Make fibre your best friend to lose weight
We all know that losing weight is hard. While it seems possible to gain weight overnight or just by looking at a bakery window, losing weight on the other hand seems to happen incredibly slowly. This is why, in coaching, I find it helpful to add in fun and beneficial challenges as a distraction from monitoring progress on the scales. One such challenge, with huge health benefits, focuses on improving the amount of fibre contained in your diet.
We are constantly being told that protein is the star of the weight loss show with plenty of advice aimed at increasing the amount of protein we eat at each meal. But most people who want to eat well and are not looking to body build can hit their daily protein requirements simply by ensuring each meal contains a good source of protein. The macro most likely to be lacking is the amount of fibre in your diet and increasing this provides far more benefits than you might expect.
What do you mean by fibre?
Found only in plant foods, fibre provides numerous nutritional benefits because it can not be completely broken down by digestion. There are broadly two types of fibre, soluble and insoluble. The first, soluble dissolves in water to form a type of gel in your gut. This type of fibre helps you feel fuller for longer and reduces glucose spikes. It is commonly found in many fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds and beans. The second type of fibre is insoluble and this type helps food to move through your body. It is commonly found in brown rice, leafy greens, again nuts and seeds and the skin on fruit.
Why does eating fibre help me to lose weight?
Fibre rich foods are often nutrient dense, low calorie and satisfying. Including them in your diet enables you to lose weight without starving yourself. They help to maintain control of your blood sugar, so curb hunger pangs and, being slow to digest, make you feel fuller for longer.
Are there any other health benefits?
In addition to assisting weight loss, fibre can further benefit your health by lowering cholesterol and improving your heart health by reducing risk factors such as high blood pressure. A high fibre diet also works to improve your metabolic health and feeds your microbiome increasing the variety of microbes your gut contains and increasing the population of healthy ones. With all these health improvements available, why wouldn’t you want to increase the amount of fibre in your diet?
Ok I’m in, how do I increase my fibre consumption?
Adults are recommended to eat between 25g to 30g of fibre per day. Rather than going through the laborious task of tracking macros you can increase the amount of fibre in your diet in three easy ways:
1. Swap to wholegrain versions of your usual foods, for example bread, rice and pasta. If you would normally cook white rice try using brown instead or a mix of the two until your taste buds have adapted to the difference.
2. Try to incorporate one extra plant food in your meals and snacks. This could mean chopping up a carrot to have with your lunchtime wrap or using fruit as a dessert. You could also add a side salad to a pasta meal or sprinkle some seeds or nuts on to your breakfast.
3. Start experimenting with higher fibre foods such as lentils, chickpeas and seeds. A lot of recipes will still work by swapping out some of the animal-based protein for a plant protein instead. Try out some new recipes or adapt your old favourites. Either way ensures you are adding more fibre to your diet.
Tips for a new fibre-filled life!
Remember the best approach with any lifestyle change is to start small. This way you can slowly build up the habit without feeling overwhelmed or overcommitted. Starting small enables you to add in more plants and therefore more fibre as the habit grows. The best way to do this is to improve one meal at a time. Over time you can build up to the health experts’ recommendation of incorporating 30 plant foods in your diet each week – are you up for the challenge? And can you make fibre your weight loss best friend?
