In this episode of The Nourished and Thriving Show, host and registered dietitian Katie Lovitt addresses the significant yet often overlooked impact of gut health on weight management. Highlighting that 78% of adult Americans are overweight or obese and 50% suffer from chronic diseases, Katie emphasizes the financial and quality-of-life costs associated with poor health. She discusses the emerging research on how the gut microbiome influences weight through nutrient absorption, inflammation, and control of hunger hormones. Katie argues for lifestyle changes, including diet adjustments rich in fiber and phytonutrients, improving sleep, stress management, and reducing exposure to toxins, as strategies for nurturing beneficial gut bacteria. Through the transformative process outlined in her signature six-month program, Gut Rehab, Katie aims to empower listeners to take control of their health, setting goals, and enjoying the journey towards a more vibrant life.
00:00 The High Cost of Being Sick vs. Being Healthy
00:25 Welcome to The Nourished and Thriving Show
01:04 Exploring the Impact of Gut Health on Weight
02:41 Shocking Stats: The Health Crisis in America
04:31 How Gut Health Influences Weight and Overall Health
14:56 Practical Steps to Improve Your Gut Health and Weight
In this episode of The Nourished and Thriving Show, host and registered dietitian Katie Lovitt addresses the significant yet often overlooked impact of gut health on weight management. Highlighting that 78% of adult Americans are overweight or obese and 50% suffer from chronic diseases, Katie emphasizes the financial and quality-of-life costs associated with poor health. She discusses the emerging research on how the gut microbiome influences weight through nutrient absorption, inflammation, and control of hunger hormones. Katie argues for lifestyle changes, including diet adjustments rich in fiber and phytonutrients, improving sleep, stress management, and reducing exposure to toxins, as strategies for nurturing beneficial gut bacteria. Through the transformative process outlined in her signature six-month program, Gut Rehab, Katie aims to empower listeners to take control of their health, setting goals, and enjoying the journey towards a more vibrant life.
00:00 The High Cost of Being Sick vs. Being Healthy
00:25 Welcome to The Nourished and Thriving Show
01:04 Exploring the Impact of Gut Health on Weight
02:41 Shocking Stats: The Health Crisis in America
04:31 How Gut Health Influences Weight and Overall Health
14:56 Practical Steps to Improve Your Gut Health and Weight
It's expensive to be sick. And people always complain about how expensive it is to be healthy and to eat healthy food. And all of that, I would argue that it's a lot more expensive to be sick. And, you know, I think the cost is much greater too than just financial. I think you're missing out on memories and adventures and all of those things, you know, to buy by being sick. Hey, everyone. Welcome to The Nourished and Thriving Show. I'm your host, Katie Lovitt. I'm a registered dietitian on a mission to help you increase your impact and legacy on the world while healing your gut and reducing your IBS symptoms. I'm so grateful to have you here. Each week I'll inspire you to live vibrantly and provide valuable resources and information that empowers you to take bold action towards your health goals. Before we dive in, make sure you follow or subscribe to my show wherever you're listening so you never miss an episode. Ready? Let's go! Hey guys today, we're talking about a topic that affects probably most of us listening in some way or another. And that is how your gut health impacts your weight. Okay. And before anyone jumps in with like all sizes matter, like healthy at every size you know, it's not just about the way our bodies look, right. I think, you know, there's been way too much emphasis put on this as women, especially in pressure for us to live up to some sort of stereotype or image and. You know, I think that the BMI charts, honestly, that we've been taught forever. Are not helpful. And I say. Kind of frequently that like generally speaking your weight is maybe the least interesting fact about you. And I don't put a ton of emphasis on it in my practice. So. Disclosures there. But. Wait is not completely irrelevant either. Everyone wants to lose weight or gain weight. Weight is, you know, very top of mind for most people. And so I really wanted to address it. If you've been around for a hot minute, you probably know at least one person who's been taking. You know, as similar glutes, high-dose ambig Monero. one of those types of products to try and help reduce insulin resistance. And lose weight. It's so common. And then if you are like targeted on Instagram and Facebook, like I am for supplements. You've probably seen ads for like nature's GLP one. And all of that. So we're going to dig into all of that stuff too, but I wanted to just share a few stats with you guys today. So right now I pull up a few stats online. 