What should you eat to lose weight? Feed these bacteria and they will help you!

Diet. That word makes your hair stand on end? We say: eat to lose weight! Yes, we mean it! But before you storm the supermarket with your XXL shopping bag, we’ll tell you WHAT you should eat to lose weight. Because with the right food you feed the slimming bacteria in your intestine.
Slimming bacteria? Does that really exist? In principle, yes, even if the bacteria have different names. How your food is processed in the bowel has an effect on your weight. Two strains of bacteria play an important role in this: Firmicutes und Bacteroidetes.

These are the little fatties in your gut

Firmicutes are the nerds among the bacteria. They work meticulously and extract every single nutrient from your meals, no matter how tiny. As a result, you consume more calories than you actually want to. They like fat and sugar most, and they crave it vehemently. This means that you too will have a big appetite for sweets and fats. A vicious circle! As absurd as it sounds, but the Firmicutes bacteria don’t want you to starve to death, so your fat cells should be full to bursting. Scientists have found out that the intestinal flora of overweight people is particularly rich in firmicutes. In slim people, on the other hand, a different strain of bacteria forms the majority: Bacteroidetes. These bacteria have the exact opposite effect.

Switch on the slimming programme with dietary fibres

Bacteroidetes are a bit sloppier in feed conversion. They do not split the food as neatly as the firmicutes. However, they also extract fewer calories from the food. This has the nice side effect that you stay slimmer more easily. So if you want to lose weight, you have to change the ratio between the two strains of bacteria in favour of the slimming bacteria Bacteroidetes. It is quite simple: Bacteroidetes love fibre-rich food, then they multiply. And when they multiply, the firmicutes are pushed back. Ideally, the ratio is 1 to 1, then your metabolism runs in the slimming programme.

Nuts, fruit, vegetables, cereals and pulses are the preferred food of the bacteroidetes. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommends consuming 25 grams of fibre a day. That is about three slices of wholemeal bread, or a portion of fruit muesli, about three potatoes, two carrots, two kohlrabi or an apple. With a Guttest you can easily find out what the ratio of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes in your gut is. If there are more fattening bacteria, lots of exercise, fibre and a special mixture of probiotics will help. In this way you also support the balance of your intestinal flora and you can simply delete the word “diet” from your vocabulary! ????