Dietary Fiber - LSU AgCenter
Dietary Fiber
Dietary Fiber - Nature's Little Mermaid
Would you like to know why dietary fiber is called nature's little mermaid as given
in the title of this lesson? See if you can find the answer. But first, let's talk about
what we will cover in this lesson. Have you ever suffered from constipation? Did
you know that there is something in food that helps with that problem and offers
other health benefits as well? It's called dietary fiber. We are going to learn about
dietary fiber in this lesson. We will learn what dietary fiber is, what foods are good
sources, what the health benefits are, how much dietary fiber we need and tasty
ways of getting more fiber into our diets.
What You Will Learn
The different types of dietary fiber (soluble and insoluble) and the benefits
of each.
Medical problems that can result from too little dietary fiber.
Which foods and food groups are good sources of dietary fiber.
The amount of dietary fiber recommended each day.
Food Guide Pyramid Review
The USDA Department of Agriculture developed a Food Guide Pyramid to help you
see what foods you and your family should eat each day for good health. Foods that
make similar nutritional contributions are grouped into basic food groups. The pyramid
also lets you know how many servings of each of the food groups are needed each day.
Eat some food from each of the basic food groups in the pyramid and eat the recommend
ended number of servings.
Activity:
Look at the Food Guide Pyramid and write down the name of each of the basic food groups and write down how many servings you need each day.
Dietary Fiber and Where It Is Found
Question 1:
What is dietary fiber?
What foods give us fiber, plant or animal foods or both plant and animal foods?
Dietary fiber is the non-digestible part of plants that adds bulk to your diet. It is found only in foods that come from plants. Fiber is found mainly in the cell walls, providing the structure and shape of the plant. Fiber gives celery its rigid stalk and gives turnip greens the strong stem that holds up its leaves. Fiber is the part of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds that we cannot digest. Since it can't be digested and absorbed in our body, fiber is really not a nutrient. It's called a non-nutrient part of plant foods.
Question 2:
How fibers are grouped and why is that important?
There are two kinds of dietary fiber. They are not all alike as someone may think, and they keep you healthy in different ways. Think of water when thinking of kinds of fiber, because fiber is grouped as being either water soluble or water insoluble. This means that some fibers dissolve in water and some don't. You need to eat foods that give you both kinds of fiber. Think of fiber as being a mermaid swimming in water all the way down your gastrointestinal tract. Since fiber cannot be digested, it is carried all the way through your gastrointestinal tract. Our little mermaid, fiber, is attractive. It attracts water and also some of the bad cholesterol, removing them from your body. Attracting water helps stools to be soft and easy to eliminate. If you don't have enough water, stools are drier and harder, making using the bathroom difficult and painful. Fiber attracting some of the bad cholesterol is a great way to get rid of the bad guy. If the bad cholesterol builds up in our body, it increases our risk of heart disease. Eating a mixture of dietary fibers helps both with potty problems and with decreasing the risk of heart disease. The more fiber you get from the foods you eat, the more bowel movements you have. The more water fiber absorbs, the easier it is for you to have bowel movements. Drinking plenty of water and other fluids is important to help fiber do its job!
It's Your turn:
Write down the names of two kinds of dietary fiber and what they mean.
Tell someone why it is important to drink plenty of water and other fluids.
Insoluble Fiber
Insoluble fiber doesn't dissolve in water.
Have you ever had trouble with constipation or hemorrhoids? Have you been in so much pain that you had to grip the side of the commode seat with your fist when you were trying to have a bowel movement? If so, you need more insoluble fiber and water in your diet. Insoluble fiber helps prevent painful constipation and hemorrhoid problems.
Water insoluble fiber refers to the rigid material that gives structure to the leaves, stems and seeds of plants. It is also called roughage. Make a fist with your hand. Name some vegetables and grains that you can hold in your fist to create a fiber bouquet. These would be examples of plant foods that give us insoluble fiber. Did you name broccoli, celery, turnip greens or other deep leafy green vegetables, Chinese cabbage, okra, carrots, green beans, squash and wheat? The insoluble fiber in these plant foods gives structure to plant leaves, stems and seeds.
Insoluble fiber is concentrated in the protective outer layers of whole grains, called the bran layers. Wheat bran, bran and whole-grain cereals and cereal products are excellent sources of insoluble fiber. Select cereals that have the word bran in their names for the best sources of bran.
