The Effects of Fiber on Your Health

Just what is fiber and how does our health benefit from it? These days we are hearing a lot about the amount and kinds of fiber we are adding to our diet.

A very simple definition of fiber is that part of eaten plants which passes through our system without being digested. Fiber can be label as either soluble or insoluble. Our bodies benefit from both types and each type plays important roles in helping to keep our bodies healthy. Soluble Fiber is that part of the plant that is dissolved by water once we ingest it and insoluble fiber remains unchanged as it passes through our intestinal tract.

The benefits of fibers to our overall health are numerous and should not be overlooked. Soluble fiber has been found to lower cholesterol and helps to regulate glucose levels in the blood. This type of fiber can be found in whole grains (bran and oats), fruits (apples, prunes, pears), vegetables(broccoli, carrots), and legumes(peas, peanuts). Insoluble fiber helps to prevent constipation and has been linked to preventing the risk of colorectal cancer. Insoluble fiber can be found in brown rice, wheat bran, nuts, and seeds.

An additional benefit of fiber in women's diet is reducing the risk of breast cancer. Fiber helps to reduce the absorption of fat and therefor helps reduce the production of estrogen. Estrogen plays a role in the occurrence of some types of breast cancer.

While the recommended amount of daily fiber is 25-30 grams each day, the average American person only consumes half of this. We have increasingly become a society who eats whatever is put in front of us without thinking about a balanced diet. Some form of fiber should be included in each meal which we consume. For those who do not get enough fiber in your diet, supplements are available. These need to be natural supplements and any increase in daily fiber intake should be done gradually. Adding to much fiber at one time can lead to digestive problems, such as bloating and intestinal gas.

Note: In no way should this post replace medical advice from a physician.

Eating Healthy Calories

How many calories are you burning?

We all know that in order to live a healthy life, we need to be aware of the kinds and amounts of calories we consume. In order for our body to function properly, we need calories. This is what helps to build and maintain the cells which make up our body. These cells also include fat cells. If we consume more calories than our body needs, we produce fat cells. When we exercise, our bodies will burn calories. If we are not exercising, our body will turn excess calories into fat.

Every time I hope on the treadmill or the statuary bike at the gym, I am looking at how many calories I am burning. I use this as a guide to help me plan which foods I am going to eat for the day. I know that keeping your weight in check is more complicated than the difference in calories consumed and calories burned. But this is a good encourager for me to stay out of the cookie jar. When I know how long it is going to take on the treadmill at the gym to burn up that one very delicious chocolate chip cookie, I more likely to dig for the will power to put it back.

While playing around on the Internet, I have found several sites which list calorie counters for both foods and exercise. I have put together a simple list of some basic forms of exercise for those who do not have access to gym equipment. I hope that this will help you track those calories you burn when performing any of these activities for 30 minutes. (Please keep in mind that these are average calories burned)

Frisbee - 85 calories
Bowling - 90 calories
Walking for pleasure - 99 calories
Ping Pong - 114 calories
Basketball - 128 calories
Calisthenics- 128 calories
Bicycling - 144 calories
Soccer - 199 calories
Jump Rope - 227 calories
Tennis - 227 calories

As you can see, some very basic forms of fun can be great at burning up the calories. There is no expensive equipment involved and these are some ways to get the entire family moving together.

Just to give you an ideal of how quickly our calorie intake can add up in a single day, I have given you a list of basic impulse foods with their calorie content.

3 Oreo Cookies - 160 calories
1 slice pepperoni pizza - 181 calories
4 oz. Chocolate Ice cream - 145 calories
20 Potato Chips - 150 calories
1 Soft Shell Taco - 210 calories
1 small Fries - 230 calories
1 Fast Food Cheese Burger - 350 calories


When looking at the two above list, I ask you "Are those potato chips worth it". Skip the bad calories and look for the healthy alternatives. Challenge yourself to a healthy eating style. Look to see where you can make positive changes to improve your health.

Have You Had Your Vitamins Today?

There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about vitamins. There seems to be those for taking them and those against taking them. I personally feel that we are not able to get all the needed nutrients from our daily food intake. If all the food we eat came directly from our own neighborhoods and not trucked across the country or sometimes from another country, we would be eating the most nutritional food possible. As it stands now, by the time our food reaches our tables, it has been picked before all the vitamins have had a chance to form. Once picked, our fruits and vegetables have sat in a packing warehouse, then loaded on a truck going to the distributors, next reloaded on yet another truck going to the local food store, and finally placed on the shelf to sell to us. Once it reaches our homes, it has spent days, even as much as a week in transit. This is not fresh from the garden. By this time, the nutrients have lost most of their value.

In a perfect world, we would all have a backyard garden to pick at some fresh fruits and vegetables from. But as we all know, this is no longer the American Way of Life. We all have some excuse for not having a small garden plot in our yard. For some, it is as simple as not having a yard to grow one in. For others, it just is not their thing to garden. Whatever the reason is, we simply are not getting the vitamins and nutrients our bodies need. Could this be some of the reason why our bodies are not able to fight off the colds, flu, and allergies that are common in our homes, schools, and workplaces? Are some of our more major illness and disease related to vitamin deficient? Cancer, heart problems, high cholesterol, and obesity are related to how we eat.