The Missing Link to Healthy Weight Loss
The following article was written by Heinen’s Chief Dietitian, Melanie Jatsek RD, LD.
The wisdom of the human body to course-correct when it’s out of balance leaves me in a constant state of awe.
It happens all the time too, right there under our noses! The miraculous healing of a flesh wound is a perfect example. Let’s say you accidentally cut your finger while slicing an apple. A cascade of healing events takes place the moment the injury occurs, without you having to do a single thing… except to breathe, and even that is automatic. First your blood clots to stop the bleeding, then white blood cells rush to the scene to clean up house, and eventually a scab forms to seal the wound, making it as good as new. What a spectacular show!
Did you know the same power is at work when extra fat accumulates on your body? It’s true!
The Setpoint Theory of Body Weight
Have you ever tried to lose weight only to become extremely frustrated when you can’t achieve your desired goal? You put in the work and shed some pounds, but no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to get over the hump and lose another ounce. Have you ever stopped to consider that rather than lacking willpower, maybe your body simply doesn’t want to be that weight?
We all have unique bodies, each one preferring its own size. Some call this our “setpoint” weight, or the weight that our body naturally settles at when it’s exercised regularly and fed healthfully.
Perhaps, despite all your best efforts, your body has already reached its setpoint and is perfectly comfortable there. And even if you are successful at reaching a lower weight by means of extreme calorie restriction (which I don’t recommend), your body will likely rebel with a voracious appetite, and so the forced weight loss will come right back like a boomerang.
On the other hand, sometimes people tell me that after a period of making healthier food choices, they noticed their clothes fitting better without even trying to lose weight. This tells me their body was carrying extra weight that wasn’t serving it, and by feeding it more healthfully, it shifted closer to its setpoint.
The point I am trying to make is this: Your body will take care of you when you take care of it. It will kick into healing mode and attempt to fix what it perceives as “broken.” It will adjust its metabolism to lose or gain weight in an effort to maintain a stable and constant state, a phenomenon known as homeostasis.
The Missing Link to Achieving a Healthy Body
An important step in taking care of your body is to take the focus off your weight. I’ve witnessed too many people obsess over a desired number at the expense of joy and peace. This makes me sad! Trust me when I say that your weight will shift in the right direction on its own when you feed it like the temple that it is.
And how do you do that? By making sure you’re eating enough dietary fiber.
If you think of fiber as something merely found in a bowl of oatmeal—nothing special, just roughage to keep your digestive system moving along—you would be correct, except that it’s beyond special. Fiber is quite magical!
Dietary fiber is an indigestible carbohydrate found in Fx™-approved, plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, peas, lentils, nuts, and seeds.
Fiber helps regulate blood sugar, lower inflammation, promote healthy blood vessels, and controls cholesterol. But that’s just the beginning!
The real magic of dietary fiber is how it may help you shed unwanted pounds. The beneficial bacteria in your gut use dietary fiber as food to grow and multiply. Beyond that it also uses fiber to produce short-chain fatty acids (SFCAs), the main source of energy for the cells lining your colon.
But here’s where it gets interesting.
These short-chain fatty acids trigger the release of a gut hormone called GLP-1, which sends the signal to your brain that you’re full. If GLP-1 sounds familiar, it is because it’s the same hormone mimicked in popular weight loss drugs.
But wait, there’s more!
According to gastroenterologist Shilpa Ravella, M.D., high-fiber diets are also tied to lower levels of visceral fat, the deep fat that wraps around the inner abdominal organs and “churns out hidden inflammation at all hours of the day.”
Fitting Fiber into Your Meals
Dietary fiber recommendations range between 25-35 grams per day. Most Americans fall way short of this, to the tune of 10-15 grams per day. If you’re closer to this range, I’d recommend taking it slow by gradually increasing fiber in 5-gram increments, the amount in one cup of carrots or one cup of cooked oatmeal.
To get your fiber fix, here are 14 fantastic Fx ™ -approved, fiber-rich foods found at your local Heinen’s.
- Apple with skin: 5 grams per medium-size apple
- Acorn squash: 9 grams per one cup
- Artichoke: 7 grams per medium-size artichoke
- Avocado: 9 grams per medium-size avocado
- Carrots: 5 grams per one cup
- Heinen’s canned chickpeas: 7 grams per ½ cup
- Collard greens: 6 grams per two cups
- Jicama: 6 grams per one cup sliced
- Heinen’s dry lentils: 11 grams per ½ cup cooked
- Pear with skin: 6 grams per medium-size pear
- Pomegranate arils (seeds): 5 grams per one cup
- Qi’a Superfood Superseeds & Grains oatmeal: 4 grams per packet
- Quinoa: 5 grams per one cup cooked
- Bob’s Red Mill ground flax seed: 6 grams per ¼ cup
Key Takeaway
Stubborn body fat is no match for a fiber-filled diet. Since you have to eat anyway, why not make an effort to fuel your body with more fiber-rich foods from the above list? I have a feeling you’re going to love how your body feels eating this way.
