Are fat-germs the reason you are overweight? Maybe!

For those of you who follow the research I post, you'll remember a study about a poor gal who gained 30 pounds after a fecal transplant from an overweight friend. The doctors apologized with a "sorry, that can happen" and studies support it. So I wasn't surprised to see this latest article from The Atlantic explaining why today's younger generation is more likely to burn less calories. The article sites 3 primary reasons:
1) Exposure to pesticides, flame retardants, and food packaging affecting our hormones.
2) Prescription drugs like Prozac and other antidepressants. and
3) Our "microbiome" (natural intestinal bacteria) have changed. If that's not horrifying enough, the article doesn't even mention other research that shows junk food we eat can actually influence us to eat more of the same!

 But before you go googling poo-pills from skinny people (yes, that's a thing) let's tell you a few things you can do to make that gut a happier place for hard-working bacteria.
1) Eat foods naturally high in health-promoting bacteria... a.k.a.-fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir (a drinkable, amped-up yogurt, and sauerkraut-not from canned) and take a quality probiotic with many different strains of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium.

2) Feed your new friends by eating their food: oligosaccharides which are found in foods like onions, garlic, and asparagus and resistant starch found in bananas and potatoes
 3) Get lots of diverse, high-fiber foods... which is going to likely happen from getting some of the foods above, but generally, just eat lots of plants.
 4) Avoid toxins and unnecessary drugs like antibiotics (which are like a bazooka to the ecosystem in your gut) unless you absolutely must.
Keep following for more on gut flora and even recipes for probiotic foods!