Should I take a probiotic or prebiotic? Answering this question was fairly easy when probiotics were the only option to choose from. Any symptoms that you had low probiotics, whether inconvenient excess gas or a severe autoimmune condition, meant you applied the “add and subtract” theory. You know what I am talking about. If you are low you add more with a supplement. But I want to pose a different thought process for you. Is adding a probiotic really enough?
https://drarlandhill.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20180618_124955-e1551716617955.jpg40323024Dr. Arland Hillhttps://drarlandhill.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/logo-300x60-300x60.pngDr. Arland Hill2018-03-15 12:08:212019-03-04 16:24:05Should I Take a Probiotic or Prebiotic?
It might seem logical to think of brain fog as a brain issue. However, is this really the case? Brain fog affects us all at times, but where do you turn when you feel like you are living in a fog. If your new normal is not being mentally quick on your feet, forgetting where you placed things or why you went into a room, it might be time to take a deeper look at the cause of brain fog.
The unfortunate truth is that brain fog is a complaint that is ignored or pushed to the side too often. As frustrated patients often report to me, they were told that it was simply a sign of aging. Some say that have been told that it was linked to depression. Others say they are left with no answers or hope and to return for another visit if it gets worse. This later is called watchful waiting. I don’t know about you, but that does not invoke a sense of comfort to watch and see if something gets worse.
https://drarlandhill.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/13178840_906693489476763_6782857996488365408_n.jpg700520Dr. Arland Hillhttps://drarlandhill.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/logo-300x60-300x60.pngDr. Arland Hill2017-12-22 15:20:142019-03-04 16:32:00Brain Fog: Is the Real Issue in Your Gut?
Before considering an antidepressant, YOU MUST READ THIS FIRST. Antidepressants are among the highest prescribed medications. 10 million Americans are depressed. Another 10 million are dealing with anxiety. That is a lot of your friends and neighbors. It might even be you. If it is, keep reading. I am about to share with you exactly what to do to resolve you depression and anxiety. But before I do, see if this sounds like you.
Does this Sound Like You?
Overwhelmed?
Inability to handle stress?
Not rested after long hours of sleep?
Restless mind?
Anger made worse with stress?
If any of that sounds familiar, you are not by yourself. I have to empathize. Depression is an uncomfortable place to be. You shouldn’t feel the way you do. Yet, no matter what you do, the feelings and thoughts don’t change. No wonder so many resort to medication. It can be a necessary crutch at times.
We have all had depressive thoughts. But what can you do when they are present all the time? This was the very question I started to ask when I started seeing more and more patients coming in with overt depression, or showing early indications. Now I don’t want to be so narrow minded as to say that all depression is related to one cause. However, I have seen a consistent pattern among patients with depression.
https://drarlandhill.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/CutourDrHillBoots.png30002400Dr. Arland Hillhttps://drarlandhill.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/logo-300x60-300x60.pngDr. Arland Hill2017-06-30 22:00:082019-03-04 16:50:02Before Considering an Antidepressant, READ THIS FIRST
Probiotics and weight loss are not generally talked about together. However, probiotics should be at the core of the conversation when it comes to weight loss. In fact, if you are not considering probiotics as part of your weight loss process, there is a high probability that you are still overweight and feeling frustrated. For more than one reason, not accounting for the activity of the probiotics is going to leave you depressed when it comes to your weight. Probiotics are common on store shelves and generally promoted for their benefits to alleviating gut problems and helping the immune system. While they do help in these areas, at the top of the list for what they can support should be weight loss.
Gifts from Probiotics
Micronutrients, or what most people think of as vitamins and minerals, are essential for our metabolism. Most of us like to think in terms of our metabolism working too fast or too slow. “I’m getting fat. My metabolism is slowing down.” Sound like something you have heard before? Probably so. The assumption is that because your metabolism is slow, you are fat. Among the things that can make your metabolism slow are micronutrient deficiencies, specifically as it relates to probiotics, B vitamins. B vitamins help produce energy. If we cannot make energy, weight loss is not going to happen because our fat and carbohydrate burning pathways are not going to work properly. We all know that if you are not burning fat for energy, you are probably carrying it around with you every day.
