Your digestive system may be making you fat. It’s hard to believe – but very true!

Today, I’m going to explain how the bugs in your digestive tract and the way they upset your gut’s immune system just might be behind those extra pounds.

I have observed this phenomenon in hundreds of patients. Recently, remarkable new research has confirmed this phenomenon. I have developed very effective treatments for it, based on understanding the way in which all the body’s systems – the gut, the immune system, detoxification system, hormones and more – are connected.

There’s powerful evidence that addressing these key causes of weight gain and illness can help you shed pounds.

For example, I’ve seen patients who lose significant amounts of weight, just by cutting food allergens from their diet. And I have also seen people lose 20 to 30 pounds, simply by balancing the bacterial ecosystem in their intestinal system.

One patient, a 38-year-old woman, had chronic inflammation, fluid retention, acne, fatigue, and joint pain, as well as irritable bowel syndrome with bloating and gas. She had tried every known diet, but was unable to lose weight.

This woman’s problem: She could not lose weight because she was inflamed. Imbalances in her gut and the food sensitivities that result led to the inflammation.

But when we had her eliminate the foods to which she was allergic or sensitive, and gave her some healthy bacteria to heal her gut, she lost 35 pounds in a few months – and all her other symptoms went away too.

The big debate in medicine is which comes first: inflammation or obesity. I have always believed that we become inflamed first, and gain weight second – which makes us even more inflamed, perpetuating the cycle. Now incredible new research bears this out.

In today’s blog I want to review this research, explain how food allergies can lead to weight gain, and provide you with three steps you can take to eliminate foods you may be allergic to and rebalance the ecosystem in your gut.

There is one driving factor that contributes, above all else, to the epidemic of diabesity and other chronic illnesses we see today. By addressing this one problem you may reverse many of your health problems, even if you don’t do anything else. In today’s blog, the last in my three-part series on diabesity, I will tell you what that problem is and how you can effectively treat it. Here’s a hint: You won’t find the solution in a pill bottle ...

Remember, in the last week’s blog on diabesity, we learned what doesn’t work to treat the condition -- namely conventional, outdated approaches to medicine that focus on treating symptoms with medications instead of addressing the underlying causes of illness. Now that we know what doesn’t work, I want to spend some time in this week’s blog explaining what DOES work.

If we want to effectively treat this epidemic of diabesity, we must start focusing on the underlying causes that are driving these problems in the first place. You see, ALL of these phenomenon we see in diabesity are the result of the same thing: Imbalances in the seven underlying key systems in your body that are at the root of all health and illness.

Today you will learn what those seven systems are and how you can use this exciting new field of medical research and practice known as functional medicine to help you prevent and even reverse Diabesity.

If you are diabetic, overweight, or suffer from insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, or any of the other conditions conventional medicine associates with "elevated blood sugar," I want to share a startling new discovery with you: Lowering your blood sugar may increase your risk of death.

These are the findings from an extraordinary new study that was recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine, and in this blog, the second in my three-part series on diabesity, I am going to tell you all about that study and its profound implications for the treatment of obesity, diabetes, and other related conditions.

In last week’s blog you were introduced to the concept of diabesity, and learned that conventional treatments typically don’t work to treat it. Today we’ll see WHY those treatments don’t work and look at the REAL way to treat the problem. Let’s start with one of the most fascinating medical studies published in recent times ...

Do you fear for your health or feel exhausted all the time? Are you overweight? Or do you just have too much belly fat? Do you suffer from diabetes, monitor your blood sugar all the time, have serious blood sugar and insulin imbalances, or have elevated cholesterol, blood pressure, and triglyceride levels? If so, you may find this remarkable story of one my patient’s very interesting.

One evening, after a lecture in New York, a man approached me about becoming my patient. He was rotund, with a round, ruddy face, a booming voice, and a gentle manner. Everything about him was large -- his appetite, his belly, and his heart.

Sam was nearly 60 years old, and his love of everything big was waning as he felt the encroachment of death. As we talked, he described years of feeding his fat, drinking a pint of heavy whipping cream every night before bed to keep his weight up.

In the end, the big presence that Sam’s 300-plus pound corpus gave him was not worth the infirmities he suffered. He was diabetic. His insulin was over 200, normal is less than 20. He also had dangerous cholesterol levels, angina, sleep apnea, a sluggish thyroid, and was doggedly fatigued, short of breath at nearly every step, had nasal congestion, swollen legs, dry skin, and yeast grew all over his body.

Sam may sound like a hopeless case, but the truth is that everything Sam had done to his body he did himself and could undo. I told him that if he did everything I suggested he would lose weight, feel better, and all his symptoms would go away.

Enthusiastic, though somewhat skeptical, he left my office determined. Three months later when I spoke to him again, he lost 30 pounds, had more energy, his nasal congestion was gone, his fluid-filled, swollen legs were better, and all of his cravings were gone -- he never felt hungry, and he found the program I prescribed to him easy to follow.

Fourteen months later I saw him again and repeated his blood tests. I was shocked when he weighed in. He had lost 110 pounds without being on a strict deprivation diet. He simply changed his eating and his lifestyle. His diabetes was CURED. His blood sugar dropped from 130 to 74 (greater than 126 fasting denotes diabetes). His HDL and LDL cholesterol and triglycerides were normal without any medication. And he was exercising vigorously three to four times a week.

After a lifetime of uncontrollable appetites, Sam finally found balance and health without suffering. Yes, he changed his diet and lifestyle, but he was able to continue taking pleasure in food. Most importantly, he looked and felt twenty years younger.

Now, I know Sam’s story is an extreme one. You may or may not be suffering from problems as severe as those he faced. Even so, I’m sure you can relate to some of what Sam experienced if you are overweight, have high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, have problems with your blood sugar, or have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes ...

You may feel twenty years older than you are, and, deep down, you may even be terrified by the possibility of additional health complications like heart disease, stroke, dementia, nerve damage, blindness, and amputation or even cancer. Like so many others that suffer with this condition, you just want to live a normal life and get back some of your energy and vitality; you want to turn back the clock and reverse your diabetes ...

You can do that. I know most people are skeptical when a doctor tells them they can reverse diabetes, but over the course of this three-part series of blogs I’m going to show you how. You can have the same experience Sam did, and you don’t have to suffer or starve to make that happen.

Later in this blog series, I will tell you how you can do that. Today, I want to explain what I mean by the term “diabesity”. If you have diabetes you have it. But you don’t have to have diabetes or even have symptoms to be suffering from diabesity. In fact most people who have it don’t know they are suffering from a deadly condition that is 100% reversible.

****************IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT****************

I’ve received so many questions about diabesity that I’ve decided to hold a special webinar during which you’ll discover the 7 keys to overcoming diabesity and reclaiming a normal life. My tech team tells me that only 500 viewers can watch at once, so if it’s something that interests you—whether you are overweight, have been diagnosed with diabetes, or are worried about developing it -- you may want to reserve your spot now before all of the spots are filled.

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Imagine eating 12 pounds of food a day -- and still staying thin and healthy. That may sound crazy, but it’s exactly what our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate for millennia! And they didn't have any obesity or chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or dementia.

Of course, I wouldn't advise anyone today to eat 12 pounds of food, because the food in our society lacks one major secret ingredient that our ancestors ate in nearly all their food -- fiber!

Fiber has so many health benefits that I want to focus on it in this week's blog. I’ll explain some of its benefits and give you 9 tips you can begin using today to get more fiber in your diet. I’ll also tell you about my favorite “super-fiber” that can help you increase your total fiber intake overnight.

But before I tell you about what fiber can do for you, let's a look a little more at the history of fiber.