Fibre is a starch that our bodies cannot digest.
There are 2 types of fibre - soluble and insoluble.
Insoluble fibre passes through the gut quickly and can prevent constipation, infections of the gut, haemorrhoids, heart disease and even some types of cancer. This type of fibre is ‘prebiotic’, as it travels down to your lower intestine, where it feeds all of the food bacteria in your gut.
Believe it or not, you have trillions of bacteria in your gut right now! In fact, your body is composed of more bacteria cells than human cells. But don’t worry, we need them!
Did you know that 60% of the weight of your stool is actually your gut microbes? It’s not just the excrement of food waste.
Soluble fibre acts like a sponge in the gut. The soluble fibre in foods, such as veggies, binds with cholesterol and removes it from the blood stream. It can help lower blood sugar too as it slows the speed at which foods are digested. This is also why it is super-important to have a well-balanced meal of protein, fat & fibre, and not just have part of your meal.
How can fibre help me lose weight?
In addition to improving gut health, fibre helps you feel full for longer. This helps prevent overeating and it makes you slow down and chew! It is important to take your time to sit down and eat your meals SLOWLY - around 20-30 minutes is ideal. This gives your body time to acknowledge that you’re full, sending the signal to your brain. Your food has to travel 6.7 metres through the digestive system before it even reaches the trigger-point for this signal!
Fibre helps to produce short chain fatty acids (SCFA) in the gut, which change the gut environment, inhibiting growth of ‘bad’ bacteria and encouraging growth of ‘good’ bacteria. SCFA’s also help to heal damage to the junctions in the gut lining that contribute to intestinal permeability (leaky gut), which is associated with many auto-immune diseases.
As more ‘good guys’ populate the gut, your ability to process fibre into SCFAs increases and our overall gut health improves, as does our general health, wellbeing and resistance to disease.
SCFAs also optimise the immune system to fight infection and disease, as well as playing an active role in reversing insulin resistance. SCFA’s are undisputedly one of the ‘secrets’ to good health. Now you just need to learn how to help your body produce as many SCFA’s as possible…and our 28-Day Program is the perfect place to start!
