How can dietary fiber help you lose weight?
Dietary fiber is a polysaccharide, i.e. a very long chain of glucose that our body cannot break down and digest, so it remains as a “residue” in our digestive tract.
Dietary fiber has several functions depending on the type because there are two main types: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber and then there are other subclasses of fiber as the functional fiber.
So each type of fiber has its own role in our body, such as the prevention of certain diseases like cancer, diabetes type 2, cardiovascular diseases.
But what we are going to talk about in this article is the role of dietary fiber in weight loss and why dieticians and nutritionists generally recommend consuming dietary fiber in sufficient quantities when a subject wants to lose weight.
Simply because dietary fiber has a satiating effect despite the fact that it does not carry too many calories (here I’m talking about foods rich in dietary fiber), this satiety despite almost no calories comes from the fact that generally foods rich in dietary fiber are often full of vitamins and minerals so the body will really feel full despite there are very few calories in this food that is rich in dietary fiber!
Dietary fiber protects against obesity and metabolic syndrome
It’s recognized that dietary fiber may play a role in preventing obesity. The role played by different individual fiber sources in weight changes is less certain.
An article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition explored the relationship between total dietary fiber, cereal fiber, fruit and vegetable fiber and changes in weight and waist circumference.
The prospective study group included 89,432 European participants adults, who initially had no cancer, cardiovascular disease, or diabetes.
An improvement is observed in anthropometric parameters including waist and arm circumference, and even in lifestyle.
And during the study period, the total amount of dietary fiber consumed was related to weight variables, i.e. there was a correlation between weight variables and dietary fiber consumption (this is the statistical side of the study for those who want to understand more).
For an increased intake of 10 grams/day of total fiber, there was an estimated 39g/year of weight loss, and a decrease in waist circumference of 0.08 cm/year. Consumption of 10g /day of fiber from cereals led to a weight loss of 77g /year and a reduction in waist circumference of 0.10 cm /year. Fiber from fruits and vegetables was not associated with weight change but had a similar effect to total and cereal fiber on waist circumference.
Therefore, this statistical study has demonstrated the role of dietary fiber in weight loss and in the prevention of obesity, which according to the WHO is a disease.
How can dietary fiber help you lose weight?
Dietary fiber in fact contributes to weight loss, several American studies have shown this. To lose weight, it is easier than calculating the kilocalories of each food that arrives on your plate. Just eat more fiber-rich foods.
This is reported in a study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine . According to their results, in one year, you lose almost as much weight by adding about 30 grams of fiber to your diet every day as by drastically reducing your caloric intake, salt, sugars and saturated fats.
This study followed 240 overweight people for one year. Some of them followed the nutritional recommendations of the American Heart Association: only consume the calories that can be burned during the day, reduce saturated fats and do not ingest more than 6% of the total daily calories, or 13 grams per day…
The others only adopted a high-fiber diet. Results: after twelve months, the first had lost 2.7 kg and the second 2.1.
There are several reasons why dietary fiber can help you lose weight:
1- The satiating effect
Foods rich in dietary fiber are often rich in vitamins and minerals, which makes the body feel full.
2- Decreases the absorption of certain nutrients
One of the reasons why dietary fiber contributes to weight loss is that it decreases the absorption of certain nutrients, thus avoiding overeating and maintaining a healthy weight!
To understand more, I will give you an example, you see when you eat a dish that is rich in carbs and fat for example, while before this main dish you have already started with a green salad or raw vegetables, these are rich in fiber in fact, so the time that the fiber contained in the salad arrives in your digestive tract, it will form a gel in association with water, and it will remain in the small intestine to capture any excess nutrients and especially sugar and cholesterol.
So in this way it helps to reduce the intake of food to your body. That’s it!
3- An appetite suppressant!
Yes, fiber-rich foods generally carry very few calories. So even if you eat a lot of them you won’t bring calories to your body at the same time you will feel full!
Here are the top 5 foods rich in fiber and appetite suppressants!
1- The apple
It’s very rich in lignin (a type of dietary fiber), it is one of the least caloric fruits. Juicy as one pleases, one likes to crunch it without feeling guilty. It soothes our hunger effectively while promoting transit.
2- Oat bran
Rich in dietary fiber, oat bran has the particularity of filling you up quickly. Mix it with cottage cheese in the morning, or as a snack in case of hunger pangs. The advantage: it contains less than 20 calories for a tablespoon.
3- Konjac
Konjac is a plant from Asia that contains glucomannan and absorbs a lot of water! Thus, our stomach is quickly filled and our feeling of hunger disappears!
4- Soup
Vegetable soup or a salad is usually eaten at the beginning of a meal. This is a good way to avoid eating dishes that are too high in calories (which is what I explained above). Indeed, it quickly fills our feeling of hunger.
5. Green tea
It is very rich in dietary fiber, and fulfills both the role of appetite suppressant and fat burner. Its consumption stimulates the action of satiating hormones in our body. To get the most out of its virtues, it is best to add a touch of lemon and drink it hot.
Let’s wrap it up !
Finally, dietary fiber plays a great role in the proper functioning of our body due to its importance that we can not neglect.
There are many mechanisms by which a high fiber diet helps to lose weight and maintain a normal weight.
Foods rich in fiber are digested more slowly and require more chewing effort, which leads to greater satiety.
They are also generally lower in calories and, by replacing “empty calories”, can lead to a reduction in energy intake that is favorable to weight loss.
A good fiber intake is therefore an additional asset against excess pounds. “Unfortunately, the current diet, refined, processed and insufficiently diversified impoverishes this contribution.
We’re consuming on average only 20 g per day and this is far from what the recommendations require. Therefore, intervene the dietary fiber very slowly in your plate to benefit from their importance.
