Fiber has always been known to be an important factor in the human diet.  A diet that is not rich in dietary fiber, which unfortunately the American diet many times is not, open people up to a number of health problems, all originating in the colon. 

First of all, dietary fiber, which is found in abundance in leafy greens, certain types of beans, fruits like grapes, plums, bananas and apples, and also some handy “carry-with” veggies like baby carrots, one of my favorites to take with me as a snack during the week are rich in colon-healthy fiber.

Fiber is what keeps food moving on through the digestive system.  It protects the digestive system, including the colon, from certain types of cancer, since the digestive tract has less work to do getting all the food through the system.  Fiber has also been shown to play an important part in helping to control blood sugar levels, and diets rich in fiber have been shown to have blood sugar stabilizing qualities about them. 

Not surprisingly, people with fiber adequate diets also tend to be on the thinner side and enjoy greater health than those with fiber deprived diets that are full of “dead” foods like breads, pastas and cheese and fatty dairy foods.  Eating foods that are rich in fiber also help to keep us feeling fuller longer since they tend to swell up in the stomach and create feelings of satiety, making sure that we don’t over stuff ourselves and over burden our digestive systems.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 9:12 am and is filed under Foods. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.