How do Fiber-rich foods aid in weight loss?
Answered by Sophie Pachella.
Clients often remark “The trouble with dieting is that one cannot simply quit food. It isn’t like cigarettes or alcohol. I’d find weight loss so much easier if I could just quit food cold turkey for the time it took to lose the weight. There’d be less confusion, less temptation”.
Hunger is a very real phenomenon, and something that most of us are uncomfortable with. If you’ve been trying to lose weight for some time, chances are you’re fed up with feeling hungry. If so, recent research has confirmed some extremely simple (but highly effective) advice you can use to feel full on fewer calories.
The magic is in the….Fiber!
Simply adding an extra 14 grams of fiber to your diet each day will lead to a 10-15% reduction in calorie intake, without noticing it. In less than four months, this simple strategy alone could lead to over four pounds of extra weight loss. This might not sound like much. But combined with an effective diet and training program, it can make losing weight faster and easier.
In fact – here’s a little secret: You know there is no such thing as a magical weight loss tool? Well Fiber comes close! Each gram of insoluble fiber you ingest will sweep away about 6 calories. And while it used to be recommended we eat 25-30 grams a day – recent studies have shown we actually need no less than 38. Most Americans get an average of only 6-11 grams. NO WONDER they have bad hair days!!!
And …
Increased Fiber Curbs Appetite !
Everyone knows that if you eat a plate of beans or a bowl of bran cereal, you’re likely to get full pretty quickly. A UC Davis study, published recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, indicates that increased fiber content in a meal boosts feelings of fullness and increases levels of a hormone associated with satiety. Previous research has shown that the hormone cholecystokinin is released from the small intestine when a fat-containing food is eaten. It’s thought that this hormone may be the chemical messenger that acts in response to fat to notify the brain that the body is getting full.
The UC Davis study appears to show that fiber can trigger the same signaling mechanism as fat. Like fat, the addition of fiber to a meal can increase a person’s feeling of satiety or feeling full.
