Excerpt from The Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast (Ep 355) discussing how gut microbes can influence hunger and specific food cravings. The speaker names several bacterial groups (Bacteroidetes, Prevotella, Bifidobacteria) linked to preferences for fats, carbs, and fiber respectively; mentions that microbial metabolites and short-chain fatty acids can correlate with cravings (e.g., chocolate) and that gut bacteria produce neurotransmitters.
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And then one other thing, speaking of mirrors, fat loss, muscle gain, etc. Really good article on why we get hungry. And this article appeared on Chris Kresser's website and gets into this idea behind how the microbes in your gut actually have different food preferences. What I mean by that is there are some microbes, for example, called bacteriodetes or bacteria dates or however you want to pronounce that, but they've been shown to have a preference for fats. There's another type of bacteria called Prevotella that grows best on carbohydrates. There's another one called Bifidobacteria that does best in the presence of dietary fiber. And the presence or absence of these different strains of bacteria can influence your cravings for specific foods. So how about this, Rachel? Have you ever, and I'm guessing the answer is no, but I'm going to throw this out there anyways. Have you ever had a chocolate craving? Yes, definitely. You tell the truth, I would have confused all the time anyways though, people who are chocolate desiring actually have different microbial breakdown products in their urine than people who are chocolate indifferent. And I have yet to run into anyone, by the way, who is chocolate indifferent. But apparently they do exist. And apparently these metabolites are influenced by what are called short chain fatty acid products in the gut. And what that means is that you may experience a higher amount of, say, chocolate cravings if you've got low amounts of short chain fatty acids, which you would get from, say, vegetables or butter or coconut oil. There's a few different ways to get short chain fatty acids into your system, but it turns out that the bacteria, the presence or absence thereof in your system can influence cravings for specific foods. Not only that, but as I think we've talked about on the show before, microbes produce neurotransmitters, right? The bacteria in your gut produce neurotransmitters. I was actually the reason that I'm here in Phoenix right now podcasting from.
