Is weight gain evidence something deeper is going on?

Weight gain has traditionally been thought to be the result of consuming too many calories and not exercising enough. 

Now, I think we can all agree.  Eating every meal out and snacking on ultra-processed foods.  While being a couch potato.  Is unlikely to produce the picture of health. 

But at the same time, there are individuals who only consume ultra-processed foods and are not overweight or obese. However, not being overweight or obese does not mean you’re healthy. 

You see, although there is a valid connection, not everyone’s weight gain is because they’re eating too much and not exercising. As a matter of fact, your body is always seeking balance.  And when imbalances occur, weight gain is one indicator that something deeper is going on. 

So what are those deeper issues that can cause weight gain?

• Inflammation
• Blood sugar & insulin dysregulation
• Genetics
• Gut imbalances
• Hormone dysfunction

I really want to get you to step back and look at the big picture.  Also it has been well established the connection between weight gain and all five of these deeper issues. Inflammation. Blood sugar. Genetics. Gut imbalances and hormone dysfunction.  Any one of these or combination, can lead to weight gain.  

So is weight gain really the issue? 

Certainly is it your gut imbalance that caused weight gain.  Chronic low-grade inflammation? Poor insulin sensitivity? High blood sugar? A genetic SNP been turned back on? Cortisol elevated? Thyroid issues? Menopause?

You see, weight gain is the symptom of something deeper going on. My hopes are to get you to think about a different approach.  You’ve already surgically altered your anatomy with bariatric surgery.  The volume of food you consume has significantly decreased. 

You don’t need LESS food!

What if you took a different approach?

An approach of optimizing all five of these areas. 

• Reduce or eliminate inflammation
• Increase insulin sensitivity
• Lower blood sugar levels
• Turn on protective genetic SNPs
• Turn off disease causing genetic SNPs
• Correct gut dysbiosis
• Improve thyroid function
• Regulate better cortisol function
• Improve estrogen metabolism

You see where I’m going?

When you look at weight gain as a symptom of something deeper going on.  It offers you more tools in your tool box in addressing weight gain. It’s not just eating less and exercising more. 

So let’s dig into these five areas and how they’re connected to weight gain. 

Inflammation 

Inflammation is protective by design, but can become destructive if left unchecked.  Long-term, chronic inflammation can eventually lead to conditions like arthritis, eczema, IBS, autoimmune conditions and several diseases.

Not to mention, inflammation is interwoven in the other four areas as well.  Gut dysbiosis.  Elevated blood sugars.  Low estrogen.  Poor methylation.  Certain genetic SNPs all affect your inflammatory response. 

For example, a study published in 2021, “Obesity-associated inflammation: does curcumin exert a beneficial role?  Stated curcumin supplementation clearly shows significant decreases in inflammatory cytokine production and increases in adiponectin level in the plasma of obese and overweight subjects. 

Additionally, a double-blind, placebo-controlled RCT was carried out on postmenopausal diabetic women in order to examine the effects of flavonoids on cardiovascular risk factors. Including insulin resistance.  The nutritional intervention consisted of an intake of 13.5 grams of flavonoid-enriched chocolate twice daily, providing 100mg of isoflavones and 850mg of total flavan-3-ols.  After 12 months, a significant reduction in insulin resistance was found in the intervention group when compared to placebo. 

Blood sugar & insulin dysregulation 

High blood glucose is often associate with weight gain and diabetes.  But chronically elevated blood sugar also has other effects such as accelerated aging and chronic inflammation.  Which underlie every major chronic illness. Insulin is manufactured in the body and it is used to regulate glucose levels.  The way of insulin and glucose do there job is determine by certain genetics. As well as by other factors such as weight, diet and lifestyle choices. 

In this study they found in diabetes, polyphenols were found to play an important role in suppressing blood glucose levels, enhancing the antioxidant status in pancreatic cells, and increasing the activation of PPARy.  Accordingly, These regulate the expression of genes. 

Genetics 

At no surprise, genetics is your personal story of how your own body manages cellular processes. 

As you can already see, genetics influence glucose and insulin regulation, your inflammatory response.  But it also influences hormone metabolism.  Altogether influence weight gain. 

There is considerable inter-individual variability in our physical ability to lose, gain or maintain a healthy weight.  Certain gene variations affect how we regulate energy and make us more genetically prone to weight gain and slow weight loss. 

A one-size-fits-all model does not exist when it comes to how much or how frequently we should eat, or what type of exercise we should do and for how long.  Genetic variations can explain, how people respond to overeating, exercise and diet. 

Gut Imbalances

We already know that bariatric surgery only partially rescues gut dysbiosis, as published in this study.  Therefore, dysbiosis is still an issue after gastric sleeve and gastric bypass surgeries. 

Additionally, a study confirmed that weight loss is associated in a dose-response manner with increases in gut microbiota diversity and reductions in intestinal permeability. 

Therefore, increasing the variety of good gut bacteria, lowering intestinal permeability and correcting gut dysbiosis can be a powerful way to reverse weight gain. 

Hormone dysfunction 

This is such a broad area.  You can consider thyroid hormones, stress hormones, sex hormones.  Appetite & craving hormones.  They all influence weight gain. When you experience hormone dysregulation.  Weight gain is likely inevitable. 

For e.g., optimizing your thyroid function will prevent weight gain from being an issue. But optimizing estrogen metabolism and considering safe hormone therapy can be a great weight to address weight gain issues. 

Conclusion

As you can see, It can be evidence something deeper is going on.  Basically, my hopes are that you can see taking a different approach, by optimizing the areas of inflammation, blood sugar, insulin, genetics, gut bacteria and hormones provide you with more tools to address regain.  I would encourage you to consider our Gastric Health Membership as a community to work together on optimizing all areas that influence regain.