100: Gut Reset to Budge Weight Loss
I started making a list of all of the supplements I use and recommend to nutritionally support the body through different health issues like colds and viruses, bloating and constipation, adrenals, sleep problems, imbalanced hormones, etc (you can find that list here) but I wanted to make very clear that you can never outsupplement poor diet and lifestyle choices.
So, in this week’s podcast, we’re talking about my Top 10 Health Gamechangers: including how much protein and carbs you should target, the first rule of good digestion and the daily non-negotiables. These will get you your greatest results and then you can layer in supplements for extra boosts and support.
Listen in to discover what changes you can incorporate to level up your health.
EPISODE 100: Gut Reset to Budge Weight Loss
SHOW NOTES
(0:00) Intro
Today we’re going to talk about how and why the status of your gut impacts whether or not you can lose weight.
Scale story from Christmas and New Year’s
Only other time seen a drop like this was last time did a gut protocol.
The status of your gut impacts whether or not you can lose weight.
(7:55) Gut dysbiosis & Resetting:
If you have changed your diet, started exercising, prioritized sleep and things are not budging as much as it seems they should be, it could be due to gut dysbiosis.
This is when your intestinal environment is imbalanced.
Lower levels or not enough different kinds of “good” bacteria (reduced diversity) and you have too many opportunistic or “bad” bacteria or other pathogens.
Pathogens encompasses bacteria, viruses or microorganisms that can cause infection or disease in the body.
Parasites which are more common than you think.
Opportunistic means that when they have the opportunity to take over, they’re gonna do it.
Probiotics
(10:09) Science Experiment:
Scientists did this fascinating experiment where they transferred bacteria from the guts of two strains of mice (one that naturally becomes obese and one that naturally stays lean) into mice raised from birth to have no gut bacteria - think like “clean slate mice”.
Gut bacteria transferred from the naturally obese mice made the clean-slate mice become fat, but gut bacteria transferred from the naturally lean mice kept them lean.
Then scientists took bacteria from the guts of human identical twins, one twin was obese and one twin was lean, and transferred those bacteria into the clean-slate mice. Bacteria from the obese twin made the mice become fat, bacteria from the lean twin did not.
Breakin’ it down:
Your gut bacteria play a role in your digestion, fat storage, and hunger, which obviously can all have a major impact on your weight.
Bacteria help us digest and absorb food efficiently
Bacteria will also impact the way you use energy - or calories - from your food. The wrong kind of bacteria will be less efficient at processing or using the energy and be more prone to encouraging storage of energy.
(12:37) ‘The Dream Team’ of bacteria
Bifido bacteria and Akkermansia muciniphila.
Bifido:
Helps us digest carbs, protect against pathogens and helps us make B vitamins and antioxidants.
It correlates with decreased inflammation and improved ability to use blood sugar for energy instead of storing it as fat.
Bifido also helps feed other good bacteria so we can increase our bacterial diversity by having enough of the bifido present in the gut.
Akkermansia:
Can help determine how food energy gets absorbed - apparently the more akkermansia in the gut, the fewer calories are absorbed.
Help promote akkermansia by fasting!
Akkermansia likes to eat apple skins and cranberries.
Both of the bifido and akkermansia bacteria help support a stronger gut barrier.
Obese people are often found to have a leaky gut - so that is something that needs to be addressed and a good gut protocol that helps get rid of the opportunistic bacteria and promote the beneficial bacteria.
(15:58) Bacterial balance:
Beneficial bacteria thrive off of healthy food especially vegetables and fruit. Bad bacteria thrive off of processed food and sugar. So what you eat feeds the good or the bad bacteria - you have to consider which you are encouraging to live and thrive in your gut.
You also need good gut bacteria to be able to break down and use the healthy plant foods that you eat like veggies.
Why sometimes a diet with more protein and fat can feel better or be a therapeutic diet to be used while you work on the gut to repopulate the good bacteria that help you break down the plant foods.
How bacterial balance will also affect your hunger and cravings.
