How a High Fiber Diet Improves Gut Health and May Add Years to Your Life Wine News

While our bodies need calories and a variety of nutrients, as well as insoluble fiber to provide bulk, much of the microbiome’s “food” is soluble fiber (see below) as well as complex carbohydrates. which reach the large intestine. These are sometimes called “prebiotics” as opposed to “probiotics” which are live yeasts and good bacteria found in foods like live yogurt, sauerkraut and kimchi.

Some sweeteners, like inulin, claim to be prebiotic fiber, but Dr Nikpay is wary: “If they say it has a fiber base and it’s sweetener, I would say it’s almost over. a fiber. To create a sweetener, manufacturers “use enzymes or thermal or acid methods to break open molecular bonds between the different sugar units in a fiber or in a complex carbohydrate … and once you get one or two units is sugar from a fiber-health perspective.

The easiest solution, you might think, would be to take fiber supplements – easy to find alongside vitamin pills at any health food store. But, says Dr Nikpay, these are too standardized, too simplified. He compares gut bacteria to the people of London – a large, diverse mass that needs a varied diet. He is concerned with the idea that “you can complete yourself out of trouble.” No, he argues, you better stick to normal food.

Sprinkling bran on your cereal in the morning is excellent, or do like Dr. Nikpay and add chopped fruit with a mixture of seeds, eating them with milk. “Yogurt is probably better for you, but I don’t like it,” he admits. Yogurt does indeed contain gut-healthy probiotic cultures – but as he makes clear in the book, any diet change should be sustainable. “If I don’t like it, I’m not going to stick with it.”

So how can we incorporate fiber into our diet? Whole grains, fruits, and vegetables are good sources, as are, surprisingly, herbs – Middle Eastern style herb-rich salads like tabbouleh prove to be terribly good for the gut. The cooking is trickier, so I asked Atherton for advice. “A whole wheat cake would be very dense and probably not very nice. But if you swap just five or 10% of the white flour for whole wheat flour, you’ll still get the really nice light texture you get with white flour, but you’ll add fiber.

He also suggests boiling whole grains such as buckwheat and spelled until tender, then storing them in a saucepan in the refrigerator. “Then if I have an omelet or a pasta salad, I’ll just add a few of those grains. They actually add nice texture and crunch. “

Is it possible to consume too much fiber? “Where we are now, the answer is no,” says Dr Nikpay. “I would really like to have this problem.” The worst that can happen is a little wind. Although, frankly, it’s quite painful – and embarrassing. “Avoid anything that is a fructooligosaccharide,” he advises – the indigestible compounds known to cause wind, found in Jerusalem artichokes and inulin.

But, he points out, keep in mind that “you and I will have different bacteria. So we might react slightly differently to the same thing. My sister, for example, cannot eat chickpeas. She’ll just swell.

Introducing food slowly should help you get used to it, but (as I know too well) it doesn’t always work. “You may have a slight intolerance to some things, so just avoid them,” says Dr Nikpay pragmatically. “Nature is full of fiber, you don’t need chickpeas. “

What is fiber?

Dietary fiber is the non-digestible part of the plants we eat: there is no fiber in meat or dairy products. It generally falls into two types, soluble and insoluble fiber, and both types provide bulk that tends to make us feel full, which can help maintain a healthy weight.

Insoluble fibers (eg wheat bran) is composed mainly of cellulose and is not broken down at all in the body, passing directly into the intestine. It speeds up intestinal processing time, which protects against bowel cancer and diverticulitis.

Soluble fiber (eg oat bran) will dissolve in water to make a viscous mixture – in the case of oats, to make porridge. Once consumed, it passes through the first small intestine (where most of the nutrients in food are absorbed) intact. But once it reaches the second large intestine, much of it is fermented and provides food for very important bacteria (sometimes called a microbiome).

The best sources of fiber, according to Dr. Nikpay

1. Seeds: Flax seeds (or flax seeds, which contain 27 g of fiber per 100 g), sesame seeds (12 g per 100 g), poppy seeds (20 g per 100 g) and sunflower seeds ( 9 g per 100 g) are all an excellent source of fiber. Chia seeds, on the other hand, contain 34g of fiber per 100g.
2. Cereals: Cooked brown rice has 1.8g of fiber per 100g, while popcorn has 13g per 100g. Wholemeal flour yields 11 g per 100 g, but be aware that 100% wholemeal bread is quite dense, so “wholemeal” breads, even fine artisan sourdoughs, are generally made with a mixture of white and wholemeal flour; sometimes it’s as little as 15 percent wholemeal flour
3. Berries: Strawberries may contain just 1.8g of fiber in a 100g serving, but raspberries contain 6.5g and blackberries 5.3g. Blackberries can be even taller, so head for the hedges
4. Cooked lentils: Fiber content varies from brand to brand, but a teaspoonful of home-cooked green lentils (i.e. 200g, or about 100g of raw weight) can provide you with half of it. of your daily fiber needs, or more. Canned lentils tend to have less fiber
5. Herbs: Many contain around 10g of fiber per 100g, so add it to everything
6. Nuts: Nuts contain 6.7 g of fiber per 100 g; almonds and hazelnuts 9.7g per 100g. Roasted peanuts – technically a legume – pack 10g of fiber per 100g
7. Legumes: Half a can (120g) of white beans contains 9g of fiber, while half a can of chickpeas contains 5g. A generous serving of peas provides 6 g per 100 g

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