Losing weight following the conventional advice is not sustainable and is likely to fail. If you need to lose weight, you need to look at the root cause of your hunger, or the reason you are not burning calories. We show you a few ways to get out of the weight-loss vicious circle.

If you have trouble losing weight, or you would like to lose faster, you’ve come to the right place, so stick around.

The conventional weight loss advice is to eat less and move more. This is not bad advice; we are made by Nature that way. The two problems with that are that the method is not complete, and it requires a lot of willpower.

Counting calories, exercising for hours and trying to ignore your hunger it’s not sustainable. We will eventually get the yo-yo effect.

Calories are a simplistic way to look at eating habits, and most of the times they work. But instead of changing the quantity of the food we are getting we need to change the quality. Not talking about expensive food items, or expensive meat cuts. We are talking about the variety of foods we are getting, and making sure we get a balanced diet.

Calories and exercise are not the only things that count in weight loss. Your weight also depends on your hormones. If you reduce your hunger and the levels of your fat-storing hormone, insulin, you’ll likely have an easier time losing excess weight, but you are in a vicious circle because other hormones are in play.

Intermittent Fasting – Boost You Metabolism

Intermittent fasting is not a new thing discovered by doctors and nutritionists, it is a practice that predates our known history. The food gatherer was forced to fast, as the food was not available all the time. Sometimes it took days on a low calorie regime, until the hunter could bring food for the family. However, fasting as a deliberate practice is not new either. Many religious practices encourage their followers to fast on a regular basis. Muslims have Ramadan, Christians have the Lent and all the Fridays throughout the year, and Buddhists fast as well as method of self-control. But that is not it, many other religions practice fasting. There is a widespread opinion that the religious act of fasting is a spiritual act, but what if the initial purpose was purely medical, a preventative measure?

Medical fasting is not a new thing either. According to Britannica(link is external), medical fasting was used at least since the 5th century BCE, when Hippocrates recommended fasting for patients in some cases.Fast forward to modern days, medical fasting is getting a lot of attention as an efficient and inexpensive way to treat many ailments related to metabolism, such as obesity and diabetes.You might be practising intermittent fasting without knowing. Some of the breakfast skippers are fasting effortlessly. This is actually one of the easiest intermittent fasting schedules to follow, because it comes almost naturally for some, but more on the schedules in the dedicated section.

Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

There many benefits of intermittent fasting, but almost all these benefits stem from four mechanisms. Fasting benefits your health in many ways. Here are the most important mechanisms:

Improved response to stress, disease, and aging – During fasting there we induce a cellular stress response similar to the one induced by exercise. This stress stimulates cells, and that increases the capacity to deal with stress and protect against disease and aging.
Reduced oxidative stress – The accumulation of oxidative radicals in cells is reduced by fasting. This is one of the best ways to prevent oxidative damage to cells. It is the best way to stay young and healthy even when aging.
Mitochondrial energy efficiency – Fasting also improves mitochondrial energy efficiency, thus slow down aging. Furthermore, mitochondria have a critical role(link is external) in insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic functions.
Insulin sensitivity is increased – Fasting increases insulin sensitivity and lowers blood sugar levels. Type 2 diabetes can be reversed with a calorie restriction and specific diet regimen.
Intermittent fasting may also help modify risk factors for health conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, such as lowering cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
Fasting for up to 24 hours can lead to a metabolic shift that causes your body to use fat as an energy source instead of glucose. This is were things get interesting…

Is it Intermittent Fasting for you?

This is a tough question to answer. But if you do it right, and you have the motivation and right mental state is one of the best methods to lose weight.

Probiotics for Weight Loss – The Weight Loss Miracle Pill

We searched for the elusive miracle pill for weight loss for decades, more precisely since the industrialization of food. We looked for it, but we might have had it all along and overlooked. Probiotics are the answer to many of our modern health issues, and weight loss is one of them. Studies have shown taking probiotics for weight loss is very effective. If combined with a modified diet and moderate physical activity, probiotics can help you lose weight at a steady pace until you reach a healthy level.

There is valid research on Akkermansia muciniphila, and the documentation says it works. But unfortunately, the strain is not yet available. It might take a little while to get it on the market.

The good news though, is that Akkermansia muciniphila is not the only strain that can help you burn body fat. There are other probiotics, and a particular one that helped me is Lactobacillus gasseri. When I started to take L. gasseri, I took it for its ability to improve digestion. However I was absolutely amazed to see that it helped burning stubborn fat. The mechanism is a bit more complex, and in fact Lactobacillus gasseri improves you digestion, and your food assimilates better.

