Acai – Healthy Gut Fibre

“Eat more fibre”. Easy to say but hard to do? You have probably heard that before, but why is fibre so good for us?

A high fibre diet (approximately 30-40g per day) reduces your risk of chronic disease. It is also a great way to help you feel full quicker and lose weight.

Fibre comes from plant foods: whole grain cereals, vegetables, legumes, fruit, nuts and seeds, and is necessary for your gut to function properly. However, it is important to drink plenty of fluids in order for the fibre to swell and act as a sponge and regulate your gut movement.

Fibre acts like a sponge and soaks up sugar in the foods you ear, and releases it slowly, helping control your blood sugar levels. It also reduces cholesterol absorption and excretion, therefore reducing your blood cholesterol and your risk of heart disease. But that’s not all, foods that are high in fibre expand in your stomach and intestine like a sponge, to help you feel full, and these foods tend to be those low in energy. These foods are said to have low energy density. If you compare to a bag of lollies, there is no fibre in it and they are very high in energy, and lollies don’t act like a sponge and expand in your stomach to help you feel full and stop eating!

Açaí can help you bulk up your diet with fibre, and therefore decrease its energy density. This way you’ll be eating less energy for the same weight of food and therefore hep prevent weight gain and your risk of obesity! Pure Dried Açaí has a relatively high fibre content of 1.35g (per 5g serve) compared with an apple (1.8g) or a weetbix (1.8g). In an Açaí smoothie with 3 scoops of Pure Dried Açaí powder, you get around 4g of dietary fibre! The new recommended intake for Australia and New Zealand suggest we consume 30g of fibre.