How Poor Gut Health Impacts Your Weight, Mood, Immunity + More

Immune health, inflammation, fat loss, overall health… All of these things and more take a hit when your gut is out of balance.

Great sleep for immune health, gut health + so much more doesn’t just happen. You need to prepare for it. My Best Rest Sleep Cheat Sheet gives you my top tips to get consistently stellar sleep… every single night. Get your guide FREE here.

Many years ago, I had a client who had abused antibiotics for years. She asked her doctor to prescribe them to “knock out” pretty much everything, even the onset of a common cold. (The common cold is a viral infection, by the way. Antibiotics only treat infections created by bacteria, not viruses.)

My client had been abusing antibiotics for years because her high-stress job as a COO at a major corporation “didn’t give a minute to be sick” (in her own words). She was reaching for acetaminophen for work-triggered tension headaches, sometimes three or four times a day.

What she wasn’t reaching for were healthy, nutrient-dense foods. Nope, my client was eating lots of low-fat foods she thought were healthy — foods like skim milk and whole wheat bread — because she “didn’t want to get fat” (again, her words).

All of those things — the countless rounds of antibiotics, chronic stress, taking acetaminophen, and eating highly reactive foods — were doing serious damage to her gut.

That damage was stalling fat loss, killing her immune system, and dialing up the inflammation that gives rise to almost every disease on the planet.

In my last blog, I talked about how the gut — and more specifically, the trillions of microbes that inhabit the gut — should be in a state of balance or harmony to maintain overall health.

When something (or more likely, several things) interferes with that harmony, a condition called dysbiosis can result.

“If symbiosis means ‘living in harmony with,’ then dysbiosis is the opposite — ‘living out of harmony with,’” says Vincent Pedre, MD, in Happy Gut. “In dysbiosis, the delicately orchestrated ecosystem inside your gut has lost its state of harmony with the rest of your body.”

This article is over 2,500 words. I want to offer you 15 irresistible, guilt-free dessert recipes to satisfy your sweet tooth. Brownies, fudge, and more… Get my FREE Sweet Treats Recipe Guide.

Defining Dysbiosis

“All disease begins in the gut,” said Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, in the third century B.C.E. Modern science continues to show us how true that statement is.

Dysbiosis can be defined through the loss of healthy bacteria or the gain of disease-causing bacteria. (1)

Dysbiosis can occur when too many bad or pathogenic bacteria dominate the scene, crowding out the good guys. But that gut imbalance can also occur when you lose the bacterial diversity that keeps your gut healthy.

When either of those things happens, all of the great things that healthy bacteria do — things like producing vitamins and fighting infection — come to a grinding halt.

“We use the term ‘dysbiosis’ to refer to the loss of harmony and balance within the gut,” says WIll Bulsiewicz, MD, in Fiber Fueled. “Damage or microbial disruption causes you to lose diversity and, in the process, see a higher proportion of inflammatory microbes emerge. In other words, the good stuff falls to the wayside, making more room for the not-so-good stuff to flood your gut.”

What Contributes to Dysbiosis?

Lots of things can knock the balance of those trillions of bacteria out of whack:

1. When you’re reaching for high Sugar Impact foods and other foods that create intolerances, you’re wrecking gut harmony.
2. Abusing alcohol and eating a processed foods diet creates a nasty one-two punch that contributes to dysbiosis.
3. The countless and unavoidable environmental toxins we confront every day certainly contribute to dysbiosis. These toxins are everywhere: in our food, water, air, and many cosmetics and household products.
4. Then there’s chronic stress, which almost everyone is struggling with these days.
5. Add to that list certain medications, including antibiotics, and you’re beginning to see all of the daily onslaughts that your hardworking gut faces.

Dr. Pedre says that antibiotics are the number one cause of dysbiosis. Indeed, studies show that using antibiotics can shift the microbiome and increase inflammation and chronic disease.

