As for many people, your New Year’s resolution may include letting go of some extra pounds to improve your health and wellbeing. Or maybe you have tried before and are frustrated with weight not coming off despite best efforts. Or your excess weight returned promptly when you finally started eating normally again after weeks of deprivation. Stress may be preventing weight loss.

If you just can’t resist those cravings and are blaming yourself for lack of willpower, I have some good news for you: it may not be your fault!

Let me explain why: The old adage of calories in vs. calories out that stipulates you will lose weight as long as burn more than you take in is coming apart at the seams.

You have probably noticed that some people are overweight despite eating small meals and exercising, while some lucky ducks can eat whatever they want and don’t gain weight.

Your Weight and the Microbiome

100 trillion microbes that inhabit our intestinal tract, making up your microbiome. And it turns out that our gut microbiome affect our weight and metabolism much more than caloric intake.  Microbiome transfer studies have shown that when researchers inoculated sterile mice were with the gut microbiome of obese mice, they became obese too. On the other hand, when they were inoculated with gut bugs from lean mice, they stayed lean. And this on diets with identical calories! Research shows that your gut microbes determine how much energy you extract from your food.

So, what disturbs our microbiome? Many things it turns out, such as diet, toxins and drugs, but a major factor is psychological stress. We are still discovering the tight connection between the brain and the gut. The good gut bugs produce B vitamins to support good mood and healthy energy metabolism. They also produce precursors to brain neurotransmitters that make us feel good and sleep well. They are easily disturbed by stress, which then affects our metabolism, mood and sleep. Stress is also the number one cause of irritable bowel syndrome.

Effects of Stress

Stress inhibits activity of the vagus nerve resulting in lowered digestive and organ function. In addition, blood sugar levels rise, the immune system starts making inflammatory proteins, and the body holds onto fat. All of these responses served our ancestors well in dealing with stressors like saber tooth tigers or food shortages. In our modern world our sources of stress are very different, but the biological stress response remains the same. If you have chronic stress, your digestion is now constantly inhibited. Your microbiome shifts towards the “bad bugs” and yeasts like candida which cause sugar and starch cravings. Your blood sugar rises and you are always inflamed while your immune system is weakened.

The inflammation makes your blood stickier and your blood pressure rises. Your body will store more fats, especially around the belly, and won’t let you burn it. You can easily develop leaky gut and food sensitivities. Due to lowered immunity you may pick up some parasites who also contribute to carb cravings and weight gain, which is way more common than officially recognized. With long-term stress, your immune system can get overwhelmed and you may develop an auto-immune disease like arthritis, allergies or asthma, and eventually cancer.

What can you do about all of this?

While you cannot always eliminate stressors, reducing your body’s response to them is key. For acute and chronic stress use techniques like meditation or prayer, mindfulness, EFT tapping, the King Method and regular practice of yoga. In addition, childhood conflicts or trauma rooted in the subconscious may be impairing your digestion and organ function via the vagus nerve. Shamanic energy healing, autonomic response testing, biofeedback, EMDR and family constellation are all great tools for removing disease-causing negative thought patterns and limiting beliefs.

On the physiological level, I use the Functional Medicine 5R program to heal leaky gut: identify and remove inflammatory foods, remove any microbial overgrowth or parasites, heal the gut wall, support digestion, and reinoculate the gut with beneficial microbes. Constipation is common with stress and must be dealt with naturally or toxins are retained and the gut cannot heal.

Importance of Detoxing

During stress, detox pathways are inhibited. Toxins in turn also make the body hold on to fat. Once the gut wall has started to heal and inflammation has calmed down, gentle detoxing is necessary to keep candida and other opportunistic microbes from returning. Detoxing will only be successful if lymphatic drainage, bile flow, liver, kidneys, and circulation are functioning well. All of these should be checked and supported if necessary. Stress-induced nutrient deficiencies in magnesium, B vitamins, potassium, sulfur, anti-oxidants, to name a few, need to be corrected.

As you may have guessed, restoring the gut microbiome is not a one-size-fits all protocol. A good practitioner will thoroughly assess your individual needs and correct imbalances with personalized diet and supplement plans.

As Hippocrates famously said, “All Disease Begins in the Gut.” That’s also where healing should begin.

And a healthy microbiome is a prerequisite for reaching a healthy weight. While you may not be able to eliminate all stress, you can counteract its effects to help you reach your weight loss goal.

Kombucha hails from China and Russia, where people started making it thousands of years ago. Kombucha is a probiotic drink, loaded with B vitamins and enzymes, and supports liver function and detoxing. It is said to help heal cancer and gut dysbiosis. Sour and slightly sweet, it will balance your blood sugar and strengthen your immune system.

