What’s the best way to fight the battle of the bulge? It’s not by buying books or starting fad diets that rarely work. Rather, it’s shocking that most people are unaware of the huge role fiber plays in combating obesity. Now there’s an easy, natural way to lose weight by adding PGX fiber to the daily menu.

Several years ago I wrote that there was a simple way to determine if patients were consuming sufficient fiber. Just look at their stools. If they failed to float, or were not as soft as toothpaste, these patients were lacking fiber. Some readers accused me of giving them a stiff neck trying to find out!

Most North Americans consume about 15 grams of fiber daily. That’s less than half the amount they need, 35 grams. This means they often have stools as hard as rock, suffer from constipation, hemorrhoids, irritable bowel syndrome and diverticulosis, small hernias of the large bowel. But this lack of fiber also causes obesity with all its lethal complications, diabetes, hypertension, heart attack and stroke.

Recently, the National Institutes of Health reported a Diet and Health Study. This showed a link between dietary fiber and a reduced risk from cardiovascular, infectious and respiratory disease as well as a decreased risk of death from any cause.

But how can fiber prevent so many diverse problems? The secret is ‘filling volume’. For instance, no one with an ounce of good sense would add eight teaspoons of sugar to a glass of water and drink it. But for years children and others have been drinking cans of cola with that amount of sugar. This drink adds to obesity as it has no filling volume.

Contrast this to eating an apple that contains fiber. It’s rare that anyone asks for a second one, because apples contain fiber that has filling volume. This makes the stomach feel full which diminishes the hunger reflex.

So why don’t people eat more fiber? Because it simply doesn’t taste as good as fancy desserts, ice cream and other goodies. The result is that too many people find it easier to by-pass a high fiber breakfast such as whole wheat bread and other high fiber foods.

PGX fiber (PolyGlycopleX) is a super fiber that helps people to supplement an inadequate fiber intake. It’s been reported in several international journals and is a complex of natural polysaccharides that, gram for gram, provides more fiber punch than any other fibers.

The soft gels, when swallowed with a glass of water, expand because of their great ability to absorb many times their weight in water. This tells the brain that the stomach is full with no need for a second helping or dessert.

PGX also helps to combat the effects of today’s sugary diet which has a yoyo effect on blood sugar, often the forerunner of Type 2 diabetes. PGX decreases this risk by slowing digestion of food. This places less stress on the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar, resulting in more stable levels.

Studies show that a high fiber diet also helps to decrease bad cholesterol (low density lipoprotein) by increasing the excretion rate of cholesterol in the bile.

The prescribed dose is initially one to two soft gels one hour before meals along with a glass of water. This is the same as eating three bowls of oatmeal! The dose can be gradually increased over several days to decrease the chance of bloating or loose stools.

Patients who take PGX should take medication one hour before PGX or two to three hours after taking it. PGX can slow the absorption of drugs, so always check with your doctor before taking this or any other medication.

Some authorities on nutrition now consider PGX the natural Holy Grail in treating obesity. But always remember that no Holy Grail will ever cause weight loss unless it is also associated with a total commitment to stop a faulty lifestyle.

So get off the couch, follow a sound diet, buy a scale, and always watch calories.

PGX is available at most health food stores.

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