7 replies to this topic

[Nate-2004]

So having read this article I thought I'd ask for opinions on this, since Google isn't turning up much info on this.  Fiber is said to be "the antidote to fructose". Some sources say that up to 25g or more of fiber per day is recommended. I've honestly not really counted how much fiber I get, but hopefully somewhere above 15g per day at least. If insulin is a leptin blocker and high blood sugar leads to glycation and other aging contributors like visceral fat, etc, then getting more soluble and insoluble fiber sounds like a good solution. 

 

I'm a sugar addict, though I've been on and off keto for the last year, when I'm off, it's bad. I try to edge this indulgence towards the latter half of the day because sugar drains my mental energy. I try to go on breaks and I definitely try to get as much fiber as I can to "counter it", but I don't know to what degree it can counter some of my indulgences.  I'm not overweight, but I have been and I could be if I didn't constantly fight it. 

 

So the question I guess would be this, is fiber supplementation worth it? Could it help in my situation? Not only as an antidote but as a means of reducing cravings, improving insulin, leptin, and blood sugar levels?

 

I sometimes take FOS as a supplement, but I'm not sure how much it helps.

[Boopy!]

I was born an overeater -- seriously,  this can happen --- apparently I would go into "feeding frenzies."   So I figure,   if I  (admitted sugar and dairy addict)  can manage my "addiction"  and maintain a healthy weight and still get to eat sweets,  just about anyone could.  I did take a fiber supplement but...ahem....it causes issues if you already get enough fiber so I personally wouldn't recommend unless you think it wouldn't be in excess.   I never eat sweets like gummy bears etc anymore,  but I do "use"  fruits and popsicles etc as my go-to for sugar.   Thus you get both fiber and sweet in one.   Fiber fills you up,  of course,  and this helps.  

 

I was ADDICTED to sugar and ate things like gummy worms and licorice for lunch.   No joke.   I decided at 35 or so I didn't want to be addicted to sugar anymore and simply started to switch over to other sugars that are healthier.   You really do stop craving the same kinds of stuff each time after switching over.   I no longer feel the need for certain foods AT ALL.   I also never feel deprived,  which is so important I think.   I hear about people like Tom Brady saying how he would never eat strawberries or any fruit and honestly?   That's ridiculous to me.   Your body can handle some fruit and you don't have to avoid everything like the plague.  So maybe substitute a healthier sweet for a less healthy one?   I could suggest some fantastic ones.

[pamojja]

 

I've honestly not really counted how much fiber I get, but hopefully somewhere above 15g per day at least

 

Maybe you would be surprised if you calculated. Measured my nutrient intake (already 6 years ago) from food, and found it averaged at 49 g/d.

 

Average breakfast: nuts, seeds, cocoa powder, stevia extract, curd and eggs.

Diner: vegetables, cheese, fish once in a while, a glass of red wine, high percentage chocolate..

 

Only eat twice a day, avoid grains and minimize other higher carb foods (blood sugar issues).

[Nate-2004]

What's dangerous and irresponsible? Trying to cut sugar cravings? Trying to add more fiber? WTF?

[Nate-2004]

Trolls aside.

 

I'm searching all over for an answer to this but I'm guessing it is not very well studied at all. Do fiber supplements like psyllium husk control blood sugar? Like, perhaps not in the same exact way that metformin, berberine or cinnamon help control blood sugar, but in the way that fiber slows the absorption? There are some articles dating back to 2009 that merely speculate on this but I'm guessing no studies are showing this?

 

I suppose I could use my glucose meter and start my own research trial if not. Maybe spend three days establishing a fasted baseline. Then three days eating a cookie or something, establish what happens there. Then another three days eating a cookie after taking psyllium husk. Then perhaps do a glucose drink to test insulin resistance, maybe before and after the whole trial.

Edited by Nate-2004, 27 March 2018 - 05:43 PM.

[VP.]

I don't expect your short term experiment will show anything because I believe that's not how fiber works on the body. Here is a good article that shows where the science of fiber in diet is going. It will take time for you to change your gut bacteria. Read the whole article. 

 

https://www.nytimes....flammation.html

 

He and other scientists are running experiments that are yielding some important new clues about fiber’s role in human health. Their research indicates that fiber doesn’t deliver many of its benefits directly to our bodies.

Instead, the fiber we eat feeds billions of bacteria in our guts. Keeping them happy means our intestines and immune systems remain in good working order.

In order to digest food, we need to bathe it in enzymes that break down its molecules. Those molecular fragments then pass through the gut wall and are absorbed in our intestine.

But our bodies make a limited range of enzymes, so that we cannot break down many of the tough compounds in plants. The term “dietary fiber” refers to those indigestible molecules.

