Dietary fibre - our best ally for a healthy gut
Fiber helps regulate the body’s use of sugars, helping to keep our hunger and blood sugar stable. Fiber has been an underrated element of our nutrition for almost three decades and has only recently been rediscovered for its essential function for health and longevity. Fiber does much more than just keeping your digestion regular. It helps lower cholesterol, keeps your blood sugar stable, makes it easier to lose weight, and even contributes to your longevity. It is your path to improved digestion!
try our fibre rich recipes
Fibers as medicine
Our busy lifestyles involving long working hours and little time for cooking at home. We are too easily tempted by fast food containing large amounts of carbohydrates made of processed ingredients like white flour and rice, sauces and cakes with preservatives and added sugars, colorants, and so on. There is a wide-spread misunderstanding on fibers as bearing no nutritional content nor function for human health. The result of a diet that fuels our cells with refined substances is strikingly clear though. The latest research shows premature ageing, degeneration of the cell structure, inflammation, chronic diseases, disruption of hormonal natural balance, weight gain ultimately cancer, diabetes, and cardio-vascular disease. The “urban diet” does not leave much room for complex carbs like whole food grains and cereals, legumes, fruits and vegetables which are rich in fibers.
Stepping forward in time and back to nature, with todays scientific research and better knowledge we know the importance of fibers for a healthy gut.
Not all fibres are made equal
There are two major types of fibers: soluble and insoluble.
Soluble fiber
Insoluble fiber
Insoluble fibers found in nuts, grains and skins of fruit (so chose organic and eat your peels whenever possible) as well as whole-wheat bread and brown rice. They are the indigestible carbs that don’t dissolve with water which adds bulk to our stools. Health benefits include constipation prevention and better digestive health.
Fuel yourself with quality sources of both with our programs.
Gut talk
If you are familiar with the gut, you know that the inner walls resemble a comb with countless tiny intestinal villi to optimise the absorption surface to its maximum. Fibers passing within the intestines mechanically manage to brush away unwanted stagnant material that has not been transported out yet, thus improving the absorption of nutrients and preventing stuck sediments of rotting food from becoming a danger for not just constipation but also infections, inflammation and ultimately damage to the intestinal wall.
Feeling bloated?
Soluble fibers create less of a problem for digestion than insoluble ones. Insoluble fibres can create bloating for people who are not used to fibers in their diet, yet you should not be discouraged from taking these fundamental elements into your system.
Causes of bloating
First, observe your food combinations: are you eating sweets, sugary drinks, fruits high in sugar content together with a meal rich in fibers? Then you are creating your own “gut party”. Think of your gut digestion process like a line of priority according to the energy the element provides to the body. If you have broccoli, a milkshake with sugar and white bread in your stomach in a meal, your body will first go to digest the milkshake and the white bread to break down the carbohydrate and glucose for fueling the blood with energy. Unfortunately, this means that broccoli will have to wait in line longer within the digestive tract with the resulting bacteria feeding on it and fermenting, causing air and bloating as a result.
Here is what you can do
If you had broccoli and whole grains instead, with water or herbal tea rather than sugary drinks, then you would have in your gut a balanced situation with foods that take more or less the same time to digest, causing no bloating in a normal person.
Second, Rome was not built in a day! It can occur if you are still in detoxing transition from a classic diet to a richer, plant-based diet: there can be still remaining old food inside of your gut that can cause fermenting and bloating when we add more fibers. For a smoother transition, you may want to try gentle enemas with lukewarm water on an empty stomach once a month in the morning, so that the residual sediments of old food are removed. Please do not attempt without medical assistance. Another way to reestablish a balanced gut flora is with probiotics, which help create, maintain and boost a beneficial gut flora. Bloating can be a sign of bad gut flora still present in the intestine and adding probiotics with fiber consumption may improve the transition to a completely plant-based, fiber rich diet.
The Eat by Alex Way
Eat by Alex meal plans are mindfully designed so that exquisite taste meets functional nutrition. Our goal is to balance your fiber intake by exposing your palate and gut to a wide variety of greens, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds throughout the week, thus enhancing your transition phase to a healthier flora. Thanks to the healthy fibers in our meals you may feel more satiated, your blood sugar levels may maintain in a constant healthy range, and you should feel more energised as a result.
Try our reBUILD Gut Health Program to discover the amazing transition from bloating towards a healthy, balanced gut and natural digestion.
Have you ever tried our Protein Seed Crackers? They are super easy to make and are a delicious and crunchy way to boost your fiber intake!