Gut bacteria seem to determine hunger

[Anonymous]

After I had to take antibiotics for a throat infection and also had, by chance, a food poisoning, I didn't feel the urge to eat sweets and didn't feel hunger at all. This was new to me, as I am always keen on sweets and otherwise am always in the mood to eat. So for a while I ate only greens, protein, avocado and other healthy foods. My calorie intake was much lower than usual, and I started losing weight. This confirmed to me what I had read about the gut being "the second brain".

Based on a recommendation on this board I had taken Seed probiotics for 30 days, and maybe that helped, too.

Anyway, just to test my assumption about sugar negatively influencing gut bacteria, I started eating sweets again. A few days later my almost uncontrollable appetite for sweets returned. I realized that I need to give up sugar forever if I don't want to constantly feel hungry.

Anybody else had a similar experience?

[Anonymous]

This might be an odd thing to say but when I did my colonoscopy cleanout in conjunction with a diet change and more exercise, I was successful at losing about 10 lbs and about an inch off my waist. And I wondered if the cleanout helped somehow. I am also wondering if I have gut bacteria that love sugar too much. There's no real way to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This might be an odd thing to say but when I did my colonoscopy cleanout in conjunction with a diet change and more exercise, I was successful at losing about 10 lbs and about an inch off my waist. And I wondered if the cleanout helped somehow. I am also wondering if I have gut bacteria that love sugar too much. There's no real way to know.

OP here. I am quite sure that there is a connection. Physicians always say to promote healthy gut bacteria by eating raw food and fermented food such as pickled onions (no sugar) and sauerkraut.

[Anonymous]

OP here again. I meant pickled cucumbers, but I guess pickled onions do not hurt, either.

[Anonymous]

I have been taking Seed for about 18 months and still struggle with sweets. I did stop alcohol and then still craved sweets and got more serious about that a few weeks ago. I started paying more attention to balance my glucose and have less cravings but the truth is that if I eat a brownie, I will want to keep eating it. Haha

I am trying and lost a few lbs in April. Alcohol no longer tempts me if it’s in the house but I really struggle with sweets being around.

All this to say I’m not sure if my probiotic is helping or not.

[Anonymous]

Don't forget about prebiotics too: resistant starch, resistaid, sunfiber, etc

[Anonymous]

OP, what are you doing now? Are back “off” the sugar? How’s your appetite?

I’ve always called myself a sugar addict and feel it’s true. I struggle with this greatly.

[Anonymous]

I completely cut out sugar for a month to 6 weeks several times a year, usually until a holiday or family birthday. It makes eating healthier so much easier. Maybe it's gut bacteria related or maybe it's psychological. I don't know.

[Anonymous]

Didn't the food poisoning sort of force you to fast, so you stopped eating sweets temporarily? Then you ate them again to test it out? You made yourself get the psychological boost from sweets which made you crave them again. Gut bacteria does seem to impact obesity but it's hard to show that from your example.

[Anonymous]

Cutting out sugar eliminates sugar cravings. I’ve tested this out many times. I don’t know if it’s related to the gut biome or what but it’s something I don’t even think about when I am off sugar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, what are you doing now? Are back “off” the sugar? How’s your appetite?

I’ve always called myself a sugar addict and feel it’s true. I struggle with this greatly.

OP here. I regret having forced myself to eat sugar again while I was not craving it. Now I struggle getting "off" sugar again. I feel that I cannot resist the urge. If I ever manage to get into a situation again where I do not crave sweets, I will have to give up sugar completely to not have to fight against the urge again.

During the blessed phase of no sugar cravings my appetite for normal food was also low. It was wonderful not to have to think about food all day. It felt as if I had been on Ozempic.

[Anonymous]

I have had a similar experience, OP and am also trying to "break up" with sugar, hopefully for the last time.

[Anonymous]

PP - echo OP, if you ever reach the nirvana state of a well regulated appetite and no cravings, best NOT to experiement with waking the sugar dragon. I regret it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what are you doing now? Are back “off” the sugar? How’s your appetite?

I’ve always called myself a sugar addict and feel it’s true. I struggle with this greatly.

OP here. I regret having forced myself to eat sugar again while I was not craving it. Now I struggle getting "off" sugar again. I feel that I cannot resist the urge. If I ever manage to get into a situation again where I do not crave sweets, I will have to give up sugar completely to not have to fight against the urge again.

During the blessed phase of no sugar cravings my appetite for normal food was also low. It was wonderful not to have to think about food all day. It felt as if I had been on Ozempic.

Thanks for replying. I think I need to try what you did and just 100% cut it out. I’ve tried restricting to just a small % each day, but then I binge…e.g., right now I’ve got a salty oat cookie from Teaism staring at me. I’m not technically hungry, but I feel like I can’t not eat it right now or I know that I’ll just hyper focus on it being in my kitchen. And eat it. And the 5 other things that just happen to exist. I hate it.

[Anonymous]

I think there is some truth to this. When I feel like my eating is off, I try to eat a lot of fiber (beans, sprouted bread, salads) to reset. Sometimes I take been capsules for a few days.