March 29, 2024

Fiber Facts by Rachael Roehmholdt

What exactly is fiber? Why is fiber important to health? What are sources of fiber?

Fiber consists of the indigestible parts of a plant that we consume when eating most naturally sourced foods. You can find fiber in two forms – soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and insoluble fiber doesn’t. Both are important to your colon’s health as fiber helps bulk up stools to make them move easily through the digestive tract.

While there are plenty of fiber supplements on the market, we don’t really need these in order to get fiber into our diet regularly. Many of the whole foods you find at your grocery store already have plenty of fiber and if you’re filling up on these regularly, you won’t have a need for fiber powders or pills. Fiber is found in foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains and beans.

There are plenty of great health benefits to getting more fiber in your diet regularly. One of which is regular bowel movements which indicates that your digestion is functioning properly and smoothly. Next, when you’re getting plenty of fiber, you’re a lot more likely to be maintaining your bowel health, which will help to prevent diarrhea, constipation and hemorrhoids. You can also count on lowered cholesterol levels, reduced blood pressure and inflammation throughout the entire body with adequate fiber in the diet.

Getting plenty of fiber is great for those who deal with maintaining energy throughout the day as well, because with the addition of fiber, any sugar found in a food is broken down and absorbed much more slowly into the blood than if taken without the fiber. This results in even energy levels that last for hours. This is also great news for diabetics and people who are working to prevent diabetes.

Lastly, fiber is essential to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, because foods with a good amount or fiber taken longer to chew and break down than those with very little fiber. This means that you’ll likely be consuming less, as well as feeling full for longer since the foods will take more time to break down and be absorbed into the body.

Rachael Roehmholdt is a certified holistic health coach and founder of Be More Healthful. With a passion for good food and living a healthful and balanced life, she believes that small changes to our everyday lives can set us up for a lifetime of health and happiness.

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