Brenda Watson - The skinny gut diet : balance your digestive system for permanent weight loss

Copyright 2014 by Brenda Watson

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.

www.crownpublishing.com

Harmony Books is a registered trademark, and the Circle colophon is a trademark of Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN 978-0-553-41794-4
eBook ISBN 978-0-553-41795-1

Illustrations by Jim Bayne, FrontRanger.com
Jacket design by Michael Nagin

v3.1

The Road to Perfect Health

The Heart of Perfect Health

The Fiber35 Diet

Gut Solutions

The Detox Strategy

The H.O.P.E. Formula

To Stan, my husband,
who stands beside me in all ways.

The obesity epidemic currently facing the nation and most of the rest of the world is reaching a critical point. Chronic disease is rampant as a result of the escalating obesity rate, and for the first time in over a century, the newest generation will be the first to have a lower life expectancy than the last. Not only are adults getting fatter and fatter but so are our children. Yet there are more diets and exercise programs available than ever before. So many people are chronically trying to lose weight, and yet the obesity rate climbs. There seems to be a piece missing from the puzzle.

W hat would you say if I told you that you have an inner weight-loss secret waiting to be revealed? What if you knew that you are only partly responsible for being overweight, and that even if you do everything you can to get healthy and lose your belly, you wont achieve lasting weight loss if you dont address this one factor? What if you knew that, by addressing this factor, not only would you finally lose weightand keep it offbut you would also experience the side benefits of fewer digestive problems, a stronger immune system, and even a better mood?

You have likely tried a number of diets by now, losing weight each time only to gain it backand then some. You have reduced the fat, reduced the sugar, reduced the carbohydrates, and certainly reduced the flavor of your meals. You have counted calories, counted inches, counted pounds, and counted on each diet being the last one youll ever try. You have eaten mindfully, eaten organically, eaten locally, and eaten your way through more diet books than you care to admit.

But Im willing to bet that you have not taken into account your inner weight-loss secret. If you knew that you had within you one thing that could change your weight-loss fate for goodand that scientific research could prove itwould you be interested? Im here to tell you that your inner weight-loss secret lies within your digestive tract. I call it the gut factor.

Inside your digestive tract are trillions of bacteria that play a crucial role in not only your digestive and immune health but also your overall healthand most notably, your weight. Each of us has a unique balance of bacteria that either protects us and keeps us healthy or leaves us susceptible to disease. That same balance can contribute to either weight gain or to weight loss. When your gut bacteria are out of balance, you gain weight. Conversely, when you balance your gut by eating the right foods (and by avoiding the wrong foods), you lose weight, reduce cravings, ditch digestive upsets, boost immunity, reduce inflammation, and feel great.

At the heart of that digestive balance we find good bacteria: the beneficial microbes found in a healthy digestive tract that work in myriad ways to keep you healthy. By eating living foodsthose foods that contain good bacteria (also called probiotics) and foods that feed these bacteria in your gutyou will balance your gut and finally be able to achieve the lasting weight loss you have been seeking.

There are two main groups (phyla) of bacteria in the gut:

Bacteroidetes (pronounced BAC-ter-OY-deh-tees)

Firmicutes (fir-MIH-cue-tees)

Dont worryI dont expect you to remember these long names. Instead, lets call them Fat bacteria (Firmicutes) and Be Skinny bacteria (Bacteroidetes). Your ratio of these two groups determines whether or not you will be more likely to gain weight. The Firmicutes bacteria are better able to extract calories from food and cause you to accumulate more fat than the Bacteroidetes. Simply put, for weight loss you want to increase the Bacteroidetes and decrease the Firmicutes in your gut.

There are also two smaller groups (genera) of bacteria that are beneficial to your overall health:

Bifidobacterium

Lactobacillus

Bifidobacteria are acquired during infancy and by eating certain foods throughout life. They are found in highest amounts in a healthy colon, or large intestine, and they protect us against infection, boost our immune function, help keep us regular, and produce certain vitamins and nutrients. Lactobacilli are obtained during birth and also by eating particular foods. They are found throughout the digestive tract, but are particularly associated with the health of the small intestine. Lactobacillus bacteria help our immune and digestive systems function well, and they are also found in the vaginal tract, where they establish bacterial balance by producing lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide to maintain a healthy pH level there. Both Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli protect us against an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria in the intestine. In effect, they crowd out the bad bacteria in our guts, promoting gut balance.

All of these beneficial bacteriaBifidobacteria, Lactobacilli, and many bacteria from the Bacteroidetes groupcan be increased in your gut by eating foods that feed these bacteria while starving the bad bacteria. The result will be a gut balance that helps you lose weight and stay healthy. I wrote this book to help spread the word about this inner weight-loss secret because I have seen so many people achieve vibrant health and optimal weight by balancing their guts. I dont want it to be a secret anymore. You see, digestive health is the foundation for total-body health. If you dont address weight gain at its coreat the gut levelthen you cant lose weight and expect to keep it off.