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Five Reasons It’s Important To Have Fiber In Your Diet

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You’ve heard it:  Eat some roughage – get some fiber in your diet – fiber will do this, that, and the other thing, too.  Is there any truth to the claims?

You bet there is. Dietary fiber, sometimes called roughage or bulk, comes from comes from plants — whole grains, fruit, and vegetables — but not from dairy, meat, or fish.  It isn’t digested so it doesn’t add calories and it passes through your stomach and intestines and out of your body.

What’s So Great About Fiber?

Fiber:

  • keeps you regular
  • lowers your risk of colon and rectal cancer
  • lowers blood cholesterol
  • helps control blood sugar levels
  • keeps you feeling fuller longer.

Two Types of Fiber

The two types of dietary fiber are insoluble, which tends to be in the peels and husks of plant foods; and soluble, which is in the fleshy interior.

Insoluble fiber, or cellulose, acts like an intestinal broom, increases stool bulk, and encourages movement through your GI tract. Good sources are whole grains, bran, seeds, nuts, zucchini, celery, broccoli, cabbage, onions, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, green beans, dark leafy vegetables, fruit, and root vegetable skins.

Soluble fiber, or pectin, dissolves in water and forms a gel – which helps slow down your digestion, delays the emptying of your stomach, makes you feel full, helps stabilize your blood sugar, and interferes with the absorption of dietary cholesterol. Good sources are oats, oat bran, peas, lentils, beans, apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, citrus fruit, carrots, celery, and cucumbers.

How Much Fiber Should You Eat?

The amount you need is tied to the number of calories you eat and Americans get, on average, only about half of what they should. For healthy adults the USDA recommends 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories and the National Cancer Institute; the National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute; and the American Heart Association all recommend 20-30 grams of (mostly soluble) fiber a day.

To get both types of fiber focus on eating a healthy diet rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. The increased amount of fiber in your diet might cause intestinal gas, but your body will adapt.  Be sure to drink plenty of water.

Tips For Getting Fiber Into Your Diet

  • Spread your fiber rich foods throughout the day
  • Have fiber rich cereal with fruit for breakfast
  • Replace refined white bread, pasta, and rice with whole grains
  • Eat a lot of vegetables and unpeeled whole fruit
  • Have nuts, raw vegetables, fruit, or popcorn for snacks instead of chips or candy
  • Add legumes, lentils, beans, seeds, fresh or frozen vegetables, and nuts to your soups, salads, stews, and sauces
  • Add crushed bran cereal or unprocessed bran to baked goods
  • Enjoy foods like these (grams of fiber in parentheses):
  • Cooked split peas, 1 cup (16.3)
  • Cooked lentils, 1 cup (15.6)
  • Cooked black beans, 1 cup (15.0)
  • Canned vegetarian baked beans, 1 cup (10.4)
  • Cooked artichoke, 1 medium (10.3)
  • Cooked peas, 1 cup (8.8)
  • Rasberries, 1 cup (8.0)
  • Whole wheat spaghetti, 1 cup (6.2)
  • Cooked pearl barley, 1 cup (6.0)

Another Big Reason To Up Your Daily (Soluble) Fiber

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Fat is fat.  Right??? Wrong!!!  It turns out that even though most of us hate the way it looks, the fat right under the skin, called subcutaneous fat, isn’t as dangerous as the fat deep in the belly, called visceral fat, that surrounds your organs.

A study, published in the journal Obesity, of 1,114 African Americans and Hispanic Americans — population groups disproportionally at higher risk of developing high blood pressure and diabetes and for accumulating visceral fat — identified some simple ways to zero in on and reduce visceral fat. They are:

  • eat more vegetables high in soluble fiber
  • eat more fruit and beans
  • make sure you engage in moderate activity.

Why Is Visceral Fat So Dangerous?

According to the study’s lead researcher, “a higher rate of visceral fat is associated with high blood pressure, diabetes and fatty liver disease.” The results of the study showed there can be a big health impact from making the few simple changes listed above.

The researchers found that visceral fat was reduced by 3.7% over five years for every 10 gram increase in soluble fiber the subjects ate per day. Over the same time period, an increase in moderate physical activity resulted in a 7.4% decrease in the rate of visceral fat accumulation. Interestingly, the increased intake of soluble fiber was associated with a decreased accumulated visceral fat but not with decreased subcutaneous fat.

