We’ve all been told that we need to increase the amount of fiber in our diets. The typical American diet has somewhere between 5-14 grams of fiber per day. In 2002, the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences Research Council for the first time issued Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) for fiber. For males between the ages of 19-50 it is 38 grams of fiber per day. For women in the same age category it is 25 grams of fiber per day. If you are over 50 years old, then the amount of fiber decreases to 30 grams for men and 21 grams for women. At best the typical American is only getting 50% of the needed fiber in their diet. Now, you might be thinking why would a bunch of scientists want to spend their time and your tax dollars worrying about how much we poop? The simple answer is your health.

4 Profound Health Benefits Related to Proper Fiber Intake!

Proper fiber intake may reduce your risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity in addition to being beneficial for treating or preventing constipation, hemorrhoids, and diverticulosis.

• Heart Disease. One of the ways the body eliminates cholesterol is through the excretion of bile acids. Water-soluble fiber such as pectin and fiber found in rolled oats helps to bind these bile acids. By increasing your fiber intake you not only increase the amount of fiber available to bind these bile acids but also increase the speed at which they pass through your system. Since there is a direct correlation between low blood cholesterol and a reduced risk of coronary heart disease, increased fiber intake is a first natural step in helping to control and/or lower your blood cholesterol.

• Diabetes. Meat, chicken, fish and diary products do not contain fiber. Dietary fiber is found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains. This is also your main source for sugars which are carbohydrates. The more refined the carbohydrate the lower the fiber content and the higher the sugar effect. Choosing high fiber fruits, vegetables, and grains will slow down the absorption of sugar from the small intestines into the blood stream to help keep your blood sugar at a normal level. Insulin is used by the body to help regulate blood sugar level. If you can regulate your blood sugar at the entry level then your pancreas doesn’t have to work as hard to produce insulin.

• Cancer. Your liver is your detoxification center and it uses bile to help remove these toxins from your system. As we have already discussed, water-soluble fiber helps to bind these bile acids for proper elimination from your system. Lack of fiber allows these toxins to sit in your colon longer as well as provides a window for them to be absorbed back into your system. This increases your risk for colon cancer.

• Obesity. Fiber, by itself, has no calories. Combining water, with a diet high in fiber, helps to fill you up faster so that you eat less and potentially lose weight or at least prevent weight gain. In a Northwestern and Harvard University study of more than 74,000 female nurses, those who added the most fruits and vegetables to their diet lowered their risk for weight gain by 28 percent.

What is Dietary Fiber?

Dietary fiber is found only in plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains. It is that portion of the plant that is not digested by the enzymes in your intestinal tract. This insoluble fiber binds water to make your stools softer and bulkier. Typically, canned and frozen fruits and vegetables contain just as much fiber as raw ones. However, some types of refining processes may reduce the fiber content. Current food labeling requires the amount of dietary fiber to be listed. It will be listed just below the “Total Carbohydrate” portion of the Nutrition Facts section of the product label. For a manufacturer to make fiber claims it must meet the following guidelines:

• High Fiber: 5 grams or more per serving

• Good Source of Fiber: 2.5 - 4.9 grams per serving

• More or Added Fiber: At least 2.5 grams more per serving than the reference food

3 Simple and Effective Steps to Increasing Your Fiber Intake!

When most people hear the concept of increasing their fiber intake they immediately think about eating multigrain breads and a lot of lettuce. This is not what their culinary taste buds are going to get excited about. Plus, it is not the most effective way to increase your fiber intake. The following 3 steps are designed to be realistic so that everyone can achieve the goal of increased fiber intake and be able to do it long term.

Step 1 - Examine Your Diet. You like bread, cereal, pasta, rice, and maybe a vegetable. By making some simple changes you could drastically increase your fiber intake while still enjoying your same meals.

• Bread: 1 slice of white bread has .6 grams of fiber where as 1 slice of whole-wheat bread has 1.9 grams of fiber. Figuring two slices of bread for your sandwich, you just increased your fiber intake from 1.2 grams to 3.8 grams.

