Take Your Fiber, Prolong Good Health

We hear about having enough fiber in our diet and eating fiber, but what does it mean? What is fiber and why is it important to consume?

We can find fiber in plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes (beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc). Fiber is the part of the plant that our bodies cannot digest. If we can’t digest it, why do we want to eat it?

Fiber normalizes our bowel function and its effect on transit time and nutrient absorption. Without normalized bowel function, we can suffer from constipation, especially as we age. Constipation is said to be the most common chronic digestive disorder in the United States and it affects 4.53 million people a year and costs over $200 million for prescribed cathartics alone each year

Transit time is the time that it takes food to move through the digestive track. It is generally divided into three phases. Gastric phase (emptying of food from the stomach), which usually takes 2 to 5 hours; small intestine phase (time it takes food to travel through the small intestine) 3 to 6 hours; colonic phase is the longest taking any number of hours. It is here that problems of prolonged intestinal transit results in fewer bowel movements, constipation and disease.

Dietary fiber, in general, prolongs transit time at the gastric phase helping the body to feel fuller longer. This is caused by soluble not insoluble fiber.

What is the difference between soluble and insoluble? Soluble fiber is found in fruit, beans, peas and oat bran. It has a gel-like consistency that improves bowel movements by increasing the volume of bulk in the colon. Soluble fiber is the type of fiber that gets very gooey and sticky when it gets wet. It also binds together cholesterol in the small intestines and takes it out of the body. Certain soluble fibers such as pectin (found in apples) slow down the release of the sugars contained in the foods we eat, thus reducing the risk of diabetes.

Insoluble fiber is found primarily in greens, peels, nuts, seeds, beans and skins of grains. Insoluble fiber is the type of fiber that doesn't change at all when it gets wet. Insoluble fiber under a microscope looks like a sponge, and indeed it serves us as a miraculous sponge, because every piece of it can absorb more toxins than its own volume. Sponges are fibrous; they make the job of cleaning easier by absorbing. So does insoluble fiber. It grabs the toxins and takes them out of the body.

Soluble fiber does a lot of good things for our bodies, such as helping to lower cholesterol.

Insoluble fiber also does a lot of good things for our bodies, such as helping eliminate waste more quickly. Insoluble fiber also helps prevent constipation.

Moving toxins and waste through our body and not letting them accumulate helps prevent colorectal cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, and other diseases. Being constipated is not only uncomfortable; it also isn’t healthy for our bodies.

So make it easy on yourself, eat your fiber and if you find yourself unable to consume enough, try a fiber supplement to help you along the way.

R. Fredriksen is the Vice President of Nutrition Dome, a leading provider of Jarrow Formulas, Pioneer Nutritional Forumulas, Lipodrene and other quality supplements. For more information, please visit www.nutritiondome.com.