Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa is one of the country’s foremost natural healing experts. A nationally certified massage therapist, nationally certified kinesiologist, state certified dietitian and nationally registered herbalist, he has written or edited 30 books on health topics and has practiced for 35 years. He teaches at all levels, from general public presentations, to professional training programs. You can learn more about him at http://www.kpkhalsa.com. Our ancestors, until very recently, ate a diet that included 10 times as much fiber as the Standard American Diet. Fiber is critical to many functions in the intestinal tract, including digestion and waste elimination. It also has a mild cholesterol-lowering effect.
The three fibers we eat on a regular basis are cellulose, hemicellulose and pectin. Cellulose is the structural backbone in plants, giving vegetables their familiar shapes. Hemicellulose is found in the bran of different grains. Pectin is found in fruits, is soluble in water, but is not digestible.
Fiber is divided into two basic categories. Soluble fiber, composed of shorter molecular chains, absorbs water and form a slimy consistency. It provides bilk and lubrication to our digestive tracts, and acts to absorb excess dietary fats in the gut, before they can ever be absorbed.
Insoluble fiber does not absorb water, so it remains stiff and scratchy in the digestive tract. It provides the bulk in the stool, so the intestinal wall can grab the waste and move it along.
Fiber may be eaten as part of a whole foods diet, or it may be added to the diet in supplemental form.The World Health organization suggests that adults intake 25 grams of fiber daily, still a small amount when compared with the whole foods diet of even our recent ancestors.
Fiber Fights Fat
Many new studies propose that water-soluble fibers may also help individuals lose weight. Taken with a meal, they produce a feeling of fullness. The other anti-fat benefits of fiber include reducing the absorption of total calories, promoting blood sugar control, and enhancing the effect of insulin. In clinical studies of weight loss, fiber reduced absorbed calories by 30-180 calories per day, the equivalent of 3 to 18 pounds of fat loss over a year.
A double-blind placebo-controlled study looked at 97 mildly overweight women on a strict low-calorie diet. Patients who took 7 grams of an insoluble fiber daily for 11 weeks lost 10.8 pounds compared to 7.3 pounds in the placebo group.
Psyllium seed, a common bulk fiber, looks especially promising. A triple-blind experiment done last year in London with non-dieting subjects revealed that the participants felt much fuller than normal one hour after the meal, and ended up eating 15 grams less fat per day than usual. A whole grain breakfast cereal with added psyllium is a tasty way to get soluble fiber into the diet.
The typical dose of fiber used in such studies is 5 to 7 g per day. Aside from the occasional feeling of fullness, fiber rarely has any side effects.
Fiber Balances Cholesterol, Digestion and Blood Sugar
Soluble fiber appears to assist with serum cholesterol levels by binding bile acids in the gut. When insufficient bile acids are absorbed from the gut, the body converts serum LDL-cholesterol to bile acids in the liver. Bile acids are essential for the absorption and digestion of lipids.
Fiber absorbs moisture, increasing stool size, giving the muscles in the intestinal walls something to grab onto, making the stool softer. Natural bulk laxatives provide soluble fiber to slow intestinal motility. These include pectin from fruit, flaxseed, chia seed, and oat bran. Eating a daily serving of high fiber cereal can create a soft, spongy stool. Fiber also regulates transit time (the time it takes for food to pass through the digestive tract) by absorbing excess moisture and firming stool, slowing passage. A basic directive is to increase fiber intake (fruits, vegetables, dried legumes) to up to thirty-five grams per day.
Psyllium seed, as a fiber laxative, balances bowel function and relieves pain in irritable bowels. Psyllium's capacity to absorb fluids means that it is useful for treating diarrhea. As it travels through the digestive tract, the mucilage in psyllium creates a soothing benefit, which may relieve cramping. An English study revealed that constipation significantly improved in patients taking psyllium. Eighty-two percent of the subjects had irritable bowel symptom relief. A study to determine the optimum dose recommended 20 grams per day, so anything close would have serious benefit.
The diet of choice for blood sugar control appears top be a program of high carbohydrate and high plant fiber (the HCHF diet), developed by James W. Anderson, M.D., and his team at the University of Kentucky at Lexington.This preferred routine includes cereal grains, legumes, root vegetables, and tubers (such as potato) at high levels, and limits simple sugars (white sugar), refined (white) grains, and fat.Anderson states that the ideal blood sugar balancing diet could include as much as 70 grams of dietary fiber per day. This diet has been shown to be considerably more successful than the conventional mainstream blood sugar control diet.
Neal Barnard, an adjunct professor at George Washington University, is an advocate of high fiber vegetarian diets for diabetes. In a small pilot study, he started seven subjects on a strict vegan diet. The participants got 75 percent of their calories from whole grains carbohydrates, vegetables, fruit and beans- no meat, cheese and eggs allowed. Twelve weeks later, the vegan patients exhibited an average 28 percent lowering of fasting blood sugar, compared to a 12 percent reduction in control patients who followed the standard ADA diet. None of the controls reduced their medications, but most in the vegan group did.
Australian scientists looked at a high fiber vegetarian diet and its effect on various chronic health conditions. They report that a soybean protein diet, legumes, nuts and soluble fiber appreciably decrease total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. Also, diets rich in fiber and complex carbohydrate, and low in fat, improve blood sugar, reduce insulin requirements and aid in weight control in diabetic patients. Replacing 6 ounces of meat with 1 1/2 cups of beans diminishes dietary fat by over 10% and adds 10 -25 grams of dietary fiber, not to mention save up to 200 calories per day.