Your core is the powerhouse of your body.
It creates the foundation for all movement and takes the pressure off of your back. It also houses part of your gut which plays a pivotal role in metabolism, immunity, and inflammation. The best place to start when you’re looking to shed some weight is to nourish this organ system.
To start, eat more fiber. Soluble fiber feeds healthy gut bacteria and helps with nutrient absorption. Add peas, oats, barley, apples, citrus fruits, broccoli, pears, or sunflower seeds to your meals or snacks. Insoluble fiber helps food move along the digestive tract, preventing intestinal blockages. Try root vegetables like carrots and parsnips, green beans, cauliflower, and brown rice.
Next up: eat more prebiotics. Prebiotics are a type of fiber that the body cannot digest and serve as food for probiotics. These can be found in bananas, asparagus, garlic, onions, seaweed, and jicama.
Lastly, you definitely want to include more probiotics in your diet. They’re living organisms that promote a healthy balance of friendly gut bacteria. Moderate-weight individuals have different gut bacteria than those who are overweight and people with obesity tend to have less diverse gut bacteria than lean people. Studies have also shown that when the gut bacteria of mites with obesity was transplanted into the guts of lean mice, the lean mice developed obesity. The best foods to promote healthy and diverse gut bacteria include yogurt, go greek if you’re looking for more protein, kefir, fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut and tempeh, kombucha, and fermented cheeses.
Comment below if back pain is preventing you from working out.