As a result, people who have used antibiotics heavily may have an increased risk of diseases including diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. (2)

Dysbiosis Can Create Further Gut Problems

Underlying dysbiosis is chronic inflammation. Studies show that a gut with higher amounts of inflammatory bacteria and a lower abundance of anti-inflammatory bacteria likely plays a role in the development of problems like type 2 diabetes. (3)

The many things that create gut disharmony — including high Sugar Impact foods, food sensitivities, antibiotics, and chronic stress — eventually leading to an inflammatory environment. That environment can set the stage for the development of inflammatory diseases. (4)

“Chronic gut inflammation… leads to the release of inflammatory signals from the gut immune system that affect how the brain functions and may also contribute to depression,” says Dr. Pedre. “This inflammation can actually change the levels of neurotransmitters and increase stress hormone secretion.”

Left unchecked, this imbalance in good and bad gut bugs can contribute to gut issues including leaky gut and irritable bowel syndrome, which further ramps up inflammation. (5)

Dysbiosis can also lead to leaky gut, where the tight junctions lining the gut wall come loose. When this happens, toxins, microbes, and undigested food particles slip through the gut wall into the bloodstream.

All of the symptoms that we eliminate on The Virgin Diet — things like rashes, joint pain, headaches, fatigue, skin problems, and of course, weight loss resistance — are created because of that inflammation.

And the inflammation that starts in the gut eventually becomes systemic inflammation.

When you eat these foods, over time they damage gut integrity, which creates leaky gut, leads to further food sensitivities, and keeps that inflammation fired up.

Are you beginning to see the nasty pattern here?

Over time, dysbiosis can take a big hit on your immune system, your ability to be the best fat burner, and other problems that go beyond the gut.

Here, let’s look at some of the havoc that imbalances among your gut bacteria can create.

Dysbiosis and Weight Loss Resistance

No question about it: The gut microbiota significantly impacts the development of obesity and obesity-related disorders. (6) When things go wrong among these trillions of gut bugs, that disharmony paves the path for obesity and obesity-related metabolic disorders. (7)

Among its problems, dysbiosis may mean you absorb more calories from food. (8) Even if you’re eating a super healthy diet and working out consistently, you may encounter weight loss resistance. How unfair!

We’re still learning how dysbiosis can stall fat loss, but we’re gaining some clues. For one, we know that the gut microbiota of obese people can derive more calories from food than the microbiota of slim people. (9)

Research also shows that:

• A diverse range of gut bugs seems to help prevent long-term weight gain in healthy people.
• The microbial balance of lean people is different from people who are obese.
• When people lose weight, their ratio of beneficial microbes increases. (10)

Researchers are exploring how manipulating the gut microbiota could facilitate weight loss or prevent obesity. (11)

But you don’t need science to catch up to restore gut integrity. When you eat the nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory foods on The Virgin Diet, you help rebalance gut harmony that keeps you lean and healthy!

Dysbiosis Increases Your Risk of Illness and Infection

Want a strong, stellar immune system that can handle whatever cold, flu, or other bug comes your way? Start with your gut: About 70 percent of your immune system is in your gut. (12)

“Bacteria in our guts can elicit an effective immune response against viruses,” says Ana Maldonado-Contreras, PhD. “And the body of a person lacking these beneficial gut bacteria won’t have as strong an immune response to invading viruses. As a result, infections might go unchecked, taking a toll on health.”

Those trillions of bacteria keep the immune system in check.

“The presence of the gut’s beneficial bacteria signals to the immune system that things are working well,” says Alejandro Junger, MD, in Clean Gut. “The good bacteria regulate the immune system’s baseline activity.”

When those bacteria fall out of balance, however, the immune system becomes unruly. Eventually, an immune system gone wild can lead to further problems including autoimmune disorders.

It doesn’t take much for that to happen, either. Animal studies show that a change in even a single gut bacterial species can dramatically impact immunity and the risk of disease. (14)

A healthy gut may even offer protection against infection such as COVID-19. Although primarily a respiratory illness, studies show that the gut microbiome may be involved in the severity of the disease.

In one, researchers found that the gut microbiome composition was significantly altered in patients with COVID-19 compared with people without COVID-19, suggesting that the gut microbiome is involved in the severity of COVID-19.

