Kerry McClure – Practical Wellness
January 30, 2014 ·
What is Dietary Fiber?
Fiber comes from plant-based foods. Fibers are the stems, seeds, skins, and supporting structure of the leaves. It is the part of the plant that the body cannot digest. There are two kinds of fiber:
1. fibers that dissolve in water and forms gels.
2. fibers that do not dissolve in water and pass through the body unchanged.
Plant foods usually contain a mixture of both soluble and insoluble fibers.
Benefits of fiber in the diet:
Water soluble fibers can lower blood cholesterol, slow digestion to stabilize blood sugar, and soften the stools by holding onto moisture.
Insoluble fibers move solid wastes out of the body quickly to prevent constipation and some gastrointestinal diseases. Fiber can also delay hunger by creating a feeling of fullness. Fiber may prevent weight gain by providing calories that are not absorbed and displacing high-calorie refined foods.
Dietary Fiber requirements:
The RDAs for fiber for healthy adults are:
38gm/day for males 19-50 years old
25 gm/day for females 19-50 years old
The RDA for fiber decreases with age.
Males age 51 years and older need 30 gm/day
Females age 51 years and older need 21 mg/day
The requirement for fiber varies somewhat among individuals.
The average American eats about 15 grams of fiber a day – too little to meet the RDA.
Fibers do carry water out of the body, which could be dehydrating. It is important to drink extra fluids to help fiber work.
What happens when Dietary Fiber intake is too low?
The short-term effect of a low fiber diet is usually constipation.
A high fiber diet prevents constipation and hemorrhoids. It stimulates the muscles of the digestive track to retain their tone. Over the long-term, a low fiber diet may increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and gastrointestinal conditions. When increasing fiber intake, it is best to do it gradually over several weeks to prevent stomach aches, bloating, gas, and diarrhea.
Which foods are high in Dietary Fiber?
Vegetables are a major source of fiber. Eat more:
Lettuce, Swiss chard, raw carrots, kale, and spinach, etc
Tender cooked vegetables, such as asparagus, beets, mushrooms, turnips, and pumpkin, etc.
Broccoli, artichokes, squashes, sweet potatoes, and string beans, etc
Vegetable juices
You can also get more fiber by eating:
Legumes, such as lentils, black beans, split peas, kidney beans, lima beans, and chickpeas
Sunflower seeds, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, chia seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds
Fruits are another good source of fiber. Eat more:
Apples and bananas
Peaches and pears
Tangerines, prunes, and berries
Figs and other dried fruits
Grains are another important source of dietary fiber. Eat more (note these are all gluten free options):
Amaranth, cooked (1 cup = 18.1 grams)
Amaranth flakes (1 cup = 3.6 grams)
Brown Rice, medium grain, cooked (1 cup = 3.5 grams)
Buckwheat, roasted groats, cooked (1 cup = 4.5 grams)
Cereal, whole grain hot or cold cereal
Corn, sweet, yellow, canned, whole kernel (1 cup =3.1 grams)
Corn, frozen, kernels on cob (1 ear = 1.8 grams)
Cornmeal, yellow, whole grain (1 cup = 8.9 grams)
Millet, cooked (1 cup = 2.3 grams)
Oatmeal, gluten-free, cooked (1 cup = 4 grams)
Popcorn, plain, air-popped (1 cup = 1.2 grams)
Quinoa, cooked (1 cup = 5.2 grams)
Sorghum flour, white, whole grain (1 cup = 12.1 grams)
Wild Rice, cooked (1 cup = 3.0 grams)
Sources:
http://caloriecount.about.com/dietary-fiber-facts-nf291
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/…/ency/patientinstructions/000193.htm
http://celiacdisease.about.com/…/theglut…/ss/HighFiber_4.htm
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