Fibre, it's good for you

Dietary fibre is essential for the health of the microbiome (gut bacteria) and therefore the human body. A largley undigestible carbohydrate, fibre comes in 2 main forms – soluble and insoluble. Fibre does not add to the kilojoule intake of the diet.
Soluble fibre is found in fruit and vegetables and some cereals like oats, barley, psyllium, linseed, slippery elm powder and legumes like beans, lentils, peas.
Insoluble fibre is more resistant to digestion, sometimes referred to as roughage. It is fermented by gut bacteria to produce fatty acids essential for the health of the mucous membrane of the gut wall. Foods like wheat and rice bran & skins of vegetables and fruits, nuts are rich in insoluble fibre and necessary to prevent constipation, adding bulk to the stool and speeding up bowel transit time.
The benefits of a high fibre diet include, lower levels of constipation, haemorrhoids, diverticular disease, bowel polyps, bowel cancer, and lower risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, gallbladder disease, obesity, diabetes
Foods that are high in fibre tend to be low in fat and have a lower glycaemic index and loading, so may be helpful in weight reduction and diabetic diets.
The Australian Heart Foundation recommends adults consume 30-35g daily, keep in mind some traditional human diets consume over 100g daily. Children should aim for 15-20g daily and elderly should focus on a high intake due to the slowing of the digestive system.
Check with your naturopathic practitioner as to what would be the best approach to slowly increase your dietary fibre intake. Keep in mind meat, eggs, fatty foods, fast foods and sugar are very low in fibre.
Some examples of fibre in food;
Wholemeal flour 14g fibre in 1 cup
Porridge, cooked 3.5g fibre in 1 cup
Muffin/cake 1g fibre
Prunes x6 4.5g fibre
Lentils 7g fibre in 1 cup
Call in and ask for a handout for more fibre info