Dear Health Conscious Reader,
When your doctor gave you your last prescription for an antibiotic, did he tell you it would make you fat?
He should have. Because taking antibiotics regularly can do all kinds of strange things to your body. And that includes making you gain weight.
The bacteria in your gut play an important role in determining whether your body stores the food you eat as excess pounds.
Let me explain…
Your gut is filled with both good and bad bacteria. Nature designed you that way. In fact, they outnumber cells in your body 10 to 1. And a lot of these bacteria are doing good things for you, like digesting your food and preventing infection. But every time you take antibiotics, you kill off good and bad stuff…
Like Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria. It’s a normal part of your gut’s “ecosystem.” But it can cause problems like ulcers when that system gets disrupted by antibiotics. However, you need H. pylori to keep your ghrelin hormone in check. That’s one of your body’s “hunger hormones.” It tells your brain when it’s time to eat. And if you eat too much of the wrong stuff, like carbs and starches, you’ll pack on the pounds fast.
I just read a new study that illustrated this. Researchers assigned 30 people to two groups. They gave antibiotics to one group to kill H. pylori bacteria. The other group received no drugs. After five weeks, the researchers performed a biopsy to determine ghrelin levels. The group that took antibiotics to kill H. pylori experienced a big increase in ghrelin.1
The simple way to avoid messing with ghrelin – and all the other good and bad guys in your gut – is to take antibiotics only as a last resort. They disrupt your bacterial “ecosystem,” and that leads to everything from weight gain to yeast infections and chronic disease.
But unfortunately, in the modern world, antibiotics aren’t so easy to avoid.
They’re in your tap water. And your burgers. In fact, that’s how farmers make big bucks selling their cattle. They pump them up with antibiotics to modify their gut bacteria. This makes animals fat. And unfortunately, that same effect gets passed on to you when you eat them.
In my 20 years treating thousands of patients, I’ve found that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Following the seven steps below will help you maintain an 85/15 ratio of good and bad bacteria in your gut. So you won’t get sick enough to need “fattening” antibiotics.
- Eat natural foods. This will boost your immunity, rid your system of toxins, and protect you from inflammation and insulin resistance, which can also cause weight gain and chronic disease. Make sure you eat plenty of fruits and veggies, fiber, protein, and healthy fats.
- Don’t overfeed bacteria. Sugar and starches are bad bacteria’s favorite meal. And the more you feed these bacteria, the faster they’ll multiply in your body. That can lead to fungal infections, yeast overgrowths, and even disease. Not to mention gas and bloating.
- Super-charge your immunity. Choose supplements carefully. I recommend taking 500 mg of vitamin C, 50 mg of Selenium, 10 mg of quercetin, and 50 mg of the ubiquinol form of CoQ10 a day.
- Keep your bowels moving. The easiest way to do this is to eat plenty of fibrous foods. This will prevent undigested food from building up in your system and turning into bad bacteria that can make you sick. If you have a problem with dairy, look for a supplement with lactase. And be sure to take a supplement with each meal.
- Take probiotics. The live microorganisms in probiotics slow the growth of bad bacteria and help maintain the right balance of good bacteria. Take at least one a day.
- Drink filtered water. Water utilities have found more than 315 pollutants in tap water – including antibiotics.2 The easiest way to avoid consuming them unintentionally is to buy a filter for your sink and shower. Look for one that removes chlorine, volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), and trihalomethanes (THM’s).
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
- Lee ES, et al. “Eradication of Helicobacter Pylori Increases Ghrelin mRNA Expression in the Gastric Mucosa.” Journal of Korean Medical Science. 2010 Feb; 25(2):265-71.
- “National Water Database.” Environmental Working Group. Retrieved August 30, 2010 from http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/home.
- Environmental Working Group. “Body of Burden – The Pollution in Newborns.” July 14, 2005.