Role of Fiber in Weight Loss

In our goal to achieve significant weight loss, it is important to understand how fiber affects our diet plans. Such understanding is essential to make our hcg injections work more effectively. We hear our doctors constantly remind us how important it is to include fiber rich foods in our diet, especially if our goal is to shed some of our body’s excess weight. A reminder we do not take seriously. And if we do, the effort starts and stops with sipping a can of pineapple juice. But really, what is the role of fiber in effective weight loss programs such as hcg injections?

Basically, there are two types of fiber: soluble, which dissolves in water, and insoluble, which does not. Soluble fiber helps lower our body’s cholesterol levels. 30 grams of fiber intake can help you lose weight, lower blood pressure and improve the body’s response to insulin.

High fiber food tend to contain low calories. Women aged 50 and below are required to take 25 grams of fiber everyday, while those aged 51 and older are supposed to intake 21 grams of fiber on a daily basis. Men, on the other hand, are supposed to have more fiber intake as those aged 50 and younger are required to take 38 grams of fiber everyday, while those who are aged 51 and over are supposed to have lesser fiber intake of 30 grams everyday.

So does fiber help in effectively losing weight?

Shedding begins from the digestive system, how the body absorbs nutrients and how it excretes waste. Fiber normalizes our body’s bowel movement which decreases the possibility being constipated. It also helps prevents the development of colorectal cancer, which is an abnormal growth of cells which can spread to other parts of the body.

If the body’s bowel movement works as it should be, our body avoids the risk of developing hemorrhoids. It lowers cholesterol level and controls our body’s blood sugar level which reduces the risk of developing heart diseases, as well as type 2 diabetes. High fiber foods are more filling in the stomach which lessens our food intake. It also has fewer calories which is helpful in weight loss.

The busy and demanding careers of people nowadays have left us resorting to take outs for dinner and instant meals for the rest of the day, we simply cannot eat healthy meals three times a day, no matter how much we want to. And so, we substitute the nutrients we lack which we are supposed to get from healthy and hearty meals with vitamins and other food supplements. But Dr. Frank Hu, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health stresses the importance of adequate fiber intake. For him,  it is best to get fiber from actual food, and not from food supplements.

Sources of natural fiber comes from everyday food that we can buy in the grocery store on our way home from work such as wheat oats, vegetables, fruits such as banana, legumes such as nuts and seeds, whole grains, and beans.

Fiber works best when it can absorb water. HIgh amount of water can help in making the stool soft and bulky. Be careful in your fiber intake, though. Adding too much fiber in the diet quickly can promote intestinal gas, abdominal bloating and cramping. So in order to balance out the fiber in our body, drink plenty of water.