All About Dietary Fiber

Everyone has heard of dietary fiber and how good it is for you, but a lot of people don’t realize that there are two types of dietary fiber, insoluble and soluble.

Dietary fiber is very important to a healthy digestive system and most Americans don’t get enough fiber in their food.

Many people will then resort to all kinds of different medicines such as laxatives and then they try the fiber powder and pills, when all they have to do is eat more of the right foods. The right foods are less expensive than the powders and pills. It is important to get both types of dietary fiber in your daily diet.

Soluble Fiber

Found in most fruits, this type of fiber dissolves in liquid and is absorbed readily into the body. Soluble fiber turns into a sort of gel in the digestive tract and this keeps the rate of food from passing through the body too fast. That is important in that it gives the body time to absorb the nutrients. This is one reason a healthy digestive tract is so important, this is where the body gets its nutrients.

Insoluble Fiber

Is found in most vegetables and it does not dissolve in liquid and helps keep the digestive tract free of any blockages. Insoluble fiber absorbs liquid and expands in the digestive tract, gently and effectively keeping things moving through the system while “scraping’ the interior walls of the digestive tract clean. This is very important in keeping entire the system clean which is very important in preventing the condition diverticulosis.

Health benefits of Fiber

A diet that is in high in dietary fiber keeps the good bacteria in the intestines healthy, which then makes a healthy digestive system.

A high fiber diet also can prevent diverticulosis, constipation, colon cancer, is considered a heart healthy food and can help against diabetes by regulating blood sugar levels.

Soluble fiber seems to bind with cholesterol allowing it to be eliminated and lowering the cholesterol level by as much as 10% to 15%.

The colon is where the final process of digestion occurs, if the waste passes too quickly through the intestines, not enough water is absorbed and diarrhea occurs, and if the waste is passed too slowly, too much water is absorbed and then constipation occurs which can lead to more serious problems. The right amount of fiber in the diet is important for  the health of your digestive system and overall health.

Current research says that we should eat between 20 and 35 grams of fiber per day. Studies show that the average American eats 12 to 17 grams per day, and only 3 or 4 grams of this is the soluble fiber. The recommended amount of soluble fiber per day is 5 to 10 grams per day. Adding more fiber to our daily diet doesn’t have to be painful when you consider all of the wonderful foods that are high in fiber.

When you consider the average American diet, it is easy to see why it is too low in dietary fiber. The foods in the average American diet have little or no dietary fiber. Meat doesn’t have any in it and the white breads and buns have little compared to the whole wheat versions.

Foods high in soluble fiber

• Nuts and seeds
• Oatmeal
• Apples and Oranges
• Peaches
• Banana
• Pears
• Berries, strawberries, blueberries
• Lentils, beans, peas and legumes
• Broccoli
• Dates and Raisins
• Psyllium

Foods high in insoluble fiber

• Wheat bran
• Whole wheat bread
• Whole grain cereal
• Rye Bread
• Oatmeal
• Seeds
• Vegetables like carrots, summer squash, celery and tomatoes.
• Peas
• Carrots
• Corn

Many foods contain both types, such as carrots, apples and potatoes. The flesh part contains soluble and the skins contain the insoluble.

Note: If you have been eating a diet very low in fiber and decide to change to a healthier high fiber diet, go slow. Don’t all of a sudden eat a bunch of brown rice all day long. Start out slowly because suddenly eating a lot of fiber when your body isn’t used to it, you might feel very bloated. Don’t get discouraged if you feel too full or bloated after eating a lot of dietary fiber all of a sudden. Start out slowly, eat slowly and like its always been said, it is much healthier to chew your food completely, that also helps digestion.

This USDA web site will list foods with the most dietary fiber in them.

The fat free kitchen web sites have a list of foods and the amount broken down into soluble and insoluble amounts.

Sam Montana © 03 December 2008