Are You Eating Enough Fiber?
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If you regularly eat enough calories, carbs, and fat, then why do you always feel so hungry?! Super frustrating, right? If you're consistent with hitting your macros and fueling your body with enough food, then why do you struggle to feel satisfied? Sister, you might be lacking fiber. So in this episode of Embrace Your Real, I dive into what fiber is, how much fiber you need daily, how to include more fibrous foods into your day, and also what happens when you eat too much fiber (there is always too much of a good thing!). If you’re ready to stop feeling hungry after eating a complete meal, this episode is for you!
We talk all about this and so much more inside my Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy! If you're interested in becoming an expert on how to nourish your body with what it needs, you can learn more by clicking here.
TRANSCIPT:
Hey, Hey, beautiful human. Can I steal five minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Real with me Julie Ledbetter. I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let's go.
Hello and welcome back to the Embrace Your Real Podcast. I am so grateful that you are tuning in, wherever you're tuning in all over the world, whether you're walking or jogging, you're cooking or cleaning, you are doing the dang thing girl. You are choosing to show up to prioritize yourself to become the best possible version of yourself to serve others in your greatest capacity. And I'm grateful that you're here for a bonus episode. And if you read the title, What You Might Be Missing If You're Always Hungry, that's what we're going to be chatting about. I get lots of women coming to me saying that they're struggling to feel full, even though they're hitting their macros. So they ate enough calories. They ate enough carbs, they ate their right amount of fat and enough protein, but why are they still hungry? And I know that this is a frustrating feeling and that's why I want to talk about it.
But before I do, I want to dive into the review of the day. This comes from Rocky Ma. She says, "This girl though. I'm a 48 year old wife, mom, grandmother, and ex fitness competitor. After 11 competitions over the course of six years, I finally hung up my clear heels and glitzy bikinis at the age of 44. I wanted to live my life stage ready, for anyone that can relate you know that is impossible. Needless to say, my hormones were wrecked and my mind was even more wrecked. I stumbled across Julie's podcast after searching for some macro counting information. And I'm so thankful that her podcast appeared in the results. I have listened to every episode and absolutely cannot get enough of this girl. She speaks clearly, and there's no fluff, AKA words like, or I'm fascinated by how positive she is and how compassionate she is for others in each and every episode. Our current world needs more positive influencers like Julie now more than ever. Unfortunately it took me until my late forties, but I'm finally embracing my real. Thank you, Julie. You are an angel."
Thank you so much for the review. I love reading your reviews. I have told you this before, but I'll say it again, I sincerely appreciate you taking time out of your day to rate and review the podcast. It really does help get the message out. We are over a hundred countries strong and this community is building by the day and I'm so thankful that you are here. Without further ado, let's dive into the bonus episode. So what I typically find when people are still hungry after hitting their macros is that they're lacking fiber. Now, this is typically a result from them not getting enough fiber from the foods that they are eating daily. So if you're feeling the same thing, including more fiber into your day might be your answer. So you might be wondering what is fiber? So essentially it's a type of carbohydrate that your body actually cannot digest.
This makes it highly thermogenic as only half of each gram of carbohydrate from fiber is actually digested. So you end up absorbing two calories of grams of carbs rather than four calories per gram, which is the typical carbohydrate would be. But if you count your macros, don't subtract your fiber from your total calories or carbs. It's not worth your time, and your total macros, if you were getting them calculated by us or another trusted coach, don't worry about subtracting the fiber. That is a whole other thing that I'm not going to go into, but there's just no need to do it. So the two main benefits of fiber are keeping your digestive system running smoothly and keeping you fuller longer. Woohoo.
That's what we want, right? Plus more fibrous foods are typically filled with essential vitamins and minerals. So really it's a win win. If you want to calculate your fiber intake requirements based on the calories you're consuming daily, it would be around 14 grams for every 1000 calories consumed. I personally eat around 27 to 32 grams of fiber per day. Make sure you don't get carried away with fiber because if you eat too much though, it can be difficult for your body to break it down, leaving you feeling uncomfortable and bloated. Plus it can also hinder your energy levels because it costs your body energy for digestion rather than using the energy elsewhere. So you might be like, "That's great. I think I am lacking fiber. So what types of foods can I eat to make sure that I'm eating enough fiber?" Super simple, fruits and vegetables have fiber, whole grains, oats, quinoa.
So look for things like Ezekiel bread is a great source of fiber. Some rices have higher fiber, beans, nuts seeds, and any of your whole food sources. So great place to start. If you are looking for something and you already eat a lot of whole nutrient dense foods, and you're still lacking in fiber, you can always take a fiber supplement. I wouldn't always recommend it simply because I always recommend obviously eating whole foods versus supplements. That's a whole nother podcast, but newsflash, supplements make less than a 5% difference in your overall results. So I never want you to buy into the lie that you need X supplement to get X result, because that's just not the truth. So keep that in mind, but definitely great place to start is the list that I just talked about above. Now, I know that fiber can be difficult, and so it's just a matter of trial and error.
I know for me, like I said earlier, if you eat too much fiber, it can feel really uncomfortable. So for me, if I go over my 32 grams of fiber per day, I typically get very bloated. I either have gas or I'm feeling too full, too full to the point where I can't get enough protein in for the day or enough grams of carbs or fats simply because I'm so full from the fiber or I have constipation or diarrhea, so just keep that in mind. Like I have mentioned before, it's everything in moderation. So yes, your fiber should be on point in terms of how much your body needs, but you can definitely go overboard with fiber. So just keep that in mind, and again, it's just tracking the foods that you eat that are higher in fiber and trying to look for alternatives if you do struggle with eating too much fiber.
So definitely something to take a look at. I hope that this was helpful for you. I talk all of this and so, so much more inside my Macro Counting Made Simple Online Academy. So if you're interested in becoming an expert on how to nourish your body, what it needs, my online academy is made for you. You can learn more by clicking the link in my bio. So be sure to do that. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's bonus episode. I love you so much and I'll talk to you guys in the next episode. All right sister, that's all I got for you today, but I have two things that I need you to do.
First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, juliealedbetter, yes it's with an A in the middle, for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world, and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.