Everybody knows that fiber is a top quality nutrient that offers long lasting benefits. At the same time; many people do not have a clear cut idea about what type of fiber they need to consume during their weight loss journey. Generally speaking, fiber can be classified into two categories, and they include soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber can be described as bulking agents, and soluble fiber offers powerful health and metabolic benefits. Various research studies clearly show that soluble fiber helps you lose weight effectively, but it should have specific properties to ensure fast and long lasting weight loss benefits.
You need to realize that more than 100 trillion bacteria known as gut flora can be found in the human gut, and the large intestine is the prime location of these bacteria. These living organisms need to be fed well to help them stay healthy, and they perform significant roles in various processes like brain function, weight management, immunity and blood sugar control as well.
That is exactly where the importance of top quality soluble fiber comes in. It goes through the digestive system unchanged, and the bacteria available in the gut digest this fiber to convert it as usable energy. This process of feeding or nourishing bacteria creates a prebiotic effect that offers excellent weight loss and health benefits.
When you feed the gut bacteria in the best manner using soluble fibers like resistant starch, they produce the much-needed nutrients in your bodies such as short-chain fatty acids and this situation creates the positive effect on the inflammatory pathways. Quite naturally, you can enjoy good protection against inflammation-related disorders, and your body becomes better equipped to fight against foreign invaders.
Inflammation plays an important role in making you obese, and you need to control inflammation properly to maintain your health at an optimal level. Top quality soluble fibers also influence the leptin hormone production to aid weight loss, and that is exactly why health experts always advise you to consume soluble fibers like resistant starch to lose weight in a fast and effective manner.
The theory behind weight loss is pretty simple. You need to burn more calories than you consume. What does it mean? You have to find ways to curb your appetite, and good fiber offers this effect to make your weight loss journey result oriented. All soluble fibers increase satiety, but they all are not capable reducing your food intake. Various studies have shown that specific fibers reduce food intake with utmost efficiency, and you need to realize that viscosity is an important aspect in determining the appetite reducing the ability of fiber.
What is viscosity? Viscosity means resistance to stress, and it is a quantity of expressing the magnitude of internal friction in a liquid. Viscous soluble fibers like psyllium, pectins, guar gum, beta-glucan and glucomannan always thicken in water to create a gel-like substance, and this substance sits in the gut well. Most importantly, this gel slows down the process of evacuating of the stomach, and this situation increases the time your abdomen takes to digest and absorb nutrients. Quite naturally, you feel full for a prolonged period and your food cravings come down drastically.
Plant foods can be described as the best source of viscous fiber, and you can eat beans, oats, brussel sprout, asparagus, flaxseeds, turnips, sweet potatoes, mangoes, apricots and oranges to get the best weight loss results.
All these aspects clearly suggest that not all fibers offer the same health benefits, and you have to consume increased amount of viscous fibers to make your weight loss journey hassle free, enjoyable and result oriented as well.