Barley 101: 5 Benefits to Improve Your Health & Physique
Now, I know what you’re thinking… isn’t barley an ingredient used in beer? Yes, it’s actually a grain used in brewing beer (hopefully, you only know that because you’re of age). But let’s get past that point since alcohol isn’t exactly deemed a “health food or beverage.” That said, barley does play some key roles in improving our overall health and physique.
For that reason, we felt it would be important to outline the many ways that supplementing with barley or utilizing a product that includes barley in its formula would be advantageous to you.
To provide you with a quick background, barley is a grain full of useful nutrients such as fiber, niacin, magnesium, selenium, and chromium, among many others. So, how exactly can we use barley to improve our health and physique? Let’s dive into it.
1. Improve Digestion
As mentioned above, one of the nutrients found naturally in barley is fiber – both soluble and insoluble.
These sources come in handy with improving your digestion. Unfortunately, unless you have digestive issues that are severe enough to cause you to pay particular attention, you may not know how your digestive system is working or its health.
When you look at soluble fiber, one of its functions is to feed the good bacteria found in your gut. These good bacteria are able to help boost the immune system, make important vitamins that promote health, and obviously aid in digesting the food we consume.
Insoluble fiber from barley helps keep you regular and lowers your risk of becoming constipated. Because insoluble fiber is unable to dissolve in water, it can add bulk to your stool (which is helpful to prevent loose bowel movements).
Your ability to effectively digest food can allow you to absorb more of the nutrients found in the meals you eat rather than having them being excreted as the digestive system continues to move it through the intestines and eventually out of your system entirely.
2. Lower Cholesterol
Looking at cholesterol, we have good cholesterol (HDL) and bad cholesterol (LDL). For health benefits, you want to increase your good cholesterol while lowering your bad cholesterol that can cause many health risks.
In barley, you have what’s known as beta-glucans (a soluble fiber). The benefit of beta-glucans is its ability to lower your LDL levels by removing bile acids (which are made in the liver from cholesterol), which then forces your liver to make more and use up extra cholesterol. If bile acids were not removed, you would have an increased amount of cholesterol in your system, which causes LDL levels to rise and leads to some individuals needing to use cholesterol medication prescribed by their doctor.
3. Manage Appetite
Circling back to #1, due to barley containing fiber (in this instance soluble fiber), it can help you feel more satiated and fuller throughout the day and encounter fewer hunger pangs between meals. This can help reduce the number of calories you consume on a daily basis and may keep your weight in check. Barley also helps reduce your appetite thanks to the soluble fiber, which slows down digestion and creates the consistency of a gel in the stomach and allows it to sit there longer than if the soluble fiber was not present.
In addition, consuming a diet high in fiber can help you better manage your weight. Fiber has been found to be useful in weight loss and can actually seek out and help eliminate fat stores – particularly abdominal fat.
Combine the fact that barley can help control your appetite and cravings with the weight loss benefits, you have the ability to lower your risk for many diseases related to being overweight or obese.
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