PGX Fights Constipation, Cholesterol and Obesity
22 Sep 2012
W. C. Fields, the comedian with the bulbous, red alcoholic nose, when asked if he would like a glass of water, always replied, “Water is for flowing under bridges.” But Fields didn’t know about “The Ultimate Volumetrics Diet”, or PGX.
Dr. Barbara Rolls, Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State University in Pennsylvania, reports in the publication “Nutrition Action” that, when she was studying the effects of fats, carbohydrates and proteins in food intake, she had a “Eureka moment”. People, she concluded, were not regulating their calories. Rather, they were regularly eating the same weight or volume of food.
Her next “Eureka moment” came with the observation that it’s possible to eat a large volume of food and still lose weight if the large portions are low in calories.
W.C. Fields didn’t know the secret in the amount of water in food. This doesn’t mean you have to pour water into your favourite meal. Rather, it means adding vegetables to a casserole and dinner plates because vegetables are mostly water. So you end up with a mouthful of heavier food per bite, but with fewer calories.
Dr. Rolls says it’s possible to chew on low density celery, salad greens, tomato, apples and whole wheat spaghetti without gaining excessive weight. But it’s easy to add pounds with high density calorie foods such as carrot cake, brownies, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter.
But trying to sort out the good foods from the bad gets complicated when Dr. Rolls suggests calculating the caloric density of foods by dividing its calories by its weight in grams. It’s a scientific approach, but hell will freeze over before anyone does it.
It’s less complicated when Dr. Rolls suggests having a low calorie dense soup, salad or an apple at the start of a meal. These fill up the stomach, decreasing the hunger reflex.
I also believe that the best way to tame the hunger reflex is by a high fiber diet. Most North Americans consume 15 grams of fiber daily, but they need 35. This means many people have stools as hard as rocks, and suffer from constipation and obesity.
The Eureka moment that everyone should experience is recognizing the simple, indisputable fact that fiber has what’s called “filling volume”, which tells the brain the stomach is full.
Of course good sense indicates it’s prudent to use dietary means and exercise to combat obesity. But the wrong foods usually win out, resulting in the current epidemic of obesity and diabetes.
So if you’re losing the battle of the bulge, what else can you do? Try PGX. It’s a complex of natural polysaccharides, and gram for gram provides greater filling volume than other fibers. Its soft gels, or granules, when swallowed with meals, expand because of their great ability to absorb many times their weight in water, thus decreasing the hunger reflex.
It has another important function. High spikes in blood sugar create a yo-yo effect and increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes. PGX, by slowing the digestion of food, moderates blood sugar levels. This lowers what’s called the glycemic index (GI) and decreases the risk of type 2 diabetes. Studies also show that overweight and obese people with a low GI tend to lose weight. PGX also decreases blood cholesterol levels by 17 percent.
The minimum dose of PGX is three soft gels or 2.5 grams of granules daily before, during or after meals with a glass of water or added to moist foods. This creates the same effect as three bowls of oatmeal.
However some people feel full on less. You can also use a patient approach by adding one or two soft gels or one gram of the PGX granules to meals throughout the day.
So I’d agree with Dr Rolls, there’s more benefit to water than merely flowing under bridges. And for losing weight, there’s nothing better, gram for gram, than a high fiber diet. That’s why PGX has been called the “Holy Grail” in the treatment of obesity.
PGX is available in most health food stores.
