Latest / Mocktail Minutes / The Magic of Fiber
Transcript
- 0:21Hi everyone.
- 0:21Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes.
- 0:25This is Brianna riding solo today.
- 0:28Miss Bailey is out soaking up all her new baby Ganon snuggles.
- 0:34So if you haven't congratulated her yet, make sure that you head over to her page and do that.
- 0:39But today I am drinking Ollie pop because I thought it was very fitting for today's topic.
- 0:44So I'm doing the strawberry vanilla flavor.
- 0:46It's one of my favorites.
- 0:47My absolute favorite is watermelon lime.
- 0:51I can never find it and when I do I make sure that I get a couple because They're delicious.
- 0:57So today we're talking about fiber for weight loss and really just fiber in general.
- 1:03So you've probably heard of it, but what is fiber?
- 1:05So fiber is basically the indigestible part of carbohydrates that our body cannot break down.
- 1:12So it's actually a prebiotic.
- 1:14It feeds the good bacteria in our gut.
- 1:17So fiber also does.
- 1:19A lot of other things.
- 1:21And after I kind of tell you a few of these things, it's going to kind of click as to maybe why it's beneficial if you are on a weight loss journey or really just a health journey, but it is very helpful for weight loss.
- 1:34So fiber helps to slow down the digestion of carbohydrates.
- 1:39So it really does help to keep our blood sugar stable.
- 1:43So Instead of it just, you know, hitting and us having a spike, it really helps to slow down that spike.
- 1:51So this is why we are constantly preaching pair your carbohydrates.
- 1:55with really any other nutrient, but fiber is very beneficial.
- 2:00So it helps to keep your blood sugar stable in that way.
- 2:03Insoluble fiber specifically has been known to help with insulin resistance.
- 2:08So if you are someone who has diabetes or maybe PCOS, or just know that you have insulin resistance, you've gotten your fasting insulin tested and it is elevated.
- 2:20It can be very helpful for you to increase your fiber.
- 2:23Fiber also helps to keep you feeling fuller longer.
- 2:27So this can help to reduce cravings.
- 2:30Again, great for weight loss.
- 2:32Fiber is also heart healthy because it helps to remove your LDL or your bad cholesterol from your arteries.
- 2:39So if you've been to your doctor and they tell you, Hey, you're, you know, your LDL is elevated a great lifestyle.
- 2:47change to kind of make is to increase your fiber to really start to be intentional with and then getting fiber at every meal because that is going to help lower that.
- 2:56It also helps to keep digestion and your bowel movements regular.
- 3:01So it really does help with constipation.
- 3:04If you are someone who is not having a bowel movement at least one time every single day, the first thing I'm going to have you look at is fiber because you're probably not getting enough.
- 3:15We really do need fiber to help.
- 3:17us have those bowel movements.
- 3:19And I know everyone's regimens are a little bit different.
- 3:22But really you should be pooping at least one time a day.
- 3:27And I always am so surprised.
- 3:29When I work with clients and they're like, Oh, TMI, TMI, I'm like, this is what dietitians do.
- 3:34I talk about everything that goes in.
- 3:36I talk about how it goes through.
- 3:39We've been talking about how it comes out.
- 3:40Okay.
- 3:41So poop every day, fiber helps with that.
- 3:44And the other thing that it does, it helps to maintain good gut bacteria, which we're learning so much about the gut microbiome, but we know that that helps with immunity.
- 3:52It helps with so many processes in the body.
- 3:55So help keep your gut happy.
- 3:58Eat fiber.
- 3:59And lastly, it really is a form of detox or it helps with a form of detox.
- 4:05I would say pooping is a form of detox because it's one of the ways that we excrete waste and toxins.
- 4:12And so again, keeping those regular bowel movements is going to kind of help with that pathway.
- 4:17So the current USDA recommendations for fiber is like 25 grams for women and 38 for men.
- 4:27And I believe it's higher because of the prevalence of colon cancer just being higher in males and fiber does help to protect from colon cancer.
- 4:38I guess that's another, that's another benefit.
- 4:40So I would assume that's why it's higher for men.
- 4:43But really 25 for women.
- 4:4538 for men, or some people break it down to 15 grams of fiber per every thousand calories that you eat.
