When I was reviewing research for the new Flat Belly Forever program I found a lot of information on the devastating effect that antibiotics have on our health, our gut bacteria and even our ability to lose weight… But make no mistake I am NOT anti-antibiotics – If you are sick they can save your life.
What I am is anti-antibiotic abuse.
Take the example Triclosan –
Triclosan is an antibiotic, but it’s not a pill – It’s actually an ingredient that is commonly found in hand soap. It’s also found in shampoos, deodorants, toothpaste, mouthwash, self tanning lotions, lip gloss, and even baby high chairs (just to name a few items).
It’s everywhere and because it’s everywhere, recent research has found that it’s even found its way into our drinking water.
This is a great example of antibiotic use not for the sake of helping you fight off a bacterial infection, but because as a population we’re afraid of bacteria and because of this the term “Antibacterial” sells products. The use of the term Antibacterial has led to antibiotics like Triclosan being added to a surprising amount of everyday household items, and this means you are surrounded by antibiotics on a daily basis.
And not only are antibiotics all over the items in your house, they are also all over you… When Researchers swabbed inside the noses of 90 adults, 37 of the 90 tested positive for triclosan.
So even if you don’t realize it you are being exposed to antibiotics on a daily basis. And this exposure has a high probability of altering your gut bacteria.
This isn’t me trying to scare you into buying a new book about gut bacteria – it’s a legitimate concern.
In fact, when I first started to talk about this topic with other dieticians, Medical doctors and weight loss experts more than one person accused me of ‘buying into homeopathic hippy nonsense”
Which was insulting, but it was also exactly that people said in 2007 when I first started talking about fasting, so I took it with a grain of salt.
The truth is it’s easy to dismiss this as conspiracy theory type information, but there is a lot of well-conducted research to support this concern.
Research has consistently shown that in men and women, adults and children, Antibiotics have the ability to cause long-term unwanted changes to our gut microbiota. And it’s now being theorized that these changes can increase your chances of gaining weight, and make it more difficult to take that weight off, even when you are constantly dieting to lose weight.
This is why I included an entire chapter on the link between antibiotic exposure and weight gain in Flat Belly Forever – It’s information that I think is very interesting and that may be able to help a lot of people. Now, Antibiotics are not the only reason we have an obesity epidemic, not by a long shot… But we need to be open to the idea that they may be a contributing factor.
In my opinion nothing will ever replace eating less and exercising as the basis for successful weight loss, but just as getting a good nights sleep can help the process, bacteria may also play a role in long term weight loss success.
If you are interested in the role that antibiotics may be playing in our obesity epidemic then I really think You’ll like Flat Belly Forever – you can check it out here –> Flat Belly Forever
BP