Eating Carbohydrate Fiber Foods

Here is a list of fiber foods and the quantity of soluble and insoluble fiber that they contain. Look over the chart and include those foods in your diet that have the most fiber so that you can come close to having at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber each day. Most people only eat around 10 grams per day and this is the level that will cause illness.

Learning to like fiber

I find that most people have a hard time getting the fiber in their diet that they need to stay healthy.  To get plenty of fiber requires that you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables during the day.  Most people have not been train from childhood to eat plenty of produce.  They are not taught the importance of these foods.  Sure some mothers push their kids to eat vegetables, but in some cases this turns the kids away from liking vegetables.

Teaching children to like vegetables is critical and requires patience.  Most parents don’t have this patience.  And, there are some parents that also don’t like vegetables, so they don’t serve them.

The best way to learn how to eat more vegetables is to pick one from the chart that has high fiber content.  Eat this for a week, every day.  On the next week, pick a different vegetable and serve it for a week.  Do this for 4 weeks and on the fifth week use a little bit of each fiber food that you ate the previous weeks every day.  There after continue to eat other vegetables that you are not use to eating.

How much fiber should you eat?

If you have been eating very little fiber, then chose a goal of 15 – 20 gm.  Work at this goal for a month.  But try to eat more fiber every day.  You body will have to adjust to your eating more fiber.  You will experience gas as you eat more,  but this will go away later.

Your overall goal is to eat at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber.  But, the ideal case is to eat 35 – 40 gm.  I think you would have to be vegetarian to reach this goal or to eat a lot of bran and other high fiber cereals.

Eat as much raw fruits and vegetables as possible.  Eating raw vegetables gives you better and more active fiber than cooked vegetables.

Some of the important health benefits of fiber are better and more bowel movements, less re-absorption of estrogen and cholesterol, less chance of bowel diseases, less toxins entering the body, and better heart and liver function.

So there you have it.  Go and eat more fruits and vegetables and work towards having maximum health in all levels of your life, both physical and psychological.