Fiber just might be the key to healthy weight management — and nature packs it in perfectly balanced proportions with carbohydrates when you consume it as whole foods. Consider unprocessed fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds. Research suggests that carbs are meant to be packed into balanced ratios with nature fiber total carbohydrates. In fact, certain types of fiber affect how your body absorb carbohydrates And tells your cells how to process them once absorbed.
Fiber slows the absorption of sugar in your gut. It also orchestrates the basic biology that recent blockbuster weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic exploit, but in a natural way. Your microbiota converts fiber into signals which stimulate intestinal hormones which are the natural forms of these drugs. These in turn regulate how quickly your stomach empties, the strength of your blood sugar levels are controlled and even how hungry you are.
It’s like unprocessed carbs are naturally wrapped and packed with their own instruction manual for your body on how to digest them.
I am a medical scientist and gastroenterologist who has spent more than 20 years studying how food affects the gut microbiota and metabolism. The research is clear: fiber is important not just for bowel happiness, but also for your blood sugar, weight, and overall health.
Carbohydrates without their packaging
Unfortunately, most Americans get the majority of their carbs stripped of their natural fiber. Modern processed grains like white rice and white flour as well as many ultra-processed foods like some sugary breakfast cereals, packaged snacks, and juices have eliminated these fibers. They basically come unpackaged and without instructions for the body on how much to take in and how to process them. Actually, only 5% of Americans eat the recommended amount of carbohydrates with enough of their natural packaging intact. The guidelines recommend at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day from food.
It is perhaps unsurprising that the lack of fiber contributes to diabetes and obesity. What is surprising is that the fiber gap also probably contributes to heart diseasecertain types of cancerand maybe even Alzheimer’s disease.
Fiber slows the absorption of sugar in your gut. It also orchestrates the basic biology that recent weight loss drugs tap into, but in a natural way.
Joan Slatkin/Getty
A popular approach to mitigating some of the adverse health effects of low-fiber, highly-refined carbohydrates is to limit carbohydrate intake. These approaches include low-carb, keto, paleo, and Atkins diets. Each diet is a variation on a similar theme of limiting carbs to varying amounts in different ways.
There is scientific support for the benefits of some of these diets. Research shows that limiting carbohydrates induces ketosis, a biological process that releases energy from fat stores during fasting and prolonged exercise. Low-carb diets can also help people lose weight and lead to improvements in blood pressure and inflammation.
That said, some keto diets can have negative effects on gut health. It is also unclear how they may affect heart health, some forms of cancerand other long-term conditions.
Even more puzzling, research shows that people on diets high in plant-based carbohydrates, like the Mediterranean diet, tend to lead the the longest and healthiest lives. How does this square with studies that suggest low-carb diets may benefit metabolic health?
Is a carbohydrate a carbohydrate?
The answer may have to do with the types of carbohydrates that the studies assess. Limiting simple sugars and refined carbs may improve some aspects of metabolic health, as these are some of the easiest calories to digest and absorb. But a more sustainable and comprehensive way to improve health may be increase percentage unprocessed, more complex, slowly absorbed carbs that come with their natural packaging and instructions intact, those that contain fiber.
These natural carbohydrates are found in whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. They come in total carbohydrate to fiber ratios that rarely exceed 10 to 1 and are often 5 to 1 or less. Eating mostly whole foods is a simple way to ensure you’re getting quality carbs in the right ratios.
But who doesn’t love having a big bowl of pasta or the occasional cake with ice cream? Focusing on packaged processed foods that maintain carb-to-fiber ratios at least as low as 10 to 1 or ideally 5 to 1 can help you make the best choices when choosing more processed foods from the store. Take a look at the Nutrition Facts label and simply divide the total carbs by the dietary fiber.
When eating out or celebrating someone’s birthday, consider taking a fiber supplement with your meal. A pilot study revealed that a supplement containing a blend of fibers decreased blood sugar spike – an increase in blood glucose levels which, if too high can damage the body over time– after a meal in healthy people by about 30%.
Listen to your body
Although almost all fiber is generally good for the health of most people, not all fiber affects the body in the same way. consume a range of different types of fibers generally makes it possible to ensure diverse microbiomewhich is related to gut and overall health.
But certain medical conditions can prevent the consumption of certain types of fiber. For example, some people may be particularly sensitive to a class of fiber called FODMAPS—fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols—which ferment more easily in the upper intestine and may contribute to symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome such as bloating and diarrhea. Foods High in FODMAPs include many processed foods containing inulin, garlic powder, and onion powder, as well as whole foods, including those in the onion family, dairy products, some fruits, and vegetables.
Listen to how your body reacts to different fiber-rich foods. Start slow and reintroduce foods like beans, seeds, nuts, fruits, and vegetables into your diet. If you’re having trouble increasing your fiber intake, talk to your healthcare provider.
Tools like this online calculator I Created can also help you find the highest quality foods with healthy fiber and other nutrient ratios. It can also show you the proportions of fiber to add to sugary foods to help achieve healthy ratios.
I wouldn’t recommend eating sweets all the time, but as my three daughters like to remind me, it’s important to indulge once in a while. And when you do, remember to put the carbs back in their fiber wrappers. It is difficult to improve the design of nature.
Christopher Damman is an associate professor of gastroenterology at the University of Washington School of Medicine