How Fiber Foods Affect Your Body
How Fiber Foods Affect Your Body
Usually, when fiber comes to mind, you think about foods that help to keep your digestive tract working well. But fiber foods actually offer a number of benefits for overall health.
Besides keeping your bowels moving, eating foods that are high in fiber can protect you from certain diseases such as diabetes. Consuming the right amount of fiber can also protect you from cardiovascular events and some cancers.
But what you might not know is that fiber is a great weight loss help. Fiber is made up of plants or parts of plants and it can be soluble or insoluble. Soluble means the fiber can dissolve in liquid, and insoluble cannot.
Insoluble is the kind that you’ll find in vegetables and other foods with high fiber content. Soluble is found in things like some fruits. You can find certain foods that contain both kinds of fiber and one thing to remember if you’re trying to lose weight or get fit is that foods that are in their natural state will always tend to have more fiber.
When you eat fiber foods, you can lower your bad cholesterol levels as well as your blood pressure while at the same time boost your good cholesterol. Consuming fiber also helps your immune system stay healthier.
Fiber does more than just help keep you regular. Consuming fiber can also lower your risk of gallstones and painful issues like hemorrhoids. One of the many reasons that it’s a great food to eat when you want to lose weight is that fiber works to help get rid of abdominal weight gain.
Carrying extra pounds in this area is something that can add the most risk to your health. A healthy meal plan that includes plenty of fiber can not only keep diabetes at bay but it can help those who do have the condition to be able to control their glucose levels.
Fiber aids with weight loss because when you eat foods that contain it, you end up feeling full for longer periods of time. Fiber doesn’t digest rapidly like some foods do plus, you can find high fiber foods that don’t have a lot of calories.
So that means you’re not eating a lot, but your stomach thinks you are which means you won’t be as temped to overeat or snack. Another plus for eating fiber rich foods is that they give you a lot of energy.
This energy will help to keep you going through your day as well as through your workouts. The recommended daily grams of fiber that you should get depend on whether you’re male or female and how old you are. A woman between the ages of 18-30 needs 25 to 26 grams of fiber whereas a woman who’s over 50 only needs about 21 grams.