Water insoluble fiber is also concentrated in stalks, seeds and skins or peelings of fruits and vegetables that you can eat. Examples of stalks, seeds and peelings of fruits include skins of apples, pumpkin or sunflower seeds and celery stalks.
Insoluble fiber is most often found in whole-grain products such as whole-wheat bread. Wheat bran seems to be one of the most effective stool-softening fibers. When eating foods that are good sources of water insoluble fiber, drink plenty of water and other
fluids. This increases bulk, frequency and ease of bowel movements. Insoluble fiber tends to speed the movement of the solid wastes through the lower part of the intestinal tract, increasing the frequency of bowel movements. If you don't have regular bowel movements or if you may go days without having a bowel movement, you need to include more insoluble fiber and water in your food intake. Insoluble fiber also helps to satisfy appetite by creating a full feeling.
Memory joggers:
Think and form a picture in your mind about the following words: Insoluble fiber - Potty - Fist (Holding edge of commode, Holding plant foods)
or
IFP - IF for insoluble fiber. Just close the F to make a P. P for Potty. Insoluble Fiber Prevents Potty Problems.
Soluble fiber:
Soluble fiber dissolves in water and is broken down by bacteria in your colon. Soluble fiber is found in dry beans and peas, in some cereals such as oats and barley and in some fruits and vegetables. Water soluble fiber such as oat bran, oatmeal and the fiber of apples helps lower blood cholesterol levels and helps regulate the body's use of sugar.
Visit the Quaker Oats Canada website to see ways of getting more water soluble fiber from oats into your diet:
Click on the recipe of the week tab.
Also click on the recipe archive tab to see many different recipes featuring oats. Note that the recipes include metric as well as standard measurements.
Review of Food Guide Pyramid:
Questions:
Which food groups are good sources of dietary fiber?
Where in the Pyramid are they located?
How many servings do you need each day?
You need to eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole-grain breads and cereals, nuts and seeds to get all of the different kinds of dietary fiber needed for maximum health benefits.
You need to eat a variety of foods as recommended by the Food Guide Pyramid, including foods that are good sources of complex carbohydrates and fiber. Most food sources of complex carbohydrates are found in the food groups at the lower two levels of the Food Guide Pyramid. The bread and cereals group is on the first or bottom level and the fruits and vegetables groups are on the second level, going up the Pyramid..
The Food Guide Pyramid recommends that you eat six to11 servings a day of grain-based foods like bread, cereal, pasta and rice. Be sure to select whole-grains for at least three of your daily complex carbohydrate servings. A study of 30,000 women ages 55 to 60 found that they were 30 % less likely to die of a heart attack if they ate at least three of the six servings of breads and cereals as whole-grain instead of as refined grain foods. Americans eat only 5 % of grain foods as whole-grain foods.
We need to increase complex carbohydrate and fiber-containing foods in our diets:
Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables, including legumes, daily.
Eat six or more servings of grain products daily.
The Amount of Dietary Fiber You Need
Question:
How much dietary fiber do you need?
The National Cancer Institute recommends 20 to 30 grams of dietary fiber per day with an upper limit of 35 grams. The % Daily Value for dietary fiber on the nutrition label is based on 12 1/2 grams of dietary fiber per 1,000 calories or 25 grams of fiber for a 2,000 calorie diet.
Health benefits of fiber:
Question:
Name two health benefits of fiber.
Dietary fiber helps in preventing, controlling or lowering risk of the following diseases or conditions:
Obesity. A diet high in dietary fiber helps you feel full. Good sources of dietary fiber are lower in calories than fats and sweets. Eating more fruits and vegetables and fewer sweets and fats will help control weight.
Constipation and diarrhea. Some fibers attract water into the digestive tract, thus softening the stools. Others help make watery stools more solid.
Hemorrhoids. Softer stools make elimination easier and reduce the pressure in the lower bowel.
Colon cancer. Some fibers speed up the passage of food materials through the digestive tract, thus shortening the time they are in the intestinal tract. This shorter time helps prevent exposure to cancer-causing agents.
Heart disease. Fiber binds lipids (types of fats in the body) such as bile and cholesterol and carries them out of the body with the solid wastes so that the blood lipid concentrations, such as blood cholesterol, are lowered.
Diabetes. Monosaccharides (carbohydrates made of one kind of sugar, such as glucose) absorbed from some complex carbohydrates (carbohydrates made of several sugars, such as glucose and fructose), in the presence of fiber, produce a moderate insulin response and a more even rise in blood glucose.
Cooking tip: Some dietary fiber can be lost in foods when you prepare and cook them. To get the most dietary fiber from foods, do not remove from fruits and vegetables skins that can be eaten and eat the seeds as well. Use whole-grain cereal and grain products. Look for the words whole-grain or whole-wheat in the list of ingredients. If whole-grains or whole-wheat is listed first, it is the ingredient in the largest amount in that product. The more refined the cereal, the more fiber is lost. Fiber is added back to some cereals. Look for the words dietary fiber on the Nutrition Facts panel of the food label. Select whole-grain and minimally refined cereals for maximum fiber content. Don't be mislead by terms on the front of packages that say multi-grain and seven-grain. They don't ensure that the product is a whole-grain one. Look for the word bran on the label; for example, Bran Flakes Cereal or Bran Muffins.
Tip: Try these ideas to get more fiber in your meal:
Make more sandwiches with whole-grain bread such as whole-wheat and oatmeal.
Choose whole-grain cereals for breakfast such as bran and oatmeal.
Choose cereals with five or more grams of fiber per serving.
Eat bran muffins and whole-wheat waffles.
Snack on whole-grain cereals.
Replace lower-fiber choices with high-fiber foods when eating out.
Order a side salad with your hamburger.
Eat dry beans and peas two to three times a week.
Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
Make cornbread from whole, ground cornmeal
Replace poorer sources of fiber with high-fiber foods.
Eat fresh fruit or vegetables instead of the juice or select juice with fiber added.
Eat the skin or peelings of clean fruit and vegetables such as apples, pears, potatoes and tomatoes.
Snack on popcorn, fresh fruit, raw veggies, high fiber muffins, nuts and sunflower seeds.
Bulk Up with Fiber:
Question:
What is a quick way to see if a food is a good source of fiber?
Answer:
Read the words about fiber written on the front of the package. Look for these words:
High fiber - 5 or more grams of dietary fiber per serving.
Good source - 2.5 to 4.90 grams per serving.
More added fiber - At least 2.5 grams more fiber per serving as compared with a standard serving size of the food without adding extra fiber.
Question:
What would you look for to see quickly if a food is a good source of fiber?
Answer:
You are right if you said, High fiber!
Question:
Is it possible to get too much fiber in your diet?
Answer:
Most Americans eat only about one-half of their daily fiber requirement, so most of us are not in danger of getting too much fiber. However, too much fiber causes digested food to move too quickly through the gastrointestinal tract. When this happens, your body cannot absorb as many of the nutrients from the food. Also, fiber is bulky, so too much fiber would cause a person to feel full faster. Therefore, they may not eat enough foods from other food groups, and miss out on important nutrients. Parents of young children should be especially careful of this, because children have smaller appetites and it is easy for them to fill up on fiber. Finally, excess fiber can cause painful stomach conditions such as gas and bloating. Elderly people are more likely to feel these negative effects of too much fiber and should have moderate fiber intake.
The following foods in the basic food groups of the Food Guide Pyramid are good sources of fiber:
Bread, Cereal, Rice and Pasta Group
Raisin Bran (Any cereal with the word bran in its name)
Oatmeal
Slices of whole-wheat bread
Mini- wheat cereal
Brown rice
Vegetable Group
Baked potato with skin
Cooked (frozen) peas
Cooked Brussels sprouts
Cooked (frozen) spinach
Sweet potato with the skin
Tomatoes
Raw carrots
Corn
Green beans
Fruit Group
Pears
Berries such as strawberries, blueberries and blackberries
Apples
Oranges
Bananas
Kiwi
Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs and Nuts Group
Lentils
Beans
The milk group is not included because fiber is found only in plant foods. The meat group is included because the plant foods in the meat group give you fiber (not the food that comes from animals).
Add fiber to your diet slowly, over a period of weeks. It takes your body some time to become used to an increase in fiber. Some people get gas and bloating that goes away as the body becomes adjusted to a higher fiber intake.
Drink plenty of water, fruit and vegetable juices. You need at least 9 cups of water and other fluids a day, so there will be enough water for the fiber to attract or absorb as it passes through the gastrointestinal tract.