This is where probiotics and weight loss begin to find some common ground. Probiotics make a large percentage of all of our B vitamins. They don’t just make one of the B vitamins, but all of them. B vitamins spark the metabolism. When you have adequate B vitamin production from your probiotics combined with a Paleo Diet, you cannot help but lose weight. B vitamins such as B1, B2, B3 and B5 maximize the rate at which you burn fats and carbohydrates. Therefore, you are making energy and not storing unwanted body fat.
Get CLA from Probiotics and Weight Loss Becomes SuperCharged
Why can one person lose weight, when another eating the same amount of food cannot? The answer may be in the gut. Conjugated linoleic acid, or simply CLA, is a fat produced by the probiotics. The probiotics don’t actually make fat. Instead they convert the fat linoleic acid to CLA. CLA is a true gift. The benefits are substantial and include reducing body, helping to regulate blood sugar and even helping prevent cancer and reduce inflammation. The important point to know about this is that you don’t get CLA through your diet. You have to depend on the probiotics to produce it. Therefore, if the probiotics are in short supply, so too will be your CLA production.
Bad Bugs, Probiotics and Weight Loss Frustration
The gut is a constant battleground. The bacteria of the gut can be divided into several categories, but two of the categories dominate the scene. These are known as Bacteriodetes and Firmicutes. The more Bacteriodetes one has, generally the healthier they are. More importantly though, they are often far more efficient at burning fat and keeping it off. Think about the F in Firmicutes being for fat. The more Firmicutes dominates the scene of the gut, the more inflamed the body and the more calories you are extracting from food. This means that you are going to be more prone to storing fat. Therefore, if you want to be a more efficient at fat burning, then you need to improve your dominance of Bacteriodetes and limit the activity of Firmicutes. Keep reading to find out how.
Probiotics and Weight Loss
Support Your Probiotics and Weight Loss Becomes Easy
Using probiotics and weight loss success are a natural combination if you know how to make probiotics colonies grow. Let me start off by saying that just supplementing probiotics is not going to get you there. But in turn, you are not going to have lasting weight loss success if don’t supplement probiotics. How can I make such a direct comment? It’s easy! If your gut does not have a good balance of probiotics, you are absorbing too many calories from food, you are inflamed and you are not getting the benefit of fat burning nutrients. It’s pretty straightforward actually. A good blend of probiotics that can minimize the number of calories you extract from food and ramp up production of fat burning nutrients is what you are looking for.
But to support the growth of your probiotics requires more than just taking probiotics. Once you take them, you have to give them a hospitable environment to grow in. This requires plants. Plants have two things that probiotics love; fiber and plant nutrients. Think about fiber as forming the nest that probiotics develop in. Plant nutrients stimulate probiotic growth and diversity. Just like a nutritious diet enhances our development, probiotics depend on plant nutrients. Additionally, plant nutrients suppress growth of less desirable bacteria. This ultimately changes the landscape of the gut. When this landscape is established, inflammation is low and the probiotics become a factory of fat burning nutrients. This is where the Paleo Diet comes in. The Paleo Diet emphasizes the intake of as many plants as possible. This allows for higher fiber and the more the better your fat burning. Additionally, the more color, the more plant nutrients you are consuming. This all decreases inflammation and helps you shred the fat. Diet is a key to long term weight loss, but only if you do it right by following the Paleo Diet.
Clearly, probiotics and weight loss are a natural fit. It makes me scratch my head and wonder why so few take advantage of the benefits of probiotics when trying to lose weight. If you are feeling frustrated with your weight loss efforts then know that this can end. Your frustration can be as limited as your probiotics and plant intake are plentiful. Step outside of the box and look to probiotics for weight loss success.