78% of Americans are overweight or obese right now, adults. Okay. And what's really scary is we're seeing this number rise in our kiddos to. So 78% of Americans, adult Americans are overweight or obese. And 50% of Adult Americans.,I have at least one chronic disease. Okay. So some sort of heart disease, diabetes, you know, stuff like that. It's a chronic disease. The us spends it's estimated by CDC. But the U S spent 3.7. Trillion with a T trillion dollars,$3.7 trillion a year. In healthcare costs related to these chronic illnesses. You guys, those numbers are staggering. And you know, what I really care about with this stuff is if you are one of these Americans that is struggling with this chronic diseases, Your quality of life is diminished. You are probably in pain. You're probably tired. You're dealing with medication. You're dealing with financial struggles. It's expensive to be sick. And people always complain about how expensive it is to be healthy and to eat healthy food. And all of that, I would argue that it's a lot more expensive to be sick. And, you know, I think the cost is much greater too than just financial. I think you're missing out on memories and adventures and all of those things, you know, to buy by being sick. And so it's just really important. And so I wanted to have an episode today where we're talking all about. Does your gut health impact your weight? And the answer is yes. Shocking. Gut health impacts everything in the body. If that's one of the reasons I got into it is because just addressing gut health can fix so many other issues. It's like, if you're wanting to tear down this building of chronic disease. Fixing your gut health is like taking a wrecking ball and just like tearing down most of that building just in one fell swoop. And then you can go in with a chisel and hammer and fine tune and adjust anything else that's left standing. Once you deal with gut health. But it's really important. And I can't remember the statistic off the top of my head. I should have looked it up, but it's something like 50% of Americans are also struggling with chronic digestive symptoms. So it's a high number, you know, with people who. Are dealing with that. And there definitely is some overlap there between people who are overweight or obese dealing with chronic illness, dealing with chronic digestive symptoms. And it's just really not comfortable, right. It's not a life I would want to live. And there are ways that we can change that and shift that. And the answer is not just take a medication and then continuing to add new medications to better manage your condition and then take additional medications to offset the side effects of those other medications and all of that. Like, there are other ways, and I hear every day from people. Who are feeling better, who are healing from these chronic diseases and improving, or at least stabilizing and not continuing to get worse. So that is a real possibility for you. Okay. So. Let's just talk a little bit about how are the different ways, how so gut microbiome, gut health does impact weight. Yes. Check. Studies have shown this. There have, has been research on this. It's pretty new research. It's emerging research. We don't have all the answers, but we do have some answers. Okay. So first of all, we know that different types of bacteria impact people differently. There've been studies that have looked at. Identical twins and one was obese or overweight and one was normal weight and they looked at their microbiome. And consistently the obese or overweight people have a microbiome. That looks different. There are different things in common with people who are obese and overweight in their microbiome than people who are at a normal weight. Okay. Bacteria impact how we're digesting and absorbing different nutrients, carbohydrates, fats, all of that. And so if you have different types of bacteria, you know, you may increase, you may have an increase in the types of foods that you are able to absorb. So you may be actually absorbing more fat. Absorbing more carbohydrates, even though you're eating the same amount as somebody else who has a microbiome that has a more healthy profile than what you have. Does that make sense? So even though you can eat the exact same as somebody else, if your microbiome. Is, you know, slanted toward this overweight, obese. Microbiome profile. You are going to absorb, digest and absorb more of those nutrients. And so you see what I'm saying here, like, even though you're eating the same amount as somebody else who digest absorbs less and they're going to. Gain less weight from eating view, Zack, same thing. How fair is that? Not fair. I know, but we can fix your microbiome. So that's the good news. Second of all, there's a lot of inflammation associated with gut health. You know, any time that someone has inflammation in their body, I always expect them to