• Cereal: Maybe you’re a Wheaties type of person which has 2 grams of fiber per 1 cup serving. By switching to 100% All Bran you just increased you fiber intake to 17.6 grams of fiber. Too much fiber and not enough taste than try Raisin Bran at 5 grams per 1 cup serving.

• Pasta: 1 cup of uncooked pasta typically has 2 grams of fiber. Switching to 1 cup of Barilla PLUS pasta and your fiber intake increased to 7 grams of fiber. Add a ½ cup of tomato sauce on top and you added another 3 grams of fiber. What would have been a “5 grams of fiber” meal has now become “10 grams of fiber” with no loss in taste.

• Rice: 1 cup of cooked white rice is 2 grams of fiber. Switching to 1 cup of cooked brown rice and you’re at 5 grams of fiber.

• Vegetable: Some people think they need to add broccoli or cauliflower to their meal to increase their fiber and it turns them off. Broccoli has 2.3 grams of fiber and cauliflower has 2.5 grams of fiber per cup. Switching to 1 cup of corn gives you 3.9 grams of fiber, 1 cup of green beans is 4.0 grams of fiber, and 1 cup of peas is 6.8 grams of fiber. So, instead of having a salad which has 1 cup of iceberg lettuce at .7 grams of fiber you could skip the salad and add a vegetable that gives you 8 times the value in fiber.

Step 2- Add Fiber. There are a couple of simple ways to add fiber to your daily intake of food without adding loads of calories.

• Breakfast: A medium banana added to the top of your cereal is 3 grams of fiber. A cup of strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries would range from 3.3 to 4.5 grams of fiber.

• Snack: Instead of going to the vending machine for a candy bar or bag of chips why not eat a medium pear at 88 calories and 5 grams of fiber or a large apple at 90 calories and 4.5 grams of fiber.

• Meal: Maybe it’s time to try some new additions to your meal like 1 cup of lentils or black beans at 15 grams of fiber, baked beans at 10.4 grams of fiber, 1 medium baked potato with the skin at 4.4 grams of fiber, or a sweet potato without the skin at 7.5 grams of fiber.

Incorporating some of the changes and additions we’ve looked at so far you could see the following improvements in your overall fiber intake:

• A breakfast of cereal and toast could go from 1 to 3 grams of fiber to 9 to 21 grams of fiber.

• A mid-morning snack could go from 1 gram of fiber to 4 to 5 grams of fiber.

• A sandwich at lunch could go from 1 to 3 grams of fiber to 4 to 15 grams of fiber.

• A mid-afternoon snack could go from 1 gram of fiber to 4 to 5 grams of fiber.

• A dinner meal could go from 5 to 7 grams of fiber to 9 to 15 grams of fiber.

Just by making some simple changes in your food selection you could go from 9-15 grams of fiber to 30-61 grams of fiber.

Step 3 – Take a Supplement. There is some controversy in this area regarding the use of fiber supplements so I add this step with caution. But, if you are not willing to make the simple changes we have discussed in Steps 1 & 2, then talk with a qualified physician who can give you some guidance in this area. Typically, one tablespoon of an over-the-counter fiber supplement has 15 grams of fiber. Most people take their supplement at night after their evening meal. Supplements are not meant to be used as a laxative which is where most of the controversy occurs. They are only meant to be used as a supplement for those who are not getting the proper amount of dietary fiber from their diet.

Two Important Notes!

Proper water intake is fundamental to this whole process of fiber intake. On the one hand, fiber can be extremely useful in preventing constipation. But, fiber taken in the absence of adequate water intake can also be binding to cause severe constipation. As I’ve repeatedly said in several of my articles, proper water intake is the number one key to improving your overall health and wellness. Bringing in the proper amount of fiber with the proper amount of water will be a benefit to helping you achieve a higher level of wellness.

Due to its complexity, laboratory technicians have not yet been able to ascertain the exact fiber content in many foods. Because of this, you may find discrepancies from one fiber source to another. Add to the fact that there are varying sizes of fruits and vegetable as well as growing conditions, and you can begin to understand why there might be some variations in the number of grams of fiber listed for different food items.

