This is the second part of the fiber post and in this one we’ll learn about all the things fiber does for our bodies that helps us to stay healthy. Let’s start with the most basic, and maybe the most important, and that is detoxifying the body. 60,000 chemicals are consistently released into the environment. Billions of pounds of herbicides and pesticides are used in growing our food each year. Millions of tons of chemicals are added to our foods each year. Industrial heavy metals, like lead, arsenic, aluminum, arsenic, etc. are consistently spewed into the environment. Where does this stuff end up? In our bodies. A well-known expert recently shared with me that if human breast milk were tested to be made available as a food it would fail the testing because there are so many chemicals in it. This is because of all the toxins that are stored in breast tissue (think there might be a correlation with breast cancer?)
These toxins are stored in our cells and cause all kind of mayhem. Not only can they cause the onset of disease by their presence in the body, but they also clog up our bodies processes by not allowing nutrients to get into the cells! As I’ve heard it said, two things cannot occupy the same space! We must flush the toxins from our bodies, and fiber (and water) are the best ways to do this. In addition to the environmental toxins, we naturally produce waste from our bodies processes that also need to be removed. We have microorganisms in our intestines that produce waste that we need to expel. Our body is one big giant constant chemical reaction which produces waste that we also need to remove, and we also have a consistent onslaught of parasites that we need to rid ourselves of.
A steady flow of fiber into our systems allows us to pull these toxins through and eliminate them on a regular basis. And in case you were wondering, eliminating on a regular basis means at least twice a day and maybe three times! If we are not eliminating this much then we have two major problems…toxins are building up in our system and we are not able to properly absorb the nutrients we need to function properly and deal with the toxins that are building up.
Getting enough of the right fiber in our diets (tomorrow’s post will talk about what the right ones are) will therefore make us more regular in that we eliminate frequently enough, and it will also make it easier to eliminate in general. When our diet has adequate fiber, our stool we will be softer and bulkier…so we will spend less time in the bathroom and save some trees too because the process will be easier!
Here are some other aspects of good health you will enjoy by increasing fiber in the diet:
Weight control: Fiber reduces the absorption of dietary fat and reduces our hunger. I’ve seen lots of people lose weight just by increasing their fiber uptake. Another important aspect of this is that when we lose weight we break down fat tissue which then releases the toxins into the body that were stored in this adipose tissue…the fiber will help pull these toxins through as well.
Cholesterol: By decreasing the fat absorption we help to lower the LDL (bas cholesterol).
Blood sugar: Fiber in the diet reduces the glycemic index of the foods we eat which helps to slow the absorption of sugars.
Ecology: The fermentation of fibers in the colon acts as a prebiotic in which the body can then make needed probiotics which are the good bacteria’s we need for a healthy digestive ecology.
Okay,l think that’s enough for you to swallow for one sitting…don’t want you to overeat! Tomorrow I will talk about the different types of fibers and their impacts in helping your body.
