Why Fiber Is Fiber Good For Me?
Anyone who has battled with, ahem, bathroom troubles can certainly understand the importance of a “quick-exit diet”. I realize this subject matter is not the most inviting but I do hope you’ll read on because it could mean the difference in poor or superb quality health.
A deeper look at fiber and how it affects your health.
Fiber is roughage from plant foods. It’s the nutrients in your diet that are not digested by your body’s gastrointestinal enzymes. Instead this roughage absorbs water and pushes through your intestinal track, helping ease bowel movements.
There are two kinds. Soluble and insoluble fiber. The first, soluble, dissolves in water but insoluble, you guessed it, does not. What this means is that soluble fiber will actually change its form as it moves through the digestive tract. Soluble fiber will become fermented by bacteria, collect water, and eventually become gelatinous. Whereas insoluble fiber doesn’t change form even as it travels through your digestion system. Instead it binds with fatty acids and works to slow down how quickly you feel hungry again by reducing the rate of speed that your stomach empties. Soluble fiber also slows down how quickly your body absorbs sugar so you don’t have sugar highs and crashes as you do with processed and less fibrous foods.
As food quickly leaves your body you feel lighter, refreshed, and healthy. By speeding up toxic elimination you’re helping to keep an optimal pH in the intestines, helping prevent colorectal cancer from microbes that produce toxic substances.
Where do you get fiber?
Plant foods contain both soluble and insoluble fiber . You need a mix to be healthy and to digest the fatty foods you ingest. There is no fiber in meat or animal-based dairy products. Fiber is found in beans, whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.
But as many people consume the Standard American Diet (SAD), they eat a lot of meat, dairy, and added oils. In order for the body to digest and absorb the food, we have to use bile, an acid that is produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder. During digestion the bile is released from the gallbladder into the the small intestine and the fats are modified for absorption then passed through the intestine, colon, and released out of your body.
Soluble fiber is found in peas, carrots, beans, oats, barley, psyllium, apples, and citrus fruits. Insoluble fiber is found in whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, beans, nuts, and vegetables such as potatoes, green beans, and cauliflower.
The Plant-Based Diet is high in fiber and helps you with the following:
Establishing and keeping a healthy weight
Lowering cholesterol levels
Controlling blood sugar levels
Maintaining healthy bowels
Regulating bowel movements
