Why Fiber is Your Friend

We all know that we need more fiber in our diets. Food corporations are doing a great job of adding fiber to our processed food products and telling us they’re healthier now. Of course, when it comes to the health claims on packaged food labels, we always have to take the claim with a grain of salt…or should I say sugar (see article “The Hidden Sugar”).

            Your Grandma was right when she told you that you need fiber to help you poop, but fiber helps with many other body processes, making it essential that we monitor our fiber intake.

            First, fiber can help with fat loss and disease prevention. When fiber is eaten alongside carbohydrates, our blood sugar raises slower over time. This could turn a blood sugar spike into more of a blood sugar wave (see “Why Insulin Is Making You Fat” for more details). The importance here is that with less of a blood sugar spike, we also get less of an insulin spike. Given that insulin is a fat storage hormone, less need for insulin is a positive outcome. Less fat will be stored from the food you’re eating, and diabetes risk decreases when blood sugar spikes are reduced.

            Fiber is also a key factor in lowering cholesterol. Fiber can bind to bile salts and eliminate them from the body. Those bile salts then need to be replaced for the next time that process happens, and cholesterol is used to make more bile salts. This means that if you eat fiber, you’re forcing your body to use cholesterol for its intended purpose.

           When multi-million dollar food manufacturers realize that health conscious consumers are seeking out higher fiber diets, they help us with labeling campaigns offering, “Now With 10grams of Fiber”. The problem is that these products often have so much added sugar that the benefits of the added fiber can’t make up for the overall lack of health in the food product. Most high fiber cereals and bars are laden with sugar. The front of the label promises health with the added fiber. We need to add fiber to our diets, but not with fiber fortified processed/packaged foods. We can all get the fiber we need if we’re eating mostly whole foods like vegetables, nuts, and seeds. A diet high in broccoli, brussel sprouts, almonds, and flax is a diet with plenty of fiber without any added sugar.

Women need about 35grams of fiber and men need about 45grams of fiber per day. This varies based on the size of the person and their need for weight loss, diabetes control and cholesterol lowering effects.