Fiber has been shown to have many different positive effects on health. Stine Chiropractic Clinic has been combating chronic disease with healthful choices in dietary lifestyle since 1986. Fiber is helpful in lowering high cholesterol, helping with digestion, reducing blood sugar, diabetes, and many other chronic conditions. With a war on “carbohydrates” in todays world, we need to identify the 3 types and their implications in chronic disease.
How much fiber is enough for one day?
Fiber is needed daily in amonts of 28g/day for women, and 32g/day for men. Many studies recommend even more to supercharge health. Fiber in the form of supplements has not shown to be a beneficial to long term health as consuming it in the diet. This is likely due to the fact that when in the diet, it is in the form of soluable and insoluable fiber. Both are necessary for gut health. This means for helping in transit of waste and feeding the good bacteria as a prebiotic.
Pasta, friend or foe?
Pasta is a great source of fiber which should be consumed as a whole grain pasta. This means it has not been processed to remove the fiber. Most people think pasta is a bad food to eat as they believe it to be high in carbohydrates. While they may have more carbs than other foods, not all carbs are created equal. Carbs consist of 3 types, fiber, starch, and simple sugars. Simple sugars are the “bad carbs” and this includes dairy products. Fiber and starch have many health benefits.
Fiber for diabetes.
Fiber helps with blood sugar regulation due to its composition. It is not redily available as energy until the body processes it. It helps lower blood sugar and is useful for cholesterol control. Fiber is a carbohydrate, however, it is not a simple carbohydrate. Simple carbohydrates like sugary drinks, candy, and dairy products are not good for diabetes. These types of carbohydrate (simple sugars), are what we think about when we say limit “carbs.”
Of course limiting carbs is incorrect, we should be saying limit simple sugars, and consume more fiber and starches. When the body has too much simple sugars in the blood stream, mainly due to insuling resistance, it can spill over into the urine. This typically happens when the blood glucose levels get higher than 180mg/dl.
Glucose in the urine is never a good thing. Especially in females, as it can lead to chronic UTI. Diabetes can be effectively combated with dietary changes focusing on fat intake reduction rather than “cutting carbs.” The reason cutting fat intake down to 20-25% of daily calorie intake works, is that it takes away the most calorically dense macronutrient in foods. Fats are 9kcal/g, then alcohol at 7kcal/g, carbohydrate and proteins at 4kcal/g. So this means, 1 gram of fat is 2.25 times more colorically dense than carbohydrates or proteins. Cutting fat has twice the affect than cutting carbohydrates, as far as consumption of energy. This is the main culprit of diabetes, overconsumption of energy without the use of energy creating a storage surplus. This then in turn creates a downregulation of the insulin receptors making it a condition of insulin resistance.
Fiber for high cholesterol.
Fiber ends up with a large effect on irculating cholesterol levels through its ability to turn off liver production of LDL or “bad cholesterol” and turn on the bile salts production pathway. Fiber also effectively binds to the sevretions of the liver that is stored in the gallbladder, and excretes these when we use the bathroom. If this does not happen due to the lack of fiber, these bile salts are recycled at 90% back to the liver and does not turn off the livers ability to create LDL.
There are some medications out there for high cholesterol that makes a healthy diet less apealing. It makes lowering cholesterol as easy as remembering to do so (take the pill). These are in the statin class. These will reduce the bodies ability to create cholesterol. The body is responsible for the production of 75% of the bodies cholesterol. This is due to the fact that hormones are synthesized by cholesterol, and the largest collection of cholesterol in the body is found in the brain.
When the 75% of total cholesterol synthesis is lowered, it makes the % of cholesterol from the diet less of a concern. It allows you to continue your current unhealthy eating habits as well as worsen these eating habits. This can all be done at the same time while cholesterol numbers continue to plummet.
With this large reduction in cholesterol synthesis in the body, effects on circulating testosterone levels can occur. Statin myopathy is also evident in some of the postmarketing surveilance, which is painful muscle wasting. This can typically be stopped through cessation of the medication. Some reports of memory loss have also been reported and usually are reversible when medication is discontinued. To see some common side effects of the medication and what to look for click here.
The use of statins are also known to increase blood glucose levels and increase your risk of diabetes by 44%.
What is a good quick source of fiber?
McDougall’s Split pea soup is a great source of fiber. With only 250 calories 0g of fat, 16g of fiber, and 16g of protein. You can find this at most grocery stores. Just add hot water.
McDougall’s Split pea soup. High fiber, high protein, high health
What can a Fredericksburg chiropractor do to help.
With education in nutrition in the area of whole food plant based diets, Stine Chiropractic Clinic offers great nutritional consultations that are tailored to your goals. If you strugle with musculoskeletal conditions that are complicating some chronic health conditions, we are here to help. We frequently perform metabolic and laboratory evaluations to monitor your progress. Most of all we help create obtainable and sustainable results through proper planning. Give us a call today at 540 898 4100 of visit us here.
