Fiber up!

I got my borrowed South Beach book in the mail yesterday. I’ve already learned something new (and okay, exciting!).

On page 55 I learned this neat trick:

Here’s a tip that will lower the glycemic index of any meal: Fifteen minutes before you begin eating, have a spoonful of Metamucil in a glass of water. It’s true, this normally is intended as a mild laxative. But it’s simply psyllium, which is fiber – nonsoluble fiber. When you swallow that spoonful (btw they come in capsules now too), the fiber forms a slippery lump which makes it ways through your digestive tract, clearing out anything in its path. When you take some before eating, the fiber gets mixed in with the food and has the effect of slowing the speed with which your stomach digests what you’ve eaten.

Then on page 64 under the header ‘Carb’s Competitors’:

Fiber is the major factor that slows the absorption of sugar. … This was proven not long ago in a scientific study in which half of the subjects were give fiber known as psyllium (Metamucil) 15 minutes before lunch. … In the hours after the meal, the fiber group reported less hunger than the others. As the day wore on they ate less, too. The reason is simple: In their stomachs, the psyllium mixed in with what they ate and drank and slowed down the digestion. Slower digestion of carbs, less insulin. Less insulin, less dramatic drop in blood sugar. Less of a sugar rise and fall now, less hunger later.

Dramatic drops in blood sugar feel HORRIBLE. As exciting as having Metamucil before eating makes you feel less hungry, I’m even more thrilled over the effects on helping the blood sugar levels stabilize.

I went to the Metamucil site and they have it in powder form, capsule form and wafer form. They also have a free sample you can request that comes in a variety pack.