Speaker 1: ... back a naturopath.
How are you all going out there?
Enjoying your summertime in the northern hemisphere?
It's cold down here.
Don't worry, it's your turn next.
We're going to talk about Gum Arabic, an insoluble fiber.
Very interesting plant.
It's an Acacia plant that grows in Sudan.
So Acacias, or Wattle Trees.
They've got beautiful flowers but they can make you sneeze like crazy.
And when they cut into the tree they get this sap, this exudate that comes out that when
it's dried becomes Gum Arabic.
So Gum Arabic had many uses over the years.
I think it was used at one stage even for postage stamps to lick the back, when we used
to post letters, you know?
Now we post...
What do we post now?
Stuff on Instagram, isn't it?
But yeah, these insoluble polysaccharides are very beneficial for your digestive health
because they pass through.
So there are many studies you can read online that support the very good use of Gum Arabic
when it comes to the diet.
Back in the 1970s the Federal Drug Administration passed Gum Arabic as Generally Recommended
As Safe or GRAS.
So it has no real issues with people, apart from maybe gas or bloating or loose bowel
motions if you take way too much to begin with.
So if you are going to try it, it's definitely worth a shot if you're carrying a bit of excess
weight or you want to build up some good gut bacteria, but remember, as per usual, you
have to take it slowly.
You can't go from zero to a hundred miles an hour in three seconds without breaking
your neck, okay?
Go nice and easy with this stuff.
Studies will show, for example that one ounce of this...
I think it's around 27 or between 25 to 30 grams... is quite beneficial for you, and
if you did that for six weeks, there's a potential you're going to lose up to 2% of your body
weight.
So they did a study, for example, involving about 120 or 130 women, I believe.
Broke them into two groups like they normally do.
One group got about 30 grams of Gum Arabic per day, which after six weeks resulted in
a 2% weight loss, whereas the other group of 60 ladies didn't have that 2% weight loss.
They were just given some type of powder with a small percentage, again, of an insoluble
fiber in it, but it didn't quite have that ability to reduce their BMI, like the Gum
Arabic did.
So what does the Gum Arabic do when you eat it?
Well, it creates satiety, it makes you feel full.
It changes the way the hormone Leptin reacts with your gut and your brain.
So it's starting to give your brain signals that you just had a Big Mac, a fries and a
huge Sunday.
You're not going to feel like eating a lot of food when you've had a good dose of Gum
Arabic.
Basically your gut is telling your brain to shut up, to be quiet.
To stop thinking about food.
And when that occurs it means you're probably not going to be hunting down stuff in the
refrigerator or the pantry which will eventually result in weight loss.
So don't use Gum Arabic as a weight loss tool.
I think it's a nice powder that you can add to different dishes, for example.
I'm going to experiment a lot more with Gum Arabic in my new kitchen and I'm going to
show you guys a couple of things I've been looking at.
Some ideas I've got on how to incorporate it into foods.
But it's suffice to say it's very healthy for the digestive system.
It's even linked with lowering cholesterol.
So if you take about a half an ounce per day in your diet, it's going to help to bind the
bad or the LDL cholesterol and move it out the body.
Same with rolled oats, oat bran.
These are also fibers that help to reduce cholesterol, improve satiety and oats are
one of my favorite breakfast cereals for that reason.
So thinking about it, Gum Arabic builds good beneficial bacteria, can reduce cholesterol,
can make you feel full so you don't eat a lot of food.
It sounds like an amazing kind of food to add to the diet.
It is, but go slowly to begin with because remember, if you go from naught to a hundred
you're going to get problems like gas, like diarrhea, all those kinds of things that happen
if you do things too quick, so take it nice and easy.
While I'm here, click on the link below and get my free Candida Shopping Guide.
Thanks for tuning in.