What You Can Do

You can get 10 grams of soluble fiber from eating two small apples, one cup of green peas, and half a cup of pinto beans.  Moderate activity as defined in the study is exercising vigorously for 30 minutes, two to four times a week.

Although the evidence shows that eating more soluble fiber and increasing exercise reduces visceral or belly fat, researchers still don’t know why. That’s why a study like this is so important – it gives specific information on how dietary fiber, especially soluble fiber, can affect abdominal fat deposits and weight.

How To Figure Out The Carbs On Nutrition Labels

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Trying to interpret the carbohydrates on nutrition facts labels can be downright confusing.  There’s a number for total carbohydrates but then there are subheadings for dietary fiber, sugars, and sometimes insoluble fiber, sugar alcohols, and other carbohydrates.

What Does Everything Mean?

  • Total Carbohydrate, shown in grams, is first. It gives you the total number of usable carbs per serving. This number includes starches, complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, added sugars, and non-digestible additives.
  • The subheadings under Total Carbohydrate are Dietary Fiber, sometimes broken down into Soluble and Insoluble Fiber; Sugars; and sometimes categories for Sugar Alcohols and/or Other Sugars. The sum of these numbers will not always equal the total carbs because starches (types of carbs often used as binders or thickeners) aren’t required to be listed on food labels.
  • Dietary Fiber, shown in grams, gives you the amount of fiber per serving. Dietary fiber is indigestible, usually passes through the intestinal tract without being absorbed, doesn’t raise your blood sugar levels, and slows down the impact of the other carbs in a meal. Subtracting the non-impact carbs – the ones that don’t affect blood sugar (fiber and sugar alcohols) from the total carbs gives you the number of net (also called usable or impact) carbs – the ones that do affect your blood sugar.
  • Sugars gives you the total amount of carbohydrate, in grams, from naturally occurring sugars like lactose (milk sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar) PLUS any added sugars like high fructose corn syrup, brown and white sugar, cane juice, etc. Added sugars are the sugars and syrups added to foods during processing or preparation.  They add calories but little or no nutrients.
  • You can determine if there are a lot of added sugars by checking the product’s ingredients label. Ingredients are listed in order of quantity so if added sugars (white/brown sugar, corn syrup, etc.) are listed in the top three or four ingredients you can guess that the bulk of the sugars are added, not naturally occurring.
  • Some products, although not all, separately list Sugar Alcohols. You might see mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol, and others on the ingredients label. If the package says the product is “sugar-free” or has “no sugar added” it must list the sugar alcohols in the ingredients. If more than one type of sugar alcohol is listed, there must be a line for sugar alcohol grams on the nutrition label.
  • Other Carbohydrates shows the number of digestible complex carbohydrates not considered a sugar (natural or added) and includes additives like stabilizers and starchy thickening agents.

They don’t make it easy, do they?

Is Your Wheat Bread Whole Grain?

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Confused?  You’re not alone.  “How do I tell if it’s whole grain?” is a question I get asked all of the time. Whole grains are the place we really fall short.  According to the government’s new dietary guidelines, the average American is getting, on average, only about 15% of the amount that we need.

According to the FDA, whole grains are “cereal grains that consist of the intact and unrefined, ground, cracked or flaked fruit of the grains whose principal components — the starchy endosperm, germ and bran — are present in the same relative proportions as they exist in the intact grain.” Examples include barley, buckwheat, bulgur, corn, millet, rice, rye, oats, sorghum, wheat and wild rice.

Got that???  In other words, whole grains are intact grains: they haven’t had their bran and germ removed through the milling process. This makes them good sources of fiber and keeps the naturally occurring vitamins and minerals from being removed.

What Is Refined Grain and Flour?

Refined grains have been processed to remove the bran and germ.  Flour made from refined grains produces baked goods with a softer texture and a longer shelf life.  But fiber, iron, vitamins, and minerals have also been removed during the milling process.