Remember the podcast I did with Mike McNeal and his story about how once he expelled the candida and parasites from his body, his cravings went away? if you haven’t listened to that episode go here to listen.
Another way our bacterial balance influences weight is that they affect inflammation.
(21:16) Importance of a gut reset:
Honestly, I think just about everybody can benefit from doing a 3-4 month gut reset from time to time.
Here is what was so frustrating for me after I did my first gut protocol about 1.5 year ago
Antibiotics are one of the big factors that change the balance of bacteria in our guts and leave the playing field wide open to the opportunistic bacteria to take root and take over.
Research has shown that being exposed to antibiotics early in life can lead to long-term disruptions in the gut microbiome, causing metabolic changes as you grow and develop.
(27:15) The 5 big components of a gut protocol:
#1. Functional Digestive Support - you may need digestive enzymes, supplemental hydrochloric acid or bile support to help your body get up to speed in breaking down your food. We need the carbs, fats and proteins broken down well before they ever hit the small or large intestine. All that happens in the northern part of the digestive tract. We think of digestion as a north to south process and if things are not working in the north, they will not work well in the south by the time they get to your intestines.
#2. Drainage and Binder Support - Remember in the Drainage Before Detox podcast we discussed the importance of opening all the drainage pathways - supporting the liver and the bowels and such so that once we start killing off the bad bacteria, the parasites, it can all efficiently exit the body. The binder will help bind up the toxic material and the drainage support helps to ensure it’s flowing on out of there.
#3. Eradicate the overgrowth of bad bacteria, yeast or other pathogenic agents like parasites. You have to go in and kill the weeds. It’s not enough to just plant more flowers. Left unchecked these pathogens can multiply and they produce waste material that is toxic to your system. A good gut reset is going to take about 3-4 months, maybe even longer depending on what’s going on with your bod, but 3-4 months is pretty standard. Part of the reason is these pathogens are in different stages of growth. You need to be on a plan long enough to zap everything as it develops and is able to be exposed to the supplemental agents you’re using. Alot of these little buggers are protected by biofilms which are kind of like protective bubbles. Part of what a full gut protocol does is help break the biofilms so that you can actually get to the pathogens to kill them. I think is one reason some protocols are not effective, they do not address the biofilms. Someone on instagram asked me why her parasite protocol didn’t seem to “take.” I have no idea what type of protocol she used but my top estimations are that it wasn’t long enough, it didn’t have strong enough eradicating agents or it didn’t address the biofilms.
#4. A good gut protocol addresses leaky gut and has compounds that specifically target shoring up the gut lining. We want to heal and seal. You do this with real food like bone broth and certain supplements that include things like aloe vera, l-glutamine, marshmallow root - there are lots of formulations out there designed to do this.
#5. Support the gut with a probiotic and probiotic encouraging foods like fermented foods - fermented veggies, sauerkraut, kombucha, a high quality yogurt or kefir. Just Thrive and Megaspore are my go-to probiotics. Those are also on the Master Wellness and Supplement List.
(31:54) Closing thoughts:
So those are the big steps. Can it be complicated? A little bit.
Cellcore’s 4-month foundation protocol:
I have mentioned it several times and really like as an effective, streamlined protocol. But I really encourage you to work with a practitioner and not try to wing a gut protocol.
If you are in the The Club - the Christian Health Club, I have an option that you can work with me 1:1 to manage your Cellcore protocol and I’ll be doing regular Q&A calls for any of my members who are currently using any of their products.
If you are not in The Club, you do first have to go through Feast 2 Fast before you can join the Club.
The next round of Feast 2 Fast starts on February 17th which is Ash Wednesday. This is the Lent round of Feast 2 Fast, it goes 6.5 weeks instead of 4 - it’s the same price, but we take it all the way through Easter and we do extra sugar detoxing, more Superfasting and stay really focused on Jesus as we go through the season of Lent. It’s the best of a full Spirit, Mind, Body health experience so come join us. Would love to have you. You can sign up here!
(38:11) Outro & Disclaimer
Thanks for listening! Have a healthy and blessed week!