What you need

While you can make Kombucha in a large bowl, the easiest way to make it is in a drink dispenser with a spigot. Look for a 2-3 gallon glass dispenser with a plastic spigot (do not get a metal spigot since the acid from the Kombucha will leach metal). If you plan to make a lot you may want a 5-gallon container.
Also get some flip-top bottles to store your Kombucha in. Any other type of bottle closure will not keep the fizz in and your Kombucha will be flat. Tinted glass bottles are best to protect the light-sensitive B vitamins, but clear glass is ok if you store them in a dark place. Finally you will need the Kombucha mother, or scobie, and some finished Kombucha. The scobie is a culture of lactobacteria and yeasts that will metabolize sugars into beneficial acids.

Making the Tea Concentrate

First, make a tea concentrate. The concentrate is then diluted with water and placed in your container with the scobie. You will need black or green tea in bags, and sugar and water. Use organic unflavored black or green teas (non-organic versions are high in fluoride). The sugar should also be organic, non-organic sugar is high in pesticides and may be GMO. Do not use honey since the antibacterial properties of honey will not allow the Kombucha scobie to grow. Use pure water free of chloride and fluoride (not city water).

The amount of concentrate you make is up to you. It stores well in the fridge for about two weeks. Use a ratio of 2:1:2 for: cups water : cups sugar : teabags. E.g. to make 12 cups of concentrate use 12 cups water, 6 cups sugar and 12 water. To reduce the caffeine content of your tea by about 40%, place tea bags in a cup and fill with boiling water. Let steep for a couple of minutes, and then discard the tea bags. Bring the water to a boil and dissolvethe sugar in it. Then turn off the heat and add the “decaffeinated” teabags. Let steep until the tea is at room temperature.

Starting your Kombucha Batch

Find a dark but ventilated place for your container (the culture should be kept away from light but needs air).

Place your scobie with a quart of finished kombucha in your container. Dilute the tea concentrate as follows:

3 cups of concentrate for evey 13 cups of water. Double or triple this amount depending on how much kombucha you want to produce. Adding more tea will take longer to ferment. Once you have added your diluted tea to the container, cover the top with a dishtowel and secure with a rubber band. Do not use the lid, the culture needs oxygen and will mold if you close the container. The dishtowel keeps out fruit flies while letting air in.

Let your first batch ferment for about two weeks. The scobie will grow a “baby” that covers the entire surface area.

Start tasting your batch after about ten days; your batch is ready when it tastes like kombucha. How sour you let it get is up too you. If it still tastes like sweetened tea, your batch needs to ferment longer. Subsequent batches will take less time to ferment as your scobie grows and ferments faster, likely only a few days depending on how much tea you add. Batches also ferment faster in the summer than in the winter with the higher temperatures.

Harvest and Flavoring

When your batch is ready draw the kombucha out into flip-top bottles until the remaining liquid is at the level of the spigot. The remainder will keep fermenting but that’s ok. When you’re ready to make your next batch just add fresh tea. You can now add flavors to your kombucha. Add half a cup of juice to a quart bottle (grape, guava or pomegranate work well), or add little juice concentrate (e.g. blueberry, cherry or elderberry). You can also add diced frozen fruits like strawberries or raspberries; or add diced ginger with ½ tsp sugar. To make an unflavored kombucha, just add ½ tsp of sugar. Now close your bottles and let ferment in the bottle for another 2-4 days. During this secondary fermentation the kombucha will become fizzy. Store in the fridge to stop the fermenting process.

Troubleshooting

If your batch ferments too long (you have been on vacation or forgot to harvest) it will turn very sour and eventually become vinegar. If this happens, don’t worry, just draw off the liquid to the level of the spigot, and start a new batch with fresh tea. Kombucha vinegar can be used for cooking, cleaning or as a natural weed killer on your patio.

The container can produce Kombucha for a long time without needing to be washed. A healthy scobie will keep any pathogens at bay. If fruit flies happen to get into your container you will need to start over. Wash the container well and get a new scobie. If you see any signs of mold developing on your scobie you also need to start over. This is due to the culture not getting enough air. As your scobie grows you will need to trim it occasionally to slow down the fermentation.

A misunderstood Vitamin

Vitamin A is vital for good immune function (viruses deplete vitamin A), fertility, skin health, and healthy hormones. If you get frequent colds in the winter, have dry skin or acne, fertility problems or have night vision issues, you may want to increase vitamin A-rich foods.

When you search for sources of vitamin A, you will find many books and articles declaring carrots and kale good sources of vitamin A. However, true vitamin A is found only in animal foods such as meat, fish, milk and eggs. Natural vitamin A consists of a mixture of different alcohols, esters and aldehydes (retinol,  retinal and retinoic acid).  All of these compounds are collectively referred to as vitamin A. Vitamin A is carried in the blood by retinol-binding protein (RBP), which is synthesized in the liver₁. The storage form of vitamin A is retinol, which is stored by the stellate cells in the liver. Retinol is converted in the body to the active forms: Retinal, important for retinal function, and retinoic acid, which regulates gene expression and cell development. Synthetic vitamin A consists of retinol or retinyl palmitate, which needs to be converted to the active forms, whereas natural vitamin A provides all the different forms of Vitamin A. Interestingly, symptoms of vitamin A toxicity from synthetic vitamin A mimic those of vitamin A deficiency, possibly because an excess of the storage form interferes with the activity of the active forms.