- 4:52So, you know, 25 doesn't sound like a lot, right?
- 4:56But it's.
- 4:57It's thought that, or it's not even thought we know this, we have, we have data that shows about only 10 percent of Americans are getting their daily recommended.
- 5:06intake of fiber that is crazy low.
- 5:09And honestly, we know that the average American gets around 10 to 15 grams a day.
- 5:14So, you know, if you're to think about like, Oh, 15, 14 grams per every thousand calories, most people are eating more than a thousand calories.
- 5:24If not, you absolutely should be.
- 5:25So it's, we're just not consuming a lot.
- 5:29And I think really why is we're not really taught a lot about fiber.
- 5:34We're not really taught what foods it's in.
- 5:36Yeah.
- 5:37And if you kind of look again, I'm always going to go back to my conspiracy theories, not even conspiracy theories, but just like, let's look at how everybody's diet patterns are.
- 5:47Most of the popular diets.
- 5:50are very low in fiber, you know?
- 5:53So if you're thinking like keto, anything, low carb, keto, carnivore, low in fiber, minimal, very low.
- 6:01And then if you're just thinking about being scared about carbs in general, maybe you've really pulled back on your carbs.
- 6:06You're going to have low fiber.
- 6:07If you're scared of fruit, low fiber.
- 6:10If you don't eat things like beans or bread, grains, low fiber, right?
- 6:15So.
- 6:16A lot of times we end up in this place where we're not getting an adequate nutrients because we're trying to be more health conscious, right?
- 6:25We're trying to, you know, maybe lose weight or, you know, eat healthier or follow some sort of trend on the internet that like claims to have all these benefits.
- 6:33And in doing so we kind of like work against ourselves, right?
- 6:37So you're not alone if this is you.
- 6:40Most people are not getting enough fiber.
- 6:42And I think it's not talked about enough, especially when you want to lose weight, because we focus a lot on protein.
- 6:51And again, I'm always going to be protein forward.
- 6:54I think that that's a very good first step to really help you with weight loss, help you get mindful of your food really kind of help silence some of that food noise because it is satiating, but in doing so we kind of forget.
- 7:09The other nutrients that are super, super important.
- 7:12And if you are eating a lot of protein and maybe you're eating a lot of protein, but still low calorie, it's going to be hard to get in fiber because you're going to be full.
- 7:24You're going to kind of miss out on that because you are full.
- 7:27And so.
- 7:28There's some clients that I work with individually that I kind of take a look at their macronutrient breakdown.
- 7:33And for some of them, I haven't pulled back a little bit on protein because I don't want them being so full that they're missing out on fiber because it has so many great benefits.
- 7:42So sidebar anyways, what I'm going to recommend is 25 to 30 minutes.
- 7:51As a good general goal for some people starting point again, I work with mostly women.
- 7:58So obviously I'm not going to say, Hey, a goal for a male is 30.
- 8:01If I know that for sure, the recommend the recommended amount was 38.
- 8:05Right.
- 8:06But I would say most people are not even getting anywhere near that.
- 8:09So a good starting goal would be 25 to 30 unsupplemented.
- 8:13Why?
- 8:14Because Of course, it would be easy just to go get like a fiber powder and be like, yeah, I'm taking my benefit fiber, Metamucil boom done.
- 8:21But I really want you focusing on whole food sources because you're going to get all the other nutrients that come with eating the fruits, the roots, the beans, the grains, vegetables.
- 8:33I want you eating those.
- 8:34Okay.
- 8:35So the thing with fiber, and I guess let me back up is there's two forms of fiber, really I guess three, if you wanted to get on the tangent of like fiber resistant starch, not going to do that today.
- 8:47I'm just going to do insoluble and soluble fiber.
- 8:49So you need both.
- 8:51And a lot of the foods that contain fiber do contain both.
- 8:57So as long as you're just trying to be fiber forward, you're probably going to be okay.
- 9:00But insoluble fiber, we don't break it down, so it adds bulk to our stools and it kind of keep things running smoothly through our digestive tract.
- 9:09These are things like grains, beans, roots, nuts, skins of vegetables, skins of apples.
- 9:17Avocado.
- 9:17For those of you who don't know, avocado is a great source of fiber.
