Another topic that has been interesting to me lately, and one that I wanted to dive a little more deeply into, is fiber in the diet. I first started getting interested in fiber, and its role in health, a couple years ago in a very interesting way. For my job, I do a decent amount of anesthesia for GI procedures, like upper and lower endoscopy, and I began to notice something. It seemed to me like no matter what the GI issue was, one part of the solution was to increase the amount of fiber in the diet. If you are constipated, have diarrhea, diverticulosis, irritable bowel syndrome, or abdominal pain adding fiber to the diet can help all of these problems. Once I started reading more about fiber I realized that there was a whole other world of health benefits that come from fiber as well.
There are two different types of fiber, and they play different roles in the GI tract; soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber is found in oat bran, barley, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, peas, and some fruits and vegetables. It is also found in psyllium, which is common in many fiber supplements. Soluble fiber is converted to short chain fatty acids which feed your healthy gut bacteria and also forms a gel-like mass in the gut slowing down digestion. This leaves you feeling full longer and explains why fiber can help with weight loss. Soluble fiber also slows glucose uptake, which translates to lower insulin levels. Insoluble fiber is found in foods such as wheat bran, dark-green leafy vegetables, and whole grains. It adds bulk to the stool and appears to help food pass more quickly through the stomach and intestines. By speeding the transit of waste materials, it can help you maintain regular bowel movements. It can absorb excess water if you are having loose stools and help with that, or can draw water into the bowel if the problem is constipation and hard stools. It has many other benefits as well outside of transit through the intestines. It also binds to toxins in the gut, which helps them be eliminated. On top of all that, insoluble fiber stabilizes the pH of the gut, making it harder for potentially harmful microbes to set up shop.
Approximately 70% of your entire immune system lives in your gut, and it has a symbiotic relationship with the normal flora of bacteria that live there. Therefore, it is no surprise that how and what you eat can greatly affect your health and wellness. This is especially true for inflammation, both auto-immune disease and just generalized inflammation. As you might guess, fiber can play a very important role in this process for better or for worse. When the bacteria that normally live in your gut are fueled by plenty of soluble fiber, they produce compounds that help modulate your immune system and even improve brain health. Those compounds help increase the number of regulatory T cells in your body, which are specialized immune cells which help prevent autoimmune responses. Researchers have found that a high fiber diet is associated with a lower risk of premature death from all causes; this is likely secondary to its help in reducing chronic illnesses like type-2 Diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and stroke. A high fiber diet has also been shown to cause reductions in cholesterol and blood pressure, help widespread inflammation, and improve insulin sensitivity.
With all these proven health benefits, I am sure the next question is: how much fiber should I take in on a daily basis? The American Heart Association recommends 25 grams a day, but I think that is a minimum, and there really is no maximum as long as your body can handle it. When you are increasing your fiber intake, it is best to do it gradually, if you increase too fast then you risk having some GI upset or other issues. I typically eat 50-60 grams of fiber per day, although that is no easy task. Or at least I have to make an effort to get that much fiber in every day. But it became a lot easier once I designed a fiber shake that is full of soluble and insoluble fiber. I drink one of these shakes 5-7 days a week, and when I miss a few days in a row I really notice a difference now in how I feel. Here is my recipe for a fiber shake:
Jimmy Fiber Shake
1 TBS Organic Psyllium Husk Powder
1 TBS Benefiber Plus supplement
2 TBS PB2 peanut butter protein powder
2 TBS Organic baking cocoa
2 TBS Golden flax seed
2 TBS Organic Chia Seeds
Place about 1 cup water into blender, add all ingredients, and then blend and drink before it firms up. Alternatively, you can let it sit in the fridge for a while and it will turn into pudding which you can then eat with a spoon.
This shake contains about 35 grams of fiber, which is a good mix of soluble and insoluble fibers. It is very filling, so I tend to drink mine about a half hour before dinner, which helps me eat less at dinner and feel more full. The shake does have a decent amount of carbs, but they are mostly unabsorbed carbs, and as such do not contribute to the net carbs for the day. Hope you found this to be interesting or helpful, and until next time, may the fiber be with you.
