Need Help Shopping? Call (877) 876-8247
The Long Term Health Benefits of Adding Fiber to Your Diet
If you want to feel better... if you want to look better... if you want to live better... then eat more dietary fiber.
Dr. Mike Roizen, co-author of "You On A Diet", says that "Fiber has a major benefit in reducing obesity and constipation."
Well, of course reducing obesity will make you look and feel better, and constipation is just plain bad and is to be avoided, but there is another, sometimes overlooked, benefit to eating more fiber.
Because fiber makes you feel fuller much faster than other foods, it has the sideline benefit of reducing the intake of the bad stuff.
Dr. Roizen points out that: "You're not only adding fiber to your diet, but you change from eating chips to eating fruit. You not only have the healthy food, but you get rid of the lousy food.
"It's like walking with a friend. Not only do you get the benefit of the walking, but you get the benefit of the friendship."
Fiber comes in two varieties, insoluble and soluble:
Insoluble Fiber relieves and prevents constipation by pushing waste material through your system rapidly and more efficiently. This kind of fiber is found in the indigestible parts of plants that we eat. Grain husks, skins of fruits and vegetables, brown rice, outsides of beans, peas and berries are all sources of insoluble fiber. Some people refer to insoluble fiber as "roughage" or "bulk".
Soluble Fiber is the one we don't really hear about too often. But it's the really good one. Soluble fiber lowers cholesterol and reduces the risk of heart disease and is associated with reversing obesity. Soluble fiber is found generally in the pulp of fruits, vegetables, grains and beans. Unlike other foods that are digested with stomach acids and enzymes, soluble fiber is digested by your body using good bacteria. The bacteria digests it slowly, which keeps the food in your stomach longer causing you to feel full longer and therefore you eat less. Always be sure to drink plenty of water.
Soluble fiber (when consumed with water) becomes a kind of a gel that moves through your digestive system sponging up cholesterol that wants to get into your bloodstream.
Keep in mind that most fiber-rich foods carry both forms, but some foods carry more of one and less of the other.
Fruits have loads of each kind of fiber. The skin has the insoluble fiber while the pulp carries more soluble fiber.
The daily requirements of both kinds of fiber vary by a person's size, weight and age, and unfortunately, most people get only about half their daily fiber content.
Dr. Charlene Prather, a gastroenterologist with SLUCare and St. Louis University School of Medicine says that supplements can compensate for a lack of fiber in the diet. However, "We prefer you get fiber from a healthy diet. But supplements are an excellent substitute. They're no longer the yucky, icky stuff you'd stir into something."
WHAT FIBER DOES