- 9:21That's always one that I feel like people can get down with.
- 9:24And then you have soluble fiber and this basically dissolves in water and it turns into a gel in our digestive tract.
- 9:31And these are going to be in things like oatmeal, bananas, and that's psyllium husk psyllium husk.
- 9:37If you do need to supplement, I would say that's a great place to start.
- 9:41And it's usually tasteless, so you can add it to things.
- 9:47You can add it to smoothies.
- 9:48Do you know that it's again, it turns into a gel, right?
- 9:52So it's going to make things jelly.
- 9:54So I'd say add a little bit of extra fluid or liquid into your protein.
- 10:01Smoothie.
- 10:02Why am I having a hard time talking today into your smoothie?
- 10:05If you want to add it in, because if you just do your normal amount of liquid, it's going to be very thick.
- 10:11So something with fiber is you want to make sure you kind of increase it low and slow.
- 10:17So Too much fiber too quickly is going to give you some GI discomfort.
- 10:22So where I recommend people start is, you know, using a piece of paper and kind of just tracking how much fiber they're getting in every day.
- 10:32So maybe do this for a few days.
- 10:34I guess technically you could use like a food tracking app if you wanted to, but I don't know.
- 10:40You also don't have to.
- 10:41So I usually just have people get a piece of paper.
- 10:44Kind of write out what they're having at meals.
- 10:46And then I have them actually look for how much fiber is in those meals because, or in those foods, because I think it's very helpful to know what you're eating and how are you going to know that if you don't look it up?
- 10:58You know, I think sometimes we hold this against ourselves, like, Oh, I just don't know.
- 11:02But it's like, of course you don't know, like, let's educate ourselves.
- 11:05So, you know, if you're having two pieces of toast at breakfast and you're having, Some strawberries and you know, whatever else you're having, write it down and then look, look at the back of your food label on your bread.
- 11:16How much fiber is in a slice of my bread?
- 11:18You know, look up strawberries.
- 11:20Google is great.
- 11:21How much fiber in a half cup of strawberries or whatever it is that you're eating and just make a note of it on that piece of paper.
- 11:29And then you kind of can see what is like my estimate kind of starting point for how much fiber I'm already eating.
- 11:37And then I would recommend.
- 11:39Depending on where you're at.
- 11:41Kind of going Adding two to five grams a day for about a week or so.
- 11:47And then increasing.
- 11:48Cause what's going to happen is if you just jump too quickly, you're going to have that GI discomfort, maybe you're going to feel that constipation, or you're going to have really bad blow or maybe diarrhea, right?
- 12:00Your, your GI tract just isn't used to that much at a time.
- 12:05And this is where a lot of people will be like, Oh, That means I can't have it.
- 12:09My body just doesn't do well with fiber.
- 12:11I actually hear this so often.
- 12:13My body doesn't do well with fiber.
- 12:15I'm like, well, what you probably did was you went from eating very, very minimal, like five, seven, 10 grams of fiber a day.
- 12:24And you decided to have your daily amount at one meal, you know, like this is where, and I've seen so many funny Tik Toks about them, but for like these little Ollie pops right here.
- 12:35If you look at them, right?
- 12:36And I think this is psyllium husk, right?
- 12:38I should know that.
- 12:40Oh, cassava root fiber, trickery root, inulin.
- 12:43Okay.
- 12:45All kinds of fiber in here, right?
- 12:46But these are nine grams of fiber.
- 12:49So, so, so if you are like tossing these back and you're not used to fiber, you're going to feel really cruddy.
- 12:58And this is where I, again, I work with a lot of clients and, you know, they'll start to be mindful of like, Ooh, they're starchy carbs.
- 13:05And maybe they're doing some swaps, you know, maybe they're doing like a lower carb wrap.
- 13:10Right.
- 13:11So for lunch, they're having a low carb wrap, which is usually high in fiber, which is why it's low in carbs.
- 13:16Right.
- 13:17Cause remember, we don't digest that form, that part of the carbohydrate, if you will, that's a very simplified way to put that, but we don't digest it.
- 13:27So they're low carb.
- 13:29Because we're not digesting all of it.
- 13:31So they're high fiber.
