Lose Weight, Feel Great, and Stop Getting Sick: It Starts With Your Gut

Is your gut healthy? Believe it or not, the gut — especially its healthy bacteria — has so much to do with the way your body functions, well beyond your digestion.

Related: WTF Is Probiotic Water?

"When it comes to ensuring women's health, there's nothing quite as powerful as a balanced microbiome," said Jamie Morea, founder of Hyperbiotics. "The amount of good microbes in your gut impacts everything, from your cognitive health and your immune system to your metabolism, energy levels, and muscular strength."

It's true — more and more science is linking gut health and the bacteria in our digestive tract to different aspects of health, including weight loss. Dr. Frank Lippman is an advocate of a balanced gut as well, citing that a healthy gut can be a fat-burning machine and aids in losing weight.

But hold on a minute — what exactly is a microbiome? Put simply (and to spare you a semester of biology), the human microbiome (also known as microbiota) is your body's own little ecosystem of all the microorganisms (read: bacteria) living in your GI tract and the environment in which they live.

Here's how a healthy gut (a balanced microbiome!) impacts the rest of your health: