Last week my Resetter Tribe on Facebook and I tried the carnivore diet and so many of the resetters lost weight like crazy…and the reason why is not what you may think! Could gut health be the secret to your weight loss? When we set out to lose weight, we often think of counting calories, exercise and fasting, but we never think about fixing what may be the root cause of weight gain and resistance – your gut microbiome!
So if you’re one of those people saying ‘I’m doing everything and the weight is not coming off’, my newest YouTube video talks how your gut health could be the secret to weight loss.
First, there are 3 important things you should know about your microbiome:
- Weight loss has less to do with will power and more to do with the balance of good to bad bacteria in your gut. The bacteria in your gut that control blood sugar (cravings, insulin, etc) and how much of the calories you eat are stored as fat. I’ll talk more about this below.
- You inherit your gut microbiome from your mother and the foundation for gut health is laid in the first 3 years of life. This means that your weight may not be genetic, but instead a result of the bacteria that got passed down to you. The good news is, we CAN change our microbiome, but it means eating foods that contribute to good bacteria growth like meat, collagen, beans, nuts, seeds, veggies and eliminating foods that contribute to bad bacteria growth like sugars, refined wheats and processed foods, etc.
- Modern life is full of toxins that hurt your gut bacteria. Antibiotics, stress and environmental pollutants (mercury, lead, pollution, perfumes, etc) decimate good bacteria, creating an imbalance of bad to good bacteria, leading you to store more fat than usual.
Now, here are 3 things I want you to look at on a Gut Zoomer or similar gut test
- What is your ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes (F/B)? Research shows that Firmicutes (a bad bacteria) store more calories to fat. Remember, Firmicutes increase with antibiotics, environmental toxins, stress and refined carbohydrates. Low bacteroidetes (the good bacteria we want) are associated with higher blood sugar. If you have more Firmicutes than Bacteroidetes on your test, or you’ve been on lots of antibiotics, you will want to integrate carnivore fasting into your diet variation plan, plus prebiotic foods like beans, nuts, seeds, veggies.
- What is your ratio of Prevotella to Bacteroidetes (P/B)? If you have a high P/B ratio, you may do really well on a vegan diet of fruits, vegetables, fiber and whole grains. My recommendation is to do three days of carnivore fasting, then try three days of vegan fasting and see which one works better for you.
- How diverse is your gut bacteria? This looks at how many different types of bacteria you have. The higher gut diversity you have, the better off you will be. A diverse gut bacteria will help you get into ketosis, regulate blood sugar and lose weight.
Could gut health be the secret to weight loss for you? If you think this might be you, which fasts are best at changing the microbiome? Based on the research I recommend 16 hours of intermittent fasting a day, with a 24 hour fasting period to get beneficial stem cells.
If you haven’t already done a Gut Zoomer, that’s a great place to start. We love this test. Also it’s not too late to join me in the Metabolic Reset, where I teach all of these principles in depth!
