Eat more fiber.
If your doctor did not provide you with this advice at your last check-up, he most likely should: 97 percent of Americans do not get the recommended daily amount of dietary fiber they need to stay healthy. But what is fiber, and why is it good for you?
Dietary fiber, sometimes called “fiber,” is a plant-based carbohydrate found in fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains such as rice and oats. Our bodies have a hard time digesting fiber, which is in fact a good thing – because fiber passes through the body undigested, it does lots of good things along the way!
Fiber has many proven health benefits. It has been shown to improve heart health, lower cholesterol, control blood sugar, reduce stroke risk, help you feel full longer, stop constipation, and improve the health of your digestive system and immune system.
Experts such as the Food and Drug Administration recommend that we eat about 28 grams of fiber daily – which, in fact, is lots of food. You’d must eat about 94 baby carrots, 47 stalks of celery, or 15 slices of whole wheat bread to get your daily dose of fiber from food alone!
To help people get the fiber they need, the FDA has approved seven ingredients that can be taken as supplements or added to food to increase the amount of dietary fiber they contain. One ingredient you may find on food labels is cellulose gel, or microcrystalline cellulose.
Cellulose gel is derived from cellulose, a crucial component of fruits, vegetables and trees. In fact, cellulose is so important for plants in nature, it’s the most abundant organic compound on Earth!
Cellulose gel offers health benefits that are as great as the dietary fiber we find in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and can be found in foods like yogurt, cereal bars, and protein shakes. So when cellulose gel or microcrystalline cellulose appears on your food label, it means you are getting the same plant fiber found in broccoli and apples – without having to eat lots of broccoli and apples (and without the trouble of cooking and meal planning!).
To learn more about cellulose gel and other food ingredients that make our favourite foods better for us, visit www.foodsciencematters.com.
