3 ms·
It's pretty much that simple. Unless someone has some sort of lymphatic condition that causes them to retain fluids or an undiagnosed metabolic syndrome, you a
by MisterBastahrd 11y ago
It's pretty much that simple. Unless someone has some sort of lymphatic condition that causes them to retain fluids or an undiagnosed metabolic syndrome, you aren't gaining weight unless you are consuming more than you are expending.
That isn't to say that two identical people with two different gut floras would necessarily gain or lose weight identically while eating the same diet, but I've yet to see any evidence that an otherwise healthy person eating maintenance level calories is going to blow up like a balloon simply because his gut flora is different. A person with a healthy gut flora might be able to consume more calories without gaining as much weight, and it's important to understand WHY that is, but the fact remains that if you don't consume any more than you expend, you aren't going to gain weight (previously mentioned caveats notwithstanding).
That said, the western diet is horrible for you. Go to any fast food restaurant and the only fiber you'll get is in the lettuce on your burger.
- windexh8er 11y agoFully agree on diet, but you should look at some of the data presented in the book. There is evidence - particularly the book talks about gut sterile mice and some of the studies showcasing weight gain scenarios vs non-sterile biome mice on an exact diet. While it's no silver bullet, dismissing the value of a healthy gut is not productive either. No evidence doesn't mean there isn't something worth pursuing. It's a relatively greenfield area of study at this point in time which is why it's interesting to watch it unfold.
- dragonwriter 11y ago> but I've yet to see any evidence that an otherwise healthy person eating maintenance level calories is going to blow up like a balloon simply because his gut flora is different. The whole point of the article here is that there is a line of research which has established, both in non-human models and human experiments, that "maintenance level calories" (especially when considering the content of food that enters the mouth, rather than what gets absorbed) are not a constant across different gut biomes. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/94/1/58.full http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/94/1/58.full http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter_Turnbaugh/publication/6617716_An_obesity-associated_gut_microbiome_with_increased_capacity_for_energy_harvest/links/00b7d51adf064f0dc0000000.pdf http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter_Turnbaugh/publicat... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3601187/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3601187/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3974587/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3974587/