Better Body Composition with Probiotics — Really?
If you were looking to enhance your physique by stripping away some body fat and revealing the hard, dense muscle you’ve built in the gym, most people would lead you to believe you need a fat burner. Sure, fat burners are amazing, and they can help enhance your ability to burn stubborn body fat. But there’s one thing that most fat burners really don’t leverage when it comes to completely transforming your body composition… gut health and probiotics.
Now, you might be saying to yourself, “But gut health and probiotics are only used for things like a healthy digestive tract and immunity.” Ah, not so fast young grasshopper. There is much to learn when it comes to probiotics and how they can help improve body composition. In fact, adding the right probiotics into your nutrition plan could cause you to see some pretty significant changes in your midsection extremely quickly.
Let’s dive deeper into the topic.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not meant to treat or diagnose any condition. The information found within this article is not medical advice and should not supersede a doctor’s diagnosis and treatment plan should you have a health condition. The use of probiotics should never be a replacement for any medication that your doctor may put you on.
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The Quick Body Composition Fix Through Probiotics
Nothing is going to change overnight when you implement probiotics into your supplement regimen or consume more foods that contain probiotics such as sauerkraut (which is a fermented food), yogurt, etc. That said, as the gut becomes healthier and digestion improves, you may notice a significant difference in the bloating surrounding your midsection.
Many people suffer from what they consider to be a distended stomach. This is due to the bloating that can occur when things aren’t properly digested and the gut microbiome is thrown off. Once you fix that issue, your stomach can appear flatter, which, while it has nothing to do with fat loss, per se, it can help your overall look and appearance.
Probiotics Play a Key Role in Body Composition
When you’re trying to lose weight, the last thing you want is to be starving all the time, right? And when I say starving, I don’t necessarily mean the actual act where you’re dropping your calories super low, I’m talking about the sensation of intense hunger throughout the day.
By introducing probiotics into your supplement and nutrition regimen, you can actually minimize your appetite, making the entire process much more manageable. One role of probiotics is to help improve appetite-suppressing hormones that can better control ghrelin (a hunger hormone) levels.
Taking things one step further, probiotics release glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and peptide YY (PYY) to help your body effectively burn fat.
Probiotics also have the ability to increase the levels of a protein called angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4), which helps reduce fat storage in the body. Research has also shown that probiotics alone can help improve body composition and aid in weight loss.
One study, in particular, looked at how probiotics affected women. One group in the study used a probiotic supplement, while the other group received a placebo. What they found was that those using the probiotic supplement lost 50% more weight over the course of three months and were even able to continue seeing weight loss during a subsequent weight maintenance phase.
Another study using obese individuals found similar findings where the use of probiotics allowed for a significant decrease in waist circumference and body fat.
Therefore, we can’t neglect the fact that probiotics play a significant role in body composition for those who are looking to achieve better results.
6 Ways Probiotics Improve Your Physique
Check out these six ways probiotics improve your physique. Not only are they great for your gut, but the benefits laid out below are amazing!
1. Reduce hunger levels
Physique optimization doesn’t happen unless you manipulate your nutrition — specifically, your calories. If you’re looking to shed body fat, you’re going to be in a caloric deficit, which causes many people to feel hungry throughout the day.
Probiotics have been found to help with appetite suppression by allowing your body the ability to better manage hunger hormones like ghrelin.
2. Probiotics boost fat burning
While weight loss is a key component when it comes to physique optimization, it’s specifically fat burning that we want to focus on. If you find you’re dropping weight and it’s stripping away your lean muscle tissue, that causes a whole host of issues, such as slowing down your metabolism and making you look smaller due to wasting away your hard-earned muscle.
In addition to helping you manage your energy levels as well as hunger throughout the day, you can put yourself in an optimized fat-burning zone where you can more easily drop the weight you want — body fat. But physique optimization can be enhanced when you look at the benefits of probiotics.
One thing that not many people consider when it comes to probiotics, gut health, and physique optimization is the fact that probiotics help release glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and peptide YY (PYY) to help your body more easily and effectively burn fat. Removing excess bloating from the equation also helps slim down your midsection.
3. Minimize fat storage
Another aspect of physique optimization with probiotics is the ability to minimize fat storage. The last thing you want to do when you’re trying to look and feel your best is to start storing fat deposits throughout the body and destroying your hard work in the gym.
Probiotics have been found to increase a protein called angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) in the body, which plays a direct role in reducing fat storage. Combine that benefit with the ones already mentioned above, and you put yourself in a position to experience physique optimization.
4. Probiotics increase weight loss
Improving body composition and focusing on physique optimization can be accomplished by adding probiotics to your diet and supplement regimen. Research has shown time and time again that probiotics help improve body composition and can aid in weight loss. It has also been found to help increase energy production, which can translate into better workouts and cardio sessions.
Now, probiotics don’t work magic in the sense that suddenly fat will start melting off your body — it’s a process that takes time. However, by consistently adding probiotics to your nutrition plan and supplement regimen, you may find it’s the missing puzzle piece you’ve been seeking for better physique optimization.
One study even found that women who used probiotics lost, on average, around 50% more weight over the course of 90 days than the placebo group. Additionally, those using probiotics for physique optimization also continued to see weight loss during their weight maintenance phase.
5. Decrease waist circumference
High up on the priority list for many people is tightening up their waist and midsection or achieving a rock-hard six-pack. The good news is it has been shown that probiotics can help decrease waist circumference. According to a study of obese individuals, those who used probiotics attained a significant decrease in waist circumference and body fat.
This further illustrates the power that probiotics have on not only gut health but physique optimization as it relates to helping your waist shrink.
6. Probiotics build Lean Muscle Mass
Being that probiotics help improve gut health and overall digestion, it affords you the ability to better break down and utilize the protein found in your diet. By increasing the absorption of this crucial macronutrient, it can put you in the driver’s seat to experience noticeable gains in lean muscle mass.
Probiotics also help minimize inflammation in the body and reduce fatigue, which can allow you to train harder in the gym and boost performance. Furthermore, hydration plays a vital role in muscle fullness. By adding probiotics to your nutrition and supplement regimen, you can better keep your muscle cells hydrated and support muscle volumization.
Related Article: Beyond the Scale — The Science and Art of Body Recomposition
This is, yet again, another reason why probiotics are incredibly helpful when it comes to physique optimization. If you want to effectively build muscle and burn fat, you’d be remised not to incorporate probiotics into the mix.
6 Ways to Improve Muscle Recovery Through Probiotics
Adding probiotics can be incredibly important when looking to take a more active role in boosting your recovery time following training sessions. Here are six beneficial ways that may help improve muscle recovery through probiotics.
1. Managing Healthy Inflammation
Inflammation is a natural response of the body to micro-tears that occur in muscles after brutal training sessions at the gym. It is helpful to manage this inflammation from exercise, as it can possiblty hinder muscle recovery, leading to delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). DOMS can typically last anywhere from 3-5 days, which is why it’s so important to be able to minimize this muscle soreness. That’s where probiotics may come into play. Probiotics may help manage a healthy inflammatory response to exercise by supporting the immune system response to the muscle damage caused from training, thereby helping to aid in muscle recovery.
2. Enhancing Nutrient Absorption
Probiotics may help improve the absorption of nutrients, such as amino acids, which are vital for muscle recovery. This ties-in directly with what was mentioned earlier that you still shouldn’t shy away from BCAAs, EAAs, and protein, as the probiotics can help improve nutrient absorption which might lead to better results. Probiotics do this by increasing the surface area of the intestinal lining, which facilitates the improved absorption of key nutrients needed for muscle recovery.
