How to Better Understand Fiber

Dietary fiber is defined as a carbohydrate that can neither be digested nor absorbed in our bodies. Fiber comes from plant-based foods such as grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds.

Two types of fiber are naturally found in foods. One of these fibers is called insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber is found in most of the whole-wheat cereals, breads, and vegetables. Another name for insoluble fiber is 'roughage.' The role of insoluble fiber in the body is quite important. The insoluble fiber holds onto the water in the human body to help move the waste through the intestine. This helps promote regularity in your body, while it prevents constipation.

The other type of fiber is called soluble fiber. This type of fiber is found in foods such as oats, oat bran, beans, and a large variety of fruits and vegetables. As with the insoluble fiber, the role of soluble fiber in the human body is equally important. Soluble fiber passes through the intestines and forms a gel to bind with the bile (digestive) acids made by the liver. This then, becomes waste. Soluble fiber is considered heart healthy because, when the liver makes the bile acids it uses cholesterol. Therefore, it must take cholesterol from the body in order to make more bile acids. Consequently, this is how our "bad" cholesterol is lowered.

Insoluble and soluble fiber provide no calories for nutrition, nonetheless, this very powerful component of food provides a variety of health benefits. Fiber lowers cholesterol, improves blood sugar, prevents constipation, and helps in weight loss by filling by making you feel full at mealtime. In addition, fiber prevents the formations of abnormal protrusions in the bowel. The bowel muscles rupturing the bowel wall (diverticulosis) cause these protrusions.

While it is true that most people consume from twelve to fifteen grams of fiber a day, that is still well below the recommended guidelines.

Men younger than fifty years of age should have thirty-eight grams of fiber a day.
Women younger than fifty should have thirty grams a day.

Men older than fifty years of age should have thirty grams of fiber a day.
Women over fifty should have twenty-one grams a day.

Children up to the age of eighteen should have their age plus five grams of fiber a day. For example, a ten-year-old child would need fifteen grams of fiber a day. Ten plus five equals fifteen.

If you have high cholesterol, make sure at least ten grams of your total recommended fiber comes from soluble fiber foods such as apples, citrus fruits, sweet potatoes with skins, oatmeal, beans, split pea, and broccoli, just to name a few.

For vegetables, it is recommended that you have four servings a day. Each serving is one-half cup of cooked, or one cup of raw vegetables.

Three servings of fruit a day is also recommended. One serving of whole fruit is the size of tennis ball. One cup of melon or berries, two tablespoons of dried fruit or one-half of canned fruit without the heavy syrup is also equal to one serving.

A palm size of dry roasted, and unsalted nuts are good to eat as they are, on top of a salad, or in plain yogurt.

When you consume three servings of whole-wheat cereal, bread, or crackers, make sure the label reads 100%, whole wheat, or stone-ground.

The next time you go shopping, plan on spending a little more time comparing the fiber content of your food choices.

Plan to eat your recommended requirement of fiber each day so you can stay healthy enough to get all the exercise you need, so you can get all the sleep you need. See how easy that is. It's a no brainer.