You’ve likely heard that the health of your gut can impact your overall wellness, but did you know that gut health can also affect your ability to lose weight? It’s true — a healthy gut can support weight loss efforts, while poor gut health may be stopping you from shedding extra pounds.
What’s the Connection Between Gut Health and Weight Loss?
Many factors connect gut health to your body’s ability to lose weight, including:
Hormone Regulation
One of the many functions of your gut is to eliminate excess estrogen in the body. Both women and men have estrogen, in varying degrees. Excess estrogen can inhibit your body’s capacity for weight loss. Excess estrogen can also promote weight gain by triggering irritation in the cells that produce insulin. This can lead to insulin resistance, which is a potential cause of weight gain.
Inflammation and Cortisol
Another reason why poor gut health can reduce weight loss is its connection to inflammation. When food particles aren’t properly digested, some of the particles may get stuck in the pores of your gut lining. This causes irritation, eventually leading to a leaky gut. Leaky gut can cause inflammation throughout the body, as well as higher levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. High cortisol levels in the body are connected with abdominal obesity.
Thyroid Function
The thyroid gland produces hormones that are essential to healthy body function. Called T3 and T4, these hormones are crucial to keeping the cells metabolically active. An overload of bad bacteria in the gut can lead to poor thyroid function. This results in symptoms including difficulty losing weight, dry skin, and brittle hair and nails.
Colon Hydrotherapy for a Healthy Gut
If you’re struggling to reach your weight loss goals, improving the health of your gut could help you get on track toward a slimmer physique. While there are many ways to boost your gut health, colon hydrotherapy can eliminate built-up waste and toxins for immediate improvement to the health of the digestive system.
To learn more about colon hydrotherapy, contact our office today.