You’ve all heard of probiotics, right? If not, you must have been living underground for a few years because this stuff is EVERYWHERE! The word probiotic actually means, literally, “for life”, which gives you some indication of how good they are going to be for your body.
In short, probiotics are the good bacteria that your body needs. When we think of bacteria, we think of them to be bad – bacterial infections, bacteria spreading germs, etc. However, your body does need a certain amount of good bacteria, especially in your digestive tract, in order for it to function as properly as it should be. These good bacteria promote health, healing and good working order of the body as a whole, so if you see the word on any food packaging, there is a good chance that it is going to be good for you.
The Role of Probiotics
When we come to look at using probiotics to lose weight, things get a little complicated, but we are going to try and keep it is as simple as we can for you. Anything that contains probiotics is going to help your digestive tract. Within this tract, there are over five hundred known species of bacterial; some of which will be good, and some of which will be bad. The good bacteria clearly helps to keep the bad bacteria down, and at the same time, also helps to keep things like bugs and toxins at a low level. This is what the body needs really – something to help keep those toxins down, and when the good bacteria fights them off, you are on to a winner!
If you take vitamins, you should know that without these probiotics and good bacteria, you could be wasting money. These good bacteria are actually necessary in order to allow the body to absorb everything that should be absorbed from them, especially vitamin K and all those B vitamins that we keep hearing about. Also, the good bacteria also helps to kill bad bacteria that cause disease, usually known as pathogenic bacteria, which means your health will be in a much better state overall.
Good colon function is improved because the fatty acids that are considered to be short-chain help to break everything down, the bulk is increased, which basically means you will flush everything out in one go, and at regular intervals; something that you will better understand if you take a look at “Could fiber kick-start your weight loss” .
Basically, the easiest way to look at probiotics is to say that it can help to strengthen your immune system and get all of your insides working in top order so that your body is as fit and as healthy as it should be, quite literally from the inside out.
With regards to weight loss – probiotics help your digestive tract to run efficiently, and when you are not running as well as you should be in this area, you are holding on to waste matter that is not only going to make you feel sluggish, but it is also going to make you weigh a few more pounds than you should at the same time. When you think about it, just by taking probiotics you could effectively lose weight without doing much else, at least at the beginning of your weight loss quest anyway!
We are supposed to get everything we need from a healthy and balanced diet, but of course, this doesn’t always happen and this is where supplements come into play. There are plenty of foods that you can eat to increase the good bacteria that you have in your body – yoghurt with its healthy bacteria, sauerkraut, kefir, and even yoghurt drinks supplemented with probiotics can help. When you combine this with a diet that is high in fiber, you are basically giving your digestive tract a good kick up the backside in the right direction.
As a general rule, there is not one thing alone that can help you to lose weight and you should be looking at balancing a healthy diet with a good amount of exercise. However, by looking at the amounts of fiber and probiotics you have in your diet, you can change your body from the inside out, and hopefully take a step in the right direction to a leaner body and healthy weight loss. Why not try it for yourself – you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain!