Fiber - Mother Nature's Cure for Modern Ills

Fiber to the Rescue
Its been over a year and a half since I began my current gig as a Wellness Coach. I continue to learn about health - wellness, illness and nutrition. My studies of Taoist nutrition, and western science based nutrition all point to basic facts that are startling simple and true. In short, eat your vegetables; and the classic - eat like a pauper.
Five fiber facts that I will share this sixth week of my nutrition course -

1. Mother Nature provides us with prepackaged foods with an abundance of fiber. Real, whole foods are the best source . Beans, oatmeal, citrus and strawberries are great soluble fiber foods. Whole grains, carrots, beets are good insoluble fiber foods. I am sure to include beans as part of my vegetarian diet. I am reminded on the classic line quoted above {eat like a pauper} when I create a menu featuring beans as the main dish.

2. Fiber rich foods help combat the chronic illness' that befall modern man. Fiber aids in regulating blood sugar, reducing Chronic Heart disease conditions, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. As a wellness coach, I have bencome more aware of the correlation between low fiber diets and the increased occurence of these illness states. Diet review is apart of our wellness program and I set a goal of 30g of fiber daily for all participants. Developing methods and lifestyle changes to implement the increased fiber consumption can be challenging, but is doable with set goals beginning with 2 vegetables /meal and beans twice a week.

3. Fiber helps the body eliminate toxins and cellular waste. This helps reduce inflammation in the body. Without the effective elimination of toxins and waste, the immune system becomes burdened. This burden will manifest as either a suppression of the immune system, or an overtaxing of the immune system. Increased illness, and lack of energy are the early signs of a taxed immune system.

4. Fiber feeds good bacteria for the GI system. A lack of good bacteria allows toxins and undigested proteins to flourish and move from the GI to the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream autoimmune diseases and food allergies/intolerances can flourish.

After two major surgeries, the low fiber in my diet allowed undigested proteins to run rampant in my blood stream and food allergies seemed to come from nowhere. My morning fruit, daily salad and vegetable with dinner was not enough to support thge vibrant health my body and mind craved. I began increasing the amounts of fruits and vegetables with each meal. By revamping my diet I was able to boost my immunity, regain health, and provide solutions for myself in a practical manner.

5. My surgeries were for benign tumors. I wondered why it did not progress to cancer. My abnormal cell growth was mediated by an immune system response (that may be another post), cancer begins with abnormal cell growth that leads to cancerous cell formation. The billion dollar question is to how that leap is made.
Estrogen type cancers have been shown to start from elevated levels of estrogen in the bloodstream. Elevated estrogen is due to lack of bile elimination of estrogen. The bile elimination is not complete due to lack of fiber to support the bile process. Breast cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine and vaginal cancer are all related to elevated estrogen levels. Increasing fiber consumption to the new goal of 40g/day will reduce the risk of developing cancer.

Increased fiber supports many body systems - the cardiovascular, GI, and immune systems are all dependent on fiber rich foods to function optimally. The beauty of nature has given us the foods for our fiber needs in abundance.