Fiber or roughage has many health benefits and ought to be an important part of your diet. Foods that are good sources of fiber are good for your digestive system and are great tools for losing weight or keeping your weight under control. High fiber foods have more bulk than low-fiber foods and can make you feel fuller longer because they stay in the stomach longer and therefore discourage overeating. Quite apart from that fiber is believed to help prevent a number of diseases including diabetes and certain cancers.
Dietary fiber can be found in plant foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils and whole wheat grains. They’re divided into two categories – soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber absorbs water in the intestines and creates a substance which attaches to cholesterol and carries it out of the body. Insoluble fiber doesn’t dissolve in water but adds bulk and softness to your stool and helps to prevent constipation.
Research into the health benefits of fiber date back to the 1970s when Dr. Denis Burkitt and his colleagues noticed that Africans, did not suffer from many of the diseases that were common in the Western cultures and they wanted to know why, so they set out to find out. What they discovered was that the African diet was high in fiber and low in refined carbohydrates. Burkitt was also able to draw a link between the rise in these diseases in the West with the introduction of a new milling process that removed fiber from whole grain flour to produce white flour. These findings led to several studies to determine other health benefits of fiber.
Scientists found out that fiber can reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering LDL cholesterol or bad cholesterol. They found that foods containing soluble fiber, such as oats, and beans as well as fruits and vegetables impact cholesterol, and triglycerides, that cause heart disease.
They discovered that fiber, especially when taken with sufficient fluids helps the digestive process and speeds up the passage of foods through the body. This prevents harmful substances found in some foods from affecting the colon and may protect against colon cancer. This is still in dispute and more research is being done to support this claim. A high fiber diet is also believed to help prevent breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and uterine cancer.
Fiber in the diet helps regulate blood sugar levels in persons with diabetes, and prevent diabetes developing in otherwise healthy persons.
Most people haven’t heard of Diverticulitis, but it is a really painful disease involving the inflammation of the intestine. Eating dietary fiber, particularly insoluble fiber, is believed to lower the risk of Diverticular disease by about 40 percent.
Rapid digestion and the resulting release of glucose into the bloodstream, can cause the body to release a lot of insulin into the bloodstream, and this can cause gallstones and kidney stones as well as diabetes and high cholesterol. Fiber, especially soluble fiber helps prevent the formation of kidney stones because it binds oxalates in the digestive tract.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR; Kendal Burton is a Certified Personal Trainer, Yoga Instructor & Sports Nutrition Specialist. For more health and fitness tips “friend” us on Facebook, or join our free fitness community atwww.edgepersonalfitness.com. If you have any questions, or a topic you’d like us to address email us at mail@edgepersonalfitness.com
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