We harbor the notion that we’re sentient beings … but recent studies provide a new perspective, challenging just how much control we truly have when it comes to our cravings. … there is in fact a very direct and causal connection between our intestinal microbial ecology and the way we think. That, in fact, these microbes message our brains, effectively telling us what to eat.
— Rich Roll, author of Finding Ultra
I suppose a defeatist could interpret Roll’s comments as yet another example of why it’s “impossible” to lose weight. He disagrees, suggesting that the process can work in reverse as well – if you feed the bacteria in your gut healthier foods, then the microbes that thrive on that diet will proliferate at the expense of the junkfood-craving critters.
Image from whatisgutflora.com
It’s a creepy thing to think about, I’ll admit. (According to another book I’ve been browsing lately, The Perfect Health Diet by a couple of scientists, Paul Jaminet and Shou-Ching Jaminet, bacteria outnumber human cells 10 to 1 — adding up to “a few pounds” of body weight.)
I don’t like the idea of housing all those microbes, especially knowing they contribute to the number I see on the scale. On the other hand, I LOVE the idea of being a food god, choosing who thrives and who dies in my bacterial ecosystem.
Microbes may very well “instant message” my brain about what THEY think I should eat, but I’m the one who physically puts food into my mouth. If I think in terms of a “craving” – a word that comes with baggage from my fat years – I’m far too likely to give in.
But if I think of it as a bossy command from an overbearing microbe, it becomes MUCH easier to deny the request.
Based on my own experience, I do think you lose the taste for certain foods if you quit eating them for several weeks. I haven’t eaten French fries in 3-4 years and don’t miss them at all. A book that inspired me during my weight loss — Cutting Myself in Half: 150 Pounds Lost One Byte at a Time, by then-teen author Taylor LaBaron — referred to this concept as “killing dinosaurs” by “exterminating cravings.”
Turns out LaBaron may have had the right idea, but the wrong species.
Great post thanks for sharing
Thanks. This is a fascinating if somewhat spooky topic that I plan to follow more closely.
I recently finished reading The Alchemy of Murder, a Nellie Bly mystery in which Ms Bly meets that microbe hunter Louis Pasteur. In the novel, Pasteur seemed to want to eradicate all microbes. They were all killers waiting for a host. Now science knows differently.
That sounds like a book I’d enjoy. I’ll have to check it out.