Fibre is a well-known nutrient, but not well understood. Basically, it’s a carbohydrate that our body cannot digest.

Fibres are classified as soluble or insoluble.

Between the two, insoluble are the least interesting from a fat loss standpoint, so we’re going to focus on the soluble ones, that can have greater impacts on our metabolism and health.

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Fibres help the intestinal flora!

It’s estimated that there are around 100 trillion bacteria living inside our intestines. It can seem like something undesirable, but it’s quite the opposite!

There are many types of bacteria that perform the most different roles in terms of health, like weight control, blood sugar levels and immunity.

Just as any other organism, they need food to remain healthy. This is where soluble fibres come into play. By increasing the quality and growing the intestinal flora, you produce a greater pro-biotic effect that will promote better health in general, including weight control

Intestinal flora helps fight inflammation, a key aspect in child obesity!

The importance of intestinal flora is known for quite some time, as well as it’s anti-inflammatory benefits. It produces several nutrients, including small chain fatty acids that feed the colon cells.

This will reduce intestinal inflammation, which the promotes proper digestive system function.

Even though inflammation is a process, that in a short term helps our body fight strange bodies or even repair damaged cells, long term or chronically, it becomes dangerous and can be totally destructive for our body tissues.

Now it’s known that chronic inflammation is responsible for many “western” diseases, like cardiac problems, Alzheimer’s or even metabolic problems There is also evidence that shows that it can be key for weight gain and obesity, since it has effects on hormones like Leptin.

Fibre can help appetite reduction!

Even though many people don’t believe in counting calories, to lose weight it’s necessary for you to be in some form of a caloric deficit. Since less calories in means less energy in, the less you store.

Most food rich in fibre present a certain viscosity and even density, which makes them bulkier and harder to eat and digest by our stomach. Result? Faster satiety.

So, if it helps keeping your mouth shut, it helps you to lose weight!

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Here are a few good sources of fibre:

Food	portion	fiber (grams)
CEREALS
Oats	100	9.7
Barley	100	6.8
Brown Rice (Raw)	100	3.8
Whole Grain Bread	100	7.4
LEGUMES AND VEGETABLES (Raw)
Spinach	100	2.6
Broccoli	100	2.6
Brussel Sprouts	100	3.8
Carrots	100	2.6
String Beans	100	3.0
White Beans	100	9.4
FRUIT
Pears	100	2.2
Apples	100	2.1
Bananas	100	3.1
NUTS AND SEEDS
Plum (dried)	100	15.6
Raisins	100	3.7
Peanuts	100	8.8
Popcorn*	100	15
* unsalted