According to Margaret Furtado, M.S., R.D. a Yahoo! Health Expert for Nutrition, the human body has more bacteria living inside than individual cells (like ten times more.) The best of the microorganisms we can have are probiotics. Now there is research from Stanford University School of Medicine and StanfordHospital and Clinics that suggests that probiotics may even help with weight loss.
What does this have to do with chocolate you ask?
Well it turns out there is a healthy dark chocolate that has probiotics in it. Turns out they discovered that the chocolate actually helps protect the bacteria so more ends up in your gut (where it is helpful). In fact there are some studies that show 2-3 times more bacteria get delivered through chocolate as compared to dairy or yogurt.
So we know that healthy dark chocolate already has appetite suppressant qualities, but how do probiotics fit in? Well it turns out several studies suggest that the guts of normal-weight people contain a different mixor balance of the types and amounts of bacteria that are foundin the intestines of overweight folks. One study even found these sameimbalances among the microorganisms in 7-year-old kids who wereoverweight.
No one knows for sure, but someday we may find out that bad bacteria are causing at leastsome of our weight issues and it may be possible that one day we'll just eat some "weight-friendly" bacteria to bring our body sizeunder control.
It's too soon to know exactly where this discovery will lead, so here are the recommendations:
- Include foods in your diet that contain probiotics, such as yogurt or the healthy chocolate.
- Try eating the healthy dark chocolate with probiotics spread out up to three times daily preferably half hour before each meal
- Avoidbrands of yogurt that have the "fruit" at the bottom and instead gowith low-fat, low-sugar varieties that contain plenty of protein andcalcium. A cup of yogurt is a great snack to hold you over in betweenmeals or after a workout. Greek yogurts are especially high in protein.
- Make prebioticspart of your regular diet as well. Prebiotics--tiny fibers found insome fruits and vegetables--just happen to be what probiotics and othergood bacteria eat. Good sources of prebiotics include wheat, bananas,onions, garlic, and leeks. (Europeans eat far more prebiotics than dopeople in the U.S--might this explain part of the weight discrepancybetween the U.S. and European populations?)
- If you havedigestive issues, be sure to talk with your doctor or dietitian about"pharmaceutical-grade" probiotics, which are the equivalent ofprescription-strength good bacteria.
Remember this is not so you canslack off on exercise or ignore your healthy eating plan, because there isno miracle probiotic cure in the pipeline!
