: Natures Clinicals Wellbeing by World Organics :

FACTS ON FIBRE

This full extract is reprinted with permission from the book "The Shape Diet', by Maria Middlestead.

Publisher Penguin Books 2004. Natures Clinicals highly recommends this book

FACTS OF FIBRE

Good health’s best friend

Fibre is only found in plant foods. There is overwhelming scientific evidence that a diet high in a variety of plant foods may be the number one way to ensure good health. There are 4 categories of plant foods: vegetables and fruits, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Each category and each food contains a number of types of fibre with specific purposes plus an astounding range of vitamins, minerals, team players and free-radical defenders. There are 2 main types of fibre which work hard and cleverly to keep us well: soluble fibre and insoluble fibre. In particular, rich sources of soluble fibre often do not predominate in the average diet.

SOLUBLE FIBRE

Absorbs water to form a gel; this can be digested.
Includes gums, pectin, mucilages.
Rich sources: linseed, rice bran, oat bran, barley, sea vegetables, mushrooms, apples. Also in fruit, peas and beans, legumes, nuts, seeds.

INSOLUBLE FIBRE

Insoluble in water. Often called roughage.
Includes bran, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin.
Rich sources: wheatbran, wheatgerm, wholegrain products, legumes, seeds.

Also in vegetables (amount varies with type).

BEST FOOD SOURCES OF FIBER

Want to clamp on high cholesterol? Chomp into these foods- they’re high in soluble fiber, the kind that helps lower blood cholesterol. Many also supply insoluble fiber, which offers other health benefits.

FOOD	TOTAL FIBRE (G.)	SOLUBLE FIBRE (G.)
Flaxseed (100g)	28g	9.3
All-Bran cereal (1/3 cup)	8.6	1.4
Apple, with skin (1 small)	2.8	1
Barley, raw (2 Tbsp)	3	0.9
Blackberries (3/4 cup)	3.7	1.1
Blueberries (3/4 cup)	1.4	0.3
Brussels sprouts (1 cup)	5	2.6
Carrot, raw (1)	2.3	1.1
Chickpeas (1/2 cup)	4.3	1.3
Corn bran, raw (2 Tbsp)	7.7	0.1
Figs, dried (3)	4.6	2.2
Grapefruit, pink (1)	1.4	0.3
Kidney beans, canned (1/2 cup)	6.9	2.8
Lentils, boiled (1/2 cup)	5.2	0.6
Lima beans, canned (1/2 cup)	4.3	1.1
Oat bran, dry (1/3 cup)	4	2
Okra (1 cup)	7.3	2.9
Orange (1 small)	2.9	1.8
Pear (1 small)	2.9	1.1
Peas, frozen, cooked (1/2 cup)	4.3	1.3
Pinto beans, cooked (1/2 cup)	5.9	1.9
Plums, red, with skin (2 medium)	2.4	1.1
Potato, baked (1)	5	1.2
Pumpernickel bread (1 slice)	2.7	1.2
Raisins, seedless (1/2 cup)	1.6	0.8
Spaghetti, whole wheat, cooked (1 cup)	5.4	1.2
Spinach, boiled (1/2 cup)	1.6	0.5
Sweet potato, baked (1)	2.7	1.2
Turnips, cooked (1/2 cup)	4.8	1.7
Wheat germ, toasted (1/4 cup)	5.2	0.8
White/navy beans, cooked (1/2 cup)	6.5	2.2

How Fibre Works For Us

If you bend your left elbow, this is by the area of your chest where your stomach lies. When food leaves the stomach as a soupy mixture called chyme, it passes into the small intestine. This is the primary area for the absorption of nutrients. Soluble fibre helps slow the release of the chime which gives us steadier blood sugar regulation.

Nearby, tucked under your right rib cage is your liver. It is the largest organ in the body performing over 2,000 crucial services. About every 15 minutes the entire bloodstream passes through it for filtering and detoxification and to supply nutrients for building and energy. As the chime enters the duodenumor start of the small intestine—the liver signals its storage centre, the gallbladder, to release pile. Bile contains components to break down fats, cholesterol, downgraded hormones, heavy metals and other toxic debris the liver wants to eliminate via the bowel. If there is sufficient soluble fibre in the chime, the bile mixes with this, forms an inseparable bond and is carried to the large intestine or bowel for excretion. If there is insufficient fibre in the mixture then these impurities get reabsorbed.

Down in the bowel if we have enough insoluble fibre then our fecal matter will move easily in a large mass attracting carcinogenic and other impurities and remove them. Additionally fibre provides the ideal feast for healthy bowel bacteria. This limits the population of potentially dangerous microorganisms and yeasts such as candida albicans. This feasting also produces fatty acids which produce a surprising 5% of our energy needs and importantly get send back to work with the liver. The liver uses these fatty acids to produce the vital HDL cholesterol necessary for adrenal and sex hormones and healthy brain membranes. HDL is also sent to break down LDL cholesterol deposits which can block arteries. This cholesterol gets returned to the liver for excretion if you are eating enough fibre. And on the process continues.