Use Fiber to Accelerate Weight Loss
Choose one fiber and it will make
your bowels regular. Choose another fiber and you reduce LDL
cholesterol, blood sugar, increase satiety—and lose weight.
Know how to choose the right fibers to reach your goals.
Mounds of clinical research data have proven that
people who eat fiber-rich diets are healthier: less bowel cancer,
less diverticular disease, lower blood pressure, less diabetes, less
heart attack. And they’re more slender.
But choosing the right fiber sources can make a world of difference.
It can determine whether you’re always hungry while trying to lose
weight, or whether you feel full and satisfied despite a reduction
in calorie intake.
Admittedly, using fibers to facilitate weight loss is a slow means
of reducing weight. It’s not a “lose 30 lbs in 30 days” kind of
strategy. It’s a method of easily, inexpensively, and effortlessly
shedding a few extra pounds, slowly and gradually.
Which fibers?
Wheat fibers, often called just “bran”, provide
benefits to your bowels and may reduce blood pressure. Wheat bran is the
insoluble, indigestible portion of the grain. When it comes in contact
with water, it floats and is otherwise inert. It doesn’t absorb water
and remains unchanged while in transit through your intestinal tract.
Wheat fibers do little or nothing to help control weight.
You’ll find wheat fiber in numerous products, many with healthy sounding
names. These products have gained a firm hold in the American health
consciousness because they promote bowel regularity—period. These are
products like Raisin Bran cereal, Fiber One, whole wheat breads, whole
wheat (“Honey Wheat”) bagels, Shredded Wheat cereal, and so on. These
foods do not promote health or weight loss beyond bowel health. In fact,
the high glycemic index (sugar-releasing) properties of most of these
products cause weight gain, even if no sugar was added. High glycemic
index and weight gain aggravate undesirable lipoprotein patterns like
small LDL particles, high triglycerides, VLDL and increase the
likelihood of pre-diabetes and metabolic syndrome. These products are
disastrous for your plaque-control program.
(More discussion on fiber types and its role in your overall nutrition
program can be found in the Track Your Plaque Nutrition Guide, Diet
Principle #2: Foods Should Be Rich In Fiber at
http://www.trackyourplaque.com/fc02-09-03fiber.asp.)
Soluble or viscous fibers—the good guys
It’s the soluble or viscous fibers, fibers that absorb
huge quantities of water and transform into a gel, that provide outsized
benefits.
The water-absorbing property permits soluble fibers to swell to many
times their original size. Several things happen:
- Sugars are temporarily “trapped” and thereby released more slowly, effectively reducing glycemic index.
- You feel full, simply because the water–fiber gel occupies more space.
- Your bowels are more regular.
Thus, soluble fibers provide the bowel health benefits of insoluble bran but go much farther. It’s the soluble fibers that you want to put to good use.
What are your choices?
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