3. Boosting Immune Function
Probiotics have been suggested to help enhance immune function.Healthy immune function is essential for muscle recovery. The immune system plays a vital role in repairing muscle damage. Probiotics may help stimulate the production of immune cells, such as T cells and natural killer cells, thereby enhancing the body’s natural ability to help promote muscle recovery.
4. Regulating Gut Health
A healthy gut microbiome plays a crucial role in overall health. Probiotics can help to regulate gut health by improving the balance of beneficial bacteria in the gut. Additionally, improved gut health can lead to better digestion and absorption, which ties in with what was mentioned above.
5. Improving Protein Synthesis
Protein synthesis is essential for muscle recovery, enabling the body to repair and rebuild muscle tissue. Probiotics may improve protein synthesis by enhancing the absorption of amino acids and promoting the production of growth hormones, such as insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).
6. Increasing Energy Levels
Probiotics can also increase energy levels, which is vital for muscle recovery. They do this by producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which are a source of energy for the body. SCFAs also help to enhance gut health, and improve nutrient absorption — all of which create the ideal environment to support optimized muscle recovery.
How Can Probiotics Enhance the Pump and Blood Flow?
Now, for the fun part that you’ve been waiting for! How probiotics can help enhance the pump and blood flow. The interesting thing is that research regarding probiotics and the improvement in blood flow has been out for years — it’s just no one has talked about it. The research that has been published suggests that probiotics can help improve blood flow in a multitude of ways.
Below are four ways that research has shown the connection between blood flow and probiotics.
1. Probiotics reduce inflammation in the body
One way that probiotics help improve blood flow is by reducing inflammation in the body. Inflammation is a natural immune system response when an injury occurs or if you get an infection. That said, chronic inflammation can actually lead to many potentially severe health problems, including various types of cancer and cardiovascular disease.
When your body suffers from inflammation, the natural response is vasoconstriction of the blood vessels, which can cause problems with blood flow and not allow you to achieve a pump in the gym.
Probiotics can help reduce inflammation by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut, which can help regulate the immune system and help combat inflammation — allowing the blood vessels to properly dilate and enhance blood flow.
2. Regulate blood pressure
In addition to reducing inflammation, probiotics can also help regulate blood pressure. High blood pressure is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke.
If your blood pressure is high, it can cause damage to the arteries and cause them to be less elastic. When this happens, the blood vessels aren’t able to stretch properly and expand to create vasodilation. Therefore, the end result is a decrease in blood flow.
Research suggests that certain strains of probiotics can help lower blood pressure by promoting the production of nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide is a molecule that helps relax the blood vessels, which can help improve blood flow, reduce blood pressure, and promotes intense muscle pumps during workouts.
3. Improve blood lipid levels
Probiotics may also improve blood lipid levels, which can positively affect blood flow. It should come as no surprise, but you want your blood vessels to be squeaky clean and free from any type of buildup. Not only is this important for heart health, but it’s essential for proper blood flow.
High levels of LDL cholesterol, also known as “bad” cholesterol, can lead to the buildup of plaque in the arteries, which can impede and slow blood flow. When deposits collect and grow on the walls of blood vessels, the opening inside the blood vessels gets smaller, prohibiting the movement of blood through that area.
Studies have shown that probiotics can help reduce LDL cholesterol levels, which can help improve blood flow and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
4. Probiotics support healthy gut bacteria
Another way that probiotics can help improve your muscle pump and blood flow is by supporting healthy gut bacteria. Probiotics can help promote the growth of healthy and beneficial bacteria in the gut, which can positively affect the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
SCFAs are a type of fat produced by good bacteria in the gut, and they can help enhance blood flow. SCFAs can help regulate blood pressure and reduce inflammation, which can also support overall cardiovascular health.
When the gut microbiome is disrupted, it can lead to a buildup of plaque in the blood vessels, causing a bottleneck effect that slows down blood flow. Probiotics can help prevent this by supporting healthy gut bacteria and helping keep the blood vessels and their walls healthy.
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