Copyright © 2009
by Daniel Matthew Korn

All Rights Reserved

It is likely that we will be surrounded by unhealthful food for a long time. The regulatory systems have not yet caught up to the dangers inherent in adding antibiotics, acidic artificial flavorings, and acidic chemical preservatives to the food supply. The research performed demonstrating that unhealthful gut bacteria and acidic foods cause weight gain in humans is not yet widely accepted, despite the fact that this is how we make our farm animals become fat. However, we can still stay lean by making the right food choices. We will also see supplements that can counteract both some of the unhealthful bacteria in our bodies and the acidity of our food. Sadly, the foods and drinks we most need to avoid are those specifically geared towards dieters.

Perhaps the most telling sign that our current weight loss strategies are counterproductive is that the people who try to lose weight are those who are most likely to gain weight.¹ In fact, there is something that almost all dieters, regardless of their diet strategy, do wrong. They drink “diet drinks” or eat “diet food.” Diet sodas may not have any calories, but they are highly acidic and kill our anti-inflammatory probiotic bacteria. Most pre-made sugar free “teas” are flavored or sweetened with acidic artificial chemicals and actually contain very little tea, if any. Dieters should try to drink water, 100% fruit juice, or teas brewed from real tea or herbs without artificial sweeteners and flavorings. Low sugar and low fat “diet foods” get their taste from acidic artificial chemicals and should never be eaten, even in small quantities, for any reason.

The best foods to eat are those with the fewest chemical additives and most probiotic bacteria, which are organic fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, whole grains, meats from grass-fed animals, free range chicken, and wild fish. Milk should be avoided as much as possible. Pasteurization kills healthful bacteria and allows harmful bacteria to grow. Unpasteurized milk is not safe unless consumed right away, something which is not possible with our long distance food supply chain. As for meat, the problem with using antibiotics is not chemical residues, as testing almost always prevents these from entering the food supply. The problem is that, as with pasteurization, killing the beneficial bacteria in our meat allows harmful bacteria to grow. Antibiotics both reduce the healthful probiotic bacteria in our diet and potentially expose us to harmful bacteria. They also encourage the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria that can continue to grow despite refrigeration. We are starting to see bacteria with some of these traits appearing outside of the food supply.

Increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables is always good because of their demonstrated ability to cause rapid weight loss in large quantities. While whole grains reduce inflammation, we do not have any experiments which demonstrate they can cause weight loss the same way as a diet based on fruits and vegetables, such as was used in the United Kingdom zoo experiment. A convenient way to eat fruit is often in the form of a 100% fruit smoothie. The most convenient way to increase our vegetable consumption is by eating salads. If you do not know how to cook, take a class in which you will learn how to use herbs and spices so you do not feel deprived by eating a bland diet and you get their health benefits.

Another easy way to improve your diet is to try cooking with healthful oils like rice bran oil or wheat germ oil. These oils have a remarkable effect on cholesterol. The average American gets over 30% of his calories from fat, much of it from refined oils, butter, and margarine used in cooking. Most of these fats are unhealthful in their commonly used forms and should be replaced. Using rice bran oil or wheat germ oil is a much more healthful alternative. Most experiments on rice bran and wheat germ oils have found one tablespoon per day to be sufficient to get the full benefit in cholesterol reduction. For those who eat more than a tablespoon of added fat daily, olive oil is a healthful choice to replace the remainder of cooking fats consumed. If you are using more than a tablespoon a day of cooking oils a day to add flavor to your food, you may wish to consider using herbs and spices instead.

Many of us do not wish to eat or have difficulty finding chemical-free foods. This means we are unlikely to eat these ideal foods all the time, even though our natural diet consists of them. An internet search may reveal local restaurants that serve antibiotic-free meats from grass-fed animals, and a health food store or specialty market may sell them. Antibiotic-free meats are also available online. There are also supplements that can compensate for the lack of healthful bacteria in our food and the acidity caused by artificial flavors and preservatives.

Various phytochemical supplements have been claimed to treat a wide variety of conditions including obesity, allergies, skin disorders like eczema and acne, back pain, sleep disturbances, and arthritis. While certain unscrupulous companies sell products that lack quality control or do not contain what they profess, some of the assertions made about supplements do have a basis in fact. Substances such as quercetin, resveratrol, and flax seed oil, which have been sold as supplements claiming to aid in weight loss and inflammatory disease treatment, can actually increase the amount of healthful bacteria in our digestive system. Both quercetin and resveratrol are flavonoids, phytochemicals that are broken down by the good probiotic bacteria in our bodies. Some scientists believe that the health benefit of many plant chemicals, including flavonoids, comes from their effect on the gut flora signaling mechanism. Essentially, these plant chemicals are food for the “good” probiotic bacteria. Substances that increase the number of healthful probiotic bacteria are called prebiotics. Human consumption of the prebiotic sugar oligofructose has caused weight loss even without any other dietary changes.² Some scientists also believe that large numbers of good bacteria in our bodies protect us from harmful bacterial infections and that many prebiotics may some day partially replace antibiotics.^3,4,5

