You can lose weight simply by adding more plant-based dietary fiber

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Dr. Natasha Withers discusses the role fiber plays in your life and discusses easy ways to incorporate it into your diet.

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WebMD states that though dietary fiber isn’t a magic pill for weight loss, it does have the power “to help fill you up without filling you out.” This is because keeping hunger at bay, a challenge with dieting in general, is an effective way of keeping off those extra pounds. Eating fiber simply staves off hunger when otherwise dieters might be prone to snack.

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The results of a new clinical trial have confirmed the benefits of fiber and has further added that consuming healthy high-fiber foods can be a much simpler plan than many diets recommended by doctors everywhere. Further, as CBS News reports Feb. 17, consuming more high-fiber foods proves easier to stick with than dieting, which often calls for making numerous dietary changes and keeping close tabs on what goes into one’s mouth.

In the clinical trial, subjects who simply added fiber to their current diets were able to shed some pounds and taut lowered blood pressure and blood sugar levels. While these folks didn’t lose quite as much as others who undertook a more disciplined approach, the prospects are exciting and most likely relieving to those who can become overwhelmed by more complicated dietary plans. Apparently, it doesn’t take much to make some significant changes.

The study, led by a group of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, was funded by theU.S. National Institutes of Health. In the study, 240 prediabetic adults were asked to change their diets for a full year. One half of the subjects simply increased their daily fiber intake from foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains; they could otherwise eat whatever they wanted. The other half followed the diet recommended by the American Health Association (AHA) which suggests dieters keep track of calories, increase physical activity and eat foods from all of their recommended food groups (fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, poultry, fish and nuts) while decreasing sugar and salt intake and making sure that proteins, fats and carbs are eaten with a calculated balance.

Neither group was asked to increase physical activity and the AHA group focused on a decrease in caloric intake, as well as setting goals in line with limiting saturated fat. The other half was simply asked to eat 30 grams of fibrous foods each day.

Most of the dieters stuck with their respective plans for the full year. Also, people following either plan lost about the same amount of weight. Further, both plans yielded similar results for participants in the areas of cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. Even inflammation lessened.

It’s not a new thing. It's known that dietary fiber is good and can help in the maintenance of a healthy weight for awhile. Still, problems such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes are some of the most common issues affecting Americans. Study author Dr. Yunsheng Ma notes that “few people reach the goals that are recommended,” for weight and health maintenance. Asking them to simply stick with a certain kind of food seems to be much less daunting than having them keep track of specifics. Further, dieters can look at their actions in a more positive light as their goals become more reachable and the actions they need to implement seem more doable.

*originally published on the now defunct Examiner.com