Cooking tip: Since potatoes have more fiber when you eat the skin, be careful how you cook your potatoes. Put just a very light coating of reduced calorie margarine on potatoes, if any at all.
Dietary fiber information on food labels.
Question:
How can you tell if a food is a good source of dietary fiber? The amount of dietary fiber in a serving of food is listed in grams (g) and as a % of the Daily Value on the nutrition label. The manufacturer may also list the amount of insoluble fiber and soluble fiber. The % Daily Value for dietary fiber gives a general idea of how much fiber a serving contributes to the total daily diet. The % Daily Value for dietary fiber on the nutrition label is based on 25 grams of fiber for a 2,000 calorie diet.
Activity:
1. Look on the front of several boxes of cereals and also at the Nutrition Facts panel on nutrition labels. See if there are any words about fiber on the front. Then see how much dietary fiber each cereal has. Also look at the list of ingredients. What are the first three ingredients listed? What did you find out about the fiber content of those cereals? Explain to someone about how to tell if a food is a good source of fiber and why fiber is needed.
Complete this Internet activity:
Key in the locator address:
Read through the learning center.
Click on Are You at Risk?
When through, Click on the tab at the bottom of the screen, Course 1: Wheat Bran and Fiber
Read the information given. When you come to Dietary Dialogue, click on it to open.
Go to the frame on the left of the screen and click on Fiber Facts and Fables.
Read through the questions and answers.
Click on Fiber Favorites for high fiber recipe ideas.
Open all.
After reading Wheat Bran tips, go to frame at the left and click on Phasing in Fiber.
Click on Dietary Dialogue in the frame at the left of screen.
Click on Reducing Your Risks in frame at the left of screen.
Click and read Fiber Physics.
Scroll down and read the remaining information.
Click on Fiber Flash in the frame at left.
Click on What's Your Command of Bran?
Click on On to the Quiz.
Read the correct answers and check your score.
Click on The Bran Plan in the frame at left (the recipes).
Go back to home page.
Open up Likely Links. Visit one or two.
For fun, click on T-Shirt Contest in left frame and complete, if you like.
Click on home to go back to Kellogg's home page. Explore other sections, if you would like.
2. Complete the following Internet activity.
Note that this company recommends eating 20-35 grams of fiber per day and only three servings of each a day of fruits and vegetables. The Food Guide Pyramid recommends five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day. The % Daily Value of dietary fiber on the Nutrition Facts panel of food labels is based on 25 grams of fiber a day for a 2,000 calorie diet.
Visit the Fiber Space of the following website.
Type in the Internet locator address:
Click on The Importance of Fiber. Read the information.
Click on Facts. Read the questions and answers.
Click on Fiber Meter to see fiber content of various foods.
Click to go back to the Fiber Space home page.
Click on Constipation. Read about the symptoms, causes, and your digestive system, prevention and treatment.
Click to go back to the Fiber Space home page.
If you would like, you can read through the other sections:
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Hemorrhoids
Diverticular Disease
3. Complete a self-study assignment about fiber, using the video tape listed below. Also complete the Before & After quiz
Needed Resources
1. VHS video tape: All About Fiber. Produced by the National Health Video, Inc..
2.. Television monitor and video tape player
3. Photocopy of Before & After tests for each segment of each video. The tests may be photocopied from the companion teacher's guide that comes with each video tape or ordered from National Health Video (1-800-543-6803). Call this number for ordering information regarding purchasing and cost information, if the videotapes and support materials are needed. The e-mail address for National Health Video is healthvid@ . The address is: National Health Video, 12021 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 550, Los Angeles, CA 90025.
Self Quiz on Dietary Fiber
Take the following quiz on the net! Once you read the question, write down your answer on a separate sheet of paper. Then click on the question to see if you had the correct answer. When you complete the quiz, come back to this lesson. Good luck!
Type in the following Internet locator address:
How did you do? Good for you.
Summary:
Eating more dietary fiber is very important to our health. To be sure you get a mixture of dietary fibers, eat a variety of food to include at least six servings from the bread and cereal group and five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Read food labels for dietary fiber content. Select foods high in dietary fiber. Drink at least 9 glasses of water and other fluids each day. Increase dietary fiber gradually until you get 20-30 grams each day. Prepare foods to keep their fiber content. Enjoy!
Wheat Foods Council
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