Even after these patients recover, researchers found that dysbiosis could contribute to persistent symptoms. (15)

Dysbiosis Creates Problems Beyond the Gut

Eventually, the inflammation and other problems in the gut go beyond the gut. As a result, dysbiosis contributes to chronic diseases like diabetes as well as obesity. (16)

Why does dysbiosis underlie so many diseases today? Because of its impact on chronic inflammatory pathways and immune dysfunction. Over time, dysbiosis can contribute to other problems including food intolerances and autoimmune conditions. (17)

But dysbiosis can also lead to problems you may not connect with gut health, including allergies, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome (which includes type 2 diabetes and obesity). (18)

According to David Perlmutter, MD, in Brain Maker:

“Up to 90 percent of all known human illness can be traced back to an unhealthy gut. And we can say for sure that just as disease begins in the gut, so too does health and vitality.”

Studies have named dysbiosis as a factor in the rapid progression of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes. (19) Still others have linked dysbiosis to several mental illnesses, including anxiety and depression. (20)

Healing Dysbiosis? Start with Your Fork

“We are all walking around with some degree of dysbiosis,” says Dr. Junger in Clean Gut.

In my next blog, I’ll talk about how dysbiosis can increase the intestinal permeability that creates what we call leaky gut. Left unchecked, a leaky gut may trigger the initiation and development of autoimmune disease and much more. (21)

P.S. The good news is that you can restore that gut balance… starting with the foods you eat. The foods on The Virgin Diet, which are high in fiber, anti-inflammatory vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and other gut-loving nutrients, are the key to a healthy, happy gut.

Gut support demands an optimal amount of fiber! Getting sufficient fiber from your diet can be a challenge, which is why I created Extra Fiber. We’ve combined fiber derived from fruits, vegetables, roots, seeds, and tree extracts. Extra Fiber also includes a prebiotic that supports the growth of friendly bacteria.* Extra Fiber is the Rolls Royce of fiber products… and you can only get it HERE.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

The views in this blog by JJ Virgin should never be used as a substitute for professional medical advice. Please work with a healthcare practitioner concerning any medical problem or concern. The information here is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or condition. Statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.

