Not sure how much fibre is too much? Here’s our go-to guide that’ll help you measure your fibre intake

Losing weight and getting into shape is a constant battle for all of us. We follow different forms of diets to achieve our goals and most of us reduce calorie intake without balancing the nutrition values which eventually creates health issues in the long run. Besides that, we face different problem and difficulties while following diets because we don’t feed our body enough nutritious food. To keep ourselves active and stay healthy, we need everything starting from fat to carbohydrates, protein to Fibre and so on.

It’s always advisable to appoint a professional consultant before following any diet but if you want to start dieting by yourself, then firstly get the basics right before jumping into the arena. There are many small issues involved with every segment and if any one ignores them, they definitely will face difficulties. And most of the people get confused while following diet related with fibre.

Fibre is something the body needs but never actually digests—in fact, it remains more or less the same from your plate to the washroom. It comes in two varieties, soluble and insoluble but neither type of Fibre is ever absorbed into the body.

Skipping out on a daily dose of fibre often leads to constipation, weight gain (you read it right), blood sugar fluctuations and tiredness. And eating too little fibre can make it tough to control blood sugar and appetite because fibre regulates the speed of digestion and contributes to satiety (aka feeling full). There can be too much of a good thing, though. Overdoing it with fibre can move food through the intestines too quickly, which means fewer minerals get absorbed from food. It can also result in uncomfortable gas, bloating, and cramping, especially when fibre intake is dramatically increased overnight. So, we just need to maintain it according to our body requirements which are 38 grams of fibre for men and 25 grams for women who are under the age of 50. If they cross the line then they need 30 grams and 21 grams respectively.

Some people just have oatmeal 2/3 times a day to reduce body weight which is a good idea as oatmeal contains fibre but unfortunately sometimes that leads to constipation. This is because only the fibre from oatmeal isn’t enough for your body and the quality is not up to the mark. More importantly, not consuming enough leafy greens leads to hard stools as well.  Hence the solution would be to load up on leafy greens, watery vegetables that will help in both weight reduction and a healthy body. One way of doing so is having vegetable soups loaded with spinach, broccoli, mushrooms and other colourful vegetables of your choice. Eating only 1 or 2 food items regularly is not a good idea at all because your body only gets that specific nutrition and misses out on the remaining components. So to completely rely on oatmeal would not be the best solution as your body requires vitamins and minerals from a variety of sources. Therefore, before you start off on a diet make sure you weight out your options and choose a path that works best for you. At the end of the day, fibre is great for you but you should know where to get your fibre from.

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