Easy Ways to Eat a High Fiber Diet

You have probably heard for years that a high fiber diet is an important part of eating nutritiously. Recently, emphasis has been put on eating a high fiber diet because of the numerous health benefits. Some of the benefits of a high fiber diet are: relief of constipation, aid in weight loss, lowering cholesterol, controlling blood sugar levels and more. You may have even believed that the only way to eat a high fiber diet was to drink Metamucil or something filled with fiber that tastes like cardboard. The good news is that having a high fiber diet does not mean drinking funny drinks or eating cardboard. Read on and you can learn five tastier ways to eat a high fiber diet.

High Fiber Diet Tip#1

Changing over to wheat pasta is a great way to start a high fiber diet. The average person needs about 30 grams of fiber per day so if you just switch from white pasta to wheat pasta you can add about 4 extra grams per day. On average, white pasta has 2 grams of fiber per serving while wheat pasta has about 6 grams of fiber per serving. I have made the permanent switch to wheat pasta and have found that I love it and it wards off hunger unlike white pasta which makes me hungrier.

High Fiber Diet Tip#2

Simply eating breakfast can help you on your way to a high fiber diet. Not only does breakfast keep you from feeling hungry and overindulging at lunch, it is also a great time to work towards having a high fiber diet. When planning breakfast you can keep it simple by buying whole grain cereal and you don't even have to get the cardboard kind. I get Total whole wheat which has 3 grams of fiber per serving and I usually eat 1.5 servings since it is pretty low in calories too. By doing this you are starting your gihg fiber diet by adding another 4.5 grams of fiber to your diet that you would be missing out on when skipping breakfast.

High Fiber Diet Tip #3

Eat sugar, natural sugar that is! I am guilty of always having a sweet tooth but today instead of grabbing a chocolate bar that leaves me hungry in 10 minutes, I opt for fruit which also helps me maintain a high fiber diet. Apples contain about 4 grams of fiber, pears have about 5 grams of fiber and adding raspberries to your diet will give you a whopping 8 extra grams of fiber (you have to eat the skin on the apples and pears to get the full amount of fiber). As I stated, not only does fruit help you consume a high fiber diet, it can satisfy a sweet tooth and control hunger.

High Fiber Diet Tip#4

One of the simplest ways to sneak in a high fiber diet is by putting it in your meals that you are already cooking. Add a cup of Kellogg's All Bran Complete Wheat Flakes to your meatloaf, casseroles, bread, and muffins when you cook and you are sneaking 6.25 grams of extra fiber into the dish. If you crush it up well, you probably won't notice it which is a great way to get your family on a high fiber diet without them even knowing it. I add it to all of my cooking and my family has never complained.

High Fiber Diet Tip #5

This has to be my favorite and it's by far one of the easiest ways to substantially help create a high fiber diet. Instead of snacking on candy or chips, buy Fiber One Bars! When I first saw the Fiber One bars I figured they probably tasted like chocolate covered cardboard. I was wrong! The Oats and Chocolate Fiber One bars are great and the Oats and Caramel ones are even better (however they do taste like butterscotch to me). I always keep a Fiber One bar in my purse since I am dieting and try to maintain my blood sugar levels by eating every 3 hours. Eating the Fiber One bar gives me about 9 grams of fiber with only 140 calories and you would not believe how well it satisfies hunger, I recommend you try it today and get started on your way to a high fiber diet!

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Fiber Intake And Chinese Food Therapy Improve Longevity

