Ah crap, I forgot to mention fiber

All of this ruckus of how many spoons of butter you should add in your coffee, whether or not to sip on bone broth all day and how much protein to have in your diet to lose weight got me spinning. I wanted to make sure people weren’t doing any of these everyday in an extreme manner and that made me miss sharing something super simple and important with you, good ole fiber.

A client was sharing about what worked for her in the past when she lost weight and as she was asking some amazing questions, I had a light bulb moment. Those meals that worked for her didn’t just focus on protein and fats to help her release weight, they also had fruits and veggies that contained fiber to help balance the meal by absorbing the nutrients more efficiently along with stimulating digestion and balancing blood sugar.

Wasn’t there another diet that only focused on grams of fiber? We don’t need to hyper-focus on counting anything, and we can try to observe how many cups of veggies we have eaten today, this week or if we have gone too long without quality, whole foods.

Most people are eating 15 grams of fiber a day and you may feel better and more regular with 25-30 grams or more per day. There are two kinds of fiber:

• Soluble fiber slows down digestion by absorbing water and forming a gelatinous substance once digested. This kind of fiber is found in foods such as oats or oat bran, nuts, flaxseeds beans, lentils, peas, and some fruits and vegetables like berries.
• Insoluble fiber tends to speed up digestion by adding bulk to stool and support detoxification. Insoluble fiber is found in many whole grains like brown rice, barley, most vegetables, including root veggies, broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, green beans and zucchini.

Try adding in these foods gradually over a week to observe how your body responds. Most of us want results yesterday and go overboard, which can leave you feeling bloated and uncomfortable. Then each week you will begin to understand which of these foods help you feel balanced with your fiber consumption. We have all of the nutrition puzzle pieces and now we need to figure out how to put together our own masterpiece.

My favorite way to help people become their own nutrition master while creating their nutrition masterpiece is helping them find their Meal Type rhythm. They begin to find their rhythm by practicing Step 1: FEEL and as they are relaxed and tuned into their body, I ask them a series of questions and we play a game.

During the week, how many…

1. Protein Meals does your body need?
2. Starch Meals does your body need?
3. Combined Meals does your body need?
4. Vegan Meals does your body need?

The range we each come up with is quite close. Lets keep it simple and say we consume 21 meals per week. For example, I guessed for a client, that she needed 6-8 Protein Meals per week and she sensed 8-10. If we go with 8, that leaves 13 meals to balance with the other Meal Types.

A few ways to decipher how many of the other Meal Types you need are:

1. Eat more Combined Meals: if you have had an emotionally stressful week, more physically active, socializing, craving sugar or want to chew off someone’s head.
2. Eat more Vegan Meals: if you feel emotionally stable, craving light meals, reducing your meat intake and want to try adding more fiber into your diet to reset your digestion.
3. Eat more Starch Meals: if you need comfort and want to eat more seasonally and add in winter squashes, sweet potatoes and potatoes.

These ranges WILL vary every week of your life. We have way TOO many variables in our life that we can not control or anticipate. So each week you will start new to see if the ranges need modifying and when you head to the store you will be able to adjust accordingly because you will know more of what you need. This is where curiosity, play and connection come in to keep you on your toes to really pay attention to what your body needs versus focusing on counting proteins, fats, fiber, etc.

Next week’s email will dive deeper on which results you can observe when your Meal Type rhythm starts flowing for you.

Fiber is our best friend,

Heather Fleming

P.S. Help restore your immune system and connection to your nutrition with the 3-day Holiday Jump Start! Join me from December 3rd-5th as I help you do a mini re-boot between holiday parties. I will provide you with step by step on how to get your body back to balance. Click here to sign up! 

P.S.S. Also, just like everybody poops, everybody counts, PLEASE Vote!