Saturday, August 23, 2014

Trifecta: Fiber is a beautiful thing!

What is beautiful about fiber? With Benefiber or similar, I can add a spoonful of powder to anything liquid. It becomes invisible, doesn't thicken, and has only the barest hint of taste in straight water. It disappears in my food.

Fiber in a blue glass jar.
Fiber, hiding in a jar of syrup.
The benefits are also beautiful. Dietary fiber includes soluble and insoluble fibers. Soluble fiber's listed benefits are just what I am after: blood sugar regulation, reducing cholesterol, and losing weight. I've tried it out, and it held true for me. My health trifecta: 1) Cutting the fructose is the vital, primary step; 2) Eating plenty of fiber multiplies the benefits; 3) Making your body burn calories to keep warm is the cherry on top. 

Ok, so how much fiber? Ideally, all foods should have at least:


To achieve 3 grams per 200 calories, I've also started looking into how much fiber is in other foods, so we can supplement less. This site has a nice listing of the soluble and insoluble fiber in a lot of foods. The USDA database is searchable and extensive, but lists only dietary fiber. Unfortunately it's not simple to go pull out the set of information that I really want, but I'm working on it.

No comments:

Post a Comment