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

297 Pages·2015·3.06 MB·English

by  Brenda Watson

ALSO BY BRENDA WATSON
The Road to Perfect Health
The Heart of Perfect Health
The Fiber35 Diet
Gut Solutions
The Detox Strategy
The H.O.P.E. Formula

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 978-0-55341795-1
Illustrations by Jim Bayne, FrontRanger.com
Jacket design by Michael Nagin
v3.1
To Stan, my husband,
who stands beside me in all ways.
CONTENTS
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction
THE GUT FACTOR—WHAT STANDS BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR SKINNY
JEANS?
Chapter 1
A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY—GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER?
Chapter 2
GUT BACTERIA—THE SURPRISING WEIGHT-LOSS SOLUTION
Chapter 3
WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG?
Chapter 4
THE PROPER CARE AND FEEDING OF YOUR OWN GUT BACTERIA
Chapter 5
YOUR GUT CONNECTION TO OBESITY AND OTHER COMMON CONDITIONS
Chapter 6
THE GUT-BRAIN CONNECTION
Chapter 7
THE SKINNY ON FOOD
Chapter 8
TEASPOON TRACKER
Chapter 9
THE GET LEAN PHASE
Chapter 10
POWER TOOLS
Chapter 11
SKINNY GUT SUPPLEMENTS
Chapter 12
THE STAY LEAN PHASE
Chapter 13
FOOD AND RECIPES TO GET YOU STARTED
Chapter 14
RESCUE KIT FOR SUCCESS
Acknowledgments
Appendix
Gut Science with Dr. Leonard Smith
FAQs
Resources
Notes
Index
About the Author
Introduction
THE GUT FACTOR—WHAT STANDS BETWEEN YOU AND
YOUR SKINNY JEANS?
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 won’t achieve lasting weight loss if
you don’t address this one factor? What if you knew that, by addressing this factor,
not only would you finally lose weight—and keep it off—but 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 back—and 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 you’ll ever try. You have eaten mindfully, eaten organically, eaten
locally, and eaten your way through more diet books than you care to admit.
But I’m 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 good—and that scientific research could prove it—would you be
interested? I’m 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 health—and 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 foods—those foods that contain good bacteria (also called
probiotics) and foods that feed these bacteria in your gut—you 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)
Don’t worry—I don’t expect you to remember these long names. Instead, let’s
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 bacteria—Bifidobacteria, Lactobacilli, and many bacteria
from the Bacteroidetes group—can 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 don’t want it
to be a secret anymore. You see, digestive health is the foundation for total-body
health. If you don’t address weight gain at its core—at the gut level—then you can’t
lose weight and expect to keep it off.
Why are weight-loss goals so difficult to achieve? The answer is simple. Current
diet programs do not address the underlying contributor to your weight gain: the
gut factor. Gut imbalance contributes to a wide range of digestive conditions. And,
unfortunately, digestive health is often overlooked. Instead of paying attention to
digestive disruptions, we tend to cover our symptoms with medications such as
acid blockers and antacids, antibiotics, immune suppressors, anti-inflammatories,
and laxatives. These medications merely act to silence symptoms that indicate
something is not quite right. Silencing your symptoms does not address the cause
of your symptoms, however. This is a fundamental problem of conventional
medicine.
I propose a different model. Instead of covering up your digestive symptoms
with medications laden with side effects (many of which actually cause further
digestive damage rather than fix the real problem), why not dig deeper? Why not
uncover the true foundational digestive imbalances that, when resolved, eliminate
the need for such treatments in the first place?
What if, by balancing your gut bacteria with the right foods, supplements, and
lifestyle, you might be able to finally drop the weight that has burdened you for so
long? Could the answer really lie within you? Could the bacteria you house within
your gut have the power to turn your health around for the better? It sure can.
And I will show you how.
The Skinny Gut Diet is a lifestyle that will transform your health by giving you
the tools to eat well for your gut, so that you can finally lose weight and feel great.