And to make things a little more complicated, there is some more research on weight loss and microbiota. There is research that concludes that the ratio between Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, the two major human bacterial phyla, can lead to dysbiosis. The ratio between Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes is normally about 80 to 20 percent. However, for those who struggle with weight, Firmicutes bacteria accounts for more than 80% of the population. A possible explanation is the capability of Firmicutes to process carbohydrates, hence provide us with more energy. If this energy is not used, it’s going to be stored as fat. On a low-calorie diet, Firmicutes bacteria population decreases, while Bacteroidetes population increases. Similarly, during intense physical activity, Bacteroidetes populations show an increase.

Fermented Foods in Our Diet – The Missing Link?

What about cultured foods?

Fermented foods have been part of our diet since immemorial times. There are many studies that link the consumption of fermented foods and good health, and cultured foods have made a return in many places after being slightly forgotten.

Other Slimming Bacterial Strains

Lactobacillus rhamnosus: An interesting study showed that Lactobacillus rhamnosus CGMCC1.3724 (link is external) is effective for weight loss and maintenance for women only but not in men. This shows that if one probiotic didn’t work for you, another one might. There is not enough data for us to fully understand how probiotics work, but we have a better grasp now than 30 years ago. Other rhamnosus strains could be effective as well, for instance, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103).

Bifidobacterium breve: There are a couple of studies involving Bifidobacterium breve B-3(link is external). The studies showed great potential in reducing obesity. The study was conducted on mice on a high-fat diet.

VSL #3 – Probiotic Blend VSL #3 was initially aimed at IBS sufferers, and it is one of the best probiotics for IBS. An interesting scientific study showed that VSL #3 is effective for weight loss. The team from NIH that studied how VSL #3 affects body weight explains the slimming(link is external) effect of the blend by the capability of the microorganisms in VSL #3 to produce butyrate. An increase in butyrate in our colon will trigger the release the hormone GLP-1, which has an important role in regulating the satiety and glucose tolerance.

Lactobacillus amylovorus and Lactobacillus fermentum – Lactobacillus amylovorus (LA) and Lactobacillus fermentum are some of the latest discoveries in the field. In a study conducted by a Canadian team of researchers at CRDC(link is external), the two probiotics proved efficient in reducing body weight by reducing fat mass. You can read the study here(link is external). The study doesn’t mention the specific strains used.

Gymnema Sylvestre – The Miracle Herb that Can Make You Thin

Gymnema Sylvestre can help lower blood sugar and manage your weight.

Gymnema Sylvestre is one of the most interesting herbs, and it’s got a lot of attention from the medical world lately. The plant was used for centuries in the Ayurvedic medicine, and its Hindi name is gurmar, which means “the sugar destroyer”. Also known as Meshasringa in Ayurvedic medicine, Gymnema Sylvestre is famous for helping diabetes sufferers, and traditionally used for arthritis pain.

However, in my view, other two applications are even more impressive: weight control, and systemic Candida infections. Just think about it, overweight is linked to dysbiosis. Gymnema fixes both dysbiosis and helps with weight control. More on this later in the page…

There is scientific evidence that gymnema can reduce sugar cravings, reduces sugar absorption during digestion, and promotes normal blood sugar levels. In fact type 2 diabetes patients use “the sugar destroyer” to control incipient forms of the condition. However, in my eyes, the greatest benefit is its ability to control yeast infections. This is big, and I am going to explain why.

Gymnemic acids are extracts from the plant leafs. Ziziphin and Hodulcin, two gymnemic acids, are anti-sweet substances. They inhibit the sweetness, and anything sweet drink will taste like water. Any candy will taste bland, after chewing the gymnema leafs. A group of researchers did an interesting study(link is external) on mice treated with Gymnema extract. According to the article, the team has confirmed anti-stress, anti-allergic, antioxidant, and anti-bacterial properties. They also confirmed as effective the popular use as a medicine for treating stomach ulcer.

Amazing research(link is external) has also shown that Gymnema can reverse the hyphal form of Candida albicans into its yeast form. The hyphal form of Candida albicans is the more virulent one, which causes the health problems. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Remember? Candida also makes you gain weight…

Conclusion

Weight loss is not as simple as the industry wants to make us believe. There are many factors in play, and sometimes things you wouldn’t believe mattered, are the ones that move the needle. I know it did for me. The biggest one though, is a little hormone called ghrelin, and which is responsible for controlling our hunger. But it’s not that simple, though. Obezogens are in fact the main cause for ghrelin getting out of control.