategies for weight loss. But, did you know that these behaviors can have a significant effect on the gut microbiome, which in turn supports weight loss through key microbial actions? In fact, researchers have predicted that dietary and lifestyle recommendations for weight loss in the future may include personalized recommendations based on an individual’s gut microbiota!
GUT MICROBES AND WEIGHT
Human studies have observed that gut microbial composition varies between obese and lean individuals. Obese individuals have less bacterial diversity in the gut, a type of bacteria that can negatively affect fat and glucose metabolism. Gut microbes play a role in many factors that affect an individual’s weight, such as food cravings, hormones, and metabolic effects.
Have you ever thought about where your food cravings come from?
Whether you have the urge to snack on salty potato chips or sweet chocolate ice cream may be a result of the microbes in your gut!
STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT GUT HEALTH AND WEIGHT LOSS
There are several lifestyle factors that can shift gut microbial composition in your favor, including eating foods that encourage beneficial gut microbes, increasing physical activity levels, and being mindful of antibiotic use.
Nourish Beneficial Gut Microbes
The following chart includes a few tips to help you and nourish your gut microbes to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
Strategies to Encourage Beneficial Gut Microbes
- Crowd out high-fat, overly processed foods.
Differences in the levels of these microbes can play a role in body weight. Higher overall caloric intakes (more likely with high-fat and high-sugar diets) are linked to obesity, loss of beneficial Bacteroidetes, and increased growth of Firmicutes. When healthy diet changes are made resulting in weight loss, levels of Bacteroidetes increase.
- Increase diversity in fruits and vegetables
It’s been shown that individuals who consume 30 or more types of plant foods per week have increased microbial diversity in their gut. Consider keeping a list of fruits, vegetables, and legumes to plan your meals and incorporate as many of these beneficial foods as possible.
Strategies to Encourage Beneficial Gut Microbes
- Eat more polyphenols
Plant-based foods contain important polyphenols. Polyphenols are compounds that can enhance health in various ways, including cardioprotective and anticancer benefits. The quercetin in apples, epicatechins in cherries, and isoflavones in soy are all examples of polyphenols. Eating a variety of fruits, legumes, and vegetables of all colors will boost your dietary intake of polyphenols.
- Choose heart-healthy fats
Omega-3s are important for lowering levels of inflammation. Consider including fatty fish, such as cod, salmon, or tuna, in the diet often.
- Consume prebiotics regularly
- Include probiotics in the diet
Probiotics are microbes that provide health benefits for their host. They can be found naturally in food or in dietary supplements. Probiotic-rich foods include fermented vegetables (such as kimchi), yogurt or kefir with live active cultures, and fermented soybeans (tempeh)
Studies have found that some probiotics, particularly Lactobacillus strains, minimize the amount of weight gained while consuming a high-fat diet. Multistrain probiotics may be more helpful than single-strain probiotics for this effect, which is why including a variety of probiotic-rich foods (containing a variety of strains) is beneficial to the diet.
Note: Bio-individuality is key when considering prebiotics and probiotics. Not everyone tolerates prebiotic- and probiotic-rich foods equally, making it important to add them to the diet gradually. If you are immune compromised or have a GI condition (such as IBD, SIBO, or IBS), discuss these foods with your healthcare provider.
- Increase Physical Activity
Similar to the diet, physical activity can influence the composition of the gut microbiome.
When activity levels are increased, shifts in the gut microbiome have also been seen, including effects on both the types of beneficial bacteria found and the diversity within them.
- Be Mindful with Antibiotics
It’s important to maintain a healthy gut microbial balance for optimal health and a healthy weight. Being mindful with antibiotics is one way to do this. Antibiotic exposure prenatally or within the first year of life is associated with an increased risk of obesity in childhood.
Antibiotics are an important treatment modality for a wide variety of health concerns and may be necessary on occasion; however, there are significant health implications when they are overused. Here’s what you can do:
- Reflect on your own history of antibiotic use and how it may be impacting your gut microbiome today.