High Fiber Diet – are you getting enough fiber?

Understanding fiber may be the single most important step you can take in improving your health. Fiber is sometimes also called roughage. A healthy diet should have a high component of fiber food intake. A high-fiber diet may also help reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Age old thumb rule lays down that “balanced diet that includes adequate water intake and also provides the proper amounts of essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium, iron and zinc.” is essential to the overall well being and health of an individual.

With changing food habits and dependence on “junk foods”, the incidence of diseases has been on the rise. Higher intake of “junk food” can be attributed to it. “Junk Food” refers to food which is low on nutritional value. Rather than taking a radical approach and banning all but the simplest foods, judge each food based on the list of ingredients and Nutrition Facts label found on packages. This nutritional information will make you more knowledgeable in selecting foods to reduce your nutritional health risk. Diet in High Fiber content has many advantages as fiber acts as an appetite suppressant. High fiber food absorbs water, causing it to swell. This gives a nice feeling of fullness that many weight loss programs do not provide.

How much fiber do kids need in their diet?

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, in their Guide to Your Child’s Nutrition, “a person’s daily intake of fiber should equal his or her age plus 5 grams (thus, for a 7-year-old, 7 + 5 = 12 grams a day) up to a maximum of 35 grams a day.” Recommended fiber amounts for women is 21 to 25 grams a day and for men is 30 to 38 grams a day. A person can meet this fiber requirement by consuming two to three servings of fruits and three to five servings of vegetables every day. To increase fiber intake, a person should eat more of the following high-fiber foods: whole grains, beans, fruits (preferably with skins on), roots and leafy vegetables, broccoli or carrots. Eating a diet high in saturated fat and trans fat may increase your blood cholesterol level. A healthful, high-fiber diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds may decrease high cholesterol levels.

It is time to make healthy food choices as it seems incredible that just one single factor, such as fiber can have such a dramatic effect on our health and well being. Extensive medical research has now confirmed that a high-fiber diet prevents or treats a wide variety of diseases ranging from constipation to heart disease and cancer. Procrastination on this count would not only lead to a rampant incidence of diseases but also to an overall unhealthy society at large.