The top 7 reasons we need fiber in what we eat
Why is fiber so important to what we eat when we don’t actually digest it? That’s right, we don’t digest fiber, it just moves straight throughout the body. So why is it so important? There are basically 2 different kinds of fiber, soluble and insoluble. Which means that one dissolves in water and one doesn’t. It is good to get both kinds of fiber, as they react differently in the body. Here are some of the reasons that fiber is so important.
Digestion
Well, we all know the traditional use of fiber. As delicate as it might be, it helps us go to the toilet. That is just a side benefit really. Fiber slows down the digestion and helps us absorb more nutrients in the stomach and intestines. It is thought to also reduce some gastrointestinal problems such as IBS and hemorrhoids.
Weight
When you eat high fiber foods it helps you with your weight. Fiber slows your eating, as well as fills you. So you are lowering the calories eaten and at the same time feeling more satiated and full. It is a good idea to eat the most fiber at the beginning of the meal. Traditionally people had salads before eating, and did you ever wonder where that came from? Eating a salad with high fiber will make you eat less of the main meal where the majority of the calories are situated.
Probiotics
We are learning more and more that probiotics are one of the most important things to our health. While we always knew that things like yogurt helped us, we didn’t realize that the overall health and brain connection with the bacteria in your stomach was so important. Fiber helps give the stomach a place to breed the beneficial bacteria that you need. Especially after you have taken any antibiotics, it is important to build that stomach flora up as fast as possible. Fiber helps this.
Heart
Eating fiber will help your heart. It will lower the so-called bad cholesterol. Soluble fiber will also absorb the LDL cholesterol helping protect your arteries and keep them it in a healthy range. In our opinion, it is better to increase your fiber than to stop eating cholesterol foods like eggs. Fiber also slows the digestive speed and allows more nutrients into your system, as we said before, which also helps your heart.
Blood sugar
Fiber can help prevent type 2 diabetics. Fiber can help reduce the uptake of glucose and aid in the prevention of diabetes. The Harvard school of public health showed research that gave a 30% reduction in getting type 2 diabetes with women that ate more fiber. That’s some pretty strong evidence.
Immune system
The immune system is a very important part of our health and lives. If it gets out of balance, it is quite devastating with what it can do. Not just small things like getting colds more often, but things like fibromyalgia, lupus, and other terrible life threatening diseases. Another study showed that eating a higher fiber diet reduced death by inflammatory diseases by 30%. If you were to tell people that a drug reduced inflammatory disease and reduced that cause of death by 30% it would be a miracle drug. Fiber isn’t as romantic, but it is definitely a miracle.
Cancer protection
Fiber has been shown to reduce and prevent cancers in many studies. Though colorectal cancer is probably the most important to fiber, it also has been shown to help other types of cancer, from esophageal to breast cancer. It is just a good idea to make sure that you are getting enough fiber.
Most physicians say that you need to get at least 25 grams of fiber a day, and up to 40 grams. There are some schools of thought that think that 100 or more grams is better, though if you are going to try that we suggest you build up slowly, or you might end up in the hospital as you will be so full of fiber that nothing will come out. (An awful thought). We think that you need to ramp up your fiber slowly, but aim to get as much as you can in a responsible manner. Even though we don’t actually digest it, it is still one of the most important components of food.
