March is National Nutrition Month

What better way to celebrate then to talk about something that can improve everyone’s nutritional status and health. FIBER.
Studies show we are only consuming 12-15 grams of fiber a day.

What is fiber, what can it do for us, how much should we eat daily and what foods have fiber in them and how can we increase fiber in our diet.
Fiber is the structural part of plant foods that our bodies cannot completely break down with our digestive enzymes. It increases the weight and size of our stool and softens it which helps it to easily pass through us.

Fiber reduces our risk of developing many common health conditions that we see worldwide like heart disease, diabetes, constipation, colon cancer and high cholesterol.

How much should we eat daily depends on who you reference.
The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) recommends 14 grams per 1,000 calories.
The American Heart Association says 25-30 grams a day.
The Mayo Clinic recommends that women should eat 21-25 grams a day, men 30-35 grams.

What foods have fiber in them? Any food that comes from plants and are not processed plant foods all have fiber in them. Examples: Whole grains, fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, beans, nuts and seeds. If the food came from a plant and not something that eats plants, it’s a fiberous rich food. Meat, dairy and most all processed foods have no fiber in them.

What can we eat daily to make sure we get enough fiber and notice I said eat, not take a supplement.
Try to eat 3 servings of fruit a day making one of them a half a cup of berries, eat 5 or more servings of vegetables daily, try switching beans for meat in meals and eat 1.5 cups of day of whole grains. If you eat these servings you will more then get the recommended daily allowance and more. Eating fiber satisfies us quicker then eating meat and dairy so we tend to eat less and loose weight which is a huge bonus.