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Is Your Gut Bacteria Making You Fat?

The difference between skinny people and heavy ones might be the bacteria in their belly
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Something To Root For
Chicory root contains inulin fiber, a prebiotic often used as a food additive in processed foods and probiotic supplements. But inulin is most effective in its natural state. It can be used as a natural sweetener and caffeine-free coffee substitute. (Look for chicory-laced coffees like French Market Coffee or Teeccino, a coffee substitute sold in health food stores.) If you're not a coffee drinker, you can also eat the leaves raw like celery.

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Another Reason to Love Red Wine
A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that red wine's polyphenols -- the compounds that promote heart health -- also have prebiotic potential. In one study, drinking one glass of red wine daily for a month boosted drinkers' good-to-bad gut bacteria ratio.

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Pound a Kombucha
You've seen the rows and rows of these jewel-toned tonics in health food stores -- and one look at the murky stuff hovering at the bottom of those glass bottles might put you off of trying one. But the fermented tea is teeming with fermented good bacteria.

According to registered dietitian Deborah Berman, president of The Berman Group for Wellness and Nutrition, foods like Kombucha contain "good bacteria that may help with digestion and offer protection from harmful bacteria, just as the good bacteria in your body already does."


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Cabbage's Spoiled Cousin
Unpasteurized sauerkraut (a.k.a. fermented cabbage), contains even more probiotics than yogurt (sauerkraut can have up to 10 trillion particles of healthful bacteria), which increases the healthy germs in the intestinal tract. This helps the immune system fight infection, and aid digestion, hence sauerkraut's venerable reputation as a remedy for upset stomach and constipation.

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Hello, Miso
Miso contains millions of microorganisms that are similar to the bacteria that naturally occur in our bodies. Most of us know miso from drinking miso soup, but it starts off as a paste. It's made by fermenting a mixture of soybeans, barley, brown rice and several other grains with the fungus, Aspergillus oryzae. The result is a smooth-textured paste with a strong, salty flavor.

Drinking miso soup all the time might get kind of boring. You can spread miso paste on crackers, bread, and corn on the cob if you want to change things up.


Coveting celebrities' body parts is nothing new. We pine for Zooey Deschanel's big blue eyes, and Sofia Vergara's dangerous curves, but there's one body part that perhaps we need to be more envious of: the gut. Or, more specifically, the contents of it.

According to new research in mice, the creepy-crawly bacteria that live and breed in our bellies may make all the difference between whether we flaunt an apple or hourglass figure. Dr. Jeffrey Gordon from Washington University in St. Louis , who conducted the study, believes that the hundreds of different bacteria that live in our guts may influence how well we burn - or store - fat, and can either spur obesity or protect against it.

To test his theory, Dr. Gordon took several groups of human twins, where one was obese and the other thin and transplanted their gut bacteria into mice who'd been raised in sterile cages without ever being exposed to bacteria-- like bubble boy -- then waited for the results. The mice injected with the fat flora gained weight while those who got the lean stuff stayed thin -- even when they were all fed the same diet.

Dr. Gordon then put the mice in the same cage to see what would happen if they swapped gut bacteria. "Oh, how do they do that?" you ask. Well, mice like to eat each others feces, which means plenty of bacteria-sharing for all!. Yeah, we were pretty grossed out, too. The mice originally injected with the "fat" microbes adopted the bacteria of the thin mice and began losing weight. Thankfully, eating the obese mouse's germs had no effect on the thin mice. The results suggested that the bacteria in our bodies not only affect our weight, but that we can lose weight just by changing our gut bacteria.

So how do you go about getting skinny people germs -- save the unthinkable?

Promising new research shows that getting thin people bacteria might be as simple as changing what you eat: Think low-fat and high-fiber foods. So, no, cheeseburgers and pizza won't cut it.

Here, a closer look at the best foods to get your skinny bacteria growing.
BY FRANCES VEGA | OCT 10, 2013 | SHARES
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