White flour, which is made from a refined grain, has had both the bran and germ removed. To make it enriched flour, which you find quite frequently, nutrients are added back in to make up for the ones lost in processing.  The amount of nutrients are regulated by the FDA.  Because flour is enriched does not mean that it is whole grain.

How To Tell If Your Bread Is Whole Grain

  • Always check the ingredients label, not just the front of the package
  • Look for the word “whole” as in “whole grain,” “whole meal,” or “100% whole wheat”
  • Check that whole grains are included in the first items in the ingredient list
  • Aim for products with at least 3 grams of dietary fiber per serving
  • Descriptive words like stone-ground, multi-grain, 100% wheat, or added bran don’t necessarily mean whole grain

Are There Really Strawberries In Special K Red Berries And Nuts In Honey Nut Cheerios?

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Cereal, Cereal, And More Cereal

Wow!  160 bowls of cereal a year, give or take, is the average American intake.  The most popular:  General Mills’ Cheerios, claiming  12.6% of the breakfast cereal market share.

How To Pick A Good Cereal

  • Step #1: check the ingredients and nutrition panel carefully. The very first ingredient should be a whole grain.  Scan through the label for the words “partially hydrogenated.”  If you find them put the box back on the shelf.  You don’t want trans fats in your cereal.
  • Step #2:  Look for cereals that have 13 grams or less of sugar per serving.  Check for added sugars  — you want none or next to none.  Raisins, dried and freeze-dried fruit  add quite a few grams of sugar to the listing on the nutrition panel where they aren’t distinguished from added sugars. Check the list of ingredients instead.
  • Step #3:  Check the amount of fiber (you want a lot).  The daily recommendation is 25 grams of fiber a day so it’s important to pick cereals that contain at least 3 grams per serving. A better choice are those with 5 grams of fiber or higher.
  • Step #4: If you are counting calories, choose cereals that ideally will have less than 120 calories a serving.

What About Fruit In The Cereal?

A bunch of cereals have real freeze-dried berries, apples, and bananas added in. That’s generally a good thing.   If the freeze dried fruit makes the switch from sugar laden cereal to a more nutritious high fiber low sugar cereal easier, then go for it.

So Are There Nuts In Honey Nut Cheerios And Strawberries In Special K Red Berries?

Amazingly, yes to the strawberries and no to the nuts.

For a one cup serving, Special K Red Berries has 120 calories, 2 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugars, and 2 grams of protein.

Ingredients:  rice, whole grain wheat, sugar, wheat bran, freeze-dried strawberries, high fructose corn syrup, soluble wheat fiber, salt, malt flavoring,  ascorbic acid, reduced iron, alpha tocopherol, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamin hydrochloride, riboflavin, vitamin A palmitate, folic acid, Vitamin B12.

A 3/4 cup serving of Honey Nut Cheerios has 110 calories, 2 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugars, and 2 grams of protein.

Ingredients:  whole grain oats (oncludes the oat bran), sugar, modified corn starch, honey, brown sugar syrup, corn bran, salt, corn syrup, oat fiber, corn syrup solids, tripotassium phosphate, canol and/or rice bran oil, guar gum, natural almond flavor, vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) added to preserve freshness. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium Carbonate, Zinc and Iron, Sodium Ascorbate, Niacinamide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Folic Acid,Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3.

Do you see nuts listed? No.  There aren’t any actual nuts.  There is “natural almond flavor.”  What’s that you ask?   It’s benzaldehyde which is usually derived from peach and apricot pits.

What’s A Good Cereal Choice For Breakfast?

There are a number of choices that fit the bill.  A good one is Kashi Go Lean (original).  A serving size is one cup with 140 calories, 10 grams of fiber, 6 grams of sugars, and 13 grams of protein.

Ingredients:  Soy grits, Kashi seven whole grains & sesame (hard red wheat, brown rice, whole grain oats, triticale, barley, rye, buckwheat, sesame seeds), evaporated cane juice syrup, corn meal, corn flour, soy protein, wheat bran, oat fiber, corn bran, honey, evaporated cane juice, natural flavors, calcium carbonate, salt, annatto color.

Remember that adding milk ups the protein content of your breakfast. Full, 2%, and 1% milk adds fat, too, so try to stick with non-fat milk in your cereal bowl.