Fiber is So Important to Health! Here's Why

Ok, so I don't think a lot of people realize what fiber (dietary fiber) does for their bodies. First let's break it down. There are two kinds of fiber: Soluble and Insoluble. Both are important, but do very different things.

Soluble fiber binds with some of your cholesterol and takes it out of your body. It also slows sugar (glucose) absorption so your blood sugar doesn't spike, keeping your pancreas from having to work too hard. It's super important for diabetics to eat enough fiber. (Blood sugar spikes also make you tired, which then lead to you wanting more sugar for energy. It's a vicious cycle.) It also keeps more water in your stool, making waste softer, larger, and thus, easier to pass through your intestines. So, it lowers your risk of constipation, heart disease AND diabetes.

Insoluble fiber helps push things through your digestive system, which lowers chances of constipation and diverticulitis (bulges in your intestine that become inflamed).

The American Dietetic Association recommends that women ages 19 to 50 get at least 25 grams of fiber in their diets everyday. Men in the same age group need 38 grams. Women age 50 or older need to get 21 grams of fiber, while men in the same age group need to eat 30 grams. The average American only consumes 13 grams of fiber per day! That's not nearly enough. For kids, a good rule of thumb is to take their age and add 5, and that's how much they need everyday.

Some easy ways to incorporate more fiber into your diet are:

• Go half and half. When baking, replace half of the white flour in the recipe with whole-wheat flour. I do it with brownies, cookies, breads and biscuits.
• Top it off. When eating yogurt add some crushed high-fiber cereal like Honey Clusters by Fiber One. Top baked potatoes with broccoli or salsa to increase your veggie intake.
• Toss it in. When making a salad,throw some almonds (or any kind of nut) and some dried fruit, or add black beans— they'll add both flavor and fiber. You can also add beans to your favorite soups and stews as well. Kidney, Pinto and Black Beans are really good choices. They have 6 grams of fiber in every 1/2 cup.
• Snack on it. If you like to snack, cut up carrots and celery and have it with some peanut butter or low fat dressing for a midday fiber boost. Other high-fiber snacks include popcorn, nuts and dried fruit. Kashi also has really good high-fiber granola bars and oatmeal cookies.

Here are some good sources of fiber:

Soluble:

• Barley, Oatmeal, oat bran (found in cereals), apples, oranges, pears, prunes, black beans, kidney beans, lima beans and pinto beans.

Insoluble Fiber:

• Barley, oat bran, oatmeal, apples, bananas, blackberries, oranges, pears, prunes, black beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, navy beans, navy beans, pinto beans, brussel sprouts and carrots.

As some of you may have noticed, there are both kinds of fiber in many foods. So it really is pretty easy to get enough of each kind of fiber if you just eat lots of the above listed foods.

Although you CAN get fiber from a pill or powder, fiber from foods comes with all the added benefits of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, so bread, cereal, rice, pasta, fruits and vegetables are the best way to get it. 

The other thing to know when you increase your fiber intake is do it slowly. Otherwise you'll get super gassy. Also drink lots of water. I used to only drink 3 glasses a day and wondered why I wasn't going to the bathroom regularly. I gave myself a 16 week goal to get up to 10-12 glasses a day and I did it! It's something you have to be aware of and commit to because it isn't easy at first.

Last but not least, for those of you who count carbs, fiber is not digested, so when you look at a food label, subtract the grams of fiber from the grams of carbohydrates per serving and THAT is the actual carb amount. Being pre-diabetic myself, I was super excited when I found out that this was true!

If you want any other options for ways to get fiber into your diet, just let me know!