Animal Writings

That's a serious deficit.

Now step back a minute. How much do we spend looking for a cure for heart disease, cancer, and diabetes? Billions when you add it all up. What are our medical bills from those diseases? How much do we lose in productivity when people are stricken with these diseases? How much do we spend on long-term care? What about the emotional toll on patients and their families?

According to repeated studies in respected journals, we might cut our risk for those diseases—at least some forms of those disease—by roughly up to a third, simply by switching to a fiber-rich diet as recommended by nearly every health and medical group in the country (probably the entire world). The bottom-line net cost for this powerful preventive measure: zero.

You get fiber from a variety of plant-based foods, including whole grains, and they're as close as your grocery store shelves or local farmers market.

Why isn't the National Institutes of Health (NIH) studying ways to get people to increase their fiber intake? Maybe because there's no prestige in it?

Overwhelmingly, the commercials during prime time are for appallingly unhealthy, low-fiber foods, such as fried chicken, pepperoni pizza, and bacon cheeseburgers. The purveyors of these products know that high-fat, high-salt food is tempting, especially when they present it in the most tantalizing and inviting ways possible. You better believe they spend no small amount of time and money carefully crafting every image, every action by every actor in the commercial—everything; they want you hooked, regardless of what it might do to your health. In between these commercials are a flood of spots for drugs: heartburn pills, weight loss formulas, high blood pressure medications, you name it—conditions that may come about from eating an unhealthy, low-fiber diet. They've got you coming and going. Why doesn't the USDA or NIH promote fruits, vegetables, and whole grains during prime time, and tout these foods' heart disease-, cancer-, and diabetes-fighting potential?

Well, you don't have to wait for the government to change its policies. You can start increasing your intake of fiber-rich foods immediately. Did I say the net cost was zero? I was wrong. It's probably way less than zero once you consider that you'll probably have a much lower outlay for long-term meds and hospital procedures. And the side-effects of more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes in your diet are almost exclusively positive ones, such as more energy, lower blood pressure, improved regularity, weight loss, and overall better health. It's a no-brainer!

I hope the tips in this series for increasing your intake of high-fiber foods help you integrate these natural miracles and potential life-savers into your daily lifestyle.

Here are a couple of tools to help you approximate your individual daily fiber needs and daily fiber intake:

Daily Fiber Intake Requirement
Figure out how much fiber you need per day, roughly (no pun intended).

Fiber Content of Common Foods
Estimate your actual daily fiber intake, in grams. For foods that aren't on the list, pick something close.

Two more tips when increasing your fiber intake:

1. Do it gradually, to let your body adjust.


2. Drink more water. Fiber is like a sponge.

Labels: diet, fiber, fruits, legumes, vegetables, whole grains