It has been said before. I will say it again – and again. We need to eat more fibre.
I think that it is fairly obvious to us all that we are suffering from an obesity epidemic. Not only does obesity cause a certain physical discomfort, it also affects our families, communities and social connections. If you are overweight and reading this I want to encourage you to try some fibre. It isn’t going to fix everything, but it is a solid and valid first step.
Of all the things that I have learned about optimal health in the past 10-plus years is that nothing is more powerful than what we eat and – of equal importance – what we do not eat.
If there is one thing that will immediately help you it is getting 35g of fibre in your diet per day. Here are a couple reasons why:
Losing Weight
Fibre is one thing that you can do, right now today, that will help you restrict some calories. Although I do not advocate restricting calories in the long-term, feeling full is one of the most important things that need to happen when eating. Fibre will get you there.
When you eat a lot of processed food you are eating a bunch of bad carbohydrates with little or no fibre. This does not trigger the satiety signal in your brain and you keep eating. Fibre is one of the ways you can turn that signal back on.
Turning that satiety signal on means you eat less of the bad foods, and thus will lose weight. Sound too simple? Try it!
Putting It Back On
However, when you have actually been successful in losing the weight one of the most depressing things is putting it back on. You might think that one would do anything possible to keep the lost weight off. In fact, the opposite usually happens after a diet. Habits are not permanently change and the weight, which was lost, returns with an average of 1.8 pounds of additional fat above and beyond the pre-diet weight.
To help you maintain already lost weight you must not allow your fibre intake to drop. There are a number of reasons why you need to do this. Fibre actually helps reduce the absorption of calories from the foods you are eating now.
Diabetes
Along with obesity, diabetes is also a problem rampant in Canada (and a large part of the world). This is another area that fibre can have a dramatic affect. Considering that fibre can help to slow down absorption is should be part of every meal for someone who has blood sugar control problems.
Besides helping your feel fuller, fibre also helps to slow down your body’s conversion of carbohydrates to sugar, thus supporting better blood glucose stability. Which in turn helps you to lose weight! This is a must for any diabetic.
Regular
I am not really sure how to say this in a politically correct manner. So I am just going to come out with it.
Bowel movement best practices are to go once a day. What you don’t eliminate, in the form of toxics and such, can be reabsorbed into your body (through a process called leaky gut syndrome). If those toxins stay inside for too long that can be a bad thing. Fibre helps with what is called bowel motility. What that means is that fibre helps to keep our plumbing running smoothly and efficiently and gets everything through in an appropriate time frame.
Constipation, obesity, and diabetes have a link.
By using fibre to help with one – you effectively help them all. I believe that if you aren’t going potty once a day you should be.
Sources
Look to seeds, like flax and chia, for a good source of fibre. Beans are also loaded in fibre and should be added to weekly meal planning. I am not a fan of using bread as a fibre-delivery-system since a lot of folks have a sensitivity to its fat-making potential. If you are looking for a supplement for adding additional fibre I would seriously consider giving glucomannan a try. Ask for it at your local health food store.
Come on Oxford – it is time to fibre it up!
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