Dr. Denis Burkitt famously said: “Societies that eat unrefined foods produce large stools and build small hospitals; societies that eat fibre-depleted foods produce small stools and build large hospitals."
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.
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 how 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.
Can Fibre help with weight-loss? 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 and send this 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!
POP QUIZ TIME!
Which of these has more bacteria: a garbage dump, a train station or your colon???
That's right… it’s YOUR COLON. Inside of you this very moment there are 39 TRILLION little gut bugs. In fact, your body is composed of more bacteria cells than human cells. But don’t freak out! We need them!
Let me tell you the story of Mr. fibre
Mr Fibre makes the long, lonely journey through the digestive system, and finally reaches the colon still untouched and intact. All his other friends have already been digested and absorbed, but he could not be broken down! Mr Fibre starts to worry that he’s going to end up in the toilet. Not ideal!But when he reaches the colon, he’s greeted by a crowd of good gut bugs. They are obsessed with him! Mr Fibre joins forces with the gut bugs and is transformed into a Short Chain Fatty Acid so he can benefit the whole body! In his new SCFA form, he changes the environment of the gut, preventing the growth of bad bugs and growing the community of good bugs. Mr SCFA also helps to heal damage to the gut lining that can sometimes lead to a ‘leaky gut’ (associated with auto-immune disorders).
As the community of good bugs gets bigger and bigger, more of Mr Fibre’s family can be transformed into SCFA’s. Which in turn, increases our overall gut health (...and you guessed it) ALSO IMPROVES OUR OVERALL HEALTH!
SCFA’s can also improve the immune system, to help fight off infection disease, as well as playing a role in reversing insulin resistance. 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!
