The average adult should be getting a minimum of 25 grams of fiber per day. Most Americans only get about half that, between 10 to 15 grams per day. Are you selling your body short when it comes to the importance of fiber?
Fiber is the parts of plants your body can not digest. There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. Both types are good! Collectively fiber assists the body in lowering cholesterol levels, reducing the risk of heart disease, maintaining a healthy weight, regulating blood sugar, and regulating the digestive system. Fiber also has a special role in acting as probiotics as they alter the bacteria in the gut, healthy gut bacteria influences inflammation, the immune system and protects against a variety of diseases.
Recent studies have shown that individuals who consume more fiber from whole grains, fruits, and vegetables decreased the risk of dying from heart disease, stroke, type II diabetes, and colon cancer 16% to 24% compared to those who had less fiber in their diets. To top that, two more studies were conducted that showed that increased fiber decreased the risk of death from health related disease of any kind by 23% compared with those on lower fiber diets! If you plan on increasing your fiber, raise a little bit at a time to give your digestive system time to keep up and increase your water intake to help balance out the increase. Always check with your doctor if you have pre-existing health conditions that may be affected by increase fiber consumption.
The more fiber the better, but the source of fiber does make a difference. It is always better to nutrients from whole foods rather than supplements, fiber is no exception. Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains also provide vitamins and minerals that are not present in fiber supplement. Some great places to get fiber are broccoli, cauliflower, beans, sweet potato, avocado, and berries. Brown rice, quinoa, whole grain cereals, whole grain breads, and whole grain pastas are also a good place to get fiber, but beware of misleading packaging. Check the nutrition label, chose cereals with at least 6 grams, breads with at least 3 grams, and pasta with at least 4 grams. When reading the ingredients list, make sure the word “whole grain” is present.
Cuisine for Healing uses whole food ingredients in each of our meals so you always get plenty of fiber, vitamins and minerals with every bite. Check out our muffins this week made with bananas, sweet potato and oats or our sweet potato grain bowl, packed with quinoa, brown rice, broccoli, and sweet potatoes, served with homemade lemon tahini dressing.
Resources:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/should-i-be-eating-more-fiber-2019022115927
https://www.med.umich.edu/pfans/_pdf/hetm-2016/0816-roleoffiber.pdf
