How to Fix Your Gut Bacteria and Lose Weight

Hi, this is Dr. Mark Hyman and welcome to my weekly house call, your chance to ask me your questions. And this week's question has been a really popular one since I announced my new book called Eat Fat, Get Thin. A few of my patients wrote in and asked, Hey Dr. Hyman, doesn't a high fat diet damage your gut bacteria? Well, some studies do show that high fat diets can negatively affect your gut flora and they can promote inflammation. and weight gain. But most of these studies used high levels of inflammatory, refined omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean oil. And as we learned before, these are bad fats. These are fats that you should avoid. Now studies that use a high fat diet containing omega-3 fats actually show the opposite. That higher amounts of omega-3 fats promote healthier gut flora, lower levels of inflammation, and increased weight loss. Other studies show that olive oil also had a beneficial effect on the gut flora. So it really matters what fat you eat for lots of reasons, including how they affect your gut bacteria. Good fats like omega-3 fats or monounsaturated fats like olive oil or avocados or almonds, well, they improve the health of your gut flora, while inflammatory oils like the omega-6 vegetable oils promote the growth of bugs that cause weight gain and disease. Other studies show that adding something called MCT oil or medium chain triglycerides, which is from coconut oil, or just using coconut oil dramatically reduces inflammation in the gut as well as the bad bugs. It's the overall balance and the composition of your diet that really affects your gut flora. So it's important to eat a high fiber diet, a diet rich in plant foods that are full of good fats, and that will really offset any challenges from other foods that have been shown to potentially cause harm such as meat or saturated fat. And the other things matter too. If you exercise on a high fat diet, you can reduce any negative effects of the fats on your gut flora. Stress also has a bad effect on your gut flora. Believe it or not, your gut bacteria are listening to and influenced by your thoughts and feelings. In fact, now many books have been written on how the gut influences your health and your weight, including amazing books like the Good Gut Brain Maker, the Microbiome Solution, and the Gut Balance Revolution. The good news is there's so much you can do to cultivate a good gut and grow a healthy inner garden. So here's what you can do. Eat whole, unprocessed, unrefined foods. If you do that, you're going to go a long way to cutting the sugar and refined carbs and jacking up the fiber that's needed for a healthy gut. Focus on making 75% of your plate vegetables, and plant foods, and that works good to feed the good bugs. Also eating good fats like omega-3 fats and monounsaturated fats like olive oil, and cutting out the inflammatory omega-6 fats that are vegetable oils helps a lot. Also adding seeds and nuts and special fibers called glucomannan and other prebiotics, which is food for the good bugs, that keeps your gut healthy. You can also try adding fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchi and tempeh and miso, and that helps keep your bugs happy. And you can use resistant starch, which is potato starch. I know it sounds crazy, but this starch doesn't get digested by you, only by the good bugs, and it's like fertilizer for them. And it promotes healthy gut flora and it even helps with weight loss and sleep. You can also take probiotics. These help reduce gut inflammation and feed the good bugs in your gut and keep your gut healthy. So yes, the truth is that some inflammatory fats will will definitely damage your gut bacteria. But the right fats, healthy fats like omega-3 fats combined with a whole real food diet can actually repair your gut and even increase good bacteria. Alright, so if you like this video, I want you to share it with your friends and family on Facebook and Twitter and be sure to submit your questions to DrHyman.com so that next week I may make a house call to you.