As you know, I speak about the gut…a lot.
Mainly because – in my opinion – it plays a key role in your energy , immune system and weight loss efforts.
After all, it houses >70% of your immune system, produces feel good hormones, and impacts how much energy you absorb from food.
Now, in last weeks seminar (which Fit For Life Body Transformation Members have access to), I spoke about:
* The foods that you think are ‘healthy’ which may be making you feel bloated
* What you can do with your carbohydrate and fibre intake to help ditch the bloating
* How to overcome constipation
* My simple piece of advice to help you optimise your gut!
* And white potatoes vs sweet potatoes: what’s better for weight loss
And from this, I got the question:
‘Do probiotics work and will they stop me getting ill?’
And my initial response was:
It depends.
Because – like most things with diet and even exercise for that matter – it depends on you.
You see, one strain of probiotic may do wonders for my digestion, immune system, energy, skin, and bloating…
But absolutely nothing for you.
Because we all have different environments with different amounts of bacteria in our guts.
^^^ and stay tuned because I’ll be going into this in more detail over the next few days (particularly talking about how your gut can impact your weight loss AKA fat loss!)
But what I want to touch on today (given that the weather is changing and the ‘C’ word is being used by most pubs and supermarkets to boost the sales of alcohol and mince pies)
Are the effects of probiotics on common illnesses like colds, coughs and flus.
So here’s your quick summary:
* Probiotics appear to reduce the risk of common infections, such as colds and sore throats, by 47%
* Probiotics appear to reduce the duration of common infections, such as colds and sore throats, by 2 days (helping to reduce your time off of work and the kids time off of school, not to mention that being ill means you can’t get on with the things you want to do, which is annoying, right?).
Now, do I currently take a probiotic?
No.
But I have done in the past when:
* Going on holiday or to a different environment (like university or a school)
* I’ve been suffering from bloating / poor digestion / IBS / constipation (little did I know it was mainly due to wheat and other ‘trigger’ foods)
I’ve used a fair few, such as this one, and generally seen some improvements in symptoms.
But as with pretty much everything I teach you in my Fit For Life Body Transformation Programme…
The answer is usually: FOOD FIRST
Speak soon,
Matt
PS. I might do a ‘gut-themed’ week this week, so stay tuned, particularly with an update I got from Rosie who has applied the principles I teach you on my Fit For Life Body Transformation Programme on her journey experimenting with different types of foods (and it isn’t all ‘sunshine and rainbows’).
