There are quite a few foods that can help with your hunger scale, whether they burn more fat or help you feel fuller longer. Many of the foods recommended for reducing your hunger and appetite to a reasonable amount contain fibre. This is because fiber has some unique benefits for your hunger scale. Here are some things to learn about fibre and appetite.
Fibre Fills You Up Quickly
Have you noticed that when you eat a big salad with lots of fibre-rich vegetables, you get full a lot faster than if you are eating a heavier meal? This is because of the fibre in those vegetables. Fibre not only helps you feel full quicker, even on foods that are healthier and tend to be lower in fat than other foods, but they take longer to digest. This allows you to feel fuller for a longer period of time, reducing extra snacking and hunger in between meals.
Of course you don’t want to eat only fibre-rich foods, especially if you have trouble digesting it and are yet to repair your gut health. You want to find the right balance and make sure to also have other nutrients, including protein, vitamins and minerals, and healthy carbohydrates. It’s important to have a variety of foods.
Fibre Can Improve Your Digestion
Some people have issues with increased hunger and appetite not because they don’t eat enough, but because of issues with their digestive system. If your body is not digesting foods properly it is probably due to lack of fibre or other nutrients, you might have confusing hunger feelings in your stomach and think you are hungry but actually your body is just craving the foods that are full of nutrition. When you eat foods to help with digestion, such as fibre-rich vegetables and whole grains, it may reverse your issues and help you have a more proper hunger scale. This is also where a Naturopath comes in handy because they can take care of the repair work and help catch you up and guide you with which foods are best to eat for fibre.
Fibre Helps your Immune System
It’s incredible to see how closely linked your gut and your immune system are. Fibre is the primary source of food for your gut microbiome and when the microbes are fed they release short chain fatty acids. This is the link between your microbiome in your intestines and your immune system. The interaction between the two works both ways. You need to produce enough short chain fatty acids to protect against disease. However when we eat a low fibre diet and have low numbers of short chain fatty acids this is when we start to see diseases such as bowel cancer, irritable bowel diseases, obesity and others.
Short Chain Fatty Acids and Hunger
The food we eat as well as the metabolites that our gut microbiome produce help control our appetite. Short chain fatty acids travel all over the body even right up to the brain. One of them called Acetate and when it gets up there is sparks are cascade of reactions which result in you not wanting to eat as much. Showing us that eating a diet rich in high fibre foods helps to reduce our hunger but also feeds our body.
Recommended High-Fibre Foods
Looking to increase fibre in your diet? It is easy to do when you eat healthy foods and have balanced meals. Not only are vegetables a great source of fibre, but so are nuts, fruits, and whole grains. You can also get fibre in your beans, lentils, and chickpeas, which are great sources of plant-based protein as well and your microbes love them.
It is very easy to add more fibre-rich foods to your typical diet. Make a big salad with a healthy plant based protein like chickpeas and quinoa. Add some brown rice to your dinner instead of white rice, or swap out your high-sugar snack for an apple with almond butter. Make some spinach and artichoke dip to have for a snack. These simple changes will encourage more fibre and reduce those unhealthy foods that don’t contain any nutrients and starve your body.
