“Eat plenty of dietary fiber for a diet.” Everyone who hears this universal advice buys vegetable salads, oatmeal, or powdered soluble dietary fiber (indigestible dextrin) at the supermarket.
However, very few people accurately understand the “true reason” why dietary fiber is effective for dieting. Many people vaguely think, “It’s because dietary fiber expands in the gastrointestinal tract and gives a feeling of fullness” or “It’s because it improves bowel movements and calories are excreted,” but that doesn’t draw out even half of dietary fiber’s potential.
The most important factor that maximizes the diet effect of dietary fiber (especially insoluble dietary fiber) lies in the process of the “heavy labor (physical hacking)” itself: taking dozens of chews to crush the “hard and hard-to-bite physical texture” with the power of the jaw (digestion related to E14).
The Synergistic Effect of Chewing Count and GLP-1 (Satiety Hormone)
Foods rich in dietary fiber (burdock root, brown rice, hard nuts, dried squid, etc.) have strong cell walls and absolutely cannot be swallowed after just a few chews. This “hardness (texture resistance)” brings a forced slowdown to our meals.
- Forced Accumulation of Chewing Counts and DIT Explosion: The act of crushing hard dietary fiber in the mouth until it becomes a liquid (paste) fully utilizes the facial muscles (masseter and temporalis muscles). This prolonged muscle exercise vigorously stimulates the sympathetic nervous system and significantly raises postprandial calorie consumption (Diet-Induced Thermogenesis: DIT) more than usual (metabolic syndrome prevention effect of E06). In other words, the “act of eating” dietary fiber itself functions as a kind of aerobic exercise (calorie burning).
- Breaking the 20-Minute Barrier and GLP-1 Secretion: A meal that would end in 5 minutes with soft or liquid food is forcibly extended to over 20 minutes by incorporating hard dietary fiber. Passing this 20-minute mark is extremely important (digestion process in E05). The continuous stimulation from chewing and the crushed dietary fiber slowly reaching the small intestine exhibit a synergistic effect, causing a massive secretion of the powerful satiety hormone “GLP-1 (incretin)” from the lower small intestine.
- Forced Shutdown of the Brain’s Satisfaction Center: GLP-1 rides the bloodstream to the brain’s hypothalamus and issues a strong stop signal saying, “I’m already full. There’s no need to eat any more.” The true significance of eating salad first (veggie first) is an extremely logical physiological hack: “By chewing down hard fiber first, you borrow (pre-secrete) GLP-1 before reaching the staple food.”
Why Supplements (Powders) Halve the Effect
A question arises here: “Then, if I dissolve green juice or dietary fiber supplements in water and drink them, won’t GLP-1 be secreted and make me full in the same way?”
The answer is NO. Dietary fiber pasted into a powder or liquid completely skips chewing (the labor of the chewing muscles) and reaches the stomach and small intestine. It’s true that there is a physical bulking effect as dietary fiber and a mild suppressive effect on blood sugar spikes, but the “sympathetic nervous system stimulation by chewing (increase in DIT)” and the “early GLP-1 secretion system from signals from the jaw” do not activate at all. As a result, it easily invites the tragedy of, “I drank it, but I just got hungrier.”
What we really need to ingest is not just the “fiber component” as a nutrient, but the “physical friction material (hard texture)” to tire out the jaw. Putting a salad in a blender to make a smoothie can be said to be an act of throwing its greatest weapon into the gutter yourself. Please reconsider the value of crushing cells one by one with your teeth and jaw.
Chew Better, Live Better.
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