Doctors have explained how Brits can feel healthier by increasing how much they eat when it comes to one vital food.
The Christmas and New Year period is a time of celebration, whether that’s meeting up with loved ones on 25 December or simply going to the pub with some mates you haven’t seen in a good while.
Either way, one thing that is hard to avoid during December is overindulging.
Whether that be a few extra chocolates from the box of Celebrations or Quality Street – or an extra wine or two ‘because it’s Christmas’, letting our hair down coincides with having a few of these treats we try and stay on top of during the rest of the year.
So it’s no surprise that come the new year and the first few weeks of January that people want to go on a bit of a detox and shed those extra pounds they might have gained during festivities.
For 2025, the four most popular New Year’s resolutions have focused on wellbeing and health, with those being exercising more, eating healthier food, drinking more water, and losing weight.
And while willpower is essential to achieving any of these plans that people are setting themselves, there is one easy way that you can make yourself healthier overnight.
According to Dr Carrie Ruxton and Dr Binita Kalaria, it all comes down to what we eat and how much of it.
And the medical professionals have explained that just one in 10 Brits are actually meeting guidelines when it comes to consuming this particular kind of food.
We are, of course, talking about fibre.
“We’re supposed to eat 30 grams of fibre a day, yet only one in 10 UK adults actually manage to consume that quantity,” said Dr Kalaria, who spends her days as a GP.
“Most people have a significant daily ‘fibre gap’ of around 10 grams a day.”
So instead of the 30g we should be eating, it’s more like 20g. Not what we want, doctors say, if we want to be healthier and also feel healthier.
Dr Ruxton said: “Fibre is a type of carbohydrate, but unlike other carbs we consume, it isn’t broken down into glucose during digestion and isn’t absorbed by the body.
“That means we only take in a fraction of its calories. Compared with fat, fibre has less than a quarter of the calories weight for weight, but its biggest benefit when it comes to losing weight is that fibre has a beneficial impact on our gut bacteria which stimulate the hormones that make us feel fuller after eating.”
Dr Ruxton added: “This means that when we eat enough fibre in our diet we see double benefits when it comes to weight loss – we take in fewer calories and we curb our hunger.”
Foods that are high in fibre include pears, avocados, oats, raspberries, carrots, broccoli, sprouts, lentils, kidney beans, and even popcorn.