Another phytochemical supplement which affects gut bacteria is methylsulfonylmethane, or MSM. This compound, whose mechanism has long been uncertain, is an organic sulfur that occurs in plants. Writing in 2001 for Quackwatch, an organization that debunks medical scams, a registered dietician stated that there was little evidence to support the health claims made by MSM’s marketers and no good reason to use MSM supplements.⁶ This ignored the hundreds of thousands of people who noticed improvements in a variety of conditions after taking MSM and the fact that sulfur functions as an antifungal agent in plants.⁷

In the years since, multiple clinical trials have been performed showing that MSM helps with arthritis, allergy symptoms, and interstitial cystitis, all of which are associated with inflammation.⁸ Although it has not been proven how MSM works, there are two ways it may affect gut bacteria. While acidic foods kill healthful probiotics in our intestinal tract, MSM is an alkaline which counteracts acids. This makes the stomach environment more conducive to the growth of probiotics. In addition, it seems likely that some of MSM’s effects are due to its antifungal property. Some of the conditions reported to be improved by MSM, such as dandruff, seborrheic dermatitis, and yeast infections are normally treated by antifungals. Further evidence that MSM functions as an antifungal in humans also comes from the fact that it can produce symptoms normally associated with fungal die-off. The connections among the gut bacteria, inflammation, and weight gain explain the persistent claims of weight loss and health improvements made by users and marketers of all of these supplements. However, the best way to get these phytochemicals remains fruits and vegtables. No studies have shown any supplements causing weight at the rate of several pounds a week we saw in the Londo Zoo experiment. Those participants ate a diet of mainly fruits and vegtables.

Our first instinct when we begin a diet is to look at the scale. A better indicator of success would be to pay attention to how we feel. A healthy weight comes from being healthy. Signs of health improvement from the right diet include feeling increasingly relaxed, even in stressful situations, as well as waking up earlier and earlier, eventually being able to wake at sunrise if desired, feeling refreshed. Sleeping eight hours or longer is also a sign of healthful sleep. Other reported signs of a successful diet include increased muscle relaxation, with old aches and pains gradually disappearing. After sleep and stress have returned to normal levels, appetite should start to decrease. The sensation has been described as “appetite suppression” and “a less intense hunger.” Other reported effects include decreased skin and gum inflammation.

With powerful weight loss tools also comes the ability to go too far. If you decide to make dietary changes or use supplements, be sure to go slowly. Everything described in this chapter is designed to restore the healthful microflora to your intestinal tract, but that is accomplished by killing unhealthful bacteria that are already there. When certain microbes, such as yeast, are killed by bursting their outer barrier they release their internal chemicals into our bodies. These chemicals are toxic. If too many fungi are killed at once, they can cause gas, bloating, sleepiness, upset stomach, and headache.

We have seen previously that many of the symptoms we associate with excess inflammation correspond to what was believed to be “excess heat” in traditional medicine. Interestingly, killing too many fungi at once produces symptoms that seem to correspond to what traditional medicine believed was an “excess cooling” of the body. Many of the herbs and spices used in traditional medicine have been found to have antibacterial and antifungal properties. This seems to suggest that, while practitioners of traditional medicines thought they were balancing “heating” and “cooling” forces in the body, they may have been maintaining a healthful balance of gut flora. It is an interesting area for future research. However, regardless of whether it is caused by “excess cooling” or fungal die-off, experiencing pain or illness from diet or supplement changes is a signal that you have done too much. Depending on your starting condition, reducing inflammation to a normal level can take weeks, and returning to a normal weight can take months or even longer in extreme cases.

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Citations:

¹ D. Neumark-Sztainer and others. “Why does dieting predict weight gain in adolescents? Findings from project EAT-II: a 5-year longitudinal study.” 12/17/2009 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17324664.

² Jill A. Parnell and Raylene A. Reimer. “Weight loss during oligofructose supplementation is associated with decreased ghrelin and increased peptide YY in overweight and obese adults.” Amer. Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 12/17/2009 http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/ajcn.2009.27465v1.

³ Oyvind M. Andersen and Kenneth R. Markham, eds. Flavonoids: Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Applications. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2006, pg. 343.

⁴ Barry Halliwell, Joseph Rafter, and Andrew Jenner. "Health promotion by flavonoids, tocopherols, tocotrienols, and other phenols: direct or indirect effects? Antioxidant or not?" American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 12/17/2007 http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/81/1/268S

⁵ "Significant Health Benefits Demonstrated By A Red-Wine Polyphenol Called Resveratrol." Medical News TODAY. 12/17/2007 http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153724.php.

⁶ Kerry L. Lang. "Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM)." Quackwatch. 12/17/2007 http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/DSH/msm.html.

⁷

⁸ "Methylsulfonylmethane." Wikipedia. 12/17/2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylsulfonylmethane.