Fat Loss Barrier #4: The gastrointestinal system
A properly functioning gastrointestinal system is critical for overall health and well-being, yet it is often disregarded, ill-treated, and otherwise ignored unless it starts making a lot of commotion. If your gut is not in good health, it could lead to problems in just about every part of your body including, but not limited to, your nerves, brain, lungs, arteries, joints, bones, eyes, and hair. As you may guess, poor digestion can also have a huge influence on fat loss.
Consider the following about the gastrointestinal system:
- The gastrointestinal system comprises 75% of the body’s immune system.
- There are more neurons in the small intestine than in the entire spinal cord.
- It is the only system in the body that has its own, independently operating nervous system.
- If you stretched out the gastrointestinal system in its entirety, it would have the surface area of a regulation-sized tennis court.
- There are over 400 species of microbes living in your gut, totaling over 15 pounds of mass and containing more bacteria than there are known stars in the sky.
Suffice it to say, if the body allocates this many resources to one particular system, it must be important. In fact, we should start treating our gut with the utmost respect if we are interested in weight loss, muscle gain, or overall health.
My guts feel fine…I think
While your intestines do a lot of amazing things, the one thing they do not do is feel pain. There are no pain receptors in your intestines, so it is not always easy to know when your guts are not happy. Instead we have to wait until things get bad enough to present symptoms to tell us. This would be the equivalent of stepping on a nail and not realizing it until your foot goes numb and starts changing color. These symptoms can include gas/bloating, feeling like you have a heavy stomach after meals, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, bad breath, and foul-smelling stool.
As we mentioned before, however, many other symptoms typically aren’t manifested in our GI systems. Often, things like hormonal imbalances, migraines, allergies, eczema, and autoimmune disease can be traced back to GI system problems. And this is not all. Everything from a compromised immune system, to a problematic stress hormone situation, to an altered sex hormone system, to blood sugar irregularities can be related to gut problems. These problems can even feed back to cause more gut problems. Once you’ve hit this point, your gut has become seriously damaged and is in need of help quickly.
What to do
One of the best ways to stop a vicious GI-related cycle is to control inflammation and identify food sensitivities. The most effective way to do this is to start with an elimination diet for 3-6 weeks. A good elimination diet means removing foods to which many people are sensitive, including: wheat & gluten-containing foods, soy, dairy, corn, the nightshade family of vegetables (e.g. bell pepper, tomatoes, eggplant), and legumes. It could also possibly include a few other items (eggs, pork, citrus), but this is a good place to start.
You may be asking, “What’s left to eat?” Good question. You’ll eat a lot of vegetable matter, poultry, fish, lamb, beef (grass-fed), and certain fruits (i.e. blueberries, apples). This may seem restrictive, but it is truly amazing how effective it can be for those people who actually follow the diet. It can be life-changing. As a general rule, the more strict you can be, the better. When you are ready to start, it may be best to find an expert to help guide you through as it can be challenging to know all the foods that you should avoid. If nothing else, track your own food so that you know if you are keeping to it.
Once you have followed three weeks of a strict elimination plan, you will then want to reintroduce one food item at a time. Keep it in your diet for two days and see what happens. Pay careful attention to any symptoms experienced, such as joint pain, headaches, sinus issues, foggy thinking, fatigue, nausea, skin issues, and/or poor sleep. Almost anything can resurface that otherwise disappeared during the previous three weeks.
If there are any “positive” reactions to a food — meaning certain symptoms reappeared — that means the food is a problem and must be avoided for a period of at least 6 months. The reason you want to avoid them for 6 months is because you may only be having an acute reaction due to gut inflammation. If after 6 months, you do not have the reaction, you can add them back in without concern.
In the meantime, you might consult with a doctor that understands gastrointestinal function and can recommend gut-repairing nutrients. Please, please, please, do not take detoxifiers or fiber supplements. These are usually full of the items that are hurting your gut and only appear to work (if at all) because one response your body has to irritants is to push everything out. Remove the foods, eat clean, and start testing foods. While this may seem simple, it is not necessarily easy. You must stay on track to know what is problematic for you. If you do, you will see profound effects.
Conclusion
We have come to the end of our series and I hope that all of you have learned something that you will start working on today. Fat loss is not always easy, but in the grand scheme of things, is there anything worth spending more time on than your health? Health and fitness is a lifelong journey full of trial and error, and while there are many theories as to how to be in the best health, sometimes it just comes down to what makes you look and feel the best. Be mindful of your environment, how you feel, and how different things affect you. The more aware you are, the more quickly you will learn what is good for your body and what is not. And it is through this self-exploration that you will discover your best self and your best health.
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