Dietary fiber may be associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular, infectious and respiratory diseases, according to a new Archives of Internal Medicine study. In addition to a balanced diet, Chinese food therapy can effectively prevent illness utilizing natural foods.
Fiber has been hypothesized to lower risks of heart disease, some cancers, diabetes, and obesity. It is known to reduce blood cholesterol levels, improve blood glucose levels, lower blood pressure, promote weight loss, and reduce inflammation.
Yikyung Par, Sc.D., of the National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Md., and colleagues analyzed data from 219,123 men and 168,999 women. Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire at the beginning of the study.
Participants’ fiber intake ranged from 13 to 29 grams per day in men and from 11 to 26 grams per day in women. The risk of cardiovascular, infectious and respiratory diseases was reduced by 24 to 56 percent in men and 34 to 59 percent in women with high fiber intakes.
The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend choosing fiber-rich fruits, vegetables and whole grains frequently and consuming 14 grams per 1,000 calories of dietary fiber. A diet rich in dietary fiber from whole plant foods may provide significant health benefits.
Traditional Chinese medicine recommends that diet should change according to the season. As winter is a yin season, yang foods can offer warmth and energy during this time of the year. During summer, a yang period, yin foods can cool and lighten the diet. Both types of food should be included in the diet to keep the constitution in balance. Medicinal foods can:
• Improve health.
• Combat symptoms of health conditions.
• Reduce adverse side effects of medications.
• Strengthen vitality after illness.
Acupuncture & Massage College’s Community Clinic offers acupuncture, herbal medicine and massage for the treatment of a wide range of health conditions as well as for overall wellness. To schedule an appointment call (305) 595-9500. For information about AMC’s Oriental Medicine and Massage Therapy programs ask for Joe Calareso, Admissions Director.
by Dr. Richard Browne
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Dietary fiber from all food sources cuts ischemic heart disease death risk

By Jimmy Downs

Friday Spet 14, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Prospective studies have shown an inverse association between dietary fibre intake and risk of ischemic heart disease mortality.  But a new study in European Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that the sources of dietary fiber make no difference in the risk reduction.

F L Crowe of Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK ad colleagues conducted the study and found each 10 grams of dietary fiber per day regardless of its source or the type of food that provides the fiber was correlated with a 15 percent reduced risk for ischemic heart disease death.

The study was meant to examine whether dietary fiber from various food sources differ in their effect in ischemic heart disease risk and try to establish the association between the total and food sources of dietary fiber with ischemic heart disease death risk in the subjects participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Heart  study.

A total of 306 331 men and women from eight European countries were enrolled in the study. Dietary fibre intake was estimated using center or country-specific diet questionnaires and standardized as a 24-h diet recall.

During an average 11.5 years of follow-up, 2381 ischemic heart disease deaths were recorded among participants without cardiovascular disease at baseline. The researchers found all food sources of dietary fiber were associated with reduced risk of ischemic heart disease death and each 10 grams per day was correlated to a 15 percent reduction in the risk of death from ischemic heart disease.

For specific fiber sources, each 5 g/day higher cereal fiber was linked to 9 percent reduction, each 5 g/day fruit fiber intake was linked to 6 percent reduction and each 2.5 g/day vegetable fibre intake was associated with 10 percent reduction in the risk of dying from ischemic heart disease.

The researchers concluded " A higher consumption of dietary fibre is associated with a lower risk of fatal IHD (ischemic heart disease) with no clear difference in the association with IHD for fibre from cereals, fruits or vegetables."

Dietary fiber

Dietary fiber, dietary fibre, or sometimes roughage or ruffage is the indigestible portion of plant foods having two main components:

• soluble (prebiotic, viscous) fiber that is readily fermented in the colon into gases and physiologically active byproducts, and
• insoluble fiber that is metabolically inert, absorbing water as it moves through the digestive system, easing defecation.

It acts by changing the nature of the contents of the gastrointestinal tract and by changing how other nutrients and chemicals are absorbed. Soluble fiber absorbs water to become a gelatinous, viscous substance and is fermented by bacteria in the digestive tract. Insoluble fiber has bulking action and is not fermented. Lignin, a major dietary insoluble fiber source, may alter the fate and metabolism of soluble fibers.

Chemically, dietary fiber consists of non-starch polysaccharides such as arabinoxylans, cellulose, and many other plant components such as resistant dextrins, inulin, lignin, waxes, chitins,pectins, beta-glucans, and oligosaccharides.  A novel position has been adopted by the US Department of Agriculture to include functional fibers as isolated fiber sources that may be included in the diet. The term “fiber” is something of a misnomer, since many types of so-called dietary fiber are not actually fibrous.

Food sources of dietary fiber are often divided according to whether they provide (predominantly) soluble or insoluble fiber. Plant foods contain both types of fiber in varying degrees, according to the plant’s characteristics.

Advantages of consuming fiber are the production of healthful compounds during the fermentation of soluble fiber, and insoluble fiber’s ability (via its passive hygroscopic properties) to increase bulk, soften stool, and shorten transit time through the intestinal tract.

Disadvantages of a diet high in fiber is the potential for significant intestinal gas production and bloating. Constipation can occur if insufficient fluid is consumed with a high-fiber diet.