Can Probiotics Help You Lose Weight?

Many people wonder if they can have a bacterial infection and weight gain together. The answer is yes and no. First, they cannot cause each other, but they can affect each other in very different ways. You see, probiotics are bacteria that our bodies need to stay healthy. They live in our GI tract where they keep growing and multiplying for their survival.

There are many types of probiotics, some we eat, some we take in our bodies through our digestive system. When we take in supplements with live cultures from our diet or supplements with bacteria that our bodies can't produce, there is a shortage of the good bacteria. This leads to an overgrowth of yeast in the gut. Yeast is actually a fungus that is not part of our normal ecosystem.

So, can probiotics help you lose weight? Yes, because it can help maintain a healthy balance of bacteria in the body. Too much bacteria can cause an imbalance that leads to Candida overgrowth and digestive problems. A balanced balance of the two is what keeps our digestive systems healthy. The problem is that many people just don't get enough of the right bacteria in their diets or they take supplements that contain only a small amount of them.

Our modern day diets are filled with too many processed, junk foods and refined sugars. This can make it very difficult to maintain a healthy balance of bacteria in the gut. Antibiotics and other drugs can kill off the friendly bacteria in the gut and leave us at risk of serious systemic illness and other problems. A healthy balance of bacteria in the gut is absolutely essential to overall health and disease prevention. Taking a supplement with probiotic bacteria can help us do that.

Can probiotics help you lose weight? If we want to lose weight, then a high quality supplement containing a high quantity of probiotics will certainly help. However, taking them as a stand alone product is not enough to achieve our goals. Most people take a supplement containing both probiotics and fiber and actually find that this combination works much better at keeping the pounds off. It's true that a high quality supplement can give you that boost that you need, but if you don't include other healthy habits, such as exercise, good nutrition and a proper diet, you'll be just fine on your own.

The biggest reason that probiotics are beneficial at burning fat is that it helps to remove built up mucous in the gut. Mucous is made by beneficial bacteria as part of their job in digestion. When this builds up, it slows the progress of the digestion process and makes it more difficult for our bodies to absorb the calories we eat. This can lead to unwanted weight gain due to depleted energy stores, or it can even cause us to have less of an appetite so that we eat less to compensate.

So, we already know that probiotics are beneficial, but how can they help you lose weight? It seems likely that the build up of harmful bacteria in the gut leads to fat storage rather than simply digestion issues, but this is just one of the theories. One thing we do know is that once the harmful bacteria is taken care of, the friendly bacteria that were there to help us out, return to normal levels and our digestive system works as it should again.

Probiotic supplements can help you lose weight if you make them part of your regular routine. They don't have to be consumed through the traditional dietary route. You can take them in supplement form and get the same benefits as if you ate a serving of yogurt or a few cups of yogurt each day. The key to getting the most out of them is making sure you consume them in conjunction with a healthy diet and lots of exercise. Once you do this, the supplements seem to do their job and you'll start losing weight and keeping it off.