also have inflammation in their gut. And this can come from a variety of reasons. Again, a lot of the time it's going to come from an imbalance in your microbiome or, you know, not having enough diversity All of that. And so. Whenever that happens whenever you don't have enough good bacteria and your microbiome, or is imbalanced or it's called dysbiosis. Or you don't have enough good types. Like everything is just low. It really reduces how many short chain fatty acids are produced. So you may have heard of some, one called The rate or these are all types of short chain, fatty acids. And these are actually things that your good bacteria make as they break down the food that you eat. And the cool thing about these short chain fatty acids is they're like the building blocks for your healthy gut lining. Okay. Your gut lining has to be healthy. They're like the bouncer at the club that decides who gets into your body and who doesn't. And so if those short chain fatty acids, aren't there, the bouncers at the club or off duty and things can get into your body that should not be there. And your body is like alert, alert. These should not be there. So security inside the clubs going crazy, trying to find the bad guys. Do you get my like club analogy here? It's the most. Like relatable thing, but I can come up with. And so your immune system basically gets turned on and you have increased inflammation in your gut and also the rest of your body, which can increase risk of chronic disease can increase. General inflammation and weight gain, like, think about whenever you have a cut on your arm or something, it gets red and kind of swollen, right. That's inflammation. And so if you have these guys circulating all throughout your body, Your whole body is just inflamed and irritated and angry and you know, painful, honestly. So having enough good organisms in your gut, making those short chain fatty acids keeps your gut lining happy. All of your bouncers are on staff, ready to report for duty and do a great job. Keeping things where they need to be. They also can help Reduce inflammation by helping to digest phyto nutrients were flavonoids, which are a type of fighting nutrients. So. Phytonutrients are special nutrients from plants there. What a lot of the time gives different plant plant foods, their colors. So the blue and blueberries, the orange and carrots. The green and kale or lettuce it's these phytonutrients and they're so powerful. They're really, really powerful antioxidants. But help reduce inflammation in our body. But we need our good tummy bugs to help us break them down so that we can then absorb them. So if you don't have the right type of organisms in your gut, You're not breaking down those nutrients, even though you're eating them, you're not able to utilize them all the way. And so again, like you can have an increase in oxidative stress, which is inflammation basically. And even though you're eating maybe an anti-inflammatory diet, which over time would help change your microbiome as well. But in the beginning, You're you're maybe not going to see those benefits as much, even if you are eating healthier foods. And then the third way is you know, if you're not having the right kinds of organisms there's something called LPs or lipopolysaccharide, and this is actually a toxin that isn't certain, you know, types of bacteria, cell wall that are not helpful. Bacteria and they can actually break down that gut lining. And they can actually impact your mitochondria and how you produce energy. And it can cause actually something called metabolic endotoxemia, where your mitochondria are not producing energy correctly. Which affects how many calories you burn basically. So, and again, it's kind of like a one-two punch here. If you have too many of these LPs bacteria, they're normal to be there, but if you have too many of them, you're also probably not having enough of these short chain, fatty acid producing bacteria. And so you have a lot of the not great ones and not enough of the good ones. And so you're get lining. Isn't able to repair itself because it doesn't have those building blocks. So short chain, fatty acids. And you have an increase in the LPs, the lipopolysaccharides, which is actively tearing down your gut lining. Okay. So you have like, it's getting hit from both sides here, basically. And then, you know, there's also been shown. Certain, you know, bacteria directly impacting. Insulin resistance. And those are called Akkermansia and bifido bacteria specifically. They, those are like the nature is GLP one that you may have seen ads for that I talked about at the beginning. Those specific strains are good bacteria. Akkermansia actually has been shown that people who are cancer patients receiving immunotherapy. Respond much better to that immunotherapy, if they have abundant levels of the good bacteria Akkermansia which also helps with you know, The insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity and everything too. So those are just two specific strains. Like I said, the research is pretty new on this, so it's still emerging, still coming out as far as like. What helps? What does it help? What, what do we need to know here? But those are just a couple of specific examples for you. And then also last bacteria in your gut can actually control your hunger hormones. And the ones that are beneficial, like for all of the reasons I listed above tend to help you feel more satisfied, faster. From food and not get as hungry as fast. And then the ones that are more inflammatory and not as helpful, you're not going to feel as full and satisfied from eating. And maybe you're going to feel more hungry more quickly. So you can see here, there's a few different ways that this microbiome can impact your gut. So you've got different types of bacteria. You know, effecting how much nutrients are absorbing and digesting. You've got inflammation, either increased inflammation or reduced inflammation in your body, depending on what your microbiome looks like. And then you've also got the control of the hunger hormones from different types of organisms. So those are three different ways. That your microbiome is impacting your weight either for better or for worse. Okay. So if you're not convinced by right now that you need to go take a close look at your gut health. If you're dealing with weight issues. Go back and relisten. And do some research on your end too. Don't just ever take my word for it. Like, I want you to use discernment and wisdom, and I want to start a spark in you to go research and learn more and take control of your health. So, what do you guys do? What do you need to do with this information to kind of get things back on board? Okay. First of all. Sit down and have heart to heart with yourself. Write out. What are your goals? What do you want your life to look like? If you're one of those, you know, 50% of Americans struggling with a chronic disease you know, what do you want your life to look like? Do you, are you satisfied with how things are right now or do you really want to change and really try and spell out what that looks like for you specifically? This is going to keep you motivated as you continue to make those changes in your lifestyle, because most of these things are through lifestyle changes, right? It's changing how we're showing up in this world. So that takes me to, the second thing that you can do is making those lifestyle changes. So eating a diet that is going to help those good tummy bugs thrive so rich in fiber rich, and find a nutrients to really encourage that shift. Changing how you're doing other lifestyle things. Are you sleeping well, are you moving throughout your day? Are you getting exercise? Are you managing our stress? Well, Are you exposing yourself to a lot of environmental toxins through personal care products and all of that. Start making some shifts. And then third own the process and enjoy the journey of transformation. Don't be so focused on the end goal that you lose motivation. If you can't see results in like two days. Okay. Really fall in love with the transformation of you becoming this new and improved version of yourself. This more vibrant and more healthy. Okay. That is how you really get the lasting results. Go back to that first step where you're really envisioning what you want your life to look like. And hold on to that. Whenever you're feeling struggle, you know, like you're struggling or feeling frustrated. And then the fourth one is set some boundaries. Manage your time, say no more often and recognize if something is getting worse. Again, recognize what's shifted that you need to go back and refocus on again to get you back on track. Okay. If all of that feels sounds great, but it feels overwhelming. This is exactly what I help my clients with in my signature six-month program, gut rehab. I would love to talk with you about that. If this is something that you're interested in and feel like you need some help with. Follow me over on Instagram. I'm going to drop my handle in the notes below. Send me a message and let's chat. I hope that this episode has been empowering and educational for you guys. I'd love to know what questions you guys have, what you thought, all of that. And we'll talk soon. Thank you so much for listening to the entire episode. I hope you are feeling inspired and empowered to take bold action towards your health goals. If you enjoy what you heard, don't forget to follow my show so you never miss a new episode. And it would mean the world to me, if you left me a review, so others know what to expect from my show. Last, get in touch. Let me know what bold action you're taking. Let me know how you're inspired. Follow me on Instagram@the_healthygut_dietitian. I've put a link in my show notes for you, so you can simply click and follow. Come say hi, I respond to all my messages and I can't wait to get in touch.