Are you looking for a tip for weight loss? The most common answer is a low-calorie diet combined with a good exercise regime. However, such a diet can make your skin lose its elasticity when you follow it strictly for a very long time. This change leads to dry and dull skin. So, how to get both weight loss and good skin? There are numerous items to add to your weight loss meal that would aid in better skin health, and one such thing is a fermented food.
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Introduction to fermented food – the tip for weight loss
Fermentation is an ancient process where people add any catalyst like bacteria, yeast, or others to turn the sugars and carbohydrates into organic acids, alcohol, and carbon dioxide. The best example is turning a low shelf-life cabbage into sauerkraut, which has a shelf life of months. Besides, the fermentation process adds probiotics to the food, which plays an important role in promoting digestion and other activities.
For a fermented food to give these benefits, it should not contain artificial methods of fermentation. For instance, adding pickle fermented with vinegar to your diet does give you probiotic bacteria. Thus, it is not a good tip for weight loss or good skin health. You need to choose food items that undergo natural fermentation with live organisms. The fermentation processes that use yeast do not produce live organisms, either. Our digestive system has trillions of bacteria. This bacterial wealth in the gut helps reduce inflammation, tune the immune system, and fight numerous neurodegenerative disorders. Here is how the fermented food is an excellent tip for weight loss.
The bacterial tip for weight loss and skin health – Probiotic bacteria
Why does increasing bacteria in the gut induce weight loss? The good bacteria helps in increasing the efficiency of absorbing nutrients from the food we eat. Besides, healthy bacterial helps in boosting skin health by reducing skin aging and adding glow. Moreover, studies show that these probiotic bacteria can suppress fat absorption and thereby preventing fat accumulation. Researchers conducted in-depth research on an overweight population. Half of the study group got probiotics, and the rest had a placebo. The population underwent a high-fat diet, and the studies showed that the placebo participants had 50% more weight gain than the other group. There are also studies showing that Kimchi, sauerkraut, and other fermented food can reduce the obesity rate when consumed regularly.
Scientific tip for weight loss – balance your gut microbiome
If your gut has more Firmicutes than Bacteroidetes, it causes microbiome imbalance, which leads to the absorption of more calories from the consumed food. This imbalance can lead to weight loss, even when you are on a diet. It is essential to maintain a healthy gut population for optimal absorption of calories, if you wish to have a healthy skin. The lean bacterial strain avoids calorie from getting digested and removes it via excretion. It is not beneficial to have a higher volume of lean bacterial strains alone. A probiotic-rich diet will help to maintain a healthy body weight.
Dietary tip for weight loss and skin health – add fiber to your diet
Fermented food has a high content of fiber. Fiber makes you feel full for long, allowing you to avoid unhealthy snacks and other cravings. Although fiber is a carbohydrate type, the human body cannot digest it quickly, and thus, you will feel full. Fiber also helps to flush out the toxin, which boosts a healthy appearance in your skin. Some choose to add supplements for increasing fiber in the diet. If you do so, remember to make sure that it is not a ‘fiber-fortified’ product. Such a product contains more artificial ingredients and sugar. The best way is to add high fiber food like fermented food, whole fruit, legumes, vegetables, etc.
Natural tip for weight loss – treat inflammation
Inflammation trigger’s our body’s natural response of activating the fat cells. Thus, when there is inflammation, the brain indicates that the body is in distress, which allows the cells to store fat instead of burning. Fermented food items will reduce inflammation, thereby inducing weight loss. Inflammation also causes the body to resist insulin and leptin. These two are hormones that regulate fat, which, when hindered, will increase body weight.
Best fermented foods to add to your diet
Beer is a fermented food, but it does not induce weight loss. However, the high-calorie content in beer could increase weight gain. Even bacterial fermented food might not be the best for weight loss. Apart from natural fermentation and bacterial fermentation, it is also essential to check whether the fermentation is via lactic acid bacteria. Lactobacillus fermentum bacteria can reduce up to 4% in body weight in just six weeks. This bacterium is ubiquitous in yogurts.
If the yogurt is rich in sugar, flavoring agents, and additives, the ultimate purpose goes down the lane. So, lacto-fermented natural food items are best for weight loss. The top examples of such products are Kimchi, plain yogurt, kefir, and others. You can also choose non-lacto fermented food like kombucha, fermented soya beans, and others.
The next factor is pasteurization. During pasteurization, a product gets heated and cooled in a fast manner to kill all microbes. This process also kills probiotic bacteria. A fermented product with live bacteria is the key to weight loss. The next tip for weight loss with fermented food is buying food with live culture. A simple trick is to check the refrigerated section of the shop. Most of the fermented live culture food has to be in a chilled condition.
The modernization of fermented food
Today, you can find several fermented food brands with labels like ‘high-fiber,’ ‘healthy brand,’ etc. The process of packaging sometimes involves heating, adding preservatives, and color products. Always read the label to check out the nutrient content and ingredients. Avoid food rich in added sugar, chemicals, and additives. Unfortunately, brands do not mention sugar as it is. You can find it under different names like cane syrup, simple syrup, and others.
When you start to follow a tip for weight loss, do not expect it to give instant results over a fortnight. It would take several weeks for you to see a visible change. If you end up jumping from one tip to another without allowing it enough time, you will not experience the weight that you desire.