If you are trying to create a healthy diet for yourself, you cannot overlook the importance that fiber will play. The main benefits you receive from dietary fiber include improvements in the cardiovascular and digestive system along with providing a high degree of satiety.
Unfortunately, in today world of over consumption of processed foods, a high fiber diet is hard to come by. Here are the top facts about fiber you need to know.
Benefits of Fiber
1. Promotion Of A Healthy Digestive System
Fiber primary role in your body is to help promote a healthy digestive system. It does this by helping to keep the intestines in proper working order and prevent the accumulation of cholesterol along the lining.
2. Lowering Your Bad Cholesterol Levels
Another benefit that high fiber foods offer, is help to decrease the level of LDL cholesterol (which is the bad one) found in your blood. Fiber helps by binding with the dietary cholesterol which you’ve consumed while its in the small intestine and then removing it from the body. Therefore, a high fiber diet can be a very good defense against heart disease.
3. Fiber And Weight Loss
Women who are on high fiber diets on a regular basis generally maintain a much lower weight than those who don’t, simply because they typically consume fewer total calories as a result. Because it takes fiber a long time to be digested by the body, this means you will stay feeling fuller longer than if you would have done without it. Since it is your end of the day total calorie intake that determines weight gain or weight loss, this is absolutely essential for weight loss.
Getting Enough Fiber
Its recommended that when it comes to being sure you are getting enough fiber in your diet, try to average around 14 grams per 1000 calories. Most folks will have diets consisting between 1500 and 2000 calories, depending on your body weight and activity levels, so that will translate to 21-28 grams of fiber total.
Increase Your Intake Slowly
Make sure that if you have not been eating much fiber in your diet at all in the past few months, increase your intake slowly. If you go from eating very little fiber a day to getting a very high dose, you will likely suffer from extreme digestive upset and will not feel well at all. Try and increase the consumption over the period of a few weeks to ease this process.
Soluble Fiber
Soluble fiber is the type that plays the more predominant role in the lowering of bad cholesterol levels and is fully broken down by your body. Good source of soluble fiber includes oat bran, oatmeal, beans, peas, rice bran, barley, and fruits.
Insoluble Fiber
Insoluble fiber, on the other hand is not digested by your body but rather helps to slow down gastric emptying, causing that increased satiety effect discussed above. This is what that will provide the biggest benefit when it comes to weight control for you. Good sources of this type of fiber include whole-wheat breads, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, wheat bran, cabbage, beets, carrots, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and the skin of apples.
So, make sure you do not overlook the importance of fiber in your diet. If you do get your consumption levels in line, you will most definitely notice a change in how you feel, and more than likely, a change in how you look as well.
Alex Marco
