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Fibre: Why Is It So Important? Do You Eat Enough? | Nutritionist Explains | Myprotein
Jan 30, 2025
What is fibre and why is it so important? Do you know whether you're getting enough dietary fibre? Watch to find out now.
Nutrition expert, Richie Kirwan, is here to explain everything you need to know about fibre and the important role it can play in keeping you healthy. He covers
Find Richie on Instagram: @be_more_nutrition
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Fibre: Why Is It So Important? | Nutritionist Explains | Myprotein
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0:00
fiber is one of those things that you
0:01
know you should probably get more of but
0:03
you're not exactly sure why or if it's
0:05
really that important let's talk about
0:06
that
0:09
how's it going guys my name is richie
0:10
kirwan and today we're going to talk all
0:12
about the forgotten carbohydrate fiber
0:14
what it is what it does in your body and
0:16
how it affects your health when it comes
0:18
to sexy in nutrition fiber really got
0:21
the short end of the stick it's just not
0:23
cool to talk about something that is
0:25
famous for helping you poop hopefully by
0:27
the end of this video you'll realize
0:28
just how important fiber is for your
0:30
health and even your body composition
0:32
let's get started first off what even is
0:35
fiber well it's classed as a
0:37
carbohydrate just like sugar or starch
0:39
you see the basic unit of carbohydrates
0:41
are simple sugars or monosaccharides
0:43
like glucose or fructose
0:45
if glucose and fructose combine you get
0:48
a disaccharide di meaning two called
0:51
sucrose or table sugar if a load of
0:53
glucose molecules all join up together
0:55
in a long chain one after another that
0:57
forms the polysaccharide starch poly
1:01
meaning many fiber at least some of the
1:03
most common forms can also be a
1:05
polysaccharide you can also broadly
1:07
divide fiber into two types insoluble
1:09
fiber which comes mostly from whole
1:11
grain cereals and products like whole
1:12
grain bread oats or brown rice and helps
1:15
to bulk up your poop and there's also
1:17
soluble fiber which dissolves in water
1:19
and is found mostly in fruits vegetables
1:21
and legumes like peas and beans one of
1:23
the defining features of fiber is that
1:26
we can't digest it so if we can't digest
1:28
it does that mean it just passes right
1:29
through our digestive system and why
1:31
would we even need it interestingly that
1:33
exact argument is used by followers of
1:35
some diets like the carnivore diet that
1:37
think that if fiber isn't absorbed it
1:38
can't be essential to health and you
1:40
don't need it at all pretty simple
1:42
counter argument to that as well you
1:43
don't need shoes but life is definitely
1:46
a lot better if you have them here's the
1:47
thing
1:48
just because you don't need something to
1:50
survive like protein or essential fats
1:52
for example doesn't mean that it doesn't
1:54
have benefits and believe me fiber has a
1:57
lot firstly let's get the unsexy
1:59
elephant out of the room
2:01
fiber keeps you regular it absorbs water
2:03
in your gut bulking up your stool
2:05
stimulating movement in your digestive
2:07
system and preventing constipation a lot
2:09
of people forget that pooping is one of
2:11
our most important ways of getting rid
2:13
of some of the waste products of
2:14
metabolism remember
2:16
better alkaline fiber may also help you
2:18
maintain a healthy weight now there's
2:19
nothing magic about fiber in terms of
2:21
weight loss but focusing on a mostly
2:23
whole foods diet high in fiber might
2:26
help to reduce the amount of food that
2:27
you eat overall fiber swells and expands
2:30
into the digestive system and combined
2:32
with eating lots of low calorie
2:34
fiber-rich foods like fruit and
2:35
vegetables you might eat fewer
2:37
calorie-dense processed foods overall
2:40
higher fiber diets are associated with
2:42
reducing your risk of insulin resistance
2:45
for anyone who does know insulin
2:46
resistance is a dulled ability to react
2:48
to the insulin you produce when you eat
2:50
carbs and can lead to type 2 diabetes
2:52
people with higher fiber diets also tend
2:54
to have lower long-term blood glucose
2:56
which is a sign of good glucose control
2:59
specific types of fiber and believe me
3:01
there are a lot of different types like
3:03
beta glucans found in oats and barley
3:05
can also help to lower cholesterol
3:07
they do that by binding to waste
3:09
cholesterol in your digestive system
3:11
which prevents your body from
3:12
reabsorbing it one of the real benefits
3:14
of fiber and a huge research area in
3:16
science right now is how it feeds your
3:17
gut microbiome your microbiome is the
3:20
environment of different bacteria that
3:21
live inside your gut and it plays a
3:24
massive role in your health eating more
3:26
fiber and more varied fiber types helps
3:28
to feed these bacteria and allows many
3:30
different potentially beneficial
3:32
bacterial species to survive these
3:34
bacteria have roles in your immune
3:35
response insulin sensitivity even
3:37
digestion remember that i said we
3:39
couldn't digest fiber well we can't
3:42
but our bacteria can digest some of it