Beta-carotene vs. Vitamin A

Plant foods contain carotenoids that can be converted to vitamin A by the liver and intestinal cells. Beta-carotene is the most common carotene and can be split into two molecules of vitamin A. Alpha and gamma-carotenes are less efficiently converted than beta-carotene. According to nih.gov, 1/2 cup of raw carrot provides ~9000 IUs of vitamin A from beta-carotenes. This assumes a 100% conversion rate of beta-carotene to vitamin A. However, actual conversion rates in humans seem to be much lower than 100%. A 2002 study found a mean conversion ratio of beta-carotene to retinol of only 3%₂ in men given a beta-carotene supplement. The authors also found a conversion ratio of 14% for raw carrots consumed with 20g of fat, and 4%-8% for cooked carrots.

Conversion Rate of Beta-carotene

Furthermore, there are genetic variations in human ability to convert beta-carotene. Some individuals show little or no increase in blood beta-carotene after an oral dose of beta-carotene (they are called non-responders) ₂. The conversion ratio in responders was found to be between 5 and 7%₂. Conversion is also gender-dependent: men show a smaller rise in plasma beta-carotene than do women after a similar oral dose₃, as well as dose-dependent: Vitamin A activity of beta-carotene was 50% with a small dose and only 3% with a large dose of beta-carotene₄. In conclusion, vitamin A activity of carotenoids is variable, surprisingly low, gender and dose-dependent, genetically variable and dependent on dietary fats₂. Therefore sufficient vitamin A can only be obtained from animal foods. The fact that vitamin A supplements, but not beta-carotene supplements, are teratogenic₁ is likely due to the low conversion rate.

Vitamin A and Protein Metabolism

Vitamin A is also important for protein metabolism. A 2010 study on weanling rats found lower weight gain, higher protein catabolism and higher nitrogen excretion with vitamin A deficiency. The authors concluded that vitamin A deficiency may induce a catabolic state associated with growth hormone resistance and decreased expression of IGF-1₅.

Hence, elderly people with sarcopenia and malabsorption may benefit from vitamin A supplementation in addition to protein or amino acids.

Does Vitamin A cause birth defects?

Since vitamin A is essential for embryogenesis, growth and epithelial differentiation₇ it as been implicated in teratogenicity. A widely publicized 1995 study found increased risk of birth defects with consumption of more than 10000 IUs of vitamin A/day from food and supplements during pregnancy₆. However, the study did not differentiate between natural and synthetic sources, and all seven babies with cranial-neural-crest defects were born to mothers with high supplemental (synthetic) retinol intake. Natural vitamin A in food is a mixture of different isomers of retinol, retinal and retinoic acid, whereas synthetic vitamin A is retinyl palmitate or retinyl acetate. Since retinoic acid is needed for cell differentiation, supplementation with high doses of retinol may cause a functional retinoic acid deficiency if conversion to retinoic acid is low (just as supplementation with alpha-tocopherol causes a functional gamma-tocopherol deficiency), leading to birth defects (my hypothesis). In any case, this study does not provide evidence that high intake of natural vitamin A from food sources alone causes birth defects.

Sources of Natural Vitamin A

True Vitamin A is only found in animal foods. This means vegan diets do not supply vitamin A. Since vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin stored in the liver, stores will gradually decrease over time on a vegan diet so the effects of vitamin A deficiency will not be apparent for a while. Grass-fed meat has 5 times more vitamin A than grain-fed, and wild fish has higher levels than farmed (grain-fed) fish. Good sources are grass-fed liver, meats, grass-fed raw dairy, pastured eggs, wild fish and seafood. If you are looking to supplement, look for a natural, undistilled cod liver oil.

References

1. Michael Zimmermann, Burgerstein’s Handbook of Nutrition
2. Hickenbottom et al., Variability in conversion of beta-carotene to vitamin A in men as measured by using a double-tracer study design, Am J Clin Nutr, 2002 May;75(5):900-7.
3. Sauberlich HE et al., Vitamin A metabolism and requirements in the human studied with the use of labeled retinol., Vitam Horm, 1974;32:251-75.
4. Tang et al., Vitamin A equivalence of beta-carotene in a women as determined by a stable isotope reference method. Eur JNutr 2000;39:7-11
5. Esteban-Pretel G et al., Vitamin A deficiency increases protein catabolism and induces urea cycle enzymes in rats, J Nutr 2010 Apr;140(4):792-8.
6. Rothman et al., Teratogenicity of high vitamin A intake, N Engl J Med, 1995 Nov 23;333(21):1369-73.

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