Lose weight and Belly Fat by Adding Probiotics to Your Diet

Fermented Foods produce Probiotics

Probiotics is the term that refers to the microbes, or good bacteria, that live in your gut, keeping your digestion working properly.

The bacteria in your gut have been shown to play a role in everything from immunity to mental health.

As it mentioned above, your intestinal tract is full of beneficial bacteria. It’s important to have the right balance of good to bad bacteria, and probiotics can help with this.

They are a type of beneficial bacteria found in our digestive tract that have been shown to improve many aspects of health.

There are hundreds of different microorganisms in your digestive system.

They can be found in both fermented foods and supplements .

Fermented Foods

Fermented foods are foods that have been produced by  a process of fermentation in which natural bacteria feed on the sugar and starch in the food.

This process has been used for centuries to preserve food, and we now know that it also creates beneficial enzymes and various strains of probiotics.

Eating fermented foods has been making a huge comeback among people  these days.

Most of these foods have a sour and savory flavour and although sour is not a taste we are accustomed to in our modern diet, these foods are in fact delicious and extremely good for your body.

Fermenting anything, especially vegetables, produces healthy probiotic bacteria that are essential to a healthy and functioning digestive tract.

Sustainable Weight Loss Depends on Healthy Digestion

You can be consuming all the healthy foods in the world, but if the digestive tract is not  working properly, your body would not to see a dime’s worth of benefit.

This is reason  probiotics are thought to be even more important than vitamins.

By promoting friendly intestinal bacteria, fermented foods help…

•          Aid digestion

•          Support immune function

•          Produce digestive enzymes, lactase and lactic acid

•          Fight off harmful bacteria and even cancer cells

•          Expel toxins and heavy metals from cell tissue.

•          Increase B vitamins (even Vitamin B12)

•          Facilitate omega-3 fatty acids,

How does this help with Weight loss?

You may have heard of the conditions called ‘leptin resistance’ and ‘insulin resistance’.

 One of the factors that causes these fat-gaining conditions is inflammation. 

Inflammation, more specifically ‘proinflammatory cytokines’ which are the hormones that cause inflammation, activate your body’s FAT triggers.

These inflammatory hormones cause the cells of your body to become resistant to ‘leptin’ and ‘insulin’, the two most important fat regulating hormones.

Anything that can reduce chronic inflammation helps address one of main causes of obesity.

Studies are coming out all the time now linking unfriendly gut bacteria with obesity.

 It’s no surprise then that more and more physicians are using probiotic therapy to treat 
obesity, diabetes, depression, and heart disease as well as a host of other conditions.

Probiotics may improve digestive health, heart health and immune function, to name a few .

Several studies also suggest that probiotics can help you lose weight and belly fat.

The majority of these are bacteria, most of which are friendly. Friendly bacteria produce several important nutrients, including vitamin K and certain B-vitamins.

They also help break down fiber that the body can't digest, turning it into beneficial short-chain fatty acids like butyrate.

Common Types of Probiotics

There are dozens of different strains of bacteria in different probiotic supplements. 

There are bacteria from the lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidum bacterium families.

These are available in abundance in yogurt, kefir, and naturally fermented sauerkraut to name a few.

It is thought that certain probiotics may inhibit the absorption of dietary fat, increasing the amount of fat excreted with feces.

In other words, they make you "harvest" fewer calories from the foods in your diet.

Certain bacteria, such as those from the Lactobacillus family, have been found to function in this way.

Probiotics may also fight obesity in other ways:

•          Release of GLP-1: Probiotics may help release the satiety (appetite-reducing) hormone GLP-1. Increased levels of this hormone may help you burn calories and fat.

•          Increase of ANGPTL4: Probiotics may increase levels of the protein ANGPTL4. This may lead to decreased fat storage.

There is also a lot of evidence that obesity is linked to inflammation in the brain.  Probiotics may reduce systemic inflammation and protect against obesity and other diseases.

Though, it is important to keep in mind that these mechanisms are not well understood. More research would be useful.

One review of 15 studies showed that people who took probiotics experienced significantly larger reductions in body weight, fat percentage and body mass index compared to those who did not.

Another small study showed that taking probiotic supplements helped people following a high-fat, high-calorie diet prevent fat and weight gain.

Certain strains of probiotics in the genus Lactobacillus may be especially effective at aiding weight and fat loss.

One study in 28 people showed that eating yogurt containing either Lactobacillus fermentum or Lactobacillus amylovorus bacteria reduced body fat by 3–4% .

Taking supplements is a quick and easy way to get in a concentrated dose of probiotics every day.

On the other hand, you can try adding some probiotic-rich foods to your diet, such as kefir, tempeh, natto, kombucha, kimchi and sauerkraut.

Abstract

Consuming probiotic supplements or increasing your intake of probiotics through food sources may help reduce body weight and fat percentage.

Probiotics may reduce the number of calories you absorb from your foods. They also affect hormones and proteins related to appetite and fat storage. They may also reduce inflammation, which can decrease obesity.