If you are not used to eating high fiber foods then make your changes gradually to allow your body to adjust. Anyone with a chronic disease should always consult their physician first before they alter their diet. With guidance and using some simple steps to incorporate more fiber into your diet, you can get Randy from American Idol to say, “It’s the Bomb, Baby!”

Dan Hammer has a background in biology, chemistry and exercise physiology. He used to run one of the largest health club operations in the Chicagoland area and has been helping people with their wellness issues for more than 25 years. His website AgingNoMore.com AgingNoMore.com provides current information on how to slow down the aging process. Dan’s other website SynergyEncodeProduct.com SynergyEncodeProduct.com offers a free newsletter specifically designed to address the health issues of the African American community.

Tags: cholesterol, diet, food and nutrition, Heart, lose weight, obesity

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Although nature intended for us to receive the needed vitamins and minerals through food consumption, the changes that have been occurring in people’s lifestyles, working environments, free time and rest hours, have tremendously altered their dietary habits and thus, the quantity of vitamins and mineral supplements received. In order to resolve this recent negative development, physicians and researchers have been advising people to take vitamin and mineral supplements. But although governments set guidelines of how much of each vitamin and mineral people should take in order to stay within the safe range, many people believe these levels are too low and consume larger doses of vitamins thinking that they are doing good with this extra vitamin and mineral intake.

Unfortunately, this is not the case and there is worse. Some people justify their poor eating habits and try to provide sound arguments against eating properly during the day, by saying that they orally take a few vitamin and mineral pills to cover their bodies’ needs. These people are catastrophically wrong. Not only they do not receive their normal amount of energy through food, they can cause even bigger harm by consuming pills that have not been advised by their doctor. Even if one follows a balanced diet it is not advisable to consume more than the directed dose of vitamins and minerals, but taking extra vitamins and minerals within the guidelines are considered safe.

The Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA’s) for each vitamin and mineral have been set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences. The recommended doses were based on studies completed more than 25 years ago to see how much of each vitamin and mineral the human body needed and how much people received from foods. But exactly because the guidelines are now more than one quarter of a century old, some people think that the RDA’s need to be increased as they consider them antiquated. In fact, in recent years some RDA’s, such as Vitamin C, have been increased. But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been slow and hesitant to increase others because of studies that indicated taking more is not always better.

Vitamins are nutrients required for essential metabolic reaction in the body and along with minerals are extremely important substances in fighting disease and curing many ailments. Until the 1900s, vitamins could only be obtained by eating food, but many people today believe vitamins can stop the aging process, prevent or even heal cancer, grow back hair, ease arthritis, prevent Alzheimer’s disease, and many other health related conditions. People are spending absolutely billions of dollars on vitamin and mineral supplements believing they can cure all their illness.

Researchers are now studying if taking supplements above the recommended levels is actually harmful and the results have shown that while some vitamins are harmful if taken above their recommended levels, others are not. For instance, overdosing yourself with Vitamin E (at more than 1,000 mg) it is possible to cause bleeding. Also, Vitamin C used to be thought of a safe vitamin to take megadoses of and many people take a lot thinking it can cure a cold and prevent cancer. But the FDA disproves of such practices and supports that too much vitamin C can cause diarrhea. The best approach to vitamin and mineral supplements is to only take what is a prudent dose. In case you think you need to take more for some reason, then it is best if you consult with your doctor who is familiar with your exact health history and can give you expert advice.

Kadence Buchanan writes articles on many topics including ihealthstation.net/ Health, yoursciencesource.com/ Science, and 4alternativehealth.com/ Alternative Health.

Tags: diet, food and nutrition, Hair, mineral, vitamin c

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The answer is not much difficult as we know our digestive system is like a processing zone that turns everything we eat into fuel to maintain our body working, but when things go incorrect with it, the result can be some uncomfortable symptoms like burning chest pain, feeling bloated and constipation. As digestive problems can be cumbersome and embarrassing, therefore you do not have to be burdened by a digestive disorder. Study show that digestive problems are comparatively common amongst the people who suffer from diabetes. The most common is constipation, affecting about 60% of people with diabetes. Diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms may also occur.

