Eat Well (content) – Eat a high-fibre diet
Eating well means eating for nutrition rather than eating for comfort.
One of the hallmarks of eating well is consuming a high fibre diet. Fibre is sometimes also called roughage.
Fibre consists of the parts of plants that can’t be digested (by humans), mainly cellulose.
A high-fibre diet is a diet that is based on eating vegetables especially non-starchy vegetables and fruit, as well as nuts, cereals and seeds.
Fibre is good for you, not because of nutrients absorbed from it, but because of how it helps the food move through your gut and out the other end, as well as through producing some handy chemicals in the gut when partially digested which are great for gut health.
A high-fibre diet is therefore good for your bowels. Remember: happy bowels – happy you.
Most importantly a high-fibre diet lessens the risk of various bowel diseases, of particularly note bowel cancer, the commonest cancer in both men and women in NZ, which has a higher prevalence amongst obese men and women.
A high-fibre diet moderates the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream following a meal which in turn reduces the insulin response to a meal. This is excellent for those of us who are already obese and at risk of, or currently have, Type 2 diabetes.
A high-fibre diet also reduces total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (LDL the so-called “bad cholesterol”) in our blood stream and reduces the risk of coronary heart disease, which is also a major risk in obesity.
Finally, a high-fibre diet helps us feel full following a meal, which is an excellent aid to eating less. Make the switch to a high-fibre diet.
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