Fiber

I generally eat way too little fiber. Can someone please give me some tips on how to increase fiber intake without a whole lot of calories. Also what does fiber really do for you?

You want to eat more fiber, but you don't know why...

Fiber simultaneously speeds up your digestion, moving food through more quickly, and slows down your digestion, thus improving it. (Which is it, slower or faster? Cognitive dissonance, anyone?)

Fiber helps with constipation. Just like when your sink drain gets clogged, you fill it full of more bulky stuff to force the clog out...oh, wait, you don't?

My husband changed seizure medications two or three years ago. His neurologist warned him that the new med could be constipating, and that he should get plenty of fiber. Hubby started on a fiber supplement, drank lots of fluid, and was routinely constipated. Needed stool softeners on a regular basis. A couple of months ago, I stumbled across a link to a study that claimed that reducing fiber, not increasing it, could relieve constipation. I told hubby about it, and he decided to give it a try. He dropped the fiber supplements, and stopped forcing the high-fiber foods, instead eating normal amounts of fruit and veggies, and little bread. Guess what? The constipation is much improved.

The link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22969234. Also, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23326148

But..but...fiber prevents colon cancer! Got to eat lots of it! Oh, never mind, studies don't back that up. No benefit shown at all.

According to the FDA:
“Based on its review of the scientific evidence, FDA finds that (1) the most directly relevant, scientifically probative, and therefore most persuasive evidence (i.e., randomized, controlled clinical trials with fiber as a test substance) consistently finds that dietary fiber has no [preventive] effect on incidence of adenomatous polyps, a precursor of and surrogate marker for colorectal cancer; and (2) other available human evidence does not adequately differentiate dietary fiber from other components of diets rich in foods of plant origin, and thus is inconclusive as to whether diet-disease associations can be directly attributed to dietary fiber. FDA has concluded from this review that the totality of the publicly available scientific evidence not only demonstrates lack of significant scientific agreement as to the validity of a [preventive] relationship between dietary fiber and colorectal cancer, but also provides strong evidence that such a relationship does not exist.”
U. S. Food and Drug Administration – Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Office of Nutritional Products, Labeling, and Dietary Supplements

Now, why was it you wanted to increase your fiber, again?

Yeah, I know, this wasn't what I was supposed to say, because it goes against what everyone "knows" is true. I shall bow out now.

My fiber intake is supposed to be 55g/day, but that's super unrealistic for me.

I use the clear fiber powder, lots of berries, apples, beans, and dark green leafy vegetables. I also go to wheat breads instead of white. If I am short for the day, I usually just go to the calorie powder and work it into my drinks for the day. It's tasteless.

55?? According to who?

My fiber intake is supposed to be 55g/day, but that's super unrealistic for me.

I use the clear fiber powder, lots of berries, apples, beans, and dark green leafy vegetables. I also go to wheat breads instead of white. If I am short for the day, I usually just go to the calorie powder and work it into my drinks for the day. It's tasteless.

55?? According to who?

My gastro. I had 2 scopes done last year for TMI reasons, but the culprit was not enough fiber. We tried tapering me down to say 30-40g daily and the problems started back up again. So sad.

My fiber goal is 40g/day and I reach it more often than not. Here are my go-to choices::
• clear fiber powder = 3g/serving
• medium Fuji/Gala apple = 5g
• black beans = 9g/srv
• large banana = 3g
• Fiber One choc. bar = 9g
• Almonds (dry roasted; no sodium) = 5g/srv

40?? Why so high?