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Shut Off Your Hunger Hormone

Do you remember the last time you took antibiotics?

If you’re thinking it was the last time your doctor wrote you a prescription, you might want to think again. Antibiotics come in more than just pill form in the modern world. In fact, they can be in anything from the water you drink to the meat you have for dinner. And this overexposure we have to antibiotics can have some negative side effects – including weight gain.

Here’s why…

The good and bad bacteria in your gut play an important role in determining whether your body stores the food you eat as excess pounds. Nature designed you this way. In fact, the bacteria in your body outnumber cells in your body ten to one.

A lot of these bacteria are doing good things for you, like digesting your food and preventing infection. But every time you take antibiotics, you kill both the good and the bad.

Let’s take Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria for example. This is one of the “good guys.” But if your supply of this bacteria is killed off by antibiotics, problems can occur. You see, you need H. pylori to keep your “hunger hormone,” ghrelin, in check. Ghrelin tells your brain when it’s time to eat. And when it’s not in the proper balance, it can cause you to have constant cravings. That’s when you can pack on the pounds fast.

In a study I recently read, researchers assigned 30 people to two groups. They gave antibiotics to one group to kill H. pylori bacteria. The other group received no drugs. After five weeks, the researchers performed a biopsy to determine ghrelin levels. The group that took antibiotics to kill H. pylori experienced a big increase in ghrelin.1

And with a big increase like this, it’s as if your appetite doesn’t have an off switch. You’re simply hungry all the time.

The simplest, and most effective, way to keep ghrelin in check is to do your best to stay away from antibiotics. But in today’s world that can be hard to do.

Many commercial farmers give antibiotics to their livestock to make the animals fatter for a bigger profit. And when you eat them, the antibiotics left over in the meat can cause you to gain weight, too. Prescription antibiotics aren’t any better. They disrupt your bacterial “ecosystem,” and that leads to everything from weight gain to yeast infections and chronic disease.

That’s why I give my patients the following recommendations to help them avoid harmful antibiotics and keep a proper balance of bacteria in your digestive system:

  1. Eat natural. Organic, locally grown fruits and vegetables, and grass-fed protein are free from added hormones, antibiotics and chemicals. When you eat these foods, you’re boosting your immunity, ridding your system of toxins, and protecting yourself from inflammation and insulin resistance. This can also cause weight gain and chronic disease.
  2. Avoid sugar and starches. Sugar and starches are bad bacteria’s favorite meal. The more you feed these bacteria, the faster they’ll multiply in your body. That can lead to weight gain, fungal infections, yeast overgrowths and even disease. Not to mention gas and bloating.
  3. Eat plenty of fibrous foods. By eating fibrous foods, you’ll be helping keep your bowel movements regular. And this will keep undigested food from building up in your system and turning into bad bacteria that can make you gain weight (and make you sick).
  4. Take probiotics. The live micro-organisms in a quality probiotics supplement slows the growth of bad bacteria and helps maintain the right balance of the good. I suggest that you take probiotics at least once a day, or before each meal to help aid in proper digestion.
  5. Drink filtered water. To help get your gut bacteria back on track, be sure to drink purified, filtered water instead of tap water. Research done on tap water have found more than 315 different pollutants! Including some antibiotics.2 The easiest way to avoid them is to install a filter on your sink faucet and your shower (because the pollutants can be absorbed into your skin). Choose a filter that gets rid of chlorine, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and trihalomethanes (THMs) and fluoride.

Sincerely,
Kamila Signature
Kamila Fiore, ARNP, NP-C

Kamila Picture

[Ed. Note: Kamila Fiore is the resident Nurse Practitioner at the Sears’ Center for Health and Wellness in Royal Palm Beach, Fla. Kamila is passionate about taking a natural approach to healthcare. She believes it’s a vital necessity in this day and age – a time when our health is being jeopardized by the chemicals, toxins and processes that are incorporated in almost everything we consume, touch or breathe. She earned her Master of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Florida and became state-licensed and board-certified in 2007. Her professional experience includes Aesthetics, Internal Medicine/Geriatrics and Anti-Aging. Kamila educates her patients on health promotion and disease prevention.]

1 Lee ES, et al. “Eradication of Helicobacter Pylori Increases Ghrelin mRNA Expression in the Gastric Mucosa.” Journal of Korean Medical Science. 2010 Feb; 25(2):265-71.
2 “National Water Database.” Environmental Working Group. Retrieved August 30, 2010 from ewg.org/tap-water/home.