Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hi everyone, I'm Courtney. I'm your dietitian with E2M and today I am going to talk with you all about fiber.
[00:00:07] Fiber is often overlooked as a nutrient. We tend to not put a lot of priority on it, but it's just as important as our protein intake and vitamin mineral intake and then our fat and our carbohydrates.
[00:00:20] So we want to make sure we are hitting our fiber goals. And I will talk about fiber goals in a little bit, but particularly what role does fiber play in our body? Why is it so important?
[00:00:32] So fiber is needed for digestive health, it's needed for gut microbiome and immunity, it's needed for heart health and blood sugar control and then weight loss.
[00:00:42] So fiber plays a huge role in all of these systems.
[00:00:45] Research is telling us that an increased fiber diet can lower the risk of cardiovascular related mortality by 15 to 30%.
[00:00:57] It can also reduce the risk of stroke and type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer by 16 to 24%.
[00:01:04] So lots of benefits to at the very least hitting our fiber goals for the day.
[00:01:09] Additionally, clinical trials have shown that increased fiber intake is associated with lower weight, lower BMI and lower cholesterol numbers as opposed to a low fiber diet.
[00:01:22] So again, hitting those fiber goals is key.
[00:01:26] Fiber is a non digested carbohydrate, so it is technically one of our macronutrients so that we should make it a priority again.
[00:01:34] And it's found in our plant foods. When we talk about fiber, there are two different types. We've got soluble fiber. This particular type of fiber, it dissolves in water and becomes gel. Like it's really helpful with blood sugar control lowering cholesterol and then making things slippery on the inside to make bowel movements easier. We tend to find more soluble fiber in our oats and bran and legumes.
[00:02:05] Also apples and psyllium or psyllium husk is going to be a good source of that soluble fiber.
[00:02:12] Psyllium is metamucil for those of you that aren't familiar with it.
[00:02:16] The second type is insoluble fiber. And this particular fiber helps to promote movement. Excuse me, helps to promote bowel movement. So waste moving through your digestive tract, it can increase the stool bulk. So for those of us that are dealing with constipation or stool irregularity, this is going to be a really helpful type of nutrient to incorporate in our diet.
[00:02:40] This particular insoluble fiber is going to be found more in wheat and wheat bran and potatoes and vegetables.
[00:02:48] Now, with that being said, it's not a matter of which one is better than the other. We want to make sure we're consuming both to ensure we're getting the benefits of both. They play different roles, but we need them both within our diet. So eating a variety of the foods, a variety of the plant foods that contain them is going to be really important.
[00:03:07] With our daily recommended intake, more than 80% of the country does not meet fiber goals. In fact, we tend to eat less than half of the fiber recommended for daily intake.
[00:03:21] So for women 50 and under, we are recommended to have 25 to 28 grams a day. For men 50 and under, you're recommended to have 31 to 34 grams of fiber per day.
[00:03:34] For individuals 51 and over, females are recommended to have at least 22 grams a day and then men are recommended to have at least 28 grams per day.
[00:03:44] Now these can be higher numbers for a lot of us, especially, especially if we're only eating half of our fiber goal as it is.
[00:03:51] So please be cautious in eating 10 grams of fiber per day and then jumping to 30 grams of fiber per day.
[00:03:59] Have a slower increase. You know, maybe we have a goal of 10 to 15 to 20 to 25.
[00:04:06] Too quick of an increase can cause some GI issues, can cause some tummy upset, it can even cause some constipation if we're not careful.
[00:04:14] And always when we're increasing our fiber intake, we want to make sure we are increasing our our fluid intake because fiber can cause constipation if we're not drinking enough water with it.
[00:04:26] So fiber is beneficial, but we want to make sure we are gradually increasing it if we're currently doing a lower fiber diet.
[00:04:35] So tips for increasing fiber within our everyday intake.
[00:04:41] Starting your day with fiber is probably going to be one of the easiest things to do.
