My 3rd CRUCIAL Ingredient for Sustainable Fat Loss You Don't Want to Miss

So, we've covered one and two, reducing processed foods and reducing animal products. This time it's about what you can ADD to your routine. The 3rd crucial ingredient to sustainable fat loss without extreme caloric restriction or exercise is kind of a big deal. It's free of calories and has zero cholesterol, it helps keep us full and satiated, and helps regulate healthy digestive tract. It's found only found in plants, and many people struggle to get enough in their daily routines.

Can you guess what it is? Do you know?? Do I have you ready for the big reveal?

This crucial ingredient to sustained fat loss and a healthy weight is... F I B E R!

Fiber Recommended Dietary Daily Intake:

women minimum 25 grams/ day

men minimum 30 to 38g/ day

~14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories in your diet

If Americans just consumed the least amount of fiber recommended each day, we could save billions of dollars, and thats just related to constipation alone!! Fiber is the roughage from plant foods and our digestive enzymes can't it break down. Well, if we can't break if down why do we need it? Fiber is very important and helps move food and particles through our digestive tracts, it feeds our good bacteria, changes our gut hormones (in a good way), which then helps control our cholesterol, and body weight, blood sugar, and blood pressure, which also reduces the risk for cardiovascular disease.

Fiber is probably most important in regulating digestive health, and our GUT has deemed the nickname "The Second Brain". Having a healthy functioning digestive system plays a role in so many aspects of health. Your digestive system is responsible for all transformation in the body: your metabolism, absorbing nutrients from food, eliminating waste, sending messages to the brain and the body. Your gut has too many functions to count, so take care of it by providing it with high fiber foods.

The secret to true health lies in a balanced digestive system. Speaking of a healthy digestive system, bowel movements should ideally be two or three times a day. If you have to strain, you need more fiber! If you aren't going to the bathroom this often, you need more fiber! Or all that waste is piling in your gut, toxins being released back into your system over and over. This is why having bowel movements is so important! Think about it! It contains all the waste and toxins that NEEDS to come out!

Okay so you get the point, fiber is very important. Fiber is only found in plant foods. So if you aren't eating plant foods, you aren't getting fiber. And one serving of fruit a day isn't going to cut it, you need to have multiple servings a day (3-5 servings of fruit, 3-5 servings of greens and other vegetables, 3-5 servings of beans, legumes, and whole grains). My favorite part about fiber is that it does not have CALORIES!! It is "undigestible" but our gut bacteria actually break down and feed on the fiber; technically it is broken down by our microbiome.

The gut bacteria break the fiber down and create short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). SCFAs help decrease inflammation, they play a role in immunity and fighting off diseases, they are important in our mental health and building blocks of brain health. SCFAs can also affect our appetite, metabolism, hormones, and how much we eat!

Fiber adds bulk to your stool. When you eat a high fiber meal, you don't actually absorb all the calories from that meal. If you compare a high fiber diet with a low fiber diet, with same amount of calories, the person on the high fiber diet is actually absorbing a lot less calories and loses more weight over time.

Let's take an apple compared to apple juice for example. If you were to drink the apple juice, it would take but seconds for the calories it to be absorbed into the bloodstream, spike your blood sugar and insulin (causing fat cells to store more fat) and to get those same number of calories from eating an apple vs drinking its juice, you would have to eat 4-5 apples and consume much larger amounts of fiber.

Fiber slows absorption of sugars, starches, and also fats. The fiber also helps you become fuller faster, thus you end up eating less calories. High fiber foods stay in your stomach longer too, keeping you fuller longer as well.

Our bodies can only absorb the calories that come in touch with our intestinal wall. So fiber carries calories and dilutes them, meaning in high fiber meals and foods, you end up absorbing less calories overall, what really is happening.. you poop some calories out 👍🏻

You can lose more weight on a high fiber diet eating the same number of calories as someone else, because not all those calories are getting absorbed on the high fiber diet.

It's not just about calories in calories out, but for those that believe this, high fiber meals actually allows more calories to COME OUT.

As you are making new habits and adding in new high fiber foods, sometimes supplementing can help you in your transition. I have used a fiber supplement before, and sometimes still do in certain recipes and smoothies, I'll link the one I recommend HERE. Supplements should NOT be used as any replacement for real food, but can be helpful for a short period of time and can help fill in nutrient gaps in our diets. Be on the lookout for my future post about what other supplements I use and recommend, in the mean time, you can read about them on my website HERE.

ALSO, if you haven't got my latest FAT BLASTING & HIGH FIBER Meal Plan, go grab it HERE!!