Miracle fixes are all the fad these days. Nowhere can you look without seeing a pill, machine or special new routine that’s guaranteed to turn your life around. There’s actually a diet pill on the market that advertises itself as being “one-hundred dollars a bottle because it works.”
It turns out that the quick solution that everyone’s looking for might not come from an infomercial or in a bottle. It’s probably in your cabinet or refrigerator right now.
An article in the Orlando Sentinel explores the lives of a couple of people who have made drastic changes in their lives, losing large amounts of weight and improving their quality of living, by simply adding fiber to their diet. One woman in the article lost 60 pounds since starting the Fiber35 Diet, published by Brenda Watson, the co-owner of ReNew Life formulas in Palm Harbor. According to Watson, people are increasingly turning to fiber in the battle to shed weight.
Well it begs the question, what is fiber? It’s a question that apparently most Americans don’t know the answer to; the American Heart Association (AHA) says that the average American only gets half of their daily value of this precious material. Quite simply, fiber is a substance found in plants, known commonly as roughage, that the body cannot digest, helping promote regularity Foods such as grains, oats, brans, fruits and beans are all high in soluble fiber, the form that’s also been shown to lower cholesterol, according to the AHA. Foods high in insoluble fiber, shown to help improve bowel function and help reduce weight include things like whole wheat bread and cereal, rice vegetables and apple skin.
On a side note apples are one of the best sources of fiber, their skin being full of the insoluble form, and the pulp loaded with the soluble type.
In addition to weight loss, lower cholesterol and some claims of cancer preventative properties, eating a diet rich in fiber will benefit you in other ways as well. Everyone should try to get at least 35 grams of fiber a day, according to Watson, and doing so will teach you optimum nutrition and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Also, foods rich in fiber are also rich in many other essential nutrients, proving yet another unexpected benefit.
However, both Watson and the AHA warn that you can overdo it. If you eat too much fiber you will likely suffer from gas and diarrhea, and if you don’t drink enough water, which is essential in a high-fiber diet, you run the risk of developing intestinal blockage.
It’s no doubt to me that the obesity rate in America is due to a lack of education about essential substances like fiber. Getting that average number above half would greatly benefit the health, not to mention the waistlines, of our nation.
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