Fiber Facts

"Eat Your Oatmeal"

Fiber is just what the doctor ordered to get your diet in high gear.  Information about the good things about fiber is everywhere, magazines, TV, doctors, and the internet.  With all of this information you would think people would take it to heart, no pun intended, and make use of this wonder food.

Let’s discuss a few interesting facts about fiber:

Disease Fighter – One of the best things we have to fight heart disease and colon cancer is a whole grain high fiber diet.  Want to lower your cholesterol?  Eat a lot of whole grain fiber, it helps move the cholesterol through the digestive tract.  Most constipation problems are caused by a diet low in fiber. 

Fast Food Diets – Fast foods contain little or no fiber.  If you are a fast food junkie, you need to consume more fiber.
 
Trying To Lose weight? - Fiber is your answer to overeating.  It takes longer to eat and digest high fiber foods, so you will have that full and satisfied feeling.

Whole Grains Are The Best - Whole grains contain entire grain seed, usually called the kernel. The three components of the kernel are the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. In grain processing, most of the bran and some of the germ is removed. This causes the loss of dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, lignans, phytoestrogens, phenolic compounds, and phytic acid.

Children and adolescents- Children over 2 years should consume whole-grain products often; at least half the grains should be whole grains.  There are whole grain cereals to replace the normal sugar cereals.  Another chose for getting children to eat enough fiber is feeding fruits and vegetables.  
 
When we eat more fiber, we need more water to move the fiber through the digestive tract. About eight to nine 8oz glasses per day will do the trick.

Fiber is the part of foods that we can’t completely digest.  It serves as bulk in our diet, but we do digest the other nutrients from the whole grains.  Cooking food doesn’t destroy the fiber in foods.

Fiber in fruits and vegetables is through out, but it is best to consume the peel. Consuming whole fruits and whole food juices rather than canned or bottled juices is recommended to make sure you receive the correct amount of fiber.  You can use fresh, canned, frozen or dried whole foods when preparing meals or snacks. suggested to ensure adequate fiber intake. An excellent way of getting fiber from fruits and vegetables is with whole food juices.

The recommended daily amount of fiber is only 50 grams.  Just two slices of good whole grain bread per day will satisfy this minimum.  It is not hard to get your daily fiber.  A couple of slices of whole grain bread, a bowel of hot oats and a few fruits and vegetables and you’ve done it. Then there is the daily whole food smoothie, this is like eating ice cream.

A high fiber diet is a healthy diet and it so easy to do.  Mother knew best when she said, “eat your oatmeal”.