- 13:32And so maybe your wrap has 12 grams of fiber in it.
- 13:36And then you mixed it with some other, you know, maybe some cucumbers or whatever it is.
- 13:41And then you had an Ollie pop.
- 13:43And so just your wrap and your Ollie pop alone was like over 20 grams of fiber.
- 13:48And it was so much more than you were used to.
- 13:50Yes, you're not going to feel great.
- 13:53So then you're like, Oh, it doesn't work for me.
- 13:55Fiber isn't a thing.
- 13:56Like I can't, my body just doesn't tolerate it.
- 13:58And we're very quickly to be like, it doesn't agree with my body, but it does.
- 14:04You just have to do it slower.
- 14:05So this is why I like to say, instead of just blindly being like, increase your fiber, which is good advice.
- 14:12But I'm going to, I'm here to walk you through it because I want you to be able to stick with this and apply and find something that works for you, see where you're at.
- 14:20And then we're going to increase it two to five grams a day, about a week.
- 14:24And then we'll up that a little bit.
- 14:26So that's going to kind of help get your body used to that amount of fiber, keep everything running smoothly, keep you feeling good.
- 14:34The other thing that's very important is to make sure that your water intake.
- 14:39With the increased fiber is good.
- 14:41You want to increase your water intake with your increase of fiber because again, we're keeping everything going.
- 14:49That's a mistake.
- 14:49I also see people make is they're still drinking like really low amount of water, increasing fiber.
- 14:55We need both.
- 14:56And then you can do something like.
- 14:58You know, to help your digestion, maybe a post meal walk, which is also great for blood sugar, but it kind of helps get things going.
- 15:04You know, there's a couple of clients that I have that maybe like really struggle with constipation.
- 15:09And as soon as I have them taking this post meal walks, they're noticing like, Oh, I'm very regular.
- 15:14Now I eat, I go for my walk and I have a bowel movement and that's like my thing.
- 15:19And they love it because suddenly they're not constipated or feeling bloated.
- 15:22So if this is you on your journey of increasing fiber, take a little five minute.
- 15:2710 minute post meal walk.
- 15:30The other thing that I don't think is talked about enough, especially right now where we are in the GLP one craze, especially for weight loss is fiber does help to stimulate that GLP one that we have in the gut.
- 15:44So that is a normal thing that we already have in our bodies.
- 15:47And if you didn't, was it last week's episode, we talked all about GLP ones with Dr.
- 15:52Kristin Oja.
- 15:53You'll kind of learn more if you wanted to learn more about those, but we make GLP one in our body, but everybody makes a little bit different amounts.
- 16:00And for some people, especially those with insulin resistance, maybe they make a lot less.
- 16:05So increasing fiber really does help that natural secretion of that GLP one.
- 16:11And that's really the goal we want.
- 16:12We want our bodies working optimally.
- 16:15So again, when we're talking about fiber for weight loss.
- 16:20Increasing fiber can help that GLP 1 secretion, in turn help with insulin and blood sugar.
- 16:27And help you lose weight amongst all the other things that I talked about.
- 16:32So I wanted to talk about foods that are high in fiber very quickly.
- 16:38So avocados, Again, that's one nobody thinks about.
- 16:43And I love throwing that one out there because most people will eat avocado unless you're someone who's like, I don't get it.
- 16:50It's you're either love them or you don't.
- 16:51So if you love them, great, great way to add in fiber.
- 16:55Nuts, seeds, chia seeds are one of my favorite because they're relatively tasteless.
- 17:00You can add them on onto like a yogurt bowl, cottage cheese into smoothies.
- 17:08into oats, literally anything you want.
- 17:11So those chia seeds along with other seeds, vegetables with stocks.
- 17:15So, you know, like your broccoli, your cauliflower, your Brussels sprouts, things like that.
- 17:20Really all vegetables are great.
- 17:22I will say not lettuce so much.
- 17:26And I think this is where people get, maybe they think they're eating a lot of fiber because they're like, Oh, I have a salad every day.
- 17:34Bye.
- 17:36Lettuce is not very high in fiber.
- 17:39Lettuce or spinach or arugula, anything like that is not high in fiber, but it is really high in micronutrients.
- 17:46So I don't think it's something you should like cut out.
