Who knew that the fast track to losing weight and getting healthy consists of tiny microorganisms like bacteria and yeast? Yes, you read right, actual organisms are the key to having a healthy digestive tract and the improvement of your immune system.
The recent popularity of probiotics is the talk of many scientists and dieticians, claiming the “good” bacteria in which probiotics is made up of, is actually an aide in weight loss and helps to prevent many health problems that occur in the world today.
Health Benefits of Probiotics
Digesting healthy bacteria through probiotics has quite a few health benefits. Most commonly known for the help in improving and maintaining the immune system, probiotics found in certain foods and supplements are known to help with: the common cold, strep throat, and even those pesky ear infections, as well as many other immune linked health problems.
Probiotics also helps your body to improve intestinal function and to create a healthy digestive process. While working directly with the organs in the body that process food, probiotics help with digestive track issues such as diarrhea, inflammation of the intestine, and IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Probiotics have been said to reduce symptoms of certain intestinal diseases as well, such as crohn’s disease and inflammatory bowel disease.
Probiotics for weight loss
Because of the direct relation to your digestive processes, probiotics are a healthy way to aid in weight loss progression. Bad bacteria and yeast are fed by the unhealthy and “sugary” food products we eat, and in turn can hinder the weight loss processes. Consuming probiotics is a healthy way to “reset” the balance in favor of the good bacteria and burst through the “plateau effect” of weight loss.
A healthy dose of probiotics can work hand in hand with a nutritional diet and moderate exercise to increase weight loss results. Research states that probiotics can help individuals to lose twice as much weight when incorporating these good bacteria into their diets. Not only do probiotics rid the gut of bad bacteria but it also can help reduce the hormone leptin which helps regulate the part of the brain that controls appetite.
This in turn, helps you to control your eating habits and make better dieting decisions. These good bacteria could potentially prevent weight related diseases, like diabetes, from occurring and instead help to create a healthy and productive lifestyle change.
Much research points to the benefits of probiotics. These particular microorganisms can be found in over the counter supplements as well as in food at the local grocery store. With many brands to choose from, the most common serving size is generally 2 capsules a day. Besides the dose of healthy gut bacteria, these supplements are usually packed with B, A and K vitamins as well as essential fatty acids.
If supplements are not for you, you can find food that inhabits the friendly bacteria. Natural ingredients in food like yogurt and fermented yeast consist of these healthy and good bacteria. Since the recent popularity of this product in grocery stores, there is now a new label placed on food items.
The label states “live and active cultures” and is an easy way of identifying healthy bacteria that could potentially assist your health and weight loss needs. With many options available and in many different ways it is easy to make probiotics a part of your own healthy living.
Written by Brittany Brown
