To Count or Not to Count Calories?

When trying to lose weight should we count calories forever or is there a better way? New research suggests that weight loss may not be as simple as cutting calories by eating less and exercising more but that our gut microbiome has an important role to play.

In today’s world, many people are trying to lose weight, but the problem with restricting calories is that this tends to work only for a short time. As weight loss occurs, hunger increases and the body’s ability to burn energy slows down (into ‘famine’ mode), so it holds onto extra fat, making long term weight loss difficult.  The same number of calories also produces different effects in different people.  A recent study showed that identical twins who share all of their genes had a different blood sugar response to the same meal with the same number of calories.

So why is this and how can you take steps to achieve a healthy weight for good?

The answer lies in the gut microbiome.  The gut microbiome refers to the trillions of bugs living in your intestines that can nurture health, regulate the immune system and also help with weight control, by absorbing some of the calories that you ingest. Studies show the more different types of bacteria in the gut you have, the more likely you are to have a healthy weight.  The reverse is also true, with fewer different types of bacteria in your gut, increasing the risk of obesity. 

To get more different types of healthy bacteria in your gut, the most important thing to do is eat lots of unprocessed plant foods.  These good bacteria love to feed off fibre (found in lots of different types of plants) although most people can still consume meat, fish, dairy and eggs should they choose to, in small amounts. The friendly microbes don’t like ultra-processed food, so reducing how many packaged foods you eat will be helpful to encourage the good bacteria to thrive.

While counting and weighing food can be helpful for initial weight loss, in the long-term focus on quality, ensuring a wide variety and large volume of plants, aim for at least seven, preferably ten servings of fruit and veggies per day, and less packaged food.  This has been shown to be more helpful for overall health.

Another way to support the good bacteria in the gut microbiome is to have a healthy intake of pre biotics and probiotics.  So, what exactly are pre and pro biotics?

Pre biotics are foods or substances that are not digested by the body but feed the good bacteria in the gut. We need to feed the good bugs so they don’t starve because when they are thriving they produce many important substances, one of these being butyrate.  Butyrate helps to control appetite, blood sugar and reduces inflammation within the lining of the intestine. Pre biotics are found in foods containing fibre, with leeks, onion, garlic, asparagus and bananas being particularly good sources of pre biotics.

Pro biotics on the other hand are live bugs that are directly consumed to increase the numbers of good bacteria in the gut. They can be found naturally in some types of food, such as yoghurt, miso, kimchi, sauerkraut and kefir or taken as supplements.

So, should I bother with pre and pro biotics or should I just take a supplement?

Well, I like to think of the gut microbiome as a garden.  Everyone’s garden is slightly different. Some may have lots of sunflowers, others may have lots of pansies and others may be overgrown with weeds. The problem is that we each don’t know how are internal garden looks, so its hard to know which bugs and how many to supplement with for each individual. It’s like playing Russian Roulette with your gut bacteria, you might pick something your gut needs when you make your choice, but it could be a bacterium that’s already present in your intestine that you don’t need any more of. Furthermore, each pro biotic supplement is different, some have only one strain, others have many different strains of bacteria and it’s too early for science to tell which person will benefit from which supplement.  Some types of bacteria also pass through the intestine quickly and don’t stick to the gut, so don’t give much benefit. As a general rule I tend to prefer pro biotics found in food and recommend people discuss pro biotic supplementation with their health practitioner for the best advice.

There are some things that are harmful to the gut microbiome and therefore best avoided.  Stress, alcohol and artificial sweeteners have a negative impact on gut microbiome, but antibiotics are at the top of the ‘’to avoid’ list because they cause rapid drop in the numbers of the bugs in the intestine which can last for 6 months, sometimes longer.  This is why you should double check with your doctor to see if anti biotics are really necessary. In some cases, they absolutely are, but they are best avoided if possible because reduced numbers of healthy gut bacteria have now been implicated in several diseases, including diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis and depression. However, if you do need to take antibiotics, the best thing you can do is continue to eat a diet high in fibre with lots of plants, so that the remaining bacteria have enough food to survive.

In summary, to help with a healthy weight, think of how your gut bugs want to be fed and nurtured. They like unprocessed, real food as well as lots of different types of plants and some probiotic foods thrown in the mix. They don’t like stress, alcohol, artificial sweeteners or antibiotics, so avoid these where possible.

Can you improve just one percent by aiming for one more vegetable every day?

PREDICT Study - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0934-0

https://www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k2179