What is more frustrating than trying to lose weight and not getting results? So many of my patients come in saying they’re doing everything right – diet, exercise, stress management, sleep – and I believe that they are. If you’re doing it all and still not seeing results, you might be missing an important aspect. Do you also experience bad breath, fatigue with meals, bloating after eating fiber, or undigested food in your stools? These are a few signs that you may be in digestive distress, meaning the bacteria in your gut are contributing to your weight loss resistance. Let me tell you what to look for and how the gut and our weight are connected.
10 signs of digestive distress
- Cavities
- Bad breath
- Thick coating on tongue
- Fatigue with meals
- Abdominal bloating at the end of the day
- Blood/mucus in stool
- Poor response to fat or high-fat diets
- Loose stools
- Yeast infections and UTIs
- Feeling of heaviness after meals
What is the gut-weight axis?
Simply put, the gut-weight axis is the connection between how the composition of the bacteria in your gut influences your weight. Much of the time, poor gut health will lead to weight gain and make weight loss seem impossible. Here are a few ways this happens:
- The standard American diet (SAD) doesn’t even come close to providing adequate fibre intake. Insufficient fibre and food diversity can lead to poor microbial health, which is associated with weight gain, inflammation, and insulin resistance.
- Lack of food diversity in the diet leads to nutrient deficiencies, which also arise from insufficient levels of digestive enzymes to properly break down and absorb the food you eat.
- All those years of yo-yo dieting can alter incretin levels. Incretins, which are gut hormones that control your metabolism, help to direct your body as to how much insulin to release and, therefore, fat to store.
- Imbalances of good and bad bacteria can alter the release of incretins, which will affect weight loss resistance.
I know I’m asking you to think outside of the box here. I’ve seen so many people dealing with weight loss resistance even though they’re doing ‘everything right’. That was me for so many years! In your run of the mill weight loss programs there are gaps in their plans that don’t address important aspects – like the gut-weight axis. I go into much more detail of how to address this in my new book ‘Finally Lose It’. Do you experience any of these signs of digestive distress? Let me know if this is an obstacle in your weight loss journey!
