Tag: Weight Loss

Does Fiber Help Lose Weight?

Post author By admin
Post date October 22, 2012
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Fiber – we can’t digest it and it provides us with no calories or nutrients, yet we know that it’s good for us and most of us need more. What is it exactly, and what is it about fiber that makes it so healthy for us?

What is Fiber?

Fiber is simply the part of the plant foods we eat that we aren’t able to break down in our digestive systems. There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber will form a gel when dissolved in water. This type of fiber will slow down the rate of your digestion, leaving you feeling fuller for longer, and off of fewer calories, too! Insoluble fiber doesn’t dissolve, instead, passing through your digestive tract intact. It fills you up and “scrubs out” your insides by collecting toxins and fats, and taking them out when it passes.

You shouldn’t focus on getting specific amounts of any one type of fiber. Eating a healthy and varied diet will take care of that for you. The only thing you should be trying to do to get more fiber is eat healthier foods on a consistent basis.

Does Fiber Help Lose Weight?

Fiber affects weight loss because of the effect it has on our sense of hunger. Your feelings of hunger are controlled by many things, including the amounts of carbs, fat, protein, water and fiber that are present in the things you eat. Eating healthy amounts of an appropriate mix of these foods will eliminate excess hunger and cravings.

Did you know that people eat basically the same amount of food each day. There aren’t usually any drastic changes in the amount people eat from day to day – aside from special occasions that may call for pigging out, that is. When you replace some of the foods you eat with foods that are high in fiber, you’re doing one of the best things you can for weight loss. After all, fiber adds no calories to your diet and most fiber rich foods have ver y little calories compared to other foods of the same weight or volume. It helps you feel full faster, and for longer periods of time. It also absorbs fat, leaving less of it for your body to digest. And most fiber rich foods require you to chew more because of their texture, and this simple act of slowing the rate at which you eat is the perfect way to avoid overeating.

Fiber Helps Blood Sugar

Plus it’s good for your blood sugar. You may think that’s something only diabetics would be concerned with, but everyone – especially those trying to lose weight – should be aware of the consequences of consuming sugar. When you eat sugar or foods like refined carbohydrates that turn into blood sugar quickly, your pancreas is signaled to release insulin. When the body is flooded with insulin, your brain thinks you have more than enough energy (calories) to keep you going, so it shuts off the fat burning systems in your body. Plus, the spike in insulin that occurs after eating sugar or refined carbs is followed by a big dip in insulin levels, leaving your body exhausted and craving more sugar and calories. It can quickly turn into a vicious cycle that will leave you hunting for candy bars when you should be working out.

So, now you know exactly why you should be getting more fiber, and you’re ready to start. Before you go doing anything drastic, though, you need to know how to use fiber safely. Even though it’s extremely healthy for you, it’s never a wise move to overdo anything. Too much fiber can prevent your body from absorbing nutrients or utilizing medications. Upping your dosage too quickly can lead to uncomfortable gas and possibly constipation.

The best way to get your fiber is to eat more plant based foods. Sure it’s not as convenient as those juice flavored fiber supplements you mix with water, but it’s better because supplements don’t keep you feeling as full as food sources of fiber do. Plus food sources that are high in fiber are usually high in vitamins, minerals and nutrients that will indirectly assist your body with fat burning.

Anytime you eat fiber you should be drinking lots of water to go along with it. This will keep your stools comfortably soft and help even more with weight loss, being that water is right up there with fiber when it comes to making you feel full and satisfied.

Fiber is an essential part of a healthy weight loss regimen, and most people don’t eat enough, especially with the prevalence of convenient foods. Get more fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains in your diet and you’ll notice you have less room in your stomach for the unhealthy stuff. Your weight will start dropping and you’ll feel a lot better, too.

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Feeling Funky

I’m in a funk. I’ve stopped myself from many times from going full on Debbie Downer here, and so far so good, but I can’t keep it in any longer. I can’t recall ever feeling like this, I feel like I’m not connecting, not fitting in, not understanding anything that’s coming my way. I feel like I’m trying to walk in very thick sand.

I’ve lost the twinkle of hope, that passion for making things happen. That spark to stretch myself and try something new. All I want to do is retreat. And this has been going on for months.

I’m hesitant to even put this out there because, really, does the world need more words about sadness? Loss of hope? And then I realized that I know it will come back and this too shall pass, but I feel an itch to share, regardless of how vulnerable it makes me feel.

And you want to know the weirdest part about this funk? It has nothing to do with weight loss. I’m losing, and lately due to loss of appetite, rather rapidly (13 pounds in one week.) Normally I would jump for joy to see these numbers on the scale, but lately, I’m indifferent.

I have a few ideas as to where these feelings are coming from. For starters, I’ve become scared to try something new.

