Fiber helps prevent the calories you eat from expanding your waistline because the
body does not use all food sources with equal efficiency. The physical properties
of a food influence how completely the body can digest and absorb calories,
so all calories do not contribute equally to weight gain. For example, the body can
extract only about two-thirds of the calories in raw almonds but nearly 100% of the
calories in almond butter. The calories in whole grains, oats, and high-fiber cereals
are digested inefficiently, and they also bump up metabolism. Fiber also traps calorie-
dense fats and oils, so they go through you rather than being digested and ending
up stored as fat in your body.
Food choices can also influence hunger. Feeding tests show that meals higher in
protein and fiber are more satisfying and better at suppressing hunger than meals
high in refined carbohydrates that cause a rapid spike in blood glucose. Selecting
meals with a low glycemic index is likely to lead to greater weight loss than the
typical American diet. A 2017 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
compared the metabolic effects of a diet high in whole-grain and fiber content
to a refined grain-based diet. The study found that substituting whole grains for
refined grains led to a stool energy loss of nearly 100 calories a day—by speeding
up metabolism, cutting the number of calories that the body retained, and by changing
the digestibility of other foods.
This blog presents opinions and ideas and is intended to provide helpful general information. I am not engaged in rendering advice or services to the individual reader. The ideas, procedures and suggestions in that are presented are not in any way a substitute for the advice and care of the reader’s own physician or other medical professional based on the reader’s own individual conditions, symptoms or concerns. If the reader needs personal medical, health, dietary, exercise or other assistance or advice the reader should consult a physician and/or other qualified health professionals. The author specifically disclaims all responsibility for any injury, damage or loss that the reader may incur as a direct or indirect consequence of following any directions or suggestions given in this blog or participating in any programs described in this blog or in the book, The Building Blocks of Health––How to Optimize Your Health with a Lifestyle Checklist (available in print or downloaded at Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble and elsewhere). Copyright 2021 by J. Joseph Speidel,
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