How A High Fibre Diet Can Help Your Hormones
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How A High Fibre Diet Can Help Your Hormones
It is well-known throughout the health and wellness sector that a fibre-rich diet impacts your hormones. It also plays the obvious positive role in maintaining a healthy gut too.
”Studies support the fact that specific types of dietary fibre can have an overall balancing effect on hormone levels, as well as helping to regulate other hormones such as insulin.”
Foods that are rich fibre, such as vegetables, legumes, seeds, whole grains, and fruits can all help to keep excess cholesterol and fats from building up in your body. Eating a fibre-rich diet can also help lower oestrogen levels, which could then also help to decrease the risk of breast cancer and other hormone-related diseases.
The Connection Between Fibre and Hormones
Getting adequate fibre in your diet is essential for healthy digestive functions, keeping your heart healthy, and keeping your cholesterol levels in check. However, Dietary fibre also plays a key role in keeping a healthy balance of hormones in your body too.
Boosting your intake of fibre has been proven to reduce a range of hormone-related health issues, as well as helping the body to excrete excess oestrogen. Essentially, dietary fibre will stop extracted oestrogen from being reabsorbed back into the bloodstream from the gut.
Fibre and Oestrogen
Oestrogen occurs in both women and men; and when the levels are too high in a person, this may increase the risk of certain diseases. In females, it is produced in the ovaries, and in man, it is produced in their testicles. In both, it can also be produced in fat cells and the adrenal glands. This is why excess weight can directly impact a person’s hormone levels, and it is why we are also going to touch on the impact of fibre and weight loss in this post.
The Connection Between Dietary Fibre and Breast Cancer
For women who have a history of breast cancer or who have been diagnosed with the disease, it has been proven that they would benefit from lowering their oestrogen levels. Boosting fibre-rich foods and decreasing the amount of fatty food intake has been shown to decrease the occurrence of estradiol, which is a particular type of oestrogen. Although studies are limited, there have been definitive results that showed reduced levels of oestrogen following prolonged commitments to increased fibre in a diet.
Fibre and Insulin
Fiber decreases both insulin and glucose peaks. Due to the fact that insulin is a key driver of both diabetes and obesity, the reduction of these levels is highly beneficial. Because fibre has been proven to protect people from developing elevated levels of insulin, it has also been deemed as suitable for the prevention of Type-2 Diabetes.
According to a study conducted by the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis, dietary fibre is an essential protective factor that can significantly aid insulin resistance.
Fibre – Hormones – Weight Loss
It goes without saying that any controlled weight loss will usually be beneficial for individual health. Any excess of weight can boost a person’s risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, and imbalances to hormone levels.
When you add fibre to your diet, this can help any weight loss efforts by preventing hunger pangs from occurring after eating, and it can also help to remove fats that are considered to be harmful from your body.
When you lose weight, this should also help create a better balance of oestrogen levels in the body.
There have been ongoing debates as to how exactly a person’s fibre intake impacts upon their weight overall. Historically, a diet that is high in fibre was deemed to aid weight loss by provoking the release of appetite-suppressing hormones within the gut. Although more research is needed, new evidence suggests that the hypothalamus, which is a specific part of the brain that regulates appetite could actually be impacting the weight loss more so than within the gut.
What are the best fibre-rich foods to include in a hormone conscious diet?
There is much evidence to support a way of eating that is linked directly to your hormones.
There are plenty of high-fibre foods available to us all, many of which carry other notable health and nutritional benefits as well.
The ideal daily intake of fibre is 38 grams for males, and 25 grams for females.
· Avocados
· Lentils
· Split Peas
· Raspberries
· Flax Seeds
· Pears
· Strawberries
· Apples
· Carrots
· Bananas
· Broccoli
· Beets
· Brussel Sprouts
· Artichoke
· Spinach
· Tomatoes
· Kale
· Sweet Potatoes
· Kidney Beans
· Chia Seeds
· Chickpeas
· Oats
· Quinoa
· Almonds
· Popcorn
A key point to note about the relationship between the reproductive hormones and fibre is that low-fat or vegan diets which are considered to be high-fibre diets could potentially lead to very low levels of oestrogen. If oestrogen levels are already low, and you are trying to conceive, this is something worth considering or discussing with a medical professional.
Typically, when we think about nutrition and food, we look at the different types of vitamins and minerals, along with their specific nutritional profiles; looking mostly at the different components in food that provide nourishment to our bodies. Fibre is completely different. Key to understanding the effects that fiber has on the body is to look at this dietary element more like an anti-nutrient instead. This is because of its ability to reduce digestion and absorption; essentially, it subtracts as opposed to adding. When insulin and sugars are concerned, this is a very good thing.
In Summary
Aside from this, and more in line with the theme of this post, fibre can help to regulate a range of hormones in your body, namely insulin and oestrogen, along with carrying notable weight loss advantages too.
If you aren’t getting enough fibre in your diet or you need help to regulate your insulin or oestrogen levels, the simple addition of a few more fibre-rich foods could help to better balance everything out.