Choose GM. (Glucomannan) My favourite kind of soluble fibre is glucomannan (GM), or konjac. Wellbetx is a great product. You can take 2 to 4 capsules with a glass of water, 30 to 60 minutes before eating. Don't take any medications within 1 hour before or 2 hours after taking it because the fibre may absorb the medication.
Imagine eating 12 pounds of food a day -- and still staying thin and healthy. That may sound crazy, but it's exactly what our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate for millennia! And they didn't have any obesity or chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or dementia.
Of course, I wouldn't advise anyone today to eat 12 pounds of food, because the food in our society lacks one major secret ingredient that our ancestors ate in nearly all their food -- fibre!
Fibre has so many health benefits. I'll explain some of its benefits and give you nine tips you can begin using today to get more fibre in your diet. I'll also tell you about a "super-fibre" that can help you increase your total fibre intake overnight.
But before I tell you about what fibre can do for you, let's a look a little more at the history of fibre.
Why Bushmen are Healthier than the Average Westerner
Dr. Dennis Burkitt, a famous English physician, studied the differences between indigenous African bushmen and their "civilized" western counterparts. The bushmen seemed to be free of the scourges of modern life -- including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity.
Dr. Burkitt found that the average bushman had a stool weight of 1 kilo and the "civilized" men had a stool weight of only 100 grams - that's 87.5 percent smaller! The difference was in the amount of fibre they ate.
Today, the average westerner eats about 8 grams of fibre a day. But the average hunter and gatherer ate 100 grams from all manner of roots, berries, leaves and plant foods. And the fibre is what helped those ancestors of ours stay healthy. Just take a look at all the good things that fibre can do for your body.
You need fibre to keep you healthy from top to bottom, as well as to provide food for the healthy bacteria that work within you to promote health.
In fact, fibre can actually prevent obesity and all the chronic disease of aging. This is because fibre slows the rate at which food enters your bloodstream and increases the speed at which food exits your body through the digestive tract. That keeps your blood sugar and cholesterol in ideal balance -- and quickly eliminates toxins from your gut and reduces your appetite.
It's clear, fibre is a great ally in the battle of the bulge.
Now that you know how beneficial it is, let's look at how you can begin taking advantage of fibre's health benefits.
Getting Enough Daily Fibre
You should aim to get 30 to 50 grams of fiber into your diet every day. The type of fibre you choose is important too.
Most people think that bran is the best type of fibre to eat. But bran (wheat fibre) is mostly insoluble and doesn't get digested. Think of it as more of a scouring pad for your intestines. That's good for getting you regular, but it just can't help your health the way that soluble fiber can.
You'll find soluble fibre in fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and most whole grains. The bacteria in your gut metabolizes the soluble fibre in these foods, and that's when the benefits start.
Soluble fiber can help lower cholesterol, blood sugar, and insulin, prevent cancer, balance hormone levels, remove excess estrogen and reduce the risk of breast cancer, make vitamins and minerals, provide food for the colon cells, and more. So it's easy to see just how crucial soluble fibre is to good heath!
Glucomannan: An amazing source of soluble fibre
Glucomannan (GM) is a soluble, fermentable, and highly viscous dietary fiber that comes from the root of the elephant yam, also known as konjac (Amorphophallus konjac or Amorphophallus rivieri), native to Asia. The konjac tuber has been used for centuries as an herbal remedy and to make traditional foods such as konjac jelly, tofu, and noodles. More recently, purified konjac flour, or GM, has been used as a food stabilizer, gelling agent, and supplement.
9 Tips for Increasing the Fiber in Your Diet
1. Get the flax. Get a coffee grinder just for flax seeds, grind 1/2 cup at a time, and keep it in a tightly sealed glass jar in the fridge or freezer. Eat 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds a day. Sprinkle it on salads, grains, or vegetable dishes or mix it in a little unsweetened applesauce.
2. Load up on legumes. Beans beat out everything else for fiber content!
3. Bulk up on vegetables. With low levels of calories and high levels of antioxidants and protective phytochemicals, these excellent fibre sources should be heaped on your plate daily.
4. Go with the grain. Whole grains like brown rice or quinoa are rich in fibre, too.
5. Eat more fruit. Include a few servings of low-sugar fruits to your diet daily (berries are the highest in fiber and other protective phytochemicals).
6. Go nuts. Include a few handfuls of almonds, walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts to your diet every day.
7. Start slowly. Switching abruptly to a high-fiber diet can cause gas and bloating. Increase your fiber intake slowly till you get up to 50 grams a day.
8. Consider a good fibre supplement. If you're have trouble getting your fill of fibre, choose a supplement that contains both soluble and insoluble fiber and no sweeteners or additives.
9. Choose GM. By now, you know that my favourite kind is glucomannan (GM), or konjac. Wellbetx is a great product. You can take 2 to 4 capsules with a glass of water, 30 to 60 minutes before eating. Don't take any medications within 1 hour before or 2 hours after taking it because the fibre may absorb the medication.
As you can see, fibre has big benefits for your health -- from encouraging weight loss to preventing chronic diseases. I hope you'll start adding more of this important compound into your diet today!
