When we speak of proper and healthy nutrition, we speak of quality food that are nutritionally rich and have favorable effect on the organism. When we are on a diet, with all of that, we want for the food to saturate us enough and satisfy our feeling of hunger.
In pursuit of this kind of food, today I represent psyllium. Foodstuff that is low caloric, more beneficial effects on the organism, and for its features it helps you to prepare food and shakes. The main purpose on a diet is to avoid sudden hunger crisis when we usually reach out for high caloric food that saturate us quickly.
What exactly is psyllium?
Psyllium husks essentially are seed of Plantago ovata plant, that originates from India. Their main characteristic is hygroscopicity – water accumulation and swelling. These are indigestible leaves and an excellent source of soluble fibers. 100 g of psyllium has 350 kcal only from carbohydrates of which is around 71 g of fibers. It doesn’t contain proteins or fat.
Effect to the organism
Soluble fibers in psyllium husks can help with lowering the cholesterol, with regulation of digestion (for diarrhea as well as for constipation), with irritable bowel syndrome, hemorrhoids and other digestive impediments. With some of the problems the studies have shown hard proof, and others should be additionally researched:
Colon cancer – even though the idea was that fibers could help preventing colon cancer, later studies haven’t managed to prove it successfully.
Constipation – psyllium acts as a light laxative. In the digestive system it swells and spurs the peristalsis of bowels, and with it also the discharge.
Diabetes – there is a possibility that a diet rich with fibers helps in lowering the level of blood sugar. Still, additional proof is needed.
Diarrhea – it can be helpful for diarrhea. Because of it’s feature to absorb water, it helps the stool to get thicker and it slows down the passage through the digestive tract.
Heart diseases – soluble fibers in nutrition are related to smaller amount of triglycerides and according to that they lower the risk of heart diseases.
Irritable bowel syndrome – in some cases it can help. However, it should be approached cautiously.
Corpulence – as a result of swelling, psyllium can help in feeling full and in that way it can induce for a person eats less food.
How to use it ?
Food preparation
Even though it can be used as help with the diet, because by swelling in the stomach it gives volume to food and creates a feeling of saturation, psyllium has a large part in preparing food as an adequate no carb replacement. Generally, starch function in pancakes and similar cakes is thickening the compound and giving volume to it. And what when you want to make a pancake without flour or oat flakes? That’s where psyllium comes in. You can use it in anything that needs to give thickness and volume to the food. Because of its jelly consistency it can help with compound linkage and making creams out of fruit juices.
Pancakes
For me it had shown to be exquisite with pancakes, where with one whole egg and a couple of egg whites, I added only husks, a little water, mixed it and put it on the stove. You can mix it in various biscuits for cakes and at least partially replace flour in that way. It takes well baking and cooking, and the longer you let it wait, the compound will be thicker.
By itself it doesn’t have a specific taste so it can be combined with sweet and salty. Add it to a shake, oat flakes, anywhere where you want to gain thicker compound. The amount in which it is added is around one or two, you shouldn’t put too much. On Internet there are a lot of recipes that include psyllium, so google them.
Dosage with handling some of health problems:
A half up to two tea spoons is melted in a cup of warm water. It should be stirred good and drank before it jells. If you drink it for the first time, it is better to take less, half a tea spoon, and afterwards gradually increase the dosage. You can drink it a few times a day.
You should be careful if you take some medication, because psyllium can affect the absorption speed so before taking it you should consult your doctor.
It is sold in capsules and in husks. I personally only used husks because in that way you can use them in more than one way.
Conclusion
The main advantage of Psyllium is low digestibility so it doesn’t affect daily caloric intake a lot. Because of its features it is a quality ingredient in food preparation when we are careful about carbohydrate intake and daily intake of calories in general. Taking it ordinarily has a good effect on stool regulation, and it can help with cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.