Dietary Fibre – By Harold Gunatillake
Let’s talk about dietary fibre, today.
Did you know that plants are held erect from its fibre content? So, all dietary fibre seems to come from plants and pulses, nuts, seeds and fruits of such plants.
Same plant fibre is used for coarse textiles, and the cotton shirts you wear.
Dietary fibre or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes.The carbs you eat containing starch and polysaccharides from plants and roots, in simple and complex forms, is your main source of energy. These carbs are digested through pancreatic enzyme called amylase and absorbed through your gut for energy as glucose and fructose. Although it’s best to get fibre from food sources, fibre supplements can also help you get the daily fibre you need. Examples include psyllium and methylcellulose. Increase your fibre intake slowly to help prevent gas and cramping. It’s also important to so increase the amount of liquids that you drink.
People from the stone age have been eating plant foods containing fibre, but the gut has never created an enzyme to digest them.
• Fibre helps control blood sugar. It also helps you lower your “bad” (LDL) cholesterol. You get fibre from plant foods, so plan to eat more of these foods: Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Cooked dried beans and peas
• Whole-grain breads, cereals, and crackers Dietary Fibre Dietary Fibre
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• Brown rice
• Bran products
• Nuts and seeds
The obvious reason why there is no enzymes to breakdown fibre, is that undigested fibre serves a better function in the gut, than being absorbed. These fibres can give you a feel of filling and fullness and eat less food.
Dietary fibre though being a component of carbs does not affect your blood sugar levels. Also, dietary fibre seems to slow the absorption of glucose from your digested carbs.
This prevents spiking of sugar levels in your blood.
Fibre also reduces blood cholesterol.
So, if you suffer from diabetes, you need to eat Carbs with low Glycaemic index and carbs with plenty of fibre content to prevent spiking of your blood sugar.
Let’s talk about ‘resistant starch’. These starches behave as dietary fibre.
Most of the carbs you eat in food are starches. They are found in grains, potatoes and various other foods.
All this starch in Carbs are not absorbed. Small portions will pass through your digestive tract unchanged.
This starch that is not absorbed in called ‘resistant starch’.
Resistant starch functions just like soluble fibre.
They go through your gut and reaches the large gut.
All fibre, including resistant starch feeds the trillions of microbes in your large gut.
These microbes through a process of fermentation form several beneficial compounds which protects your large bowel from chronic diseases like ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, cancer and any form of inflammation. These are gases and –These short chain fatty acids (SCFA) also brings down your blood cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Let’s talk about how one could get resistant starch in rice, to slow the digestion and absorption to reduce blood sugar levels and provide various health benefits.
“How could you slow-Digesting Rice to fight Diabetes and Obesity?”
Steven Smith, professor in the University of Tasmania, pointed out that rice is normally digested quickly. Because starch makes up most of the rice’s components and sugars make up starch, people eating rice get a sugar hit. As for the new form of rice, it contains a kind of starch that is digested more slowly. Therefore, this slow-digesting rice would not provide the same sugar hit. Professor Smith said it could help reduce cases of health problems linked to diet like diabetes and obesity.
Furthermore, Smith said the slow-digesting rice would benefit numerous people in Asia, where rice is an important part of the diet. He also stressed that it would be mostly beneficial to those who need to control their intake of sugar.
Sudhair James, an undergraduate student from the College of Chemical Sciences in Sri Lanka, discovered a way to make white rice healthier. The chemistry of the starch is manipulated through adding coconut oil into the boiling water before cooking the well-washed rice. The cooked rice is then placed in the fridge overnight to give a dense coating that will lead to less calorie intake and slow digestion. Eating the manipulated rice would reduce the chance of spiking blood sugar levels, making it beneficial to people suffering from diabetes.
You will be delighted to know that the Asian biriyani, Lumprai and fried rice have more resistant starch than eating plain rice, and your blood sugar level may not spike.
Milk Rice or “Kiri bath’ you cook on special auspicious occasions and ceremonies is full of resistant starch. Enjoy eating after keeping in the fridge for a few hours.
This does not mean that you should eat these tasty cuisines daily, because of the high calorie content may create an obesity problem. So, moderation applies here.
Bottomline
Concentrate on eating a low carb, low glycaemic index foods with high fibre daily, for better health and better lifestyle. Also remember, the popular Keto diet lacks much dietary fibre and may harm you, at the expense of success in losing weight.
Website: www.doctorharold.com