[00:04:45] So choosing a high fiber cereal or high fiber oatmeal. Choosing to add flaxseed or chia seed or wheat bran to our breakfast items can increase the fiber intake overnight. Oats with added chia seeds or added flaxseed and then some fruit on top is a great way to increase our fiber intake. Even doing regular oats with added flaxseed to it and then dried fruit on top is going to be a way to increase the fiber intake.
[00:05:18] Next would be switching to whole grains. Simple enough.
[00:05:21] However, many of us don't like whole grains.
[00:05:24] So I usually recommend trying to at the very least make half of your grains whole.
[00:05:30] So if we're going to do white rice one night, the next night we Follow it up with brown rice.
[00:05:38] If we're at the grocery store and we're buying white bread, this time, the next grocery shop we buy the brown bread or the whole wheat bread. This is a way to make half of your grains whole. It's also a way for families who may have some picky children to incorporate those whole grains into the diet without doing away with an item that they absolutely prefer.
[00:06:00] But we're still making sure they get it. They're getting those whole grains.
[00:06:04] Another easy way would be to consume beans. Consume legumes at least twice a week.
[00:06:10] Our beans and legumes are excellent sources of fiber. So we can add beans to soups or salads as a way to increase fiber intake.
[00:06:20] We can add beans to sauces as well. They blend up really easily.
[00:06:26] We can add beans so like a hummus or a bean dip to a snack is another way to incorporate in some high fiber foods.
[00:06:35] Choosing to add fiber to our baked goods can be really helpful as well.
[00:06:40] So doing half whole wheat flour or half oat flour and then the white flour could be another way to incorporate more fiber. Fiber or even adding in ground flaxseed to your recipe to increase the fiber intake.
[00:06:54] Aiming for at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day is going to be really important to hitting our fiber goals. I usually say shoot for three servings of vegetables and no, yes. Three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit. Excuse me, per day to hit that fiber goal can be really good too.
[00:07:13] Making our snacks count.
[00:07:15] So snacks we tend to choose would be like a chewy granola bar or even a cheese stick. But if we're choosing a high fiber granola bar, that's a good way to get in fiber. If we're doing a cheese stick with a piece of fruit, we're going to get in some fiber. Or cheese stick with raw vegetables, we're going to get in some fiber. Other high fiber items that we can incorporate for snack would be popcorn. Unflavored or unbuttered.
[00:07:40] Low salted popcorn is a good fiber source. Our whole grain crackers, so like Triscuit or Wheat Thins are going to be good sources of fiber. And then a trail mix. So nuts and seeds with dried fruit is another really good source of fiber to add in for a snack.
[00:07:56] Making sure we are choosing items that have added fiber to them. Fiber tends to be a really big marketing claim on a lot of products.
[00:08:05] So when you're reading ingredient lists, we want to make sure we're choosing items that have bran or husk or root or pectin or cellulose in it, because those tend to be a little bit higher or they tend to have higher, higher fiber content.
[00:08:21] Lastly, fiber supplements are always an option for individuals that need it.
[00:08:26] I would honestly prefer you to get your fiber for food if it is at all possible.
[00:08:32] But if you do need a fiber supplement, talk with your doctor. Talk with your healthcare team before starting any type of supplement.
[00:08:39] Fiber supplements are available for individuals who may need a little extra fiber or who have a really hard time getting in the fruit and vegetable and whole grain intake.
[00:08:48] But always talk with your healthcare team about that.
[00:08:51] So, all in all, fiber is a powerhouse nutrient. It's needed for digestive health, it's needed for heart health, it's needed for immunity, it's needed for metabolism and weight loss and blood sugar control.
[00:09:04] So we do need to make sure we are prioritizing our fiber intake.
[00:09:08] So fruits and vegetables, which we eat, beans when we eat, making sure we are doing whole grains when we eat, and just making sure that we are conscious about our fiber intake. For those of you that are tracking calories or tracking macros, I would encourage you to start tracking fiber intake as well, if you're not already doing that, just to make sure you're hitting those fiber goals. Because research is telling us it is a powerhouse nutrient and it has so many benefits to overall health. So we want to make sure we're hitting that goal each and every day. I hope everybody has a wonderful day and I will see you all next time. Bye.