But they are indigestible only to us. The gut is coated with a layer of mucus, atop which sits a carpet of hundreds of species of bacteria, part of the human microbiome. Some of these microbes carry the enzymes needed to break down various kinds of dietary fiber.

The ability of these bacteria to survive on fiber we can’t digest ourselves has led many experts to wonder if the microbes are somehow involved in the benefits of the fruits-and-vegetables diet. Two detailed studies published recently in the journal Cell Host and Microbe provide compelling evidence that the answer is yes.

In one experiment, Andrew T. Gewirtz of Georgia State University and his colleagues put mice on a low-fiber, high-fat diet. By examining fragments of bacterial DNA in the animals’ feces, the scientists were able to estimate the size of the gut bacterial population in each mouse.

On a low-fiber diet, they found, the population crashed, shrinking tenfold.

Dr. Bäckhed and his colleagues carried out a similar experiment, surveying the microbiome in mice as they were switched from fiber-rich food to a low-fiber diet. “It’s basically what you’d get at McDonald’s,” said Dr. Bäckhed said. “A lot of lard, a lot of sugar, and twenty percent protein.”

The scientists focused on the diversity of species that make up the mouse’s gut microbiome. Shifting the animals to a low-fiber diet had a dramatic effect, they found: Many common species became rare, and rare species became common.

Along with changes to the microbiome, both teams also observed rapid changes to the mice themselves. Their intestines got smaller, and its mucus layer thinner. As a result, bacteria wound up much closer to the intestinal wall, and that encroachment triggered an immune reaction.

After a few days on the low-fiber diet, mouse intestines developed chronic inflammation. After a few weeks, Dr. Gewirtz’s team observed that the mice began to change in other ways, putting on fat, for example, and developing higher blood sugar levels.

 

Continue reading the main story

 

 

 

 

[Nate-2004]

While I think I give my gut microbiome plenty of fiber to feed on I don't know that it isn't the case that the presence of fiber on its own, independent of gut microbiome populations, slows sugar absorption by other mechanisms. If it's true that keeping fiber high improves blood sugar and the cause is a bustling gut microbiome population then why would it not be true that keeping a diet high in fiber results in low blood sugar even if you eat a bowl of ice cream and brownies on any given night? Why would it not mean that fiber supplementation with psyllium husk and/or inulin helps improve this population and thus its effects? I still think research is greatly limited here. I mean, my experiment will probably not show much but it's worth knowing for sure whether its effects on blood sugar is purely about the fiber or more so about the microbiome.

[Oakman]

Trolls aside.

 

I'm searching all over for an answer to this but I'm guessing it is not very well studied at all. Do fiber supplements like psyllium husk control blood sugar? Like, perhaps not in the same exact way that metformin, berberine or cinnamon help control blood sugar, but in the way that fiber slows the absorption? There are some articles dating back to 2009 that merely speculate on this but I'm guessing no studies are showing this?

 

I suppose I could use my glucose meter and start my own research trial if not. Maybe spend three days establishing a fasted baseline. Then three days eating a cookie or something, establish what happens there. Then another three days eating a cookie after taking psyllium husk. Then perhaps do a glucose drink to test insulin resistance, maybe before and after the whole trial.

 

Not sure where you're searching, but google found... Here's an example when I searched, "Do fiber supplements like psyllium husk control blood sugar? ", plus many others.

 

http://www.berkeleyw...-psyllium-fiber

 

"Another potential benefit of psyllium is its ability to help control blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. This was examined in an analysis of 10 studies, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Psyllium was taken before meals at standard doses. The greatest reductions in blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c (a longer-term measure of blood sugar control) occurred in people with the worst blood sugar control initially and were “comparable to the effect of many drugs that are used to treat diabetes,” the researchers wrote. The analysis also looked at 14 studies involving people with prediabetes and found that psyllium modestly reduced blood sugar in them."

 

I used to be a sugar addict too, and admitedly it's a hard thing to control. Like most addicting substances, pretty much eliminating sugar laden food/drinks entirely from the diet, aka "Cold Turkey" is what will show you the depth of your problem, full stop. My experience is that using fiber or anything else, like glocomannan, trying to "cover" for excess sugar intake is a both an exercise in frustration and complexity.

 

I'm much much more restrained now, sugar wise, but still, if it's within ready reach (in my home) I consume it (sugar goodies/drinks). When I was single I did not even have any sugar anything in the house, and that worked well. Now being older (and married) I have more restraint, so I just "window shop' those sugar treats at the grocery store, and don't bring them home (for the most part). If I do, they're bite size things, like I'd have a cookie or whatever with afternoon coffee, that's it!  As a result (and with exercise) I manage to stay within 5-10 lbs of my 18 yr old weight. When I get close to that +10lb upper limit, I get serious, cut out sweet drinks, juices, and anything man made with lots of sugar until I get back to equilibrium.