Day 6 of the A – Z blogging challenge and I am blogging the letter F. I thought I would blog about my pet peeve ‘ Fiber’. I call it my pet peeve because I’m always wondering if my family, clients and myself are getting enough fiber in our diet. American Cancer Institute recommends 25 or more gms /day of fiber which can be challenging. Reading food labels is good way to gauge whether you’re meeting your daily requirements. Knowing which foods contain highest amounts of fiber is also important so you can grab those high fiber foods and eat them. With the evolution of fiber bars and granola bars which are flooding the market meeting your RDA for the day just got easier. Fiber bars can give you almost half your daily requirement for fiber, but is that the sensible choice to make ? My recommendation is to eat both fiber bars and fiber foods to meet your fiber requirements, but do NOT rely only on fiber bars alone to provide all your fiber needs. Read the pros and cons below to understand why I say this. Eat a high fiber diet and use fiber bars for when you have not met your fiber requirement for the day. Keep a steady stock of them in your home but do not substitute them for high fiber foods. You need a balance of both. Discussing below some pros and cons of fiber bars.
Pros
Convenient, easy to carry around.
Tasty flavors! Mmmm I love the chocolate chip fiber one bar. It makes me feel am eating a candy car 😉
Great for out-of-town trips when your normal eating schedule is disrupted.
Can give you anywhere between 5 – 12 gms of fiber, thus meeting your fiber requirements easily.
Cons
Too many bars can cause loose stools. Limit to 2 bars a day.
Can cause a clog in your stomach unless followed by a glass of water. You must drink a glass or two of water after eating a fiber bar, or it can create a hard clog in your stomach and cause elimination problems ans stomach aches.
They do not fill you up like fiber foods do. Eating a high fiber meal can keep you going for a couple of hours, but you may not that feeling of satiety after eating a bar.
Some reasons why fiber is important:
Helps in Ulcers, particularly in the beginning of the small intestine (duodenal ulcers). Also beneficial in controlling diabetes and Heart Disease. It has been found beneficial in healing and preventing types of cancer.
Foods containing fiber:
Bean, legumes, nut, fruit , veggies, bran , fiber enriched cereals, fiber bars, granola bars etc. For a more detailed list click here.
Hope you found this post useful ! To read more in my A – Z Blogging challenge, click here. Check back tomorrow for my blog post on the letter G !
Hi there! I’m Sunithi, AKA Sue, a registered dietitian with a sweet tooth and a passion for eating healthy (quite a combo) currently working as an independent consultant in the DC Metro area. I’m also a blogger, health nut, nutrition geek who jogs to keep sane :)! I love to revamp recipes and add some ‘Nutrition Bytes’ to them. All my recipes are gluten free! I also blog on natural health and fitness! Visit often and drop me a note if you have any nutrition queries!
Did not know that drinking water after eating a fiber bar is important! Makes sense though ! Nice post. Can you post a recipe on home made fiber bars. would like to make some! Great post sue !
Fiber is becoming even more important today because of the SAD (Standard American Diet). I have seen cholesterol lowered and blood studies improve just by adding fiber.
First time visting, love the discussion! Am a fan of fiber bars and mustnt overdo it I guess. Thanks !
Nice ! Gonna run out and grab some fiber bars now 🙂 never have , so figure they can help me make up my RDA !
Ooh , gotta get me some fiber soon …..
This is helpful. At least I already know how to eat my fiber bars.
My partner and I stumbled over here coming from a different web page and thought I should check things out.
I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to looking at your web page for a second time.
I constantly spent my half an hour to read this weblog’s articles everyday along with a cup of
coffee.
Having read this I thought it was rather informative.
I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this information together.
I once again find myself spending a lot of time
both reading and leaving comments. But so what, it was
still worthwhile!
My brother suggested I could like this weblog. He was totally suitable. This publish truly created my day. You cann’t imagine merely how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!