High Fiber Foods –
7 ReasonsYou Must Include
Them in Your Healthy Diet

High fiber foods are whole plant foods that are good for you by virtue of their fiber as well as the other nutrients like vitamins, minerals and antioxidants they contain. Here are seven reasons for including high fiber foods in your diet every day:

1. Whole plant foods contain fiber. Animal foods and refined foods contain no fiber. Today, humans are missing out on the health benefits of fiber, along with the cancer-fighting and heart-health nutrients of whole foods. Until very recent human history, people got 95% of calories from whole plant foods. Today it’s only 7%. No wonder human health continues to go downhill.
2. Avoid constipation. Plant fiber is like an intestinal broom. It sweeps clean a dirty bowel and helps to prevent diseases from occurring, like colon cancer and diverticulosis. Eating refined foods and animal products leads to slow elimination and toxic substances remaining clogged in the colon.
3. One of the things fiber does is remove toxic substances, such as heavy metals like mercury (from eating fish or farm animals fed with fish meal) and cholesterol (from eating animals). Lower cholesterol is a wonderful result of eating high fiber foods.
4. It becomes easier to lose weight when you’re consuming a lot of whole foods rich in plant fiber. These foods fill you up, satisfy, and keep you feeling full for a longer time. By eating a whole plant food diet, you’ll find it’s easy to get adequate fiber. Here’s a list of some of the high-fiber foods: Dried beans, peas and other legumes; green beans; dried fruit such as figs, apricots and dates; fruits like raspberries, blackberries and strawberries, cherries, plums, pears, apples, kiwi fruit, guava, banana; vegetables like green peas, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, corn, beets, baked potato with the skin, carrots; greens like spinach, beet greens, kale, collards, Swiss chard and turnip greens; nuts such as almonds, Brazil nuts, and walnuts; whole wheat and barley products, rye, oats, buckwheat and cornmeal.
5. American women have elevated levels of estrogen. This is because of eating a high-fat diet and also because of the general lack of fiber in the SAD diet. Fiber binds with estrogen and removes the excess from the body, possibly helping to prevent breast cancer.
6. Because fiber traps carbohydrates, it slows down their digestion and absorption. This may help to prevent wide blood sugar swings throughout the day. Studies have shown that a high-sugar, low-fiber more than doubles a woman’s risk of type 2 diabetes.
   
7. Protect yourself from heart disease. Research has shown that a heart-healthy diet (low in fat and cholesterol, high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains) can significantly lower cholesterol levels. This comes from the fiber binding with the cholesterol; also, research shows that soluble fiber can slow the liver's manufacture of cholesterol.

Are you convinced about consuming more high fiber foods? Here are a couple of easy tips: (1) Eat more raw food. Cooking breaks down some of the fiber into its carbohydrate components. (2) Don’t peel all of your food. The skin contains valuable fiber. (3) It may be obvious, but whole fruits and vegetables contain more fiber than juice which may be strained (no fiber) and lacks the skin and membranes.

Don’t try to take a shortcut by using fiber supplements. You need the other nutrients in whole foods. In addition, there have been reports of gastric or esophageal obstructions caused by use of a fiber supplement. Plus, these supplements may just be useless and a waste of your money. Spend that money on some delicious vegetables, beans, grains, and fruits.

Try this delicious and easy high-fiber recipe for broccoli salad.

A great high-fiber breakfast treat: Old-Fashioned Pancakes!

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