Make Your Body Healthy with Dietary Fiber
In this rapid world, we tend to choose food that has great taste and smell good. Sometime, we do not have time just to peel and eat some fruits or drink plenty of water. I used to do that, sometime I just have a bagel and coffee for my breakfast, no veggie or fruits. Well, it's simple and fast but not healthy. I know. I know that your body needs fiber more than any other food, the fiber or dietary fiber will great for your digestive system and for the end, your health.
Dietary Fiber
The fiber in the food is called dietary fiber. Dietary fiber comes from the parts of the plants that not digested well by enzym in the intestine. Dietary fiber made from many kind of compounds with unique chemical order. There are two kind of dietary fibers :
1. The fiber that is able to dissolve in water (soluble fiber)
2. The fiber that is not able to dissolve in water (insoluble fiber)
Soluble fiber is easy to digest that include pectin (fruits fiber like apple, strawberry, and orange), mucilage (jelly from the seaweed), and gum (oat bran, beans, and seaweed)
Insoluble fiber is hard to digest and need some more time to digest that include cellulose (carrot, bit, sprouts), hemicellulose (whole grains), and lignin (vegetables).
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The Importance of Dietary Fiber
The dietary fiber is helpful in the treatment of hypercholesterol and diabetes mellitus.
The fiber will slow down the digestive system and make the transit time from the mouth to rectum longer. It will give us the full feeling so that we're not feeling hungry easily. That's why the diet type that consume much fiber is suitable for people with obesity.
The fiber has the ability to bind the bile acids level and reduce the cholesterol in the blood. It helps prevent the more serious disease like hypertention and coronary heart disease.
The fiber is helpful in the prevention and treatment of constipation, hemorrhoids, diverticulosis (specially that connected with digestive system or absorbtion).
The more we consume vegetables and fruits, the more benefits we've got. Not just the fiber but also the vitamins, minerals, and non nutritious substance like fitochemical that is proven in preventing serious diseases like cancer, coronary heart disease, hypertention, and stoke.
Fiber Chart
How Much Fiber Should We Consume ?
Our body need about 10 to 13 grams fiber for each 1,000 calories we consume in average. Adult people need about 2,150 calories per day, therefor we need about 25 to 35 grams fiber each day.
For example, we could consume 500 grams vegetables and 250 grams fruits. Or breakfast with cereal and whole grain bread plus one big glass of fruit juice or vegan juice.
Do We Need Fiber Supplement ?
Well yes, we have to admit that sometime we can not have healthy meal, I mean really really healthy and contain enough fiber. So, I think it;s okay to take fiber supplement just in case we don't have time to consume fiber. But, we have to remember that the main player is natural fibers from vegetables and fruits. Supplement just for additional fiber.
There are many fiber supplements in the market. We have to choose the best and most suitable one for us.
You may consume fiber in fun ways like for example making some snacks contain a lot of fiber like jelly from seaweed, crackers or biscuits from whole grain or have a glass of hot cereal milk. As an Asian, I love to make some drink from green beans and consuming tempe (a fermented soy beans).