Micro biome responsible for weight gain or loss?!! REALLY :0

I read a VERY interesting book from my library ( recently printed ) called "The l Secret Lfe of Fat " ... very scientific up to date and (of course ) hugely relevant to MY everyday life .

The most new and relevant thing I learned was that the microbiobe in our guts may determine weight gain or loss determined on how much fresh food we eat.

Since I read this I've been " scarfing " as much fresh stuff as I can get down ... which is surprisingly not a lot.

Interestingly Weigh****chers also made fresh fruits and vegetables " free " .. maybe for the same reason.

What are your experiences eating " freshies " - do you lose ? I f not weight what do you gain?

I'm not really sure, but I grow a large garden inform spring through late fall, and I know I tend to feel more energetic when I'm eating largely out of my own garden vs store-bought produce that's likely to be far from fresh-picked. Any weight lost I've always just attributed to eating better when I have the fresh stuff more readily available, not the freshness of the food itself. Interesting, though!

If greens are what we need to lose weight- cows would be skinny. Just saying.

Grass fed cows are actually pretty darn skinny. We have to feed them corn and other grains to "fatten" them up.

ok then. elephants?

Now I totally want to know the body fat index of an elephant. LOL

Your point is still sound... if anything was an "easy" fix none of us would be here.

~E

At one time, way before RNY, under supervision of a naturopath - I become vegetarian - in 3 months I gained 20 lbs, instead of losing 10. I was eating pre-measured qty of foods.

Then - she put me on a vegan diet - not only I gained additional 30 lbs- but my hair was falling out and because of soy for proteins, and raw veggies like cabbage, broccoli, etc - my thyroid almost completely shut down, and I become anemic. I no was cold and hungry all the time.

That thought me that this type of life style and me - don't match. My skin was glowing - and I have great (though very gassy) BM's...

At the end - she decided that I need meat proteins, even though personally she was against that, - she told me to eat lots of chicken. Lol... And not come back to see her. She could not help me.

Sending folks away when it doesn't 'work' is a good way to keep your 'success' rate at 100% I suppose. :)

I eat meat primarily but I do love fruits and veggies as well. I know some people are veggiesaurus and RNYers but I couldn't manage it...would be too hard to get enough protein.

~E

Apparently, Americans can even cause elephants to become obese.

https://phys.org/news/2014-07-obesity-overweight-zoo-elephan ts.html

BMI = weight(kg)/height(m)^2

Per Wikipedia, a male African elephant might be 4m tall and weigh 7,000kg.

That gives a BMI of 437.5.