- 17:48I would just say, okay, add some chickpeas or black beans or something to that salad that you're already eating.
- 17:53That way you can still get all those great micronutrients.
- 17:55You're still eating foods you enjoy and you're increasing that fiber.
- 17:59So vegetables.
- 18:01whole grains, lentils, beans, berries.
- 18:05So strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, any other area for apples with the skin root vegetables, especially if you keep the skin on.
- 18:14So, you know, maybe you're making some potatoes.
- 18:17Keep the skin on.
- 18:18It's okay to eat the skin.
- 18:20Kiwis, I didn't put that on my list, but Kiwis are great source of fiber and they're great for gut health.
- 18:27We actually have a episode on that as well with Rachel.
- 18:33She's kind of like one of our gut health experts that we have inside metabolism makeover.
- 18:36And she went into talking about like how beneficial it is to have a Kiwi for your gut health.
- 18:41So Kiwi what else?
- 18:44basically think everything that comes from the ground.
- 18:48Okay.
- 18:49It's going to have some sort of fiber in it.
- 18:51And again, kind of check in with yourself.
- 18:54How much am I eating a day?
- 18:56And then how should I increase Again, two to five grams per day for like a week or so.
- 19:03And then increase from there.
- 19:05There is no upper limit for fiber.
- 19:08We do have some studies that are like, you know, 70 might be kind of where it's at 70, but I'm going to, you're probably not going to eat 70 grams of fiber a day.
- 19:21So I would say.
- 19:23Because the other question I get is, then what's a good amount?
- 19:26Again, I'm going to say really, you know, having that goal for women be 30.
- 19:30I think that's great.
- 19:31I think if you can go up from there, perfect.
- 19:34But the biggest kind of caveat I want you guys to take away is when it comes to fiber, we really want to try to be consistent with it.
- 19:42So we don't want days where We are eating 15 grams of fiber.
- 19:47And then another day where we're eating 30 or 35 grams of fiber and like really going back and forth.
- 19:51That's what causes that GI upset that GI discomfort.
- 19:55So I would say find a happy spot and be consistent with it.
- 20:00And it would really say like.
- 20:03For most people.
- 20:04And again, there's different disease states or GI issues that might mean that you have to kind of manipulate fiber differently.
- 20:13And so I would say definitely work with a dietitian to see like what's a good amount for you.
- 20:18But for the general, just a, let me throw out a blanket statement.
- 20:22I think 25 is a great goal to be like for a minimum.
- 20:29And then again, adjust from there.
- 20:31But I would say anything you can be consistent with.
- 20:33So if you know, you know why I can get in 30 grams of fiber a day.
- 20:38There's days that I could get much higher, but no matter what I'm doing, I can kind of get in the 30 grams, even when I'm traveling, when I'm on vacation, when I'm whatever it is, I would say that's a great goal for you to keep things consistent.
- 20:53And then that could be a place where you can slowly build up your skills to increase.
- 20:58Later on where you're now I'm getting 35 grams of fiber, even while traveling that sort of thing, because where we're having like a lot of that GI discomfort when it comes to fiber is the drastic swings when we're going really low one day, really high one day.
- 21:13And so I would say pick a number that you can be consistent with to kind of keep your gut and everything happy.
- 21:20So again, fiber extremely important.
- 21:24I don't know if you know by now, but all of the nutrients are important and eating a balanced diet is extremely important.
- 21:30So think about ways that you can add in fiber, see how you can work it up.
- 21:35That's good for you.
- 21:36If you want a fancy little fiber tracker or a fiber guide, you can always DM me and I will give you a free one that I have, but really you could just use good old Google or a food tracker or a pen and paper.
- 21:52So hopefully this helps.
- 21:55I'll be back next week to chat with you guys..
- 21:58If you have questions, send me a DM.
- 22:00I have a new Instagram handle and I feel like it's such a big change in my life, but really it's not.
- 22:07But my new Instagram handle is Brianna dot dietitian on Instagram.
- 22:11So you can always ask me questions there.
- 22:13You can leave comments on Spotify or Apple podcasts, or if you're ever on YouTube listening, drop a question in the comments and we will answer you.
- 22:22All right, guys.
- 22:23Have a good one.