Weight loss is a struggle that many people face daily. Being overweight or obese can make exercise extremely difficult, and when combined with a lack of exercise, it can lead to several serious health conditions, including metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression, chronic pain, and premature death. People often struggle with different diets, and health fads come and go, making it confusing for most of us. The American Heart Association (AHA) published a diet and lifestyle plan that is difficult for many to follow or maintain due to its thirteen components.
However, there is a new study that shows promise with a single dietary change – consuming more fiber. This is something that everyone should consider including in their diets.
Fiber and its benefits
Fiber is an essential part of the wellness equation. It is unique because our body needs it to be healthy, yet it doesn’t digest it. Fiber stays unchanged in our bodies but provides bulkiness, suppresses appetite, binds with cholesterol, lowers blood sugar, and removes toxic waste from the bowels, reducing the risk of constipation, high blood sugar, hemorrhoids, diabetes, cholesterol, heart disease, and some cancers. There are two kinds of dietary fiber, soluble and insoluble fiber.
Soluble Fiber
Soluble fiber changes into a gel-like substance in the stomach and creates bulk, which not only binds fatty acids but also stabilizes blood sugar, slowing down the time it takes food to empty from the stomach and for sugars to break down. This is good news for diabetics, hypoglycemics, and anyone looking to lose weight naturally. Soluble fiber reduces the risk of heart disease and diabetes while lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol.
Insoluble fiber
Insoluble fiber passes through the digestive tract unchanged. It works to provide bulk to move toxic waste through our intestines, aiding digestion, promoting regular bowel movements, and preventing constipation. Its bulk controls and balances pH (acid/alkaline balance) in the intestines, significantly reducing the risk of colon cancer. Insoluble fiber also helps bind cholesterol in the digestive tract, lowering cholesterol, and the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and colon and rectal cancers.
Study: The “More Fiber Diet”
Most diets and dietary studies focus on many aspects, like counting calories and fats, time and frequency of eating, exercise, and supplements as an adjunct to diet. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School aimed to determine whether a program focused on a single dietary change could have collateral effects on other untargeted healthy diet components. The single dietary change they studied was adding more fiber to the daily diet without making other changes. The results were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Researchers wanted to compare the results of their single-change “more fiber diet” to the 13-point AHA diet. They designed a randomized, controlled trial consisting of 240 adults with the metabolic syndrome. This meant all participants were overweight and had high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol at the start of the study. The researchers measured weight change after one year.
The results were astounding. At 12 months, the mean average weight change in the “more fiber diet” group was a loss of 4 pounds, while the AHA diet group lost an average of 5 pounds. This one-pound difference is negligible.
The takeaway
The study demonstrated that consuming just 30g of fiber daily, with no other changes, allowed for as much weight loss as the multicomponent AHA program. Researchers noted that “a simplified approach to weight reduction emphasizing only increased fiber intake may be a reasonable alternative for persons with difficulty adhering to more complicated diet regimens.” However, it is important to add that the 30g of fiber should come from whole fruits, vegetables, and grains, not dietary supplements.
So, while the “more fiber diet” might not be a true panacea, it does many things to reverse poor health and restore optimal health. A high-fiber diet prevents overeating by making dieters feel satiated more quickly, and it prevents type 2 diabetes. Moreover, it can reverse and prevent cardiovascular disease. Making this change is not too difficult and can yield fantastic results!
High-fiber foods by category
- Legumes: Navy beans, split peas, lentils, pinto beans, black beans, lima beans, kidney beans
- Vegetables: Soybeans, artichokes, winter squash, broccoli, Brussels sprouts
- Fruits: Raspberries, blackberries, avocados, pears, bananas
- Grains: Bran flakes, pearled barley, quinoa, oatmeal, wild rice, barley
In conclusion, adding more fiber to your daily diet could be the key to effective, long-term weight loss, and improved health. Just by making this simple change, you can prevent and treat many health issues associated with being overweight or obese. So why not give it a try?