In such case we go for digestive enzyme. Digestive enzymes are important in the breakdown of carbohydrates, proteins and fats to help the body digest and utilize these critical nutrients. In other words digestive enzymes are proteins which are used by the body to break down food into nutrients which are then digested. Human body produces about 22 different digestive enzymes as each of which acts on a different type of food. Enzymes are also found in fruits, vegetables, meat and other foods. A number of these enzymes, produced from plans and animals, are sold as supplements.

Enzymes run every function in our entire body. Digestive enzymes breakdown the food we eat so it can be used as a source of nutrients and a source of energy. Every cell relies on the raw materials provided to the body by digestive enzymes. If you do not have enough enzymes you can develop a vast myriad of illnesses. All the food and nutritional supplements you consume will not do any good if they are not sufficiently broken down and absorbed by the body.

Some nutritional practitioners think that patients are often lacking enough digestive enzymes because of poor diets and some other factors. Mainstream doctors may also prescribe digestive enzymes, especially in cases such as lactose intolerance, where an enzyme such as lactaid can be used. Enzymes are used to treat a wide variety of digestive complains, including irritable bowel syndrome, indigestion, bloating and heartburn. Therefore I can say that with the help of digestive enzyme we can get better digestion.

For further details visit our website

allnutri.com/digestive enzymes.aspx Digestive Enzymes

Tags: diet, food and nutrition, Heart, lactose intolerance

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Omega fatty acids are becoming a very mainstream supplement these days. I thought for sure when I started my research that I would be able to answer two very simple yet common questions easily. I was wrong. Despite Omega fatty acids popularity and the nice chunk of change that is being made off it by supplement manufacturers, the solid recommendations on its intake are curiously varied.

When I started out, I only wanted to know first; “How much omega 3 should one be taking in a day?” Second; “Now that it is added to eggs, found in flaxseed and so on, can taking too much just add on the calories and not be beneficial?”

The first question of amount depends on the expert you talk to. The one thing that is almost a suggestion is that you should make sure you get a balanced amount of omega 6 and omega 3. Equal parts omega 6 to omega 3 is one suggestion and at the highest end, 10 omega 6 to 1 omega 3. Most of us get too much 6. See how this is heading already? I guess the good news is that in America (Canada too) we are heading towards 20:1 ratio of omega 6 to 3’s, so anything is an improvement from that imbalance.

That explains the ratio’s although somewhat vaguely. Now for the actual amounts. The national food and nutrition board is suggesting that 110 mg for women and 160 mg for men is sufficient. Individual nutritionists suggest a bit more. Somewhere in the 500-1000 mg per day range for normal healthy people and even suggesting more if an illness like rheumatoid arthritis is present.

The point that is hard to wrap your head around is the fact that four appointed “experts” suggest substantially different amounts. This makes it hard to give a solid recommendation as a personal trainer that is not an expert MD. The council for Responsible Nutrition, American Heart Association, the Food and Nutrition Board and the World Health Organization all suggest something different. What I take away from the amounts is that if you are at 200 mg up you should be good. If you are over 1000 mg, you are starting to get too high.

So what are the ramifications if you dare to take in too much of the omega fatty acids? The only thing I can find, and you should do your own research, is that you may get some diarrhea and gas. You may want a breath mint or two also as the oils from fish leave a, well, fishy aftertaste. Taking in too much of any macronutrient however is excess calories and of course this is no different with fatty acids. A surplus of fat intake will not bring more results and may lead to fat storage. Its not because its fat, its because of the surplus calories.

If you are worried about drug interactions, there is only one thing I have found and that is with blood thinners. The combination of blood thinners and omega 3 fatty acids can cause excessive bleeding. This makes perfect sense though since it is this effect that does help those with heart problems.

Ray Burton is a motivational speaker, an ISSA-certified personal trainer,

philanthropist, and author of the best selling weight loss book, “Fat To Fit - The Journey” Ray

has written hundreds of articles and been featured in Rising Women,The Calgary Sun and Crosstrainer.ca.

For info on Ray’s book, visit the home page at: buildingbodies.ca Weight Loss Exercise. To get Ray’s FREE weight loss tips newsletter visit his planningdiets.com diet planning website.

Tags: diet, food and nutrition, Heart, weight Loss, world health organization

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