The new secret to weight loss centers on your microbiome. Two weeks ago I gave you the old secret to 
weight loss based on calorie consumption versus calorie expenditure. And while this application is still valid, for many it still presented a problem. Especially with long term weight loss.
Why?
Because they never reset their gut health. Which means the microbial communities of your gut continue to drive your eating habits. It is one of the reasons why people have cravings and are constantly hungry.
Current research clearly indicts that your microbiome significantly, if not entirely, impacts your health and wellness.
Even to your body composition of being lean or fat.
People used to blame their human genes for being overweight. And because of this, they felt powerless to change their physical appearance.
But science in the area of the microbiome, especially looking at your gut microbial communities, clearly shows this plays a far greater role in determining whether you are lean or fat.
This means that if you change your internal gut microbiome, you can significantly improve your ability to process food so that you use food for energy instead of storing it as fat.
The New Secret to Weight Loss
More and more research is showing that this is not a human genetic issue but rather a microbiome issue. The most famous study in this area is the one done on identical human twins. Each twin has the same genetic makeup.
However one twin was overweight and the other twin was lean. Their human microbiome was injected into the gut flora of host mice so that the microbiome of the mice took on the nature of the human twin. Each recipient mice was given the same diet and daily activities.
The results were that the host mice with the microbiome from the lean human twin stayed lean. And, the host mice with the mircobiome from the overweight human twin gained weight and stored fat.
And what was even more interesting was the makeup of the microbial communities between the two twins.
For the overweight twin, the microbial community was dominated by Firmicutes; whereas, the microbial community of the lean twin was dominated by Bacteroidetes.
New Secret to Weight Loss Centers on Your Ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes
Most studies now show that the higher your bacteroidetes compared to your firmicutes, the leaner you will be. There are a couple of triggers that increase firmicutes over bacterioidetes.
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Trigger 1 – High intake of omega-6 fatty acids from vegetable oils. Most processed foods use some form of vegetable oil for shelf stability. The problem is these types of omega-6 oils trigger inflammation which favors the Firmicutes.
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Trigger 2 – Animal protein creates less diversity in the microbial community, which then allows the Firmicutes to dominate.
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Trigger 3 – Sugar and processed carbohydrates like wheat are fuel for Firmicutes, which again allows them to dominate your abdominal microbiome.
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Trigger 4 – Stress triggers the releases of adrenal hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which lower the Bacterioidetes in your abdominal cavity.
Several studies have shown how the standard American diet of sugary drinks, highly processed foods, high sugar consumption, and animal protein sources are causing children to develop microbial communities that are higher in Firmicutes than Bacterioidetes. This leads to weight gain in children and the onset of Type 2 Diabetes.
This also explains why some people have an extremely hard time losing weight. What was once thought to be a slow metabolism and poor human genes is no longer the case. Instead, their microbial community, and how it processes foods, plays a greater role.
Change the gut and you can change the outcome.
In our blog post the 3 E’s and 4 R’s for Gut Health I give you a road map to success in this area. This road map will help you reset your gut health. And when you do you will use food for energy rather than storing your food as fat.