The dietary fiber you need for better health.- By Dr Harold Gunatillake
Website: www.Doctorharold.com
The socioeconomic crisis in Sri Lanka has enabled the people to go on a plant-based diet and become healthier as a nation, as meat and fish are out of reach of the common person.
Dietary fibre is that part of plant material in the diet which is resistant to enzymatic digestion and includes cellulose, noncellulosic polysaccharides such as hemicellulose, pectic substances, gums, mucilages, and non-carbohydrate component lignin. Fibre is found in Carbs. Now what is fiber?
Dietary fibre is found in wholegrain cereals and fruit and vegetables. Fibre is made up of the indigestible parts or compounds of plants, which pass relatively unchanged through our https://youtu.be/a0Dc3WAiJ2s Website: www.Doctorharold.com stomach and intestines.
Fibre is mainly a carbohydrate. The main role of fibre is to keep the digestive system healthy. High protein-containing foods also have high fiber. Lentils are quite a popular food among Sri Lankans whose staple food is rice and curry.
Lentils are high in fiber and protein, which helps in keeping blood sugar levels in check. Rich in proteins and fiber, lentils also help to remove belly fat. You can have lentils and rice to make it a complete meal rich in proteins and fiber. Lentils are also rich in iron and vitamins.
To get enough fibre in our diets it is important to include a variety of fiber-providing foods regularly, such as whole meal bread, wholegrain breakfast cereals, brown pasta or rice, fruit, vegetables, peas, beans, nuts, seeds, and potatoes with skins. Animal proteins lack fiber.
Why do we need dietary Fibre?
How to get more fiber into your diet – There is strong evidence that eating plenty of fiber (commonly referred to as roughage) is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and bowel cancer. Choosing foods with fiber also makes us feel fuller, while a diet rich in fiber can help digestion and prevent constipation.
Fiber is a substance in plants. It can be referred to as the skeleton of plants that helps to stay erect. Dietary fiber is the kind you eat. It’s a type of carbohydrate. You may also see it listed on a food label as soluble fiber or insoluble fiber and the third kind of fiber is found in resistant starch.
Your requirement of fibre per day is 35 grams for men and 25 grams for women, in your daily food, but most don’t consume more than approximately 10 grams a day. Americans have gotten used to fast foods and they include very little fibre in their daily meals. Mind you, meat and fish have no fibre, and it is from the vegetables that we obtain most of the fibre.
Another root containing very high fibre is the Kohila root. They‘re very high fibre andthe ayurvedic physicians prescribe them for hemorrhoids (piles) There are two kinds of dietary fibre in our food- soluble and insoluble, and resistant starch could be added as a third fiber-containing food. Soluble fibre dissolves in water to form a gel-like material. Some of the commonly consumed foods containing soluble fibre are oats, peas, beans, apples, citrus fruits, carrots, barley, and psyllium.
Soluble fibre seems to lower your blood cholesterol, too. High-fibre diets slow the absorption of sugar and help improve blood sugar levels. It is very important that people who have diabetes eat high-fibre foods regularly.
High fibre diets seem to lower the incidence of colo-rectal cancer. People who eat more meat than vegetables tend to get bowel cancer. In India bowel cancer incidence is low due to their consuming vegetarian diets. Meat seems to have no fibre at all like plant foods, as mentioned earlier.
Insoluble fibre helps to form the bulk of your stools and assists in gut movement and prevents constipation. Good sources of insoluble dietary fibre are whole meal wheat flour, wheat bran, unprocessed rice, vegetables, and potatoes among others. Most plant-based foods have both soluble and insoluble fibre but the amount in each type varies.
Now what is the connection between high-fibre diets and the gut microbiota?
Our gut has trillions of microbiota. For their health, one has to eat prebiotics and probiotics. The best prebiotics is high-fiber-containing diets. For the beneficial bacteria to survive in our gut we need to consume meals with high dietary fibre, while the harmful bacteria thrive on sugars and alcohol. So you need to consume more fiber-packed foods, such as leafy greens, oatmeal, and whole grain.
There is evidence that if people do not eat too much meat, and increase the amounts of fruits, vegetables, and legumes containing high dietary fibre is likely to have a healthy community of gut bacteria.
Gut bacteria among meat eaters who consume very little high-fibre produce a chemical called Trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) due to the breakdown of animal protein and fat in your meat, eggs, and dairy, among others. This compound is found in the urine of meat eaters and not those who eat a high-fibre vegetable diet. TMAO seems to cause inflammation of blood vessels, blood clots, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and heart disease Meat eaters produce a chemical called
Trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) due to the breakdown of animal protein and fat in your meat, eggs, and dairy, amon others. TMAO seems to cause inflammation of blood vessels, blood clots, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and heart disease According to a news article published in JAMA, three recent analyses have linked high blood levels of TMAO with a higher risk for both cardiovascular disease and early death from any cause. In one of those studies, researchers found that people with higher levels of TMAO in their blood may have more than twice the risk of heart attack, stroke, or other serious cardiovascular problems, compared with people who have lower levels.
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