References

1. Wilkins LJ, Monga M, Miller AW. Defining Dysbiosis for a Cluster of Chronic Diseases. Sci Rep. 2019 Sep 9;9(1):12918. doi: 10.1038/s41598–019–49452-y. PMID: 31501492; PMCID: PMC6733864.
2. Wilkins LJ, Monga M, Miller AW. Defining Dysbiosis for a Cluster of Chronic Diseases. Sci Rep. 2019 Sep 9;9(1):12918. doi: 10.1038/s41598–019–49452-y. PMID: 31501492; PMCID: PMC6733864.
3. Kulkarni P, Devkumar P, Chattopadhyay I. Could dysbiosis of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory gut bacteria have an implication in the development of type 2 diabetes? A pilot investigation. BMC Res Notes. 2021 Feb 6;14(1):52. doi: 10.1186/s13104–021–05466–2. PMID: 33549142; PMCID: PMC7868023.
4. Wang J, Chen WD, Wang YD. The Relationship Between Gut Microbiota and Inflammatory Diseases: The Role of Macrophages. Front Microbiol. 2020 Jun 9;11:1065. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01065. PMID: 32582063; PMCID: PMC7296120.
5. Lobionda S, Sittipo P, Kwon HY, Lee YK. The Role of Gut Microbiota in Intestinal Inflammation with Respect to Diet and Extrinsic Stressors. Microorganisms. 2019 Aug 19;7(8):271. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms7080271. PMID: 31430948; PMCID: PMC6722800.
6. Mitev K, Taleski V. Association between the Gut Microbiota and Obesity. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2019 Jun 29;7(12):2050–2056. doi: 10.3889/oamjms.2019.586. PMID: 31406553; PMCID: PMC6684436.
7. Davis CD. The Gut Microbiome and Its Role in Obesity. Nutr Today. 2016 Jul-Aug;51(4):167–174. doi: 10.1097/NT.0000000000000167. PMID: 27795585; PMCID: PMC5082693.
8. Jumpertz R, Le DS, Turnbaugh PJ, Trinidad C, Bogardus C, Gordon JI, Krakoff J. Energy-balance studies reveal associations between gut microbes, caloric load, and nutrient absorption in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Jul;94(1):58–65. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.110.010132. Epub 2011 May 4. PMID: 21543530; PMCID: PMC3127503.
9. Mitev K, Taleski V. Association between the Gut Microbiota and Obesity. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2019 Jun 29;7(12):2050–2056. doi: 10.3889/oamjms.2019.586. PMID: 31406553; PMCID: PMC6684436.
10. Aoun A, Darwish F, Hamod N. The Influence of the Gut Microbiome on Obesity in Adults and the Role of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics for Weight Loss. Prev Nutr Food Sci. 2020 Jun 30;25(2):113–123. doi: 10.3746/pnf.2020.25.2.113. PMID: 32676461; PMCID: PMC7333005.
11. Davis CD. The Gut Microbiome and Its Role in Obesity. Nutr Today. 2016 Jul-Aug;51(4):167–174. doi: 10.1097/NT.0000000000000167. PMID: 27795585; PMCID: PMC5082693.
12. Wiertsema SP, van Bergenhenegouwen J, Garssen J, Knippels LMJ. The Interplay between the Gut Microbiome and the Immune System in the Context of Infectious Diseases throughout Life and the Role of Nutrition in Optimizing Treatment Strategies. Nutrients. 2021 Mar 9;13(3):886. doi: 10.3390/nu13030886. PMID: 33803407; PMCID: PMC8001875.
13. https://www.umassmed.edu/news/news-archives/2021/01/a-healthy-microbiome-builds-a-strong-immune-system-that-could-help-defeat-covid-19/
14. Wu HJ, Wu E. The role of gut microbiota in immune homeostasis and autoimmunity. Gut Microbes. 2012 Jan-Feb;3(1):4–14. doi: 10.4161/gmic.19320. Epub 2012 Jan 1. PMID: 22356853; PMCID: PMC3337124.
15. Yeoh YK, Zuo T, Lui GC, Zhang F, Liu Q, Li AY, Chung AC, Cheung CP, Tso EY, Fung KS, Chan V, Ling L, Joynt G, Hui DS, Chow KM, Ng SSS, Li TC, Ng RW, Yip TC, Wong GL, Chan FK, Wong CK, Chan PK, Ng SC. Gut microbiota composition reflects disease severity and dysfunctional immune responses in patients with COVID-19. Gut. 2021 Apr;70(4):698–706. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2020–323020. Epub 2021 Jan 11. PMID: 33431578; PMCID: PMC7804842.
16. Brown K, DeCoffe D, Molcan E, Gibson DL. Diet-induced dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiota and the effects on immunity and disease. Nutrients. 2012 Aug;4(8):1095–119. doi: 10.3390/nu4081095. Epub 2012 Aug 21. Erratum in: Nutrients. 2012 Oct;4(11)1552–3. PMID: 23016134; PMCID: PMC3448089.
17. Barber TM, Kabisch S, Pfeiffer AFH, Weickert MO. The Health Benefits of Dietary Fibre. Nutrients. 2020 Oct 21;12(10):3209. doi: 10.3390/nu12103209. PMID: 33096647; PMCID: PMC7589116.
18. Carding S, Verbeke K, Vipond DT, Corfe BM, Owen LJ. Dysbiosis of the gut microbiota in disease. Microb Ecol Health Dis. 2015 Feb 2;26:26191. doi: 10.3402/mehd.v26.26191. PMID: 25651997; PMCID: PMC4315779.
19. Sharma S, Tripathi P. Gut microbiome and type 2 diabetes: where we are and where to go? J Nutr Biochem. 2019 Jan;63:101–108. doi: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2018.10.003. Epub 2018 Oct 11. PMID: 30366260.
20. Clapp M, Aurora N, Herrera L, Bhatia M, Wilen E, Wakefield S. Gut microbiota’s effect on mental health: The gut-brain axis. Clin Pract. 2017 Sep 15;7(4):987. doi: 10.4081/cp.2017.987. PMID: 29071061; PMCID: PMC5641835.
21. Mu Q, Kirby J, Reilly CM, Luo XM. Leaky Gut As a Danger Signal for Autoimmune Diseases. Front Immunol. 2017 May 23;8:598. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00598. PMID: 28588585; PMCID: PMC5440529.