I’ve been thinking a lot about the microbiome’s involvement in the pathogenesis of obesity lately. A couple of years ago, I wrote a lengthy paper in which I took an in-depth look at the scientific research pertaining to the link between gut microbes and body fat regulation. Back then, I was convinced that microorganisms play […]
Overweight and obesity
Obesity: A Cause or Consequence of Physical Inactivity?
Physical inactivity makes you fat, right? If you ask a dozen people on the street whether they agree with this supposition, the vast majority, if not everyone, will probably say that they do. If you then go on to ask why individuals who carry around a lot of excess body fat tend to exercise less […]
How Protein Can Help You Lose Weight
Is fat loss at the top of your list of health & fitness goals? If so, then you’re not alone. In the U.S. and many other industrialized nations, more than 50% of the population is today classified as either overweight (BMI 25-30) or obese (BMI >30), which means that if you’re normal weight, you’re actually […]
The No. 1 Underlying Cause of the Obesity Epidemic
The obesity epidemic has quickly become one of the greatest health challenges humans have ever faced. Worldwide obesity rates have steadily climbed over the last several decades, and in many westernized nations, more people are now classified as being either overweight (BMI 25-30) or obese (BMI >30) than normal weight. What is going on? Why […]
Is Exercise for Weight Loss Really Effective?
Physical activity is a natural part of being human, and exercise is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. And as everyone involved in fitness knows, training is also an invaluable tool for shaping and sculpting the body. Progressive resistance training is especially effective when it comes to body recomposition, as it increases lean mass […]
How to Lose Weight Without Going Hungry
“Eat Less, Move More” is poor weight loss advice! If you are the least bit familiar with the laws of thermodynamics, you know that weight loss can only occur if you decrease your energy intake (more accurately, energy that is digested and absorbed) and/or increase your energy expenditure. In other words, you have to create […]
Are Gut Bacteria Making You Fat? Part IV: Wrapping it Up
At this point, we don’t know exactly what characterizes the obese microbiome. However, it could be argued that we don’t really need to establish exactly which phyla and species of microbes that play a key role in obesity. Certainly, having more knowledge about the obese microbiome and the role of specific gut microbes in obesity […]
Are Gut Bacteria Making You Fat? Part III: Two Emerging Hypotheses of Obesity
When talking about body fat regulation we always have to adhere to the basic laws of thermodynamics. We know that increases in body fat mass happens when energy intake is higher than energy expenditure, and that we have to either decrease energy intake, increase energy expenditure, or both in order to lose weight. This basic […]
Are Gut Bacteria Making You Fat? Part II: Ancestral vs. Westernized Microbiome
Why are we seeing these changes in the human microbiota? Studies show that the western lifestyle promotes a suboptimal phenotype, in the sense that highly processed diets, sedentary living, lack of sun exposure, etc., results in a gene expression that leads to poor health and disease (1,2). However, we’re now learning that this gene-environment mismatch […]
Are Gut Bacteria Making You Fat? Part I: The Second Genome
The obesity epidemic has quickly become one of the greatest health challenges humans have ever faced, and the weight loss industry is now a billion dollar market that provides dieters with supplements, surgeries, and diet plans that promise instant fat loss. However, it hasn’t always been this way. We don’t have to go back more […]