In the past four years I’ve tried a little bit of everything…design, catering, jewelry, clothing design, blogging, e-book writing, and a few more other things that I’ve forgotten along the way. Each time I start out with this hope of what I could become. I fall in love with the potential of a new business, a new idea, a smaller version of myself. I have great desire to “do big things”, but sadly, I’ve come to realize that I was more in love with the result rather than the process.

And because I believe everything in life is connected and related, I know that deep down, what I do and how I make a living has a lot to do with how I feel and care about myself. And somewhere along the line I never figured out or changed my perspective enough on any given thing/business/idea/project to fall in love with the process (a line I’m stealing from The Biggest Loser.)

And I want to get there. To be in the love with the process of taking care of myself rather than the result of being thin, or doing things because I love the action and not because its a defined direction or path.

I find myself worrying so much about things I do and don’t have control over. My mom emailed a quote to me recently,

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself
to be made a victim.
Accept no one’s definition
of your life,
but define yourself.” – Harvey S. Firestone

The last line is the one that hit me the most “accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself”. I’ve come to realize that I haven’t defined who I am or who I want to be. I’ve been waiting on other people to tell me who I am, or who they want me to be or who I can be. That path can be very unsteady. I’ve realized, that I’ve been relying on my past experiences to define who I am.

These experiences from junior or high school where I never felt good enough…my clothes, hair, makeup, body, personality…always fell too short. In the days when opinion flowed out of mouths so freely, where everything on the outside was the measure of a worthwhile person, those days still linger too many years later.

I want to give myself permission to define who I am, who I want to be, and unapologetically become that person. I want to move forward even when fear starts screaming in my head. Fear that my efforts are lost, that they won’t get me anywhere, or that it’s pointless to try.

Recently, I’ve had strong desires to start painting and illustrating again, a skill that I picked up in college and loved. I let it go because I didn’t let myself get good enough. I feared the work that was involved in getting good, I worried that I would spend all this time and never arrive. That I could never feed myself off of it. That it wouldn’t matter. That I’d never be good enough.

And the realization that I stopped doing something because I was both in love with and afraid of the result, rather than the process, knocks the wind out of me. And I understand deeply, where this trend pops up over and over again in my life.

Silly little things and the big stuff too. I’ve put so much weight in these imaginary outcomes, that I’ve stopped myself from ever starting or even being in the process.

What if I lose weight and I’m still ugly, or have a loose skin? What if people resent me? What if I get unwanted male attention? Why both lose weight?

What if I start painting, but never sell a print? What if I never wrap my own canvas? What if I’m never taken seriously? Why bother painting?

What if I never make a good living doing what I love? What if my businesses stop growing? What if I can’t keep up with the growth? What will I have to give up in order to make more income?

What if I start marketing my design…what if I fall short? or make a mistake? or ruin my reputation? What if I’m never credible? What if I fall short or miss a deadline? Why bother design?

And I do this with everything, cleaning, exercising, work, meeting new friends, staying in touch…on and on and on. I can play the “what if” game for so long that I wake up at 29 and realize that I stopped it all before it got good.

Update: This post is good timing for the Things I’m Afraid to Tell You series of blog entries that are making their way around the blogosphere.

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Not Giving Up

Breakfast this morning was a serving of leftover tamale pie from last night’s dinner. I’ve been eating leftovers for breakfast for as long as I can remember. Food is food, right? This recipe is so easy to put together: prepared polenta, black beans, diced tomatoes, monterey jack cheese, cumin, garlic and salt. Bake and eat.

Lunch was pretty uneventful, a grilled cheese sandwich. I always feel like I could eat like five more. So instead, I eat pineapple.

Pineapple will forever remind me of our family trip to Hawaii when I was 12. My mom was on a pineapple kick after that trip and so now they remind me of her. Mom, remember your pineapple rug?

I’m already feeling hunger pangs for dinner, what are you guys having?

Oh! I was interviewed for Fitbie (an MSN sister site) recently of an article, 10 Weight Loss Bloggers You Should Follow:

I have to admit feeling a little sheepish when these sorts of things come as a result of my blog and no doubt my search engine results. Not that I don’t appreciate them, because it’s kind of cool to show it to my mom and makes me feel validated on some weird level, but I’m aware of my lack of actual consistent weight loss.

I will say that there seems to be two types of weight loss bloggers, those who lose weight, and those that don’t and stop blogging. And while I’ve been tempted to be the latter on more than one occasion, I feel good about my decision to continue sharing my life. Like I said in the interview, “I want other women to know that you can have a loving husband, awesome career, and amazing outfits right now. If someone leaves my blog with hope, that’s really it for me. I want people to see somebody who hasn’t given up.” That is very true, I’m not giving up.

Today starts Lent, are you giving up anything? I’m going to try giving up TV again (I only made it to week five last year!) and continuing with eating only when I’m hungry rule. I slipped a little this weekend (I’m looking at you, smores), so I like the idea of making it through this stretch of time eating only out of true hunger.