Not All Fiber Is Good As It Seems

Dietary fiber is one of the most important weapons in our fight against heart disease, the number one cause of death in men and women. So people who eat a higher fiber, whole grain rich diet have a significantly reduced risk of heart disease.  Now, the recommended level of fiber intake for adult women is 25 grams per day and 38 grams for men per day but data shows that most of them only eat half of the recommended levels. Why is it so hard to get enough fiber?  I think the problem is that people simply are not choosing to eat enough of the healthful foods that are high in fiber. Or perhaps the popularity of the low carb / high protein diets which are extremely low in fiber. Maybe people are eating too much fast food; it's hard to find high fiber foods in the fast food restaurants. The best thing that people can do is to embrace healthy carbs because that's where the fiber is - in the whole grains, the brown rice, the dark, dense breads with bran, fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts. All of these are heart healthy, high fiber foods. And , beans are your heart's best friend. They are a fabulous food - packed with fiber, vitamins, minerals and are ridiculously cheap. For a few amount, you get a whole lot of nutrition and lots of fiber.  And beans are totally a type of good that people don't pay attention to. It's so easy to cook.  People seem to have passed over beans, which are so fabulous. For example, if you had just a bowl of split pea soup (which is a legume), that would give you half of your daily fiber requirement, just in a little bowl of soup. One of the top discussion is about soluble fiber versus insoluble fiber. So which fiber is actually good for the heart?  When you are thinking heart, it's going to be the soluble one but I just want to make it clear that both types are really good for your health. They have different physiological effects. Insoluble (fiber) promotes digestive health and bowel regularity. When it comes to heart health, it's the soluble type. This type of fiber dissolves in water and forms a gel and that is especially good for our heart health. Why? Because it targets and reduces that bad LDL cholesterol, which is really important. Foods that are high in soluble fiber are going to lower that LDL. And by the way, we all want to get that LDL down to less than 100 (mg/dL). That is the magic number. It's the foods that are high in soluble fiber, especially a kind of soluble fiber called viscous soluble fiber, that really make a dent in that LDL.  What are some good food sources for soluble fiber?  Only a few foods on the planet really contain a nice amount of LDL lowering soluble fiber and that would be oats. And Barley is a whole grain, which is also high in beta-glucan, which is the name of the viscous soluble fiber in oats and barley. Beans, of course, are high in soluble fiber. Apples contain pectin which is a cholesterol lowering soluble fiber. Then there is psyllium seed husk, probably better known by most people as metamucil, which is another extremely potent LDL or cholesterol lowering soluble fiber. . Some new packaged foods like yogurt and ice cream are now added with extra fiber. But the fiber they added is quite different. They are isolated fibers like inulin, oat hulk fiber and cellulose.  Are these isolated fibers the same as the natural fibers found in plant-based foods?  Fibers like inulin are isolated or extracted from fruits and vegetables like onions, chicory root and garlic. Apparently, these are soluble fibers but they don't have that viscous cholesterol lowering quality. Now it's very common in foods to see this type of isolated fibers like low fat dairy products, because it's going to help add back that fat-like mouth feel that has been taken away when you take the fat out. So they (isolated fibers) are good in some respect because inulin is a pre-biotic which is food for the friendly bacteria in your gut so there is a notable health benefits with pre-biotics. But, if we are looking at trying to bump up our fiber intake, this would not contribute very much. So your best bet again is to focus on getting in those wide varieties of whole foods with good carbs like fruits and vegetables, the whole grains, the legumes - those fiber super stars. You want to try and get a lot of them into our day and that is what's going to really make a dent in bumping up your fiber intake to the recommended amounts. When it comes to fiber, you don't want to add in too much, too quickly, too soon or you will have some GI (gastroentestinal) problems. You want to take it slow and build up your fiber intake over time so your body can adjust. Also, you want to drink a lot of fluid because the higher your fiber intake, the more fluid you are going to need to help your body to digest it. Some companies are talking good things about inulin. Many of them say that it's a naturally occurring fiber. Sometimes its sceptical when things are added, we don't know if it's really naturally occurring. So you must be interested to know about that? It's naturally occurring because it comes from plants. It's plant fiber that has been extracted or isolated so that kind of gets around that label lingo. So yes, it's naturally extracted from plants. But the concentration has been manipulated as such that it does not have that viscous quality - it's a soluble fiber without the viscous quality. And it's that viscous quality that we need to lower the bad LDL cholesterol. That's the quality that almost works like a sponge in the intestines to soak up the bile acids and cholesterol so you excrete it. That is the mechanism for lowering cholesterol and inulin and those types of isolated fibers just don't have that quality.  So what we look for is viscous soluble fiber and that's the best bet for our hearts. That is the best bet and you are not going to see that on a label of oatmeal because it will probably say soluble fiber or in an apple, you are not going to see a label saying contains pectin. Just go for whole grain, oatmeal - the less processed the better, steel cut is the best. Beans are great, apples and if you want, that psyllium seed husk supplement.