Fiber Content of Food:
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- vegetables and fruits
- leafy greens
- seaweeds
- whole grains
- legumes
- nuts and seeds
Fiber is the indigestible part of plant foods. The carbohydrates in fiber do not offer us any nutrients or energetic values.
There's a lot of buzz these days about fiber. It's big business for breakfast cereals, breads and "healthy" snacks.Fiber supplements, or eating more foods high in fiber, are often prescribed to promote regularity. It's a huge industry!
But the truth is that the health issues for which fiber is prescribed can be better addressed with a truly natural, healthy diet.
Fiber Content of Food:
How Much Is Good?
Here’s a news flash, too much fiber content in your foods, or in a fiber supplement, can actually aggravate constipation and damage the intestines!Why? Because we don't have enzymes required for digestion of fiber.
So it absorbs water in the digestive tract which bulks up stools and leaves less fluids for the body to use in performing its natural elimination functions. Eating too many foods high in fiber can also interfere with proper absorption of nutrients.
From what researchers have gathered, early primitive diets (the ones closest to what most of us would eat - unless we are eskimos maybe) had no need for concern about the fiber content of foods.
These diets consisted primarily of:- leafy green plants and sprouts
- vegetables
- fruits
- wild animal proteins with their organs and fats
- nuts and seeds in small amounts.
A perfect mix of fibers, fats, and proteins, rich in vital nutrients.
Now let's take a look at modern diets.
Processed sugars and flours have only been introduced in such large amounts within the past couple of hundred years. Add some chemical preservatives, artificial flavors, and pesticides. Throw in the hormones, antibiotics and unbelievable feed lot practices in meat production. Don't forget genetic modifications to change colors, flavors, shelf life or increase crop yields! Then, just for fun, top it off with mercury and PCP in the oceans and fish.
Goodness gracious. That's what makes us sick.
Do we really think that taking a fiber supplement, or eating a diet of more high fiber content foods will cancel out all of that?
Fiber Content of Food:
Eating a High Fiber Diet is Not the Answer
The best healthy foods, especially for curing candida overgrowth, are what you've got in the Diet Guidelines. It's a diet similar to what early humans ate, except that we leave out most of the fruits, nuts and seeds to speed healing of the digestive tract and encourage elimination of the candida. You'll get more than enough fiber with the leafy greens, sprouts, and vegetables you choose to include. Fresh coconut, one of my personal favorites, has fiber too! Adding more high fiber foods on top of this ideal diet is
overkill, plus it can be detrimental to your healing process.
Eat a more primitive diet. Fiber supplements, or eating an abundance of high fiber foods is like trying to fix a symptom without addressing the cause.
If we eat a truly healthy diet (not the food pyramid, I mean a really good diet) then there's no need for fiber supplements or calculating the fiber content of food each day.
The longer you eat according to the Diet Guidelines, the healthier your body becomes, naturally.
Another reason to think twice about eating additional foods high in fiber (specifically - whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds)… Those foods contain phytic acids and enzyme blockers which, unless prepared properly by sprouting, long soaking or slow cooking methods, will prevent mineral absorption in our intestines. Our modern day diet is already lacking in minerals!
If you're not ready to cut back on all those additional foods high in fiber, then take a minute to learn how to properly prepare them by
clicking here.
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