3:44
turning it into short chain fatty acids
3:46
which actually provide energy for the
3:48
cells lining our digestive system
3:50
another effective fiber which probably
3:52
happens through feeding our microbiome
3:54
is a reduction in inflammation
3:55
inflammation is an immune response and
3:57
is totally normal but many people suffer
3:59
from chronic inflammation due to poor
4:01
lifestyle choices people with higher
4:02
fiber diets tend to have lower levels of
4:04
some common inflammatory markers in
4:06
their blood beyond that there are a huge
4:09
amount of other benefits and i could go
4:11
on for ages but i'll just mention
4:13
finally that another important effect of
4:15
fiber is its connection with certain
4:17
cancers
4:18
there is a lot of evidence to suggest
4:20
that higher fiber diets reduce the risk
4:22
of developing colon cancer again we
4:24
don't know exactly why but it may have
4:26
something to do with disposing of
4:27
metabolic byproducts through more
4:29
regular poops and through a healthier
4:31
gut microbiome none of what i've just
4:33
mentioned are essential to health but i
4:35
think you'll agree that there are some
4:36
pretty sweet perks to eating more fiber
4:39
beyond just survival so now that you
4:41
know you want more fiber how much do we
4:43
actually need well most countries
4:45
recommend getting between 25 and 35
4:47
grams per day the problem is in most
4:49
countries in europe people are getting a
4:51
lot less like 16 to 24 grams in best
4:54
case scenario in fact if we look at
4:56
healthy hunter-gatherer populations like
4:58
the hadza we see that their fiber intake
5:00
can be well over 80 grams per day so
5:02
it's a hell of a lot more the reason for
5:04
the low intakes in europe and the rest
5:06
of the western world is the massive
5:08
increase in processed and ultra
5:10
processed food and low intakes of whole
5:12
foods like fruit and vegetables many
5:13
processing techniques specifically
5:15
remove fiber like turning whole wheat
5:18
into white flour brown rice into white
5:20
rice fruit into fruit juice and sugar
5:22
cane into pure sugar so there are a few
5:24
important things we can do to increase
5:26
our fiber intake firstly and probably
5:28
most importantly increase the amount of
5:30
whole foods you eat
5:32
you can do this in a lot of ways like
5:34
switching from refined cereals to whole
5:35
grain cereals white to whole wheat bread
5:37
white to brown rice regular pasta to
5:39
whole wheat pasta you can also increase
5:41
the amount of legumes like peas beans
5:43
and lentils that you eat you can try
5:44
these frozen out of a tin or you can
5:46
even get really handy legume pastas made
5:48
from things like green peas chickpeas
5:50
and lentils you should increase the
5:51
amount of fruit and vegetables you eat
5:53
by making sure you have at least two
5:55
portions at every meal by the way i
5:57
realize that most people have absolutely
5:59
no idea what a portion of fruit or
6:02
vegetables is so to make it easy a good
6:04
rule of thumb is to think of a portion
6:06
as about what will fit in your cupped
6:08
hand so a medium apple or a couple of
6:11
plums a handful of berries something
6:13
like that another thing you can do to
6:14
help your fiber intake is to reduce the
6:16
amount of highly processed and ultra
6:18
processed foods you eat again you can do
6:20
this by making the whole grain switches
6:21
i've just mentioned and trying to reduce
6:23
some ultra-processed snack foods like
6:25
sweets cakes pastries in your diet you
6:28
don't need to eliminate them entirely
6:30
but eating less processed foods and
6:31
eating more whole foods will really
6:33
increase your fiber intake and improve
6:35
your diet quality overall now as much as
6:37
i think fiber is amazing there are a
6:39
couple of caveats i think i need to
6:41
mention
6:42
the first one is if you have a really
6:44
low fiber diet right now i recommend
6:46
adding more fiber gradually and building
6:48
up your tolerance
6:49
you see it can take a while for your
6:51
digestive system and specifically your
6:52
gut bacteria to get used to the extra
6:54
fiber it's not unusual for someone to
6:56
suddenly increase their fiber and to
6:58
notice some digestive
7:01
that discomfort
7:01
farts or even diarrhea at least
7:04
initially take it slowly and you won't
7:07
experience that another particular group
7:08
of people that should be a little more
7:10
cautious about increasing fiber are
7:11
those who already have some sort of
7:12
digestive system problems conditions
7:14
like irritable bowel syndrome ibs
7:16
irritable bowel disease ibd colitis or
7:19
crohn's disease always consult with your
7:22
dietitian before making any major
7:24
changes to your diet but for everyone
7:25
else the amount of health benefits that
7:28
fiber can bring you really is phenomenal
7:30
and with a little practice and some time
7:32
you can really make a huge difference to
7:34
your fiber intake and well-being so did
7:36
this answer your fiber questions as
7:38
always if you have any more let me know
7:39
in the comments below and remember to
7:41
like and subscribe to the my protein
7:42
youtube channel for even more great
7:44
evidence-based information
7:47
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