Prebiotics and Probiotics for Restoring Your Gut Health and Increasing Fat Loss

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As you may likely be aware, your gut is full of microorganisms that, in many ways, dictate what your body does with the food you eat. Interestingly, research suggests that overweight individuals lack a key bacterium, Lactobacillus rhamnosus (we will touch more on this later).

Unfortunately, it can be tough to restore healthy gut bacteria and microbes through diet alone, especially when you’re overweight and when you’re not eating the right prebiotic foods. To get your gut back to where it needs to be for weight loss, the best line of attack is combining evidence-based probiotics with prebiotic dietary fibers.

I want to stress that taking care of your gut health is one of the most imperative things for success on any health, fitness, or bodybuilding regimen. The gut microbiome impacts every system in the human body, meaning it’s in many ways the core of your physiology. By restoring and optimizing your gut health, you will greatly accelerate your weight loss and enhance overall health/longevity.

Restoring Healthy Microbes in the Gut​

The first order of business for restoring healthy microbes in your gut is to supplement with a probiotic that contains the specific bacterial strain we’re after (Lactobacillus rhamnosus).

In conjunction with that, we have found two other synergistic ingredients that act as a prebiotic and appetite suppressant to further enhance your gut health and reduce cravings for sugars.

While these ingredients have some positives on their own, their power when combined is greatly amplified. Trust me, this stuff works, and your results will be remarkable when you take these ingredients while following the Favorite Food Diet.

Read on below for an overview of each ingredient and their research-backed properties.

Lactobacillus Rhamnosus​

Research has shown that Lactobacillus rhamnosus supplementation in obese individuals results in reductions in body weight even when they don’t reduce their total calorie intake.1 This particular bacterium works by increasing conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) production in the body, enhancing insulin sensitivity, and increasing activity of key fat-burning genes in the body.2

Essentially, this is a key anti-obesity bacterial strain in humans that is found in abundance in slim individuals who eat seemingly anything and everything.

Cactus Fiber​

Most people forget that the cactus plant is indeed an edible vegetable, and its pads (nopalitos) actually carry special forms of dietary fiber such as pectin, hemicellulose, and mucilage. These fibers have been shown to reduce low-density lipoprotein (“bad” cholesterol), blood sugar levels, and feed good bacteria in the gut (i.e. act as prebiotics).3

Inulin Fructooligosaccharide (FOS)​

One of the most beneficial prebiotic soluble-dietary fibers, found in plants like asparagus, chicory, garlic, onions, and others, is known as inulin fructooligosaccharide (FOS). Inulin is a major storage carbohydrate used by over 36,000 plant species as a form of energy, and research shows it has a myriad of beneficial properties in humans, including lowering LDL cholesterol, improving blood glucose balance, and balancing the gut microbiome.4

Rather than being digested in the upper gastrointestinal tract, inulin FOS is fermented by intestinal microflora into primarily short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, propionate, and acetate.

As such, inulin FOS preferentially encourages the growth of intestinal microbes that are health-promoting.

In fact, it is estimated that every 10 grams of inulin creates 3 grams of healthy gut microbes. Given how tiny microorganisms are, that’s a heck of a lot!

Ganoderma Lucidum (Reishi Mushroom)​

Ganoderma lucidum, also known as the reishi mushroom, is a large, tough mushroom that has been used for centuries in Traditional Chinese Medicine as an herbal remedy, especially for healthy liver, gut, and immune function.

Research suggests that the main substances responsible for health-promoting benefits of reishi mushrooms are proteins and triterpenes, particularly ganodermic acids.5 Clinical studies demonstrate that ganodermic acids have an inhibitory action on the release of histamine in mast cells (meaning ganodermic acids reduce inflammatory response).6 The unique proteins found in reishi mushrooms have also been shown to protect the gastrointestinal tract by modulating the gut microbiome in a favorable manner.

Dietary Considerations for a Healthy Gut Microbiome​

It's imperative that while you work on restoring your gut microbiome you limit your consumption of low-grade inflammatory foods/drinks. These types of foods are the insidious cause of poor gut balance and excessive gastrointestinal inflammation.

As such, you’ll want to minimize/avoid consumption of things like:

• Refined grains
• Added sugars
• Excessive dairy
• Soda/candy
• Processed meats (cured/smoked deli meat, breaded meats, etc.)

Most importantly, you should be eating a good amount of prebiotic dietary fiber everyday (particularly inulin) and supplementing with a probiotic containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus.