Oat bran and weight loss

Why and how does oat bran promote weight loss?

Oat bran emerged from the Dukan Diet and the need to introduce carbohydrates that have no effect on the pancreas and insulin secretion. More importantly, oat bran has two characteristics that support and explain its slimming effect. The first is its absorption capacity which allows it to gorge itself like a sponge 20 times its volume in water. One tablespoon of 15 grams turns into a large 300-gram bolus in the stomach. Such a bulk fills the stomach and along with the foods from a meal provides a fast and strong feeling of fullness and a lasting satiety. The second is its contact viscosity which allows it to adhere to all the nutrients that surround it when it reaches the small intestine. Since oat bran cannot enter the bloodstream, it traps these nutrients and their calories and carries them into the stools. In this way, oat bran reduces appetite considerably. Furthermore, it causes a steady and painless calorie reduction. Finally, it cooks very well and is used in many different recipes. As such, oat bran and konjac are presently the only two foods that can boast a slimming effect. In 2000, when the Dukan Diet appeared, oat bran was not known; today, it is used in most parts of the world, which means that it has established itself for its nutritional qualities and it now seems hard to imagine a diet that would not recommend a combined use of oat bran.

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Why is the glycemic index of a food important for effective weight loss?

The Glycemic Index is the tool used to measure the speed and penetration ability of a carbohydrate. When you eat a food high in carbohydrates, you chew it then it goes into your stomach where it is attacked by gastric fluid. It then reaches the small intestine where it is attacked by bile and pancreatic enzymes. Dismantled, it reaches the bloodstream as glucose. The faster and the larger the transit, the higher the concentration of glucose build up in the bloodstream, the more insulin your pancreas needs to secrete, the more that insulin turns the glucose into fat and makes you gain weight. The solution lies in eating foods that reach the bloodstream gradually and in such a scattered manner that the body can use them for its needs without requiring insulin. Not all calories cause weight gain but rather those that require the pancreas to produce insulin, those originating from foods with a high glycemic index.

To lose weight effectively, protein intake should be unrestricted, fat intake should be moderate or low depending on the weight to lose, and more importantly only take in carbohydrates with the lowest possible glycemic index: vegetables and oat bran.

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What is the glycemic index for oat bran?

If we compare the glycemic index of a carbohydrate to the speed of a vehicle, the speed is registered with an arrow going from 0 at a stop to 100. 100 is the unsurpassable glycemic index of glucose. 70 is that of white sugar. 85 that of white wheat flour. 15 is the index of oat bran. This index is so low that its consumption leaves the pancreas indifferent and does not require that it produce insulin, the master craftsman and primary culprit of excess weight. In as much as oat bran can be used as a substitute for all starches, bread, cakes, cookies, bars, breakfast cereals, we must push for the food industry to integrate it into its manufacturing.

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Why does oat bran yield a flat stomach?

Oat bran, along with vegetables, is the carbohydrate with the lowest glycemic index; that is 15 for oat bran and most green vegetables. This means that its consumption triggers only a slight production of insulin. Yet we know that fat produced by insulin is preferentially stored on the abdomen. This conversion from glucose to abdominal fat is one of three symptoms of the metabolic syndrome, the potbelly syndrome, a precursor to diabetes.

It is impossible to get rid of a potbelly without losing weight by avoiding carbohydrates and incorporating a daily physical activity greater than or equal to 20 minutes of walking.
This is where oat bran plays an important role. It is often used by bodybuilders who want to tone their abdominal muscles by "drying" their muscles so they are taut.

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Are there any oat bran appetite suppressants?

The active ingredient in oat bran is its ratio of beta-glucan fibers. Some labs have isolated these fibers to market them as a dietary supplement in capsule form. These products serve very little purpose since their price is very high and it doesn't make sense to ingest pills made from the active ingredient in oat bran when this one exists in natural form, easy to incorporate into a healthy diet while benefiting from its culinary qualities and its ability to satiate.

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Why does snacking on oat bran promote weight loss?

The vast majority of weight gain is linked to a constant and excessive consumption of foods that cause blood sugar to rise, cause insulin production and end up being turned into fat. These foods are carbohydrates with a high glycemic index. Snacking is defined as eating between meals. The most common snack foods are made up of starches or sweets like chocolate, bread, croissants. They rank high on the glycemic arrow and they are fattening and diabetogenic. Snack foods made from oat bran make it possible to avoid, without frustration, those elements primarily responsible for weight gain. Moreover, with its ability to satiate, snack foods made from oat bran satisfy hunger and foster weight loss. Finally, there currently exists on the market a variety of snack foods without sugar or flour. When buying a snack food, like a packaged cookie, get into the habit of reading the nutrition label on the back side of the package. A fattening snack food contains more than 50% carbohydrates of which more than 10% is white sugar. Such a cookie leads to insulin secretion which turns these sugars into fat.

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How is oat bran a fat-filter?

Oat bran is a fat-filter for three reasons: First, because when added to a meal, it slows the penetration ability and speed of the entire food bowl. Imagine that you ate a sandwich made with white bread and a slice of pie. This meal, mostly made up of very invasive carbohydrates, would be digested and absorbed as glucose at lightning speed. The insulin released would have turned this threatening glucose into fat. But adding two tablespoons of oat bran at the beginning of the meal would have slowed the penetration and thus reduced the amount of fat produced. When a high glycemic index food is consumed with another low glycemic index food, the body reacts by averaging them out. Furthermore, oat bran is a fat-filter because it curbs appetite and reduces food intake. Finally, oat bran creates a caloric reduction at the intestinal level. Its viscosity allows it to capture calories by direct contact with the nutrients around it which it then carries into the stools.

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Why is oat bran a compound carbohydrate?

Because it travels through the digestive tract very slowly. While in the stomach, it swells and stagnates. Having reached the small intestine, it remains there even longer because it is stuck in a gel that slows the intestinal bowl. Since it is not digestible, it ends up in the colon where part of its content will slowly be digested and absorbed into the bloodstream one drop of glucose at a time.

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Why does oat bran have few calories?

Oat bran is not that lacking in calories (279 per 100g) but it contains fewer calories than wheat flour (364 per 100g). But it is not so much the number of calories that matters as the number of them that reach the bloodstream. More so, it's mainly the speed at which these latest calories reach the bloodstream. If they barge in at high speed and build up causing blood sugar to rise, they will be turned into fat. That is what happens with white wheat flour. But if these carbohydrate calories reach the bloodstream slowly and gradually, they will be expended by the body along the way for its operations. That is what happens with oat bran. This is the reason oat bran can be considered a low supplier of calories part of which is discarded along the way.

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