What does your digestive system have to do with your weight? In a word, everything. In fact, you can say that what’s on your hips essentially begins with what’s in your mouth, but even more so, the integrity of your digestive system and the health of your gut flora (intestinal bacteria) influences the number of calories that are absorbed and stored. Our intestinal flora is a critical part of our immune system as well since about 70% of our immunity starts in the gut. If you have ever eaten processed foods, been under stress, on puffers, used corticosteroid creams, taken antibiotics, suffer from yeast infections or athletes foot or get sick often, you definitely have reduced good flora in your gut and need to start taking a good probiotic supplement now…and yogurt is not going to CUT IT!

Research from the Mayo Clinic (April 2008) has linked favourable intestinal bacteria with the ability to get, and stay, slim. Their research suggests that the metabolic activities of the gut flora facilitate the use of calories from food and help to store these calories in bodyfat for later use. Furthermore, they found that gut bacterial flora of obese mice and humans include fewer Bacteroidetes and correspondingly more Firmicutes (both a type of bacteria) than that of their slimmer counterparts, suggesting that differences in the way the body processes calories are impacted by the bacteria in your gut. And anything that affects nutrition absorption in turn impacts how many calories are burned.

This is another great reason to take your probiotic, such as Natural Factors, Genestra, Biotics or DDS both morning and evening (1-2 pills on an empty stomach) make sure they stay refrigerated to stay active and fresh. Add 2 tbsp of ground flax seed, which are a great source of EFA’s and fiber, daily in your smoothies to boost your digestion and avoid constipation.

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