Fiber up

“Get more fiber in your diet.”

For years, you’ve heard it on television commercials and read it in fitness magazines but all that time, you knew that those fiberfriendly directives weren’t meant for you, right?

Wrong. While a healthy dose of fiber each day is especially essential for people as they get older, it’s always been an important part of a recommended diet.

Sure, there are plenty of selfdeprecating jokes about fiber—and those embarrassing stories your grandfather loved to share—but at the root of fiber jokes is the very reason for its importance. As the cliche goes, it does pass right through you. And that’s a good thing.

The obvious but seldom acknowledged fact about fiber is that your body can’t digest it, resulting in improvements to your digestive health. But the benefits of fiber go far beyond making you “regular.” In fact, fiber also helps control hunger, prevent chronic diseases, control blood sugar levels, lower cholesterol, prevent type 2 diabetes, prevent kidney stones and more.

Fiber up

Nutritionists have long recommended including more fiber in the average adult’s daily diet. Men should eat 38 grams of fiber each day while women should try to eat 25 grams. If you think you’re already hitting that level of fiber with your normal diet, think again. Fewer than 3 percent of adults meet these recommendations, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which means you’re not helping your body in an easily achievable way. “Fiber helps clean out your gastrointestinal track, minimizing potentially harmful elements in your body,” says Angel Planells, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “It is essential to your health and helps in countless ways—and you can get the benefits by adding a few new foods to your diet. It’s not a complex fix at all. In fact, it’s pretty simple.”

The next time you’re at the grocery store, consider looking for foods that can add more fiber to your diet. Nutritionists break down fiber in two ways and recommend both when looking to improve your health:

• Soluble fiber dissolves in water and reforms as a type of gel in your intestines and stomach. This fibergel then binds with substances in your system that can be harmful, like glucose, and moves them out of your body through your digestive system. You can find high levels of soluble fiber in foods like blueberries, nuts, beans, lentils, apples and oatmeal, among others.

• Insoluble fiber cannot dissolve in water. Instead, it binds together and acts as extra bulk for certain foods. This bulk helps it move through the digestive system at a faster pace. Foods with higher levels of insoluble fiber include whole wheat flour, potatoes, green beans, cauliflower and more.

‘Fuller

and free’

Mary and Derek Holbrook say they didn’t pay too much attention to what they were eating when they “had a house full of kids,” but once their five children became adults and moved out of the house, the Grand Rapids, Michigan, couple say they began taking more of an interest in their daily diet. “Part of it was doctor’s orders,” says Mary, 57. “We had both put on some weight and had high cholesterol so our

HMO set us up with a nutritionist, who told us that we weren’t eating nearly enough fiber.”

Derek, 61, says that he and his wife didn’t eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. “We’d have some frozen green beans and a baked potato every once in a while but we were mostly eating a lot of rice and pasta along with our chicken or steak,” says Derek. “It was kind of an eye-opener when [our nutritionist] pointed out the lack of fiber in our diet and I have to say, it was almost an immediate fix once we worked them into our menu.”

Mary says the Holbrooks have oatmeal for breakfast and salads for lunch most days, and always include a fresh vegetable like peas or carrots with dinner. “Not to go into too much detail but I feel fuller and free,” says Derek. “I never walk away from the table hungry even though I probably eat less, and I don’t feel weighed down.” Still, Mary recommends adding fiber to your diet gradually, especially if you haven’t been including it for years. “It’s a change, that’s for sure,” she says. “My body is used to it now but when we started, it was definitely a transition. I work from home and Derek’s retired so luckily, we were in the house. That makes it easier.”

Derek agrees that the first two weeks were “transitional,” but says he’s glad to have made the change. “I know what it feels like to go two days without going to the bathroom,” he says. “You feel like you’re walking around with a rock tied to a rope. I don’t feel like that anymore. I feel normal.”