Fiber Does More Than Make You Poo… Or Does It?

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Fiber has been in the media over and over again for weight control and for good reason.  Not only has it been proven to prevent many types of cancer, heart disease, and help bowel movements but it is termed a “non-digestible food substance”.

So why would you eat something you “can’t digest”?

To get your mind around some common “fiber full foods” so you can relate to how much you eat, here is a small list before we move on:

  • Turnip greens
  • Almonds
  • Brussel sprouts
  • Cherries
  • Raspberries
  • Zucchini
  • Spinach
  • Mushrooms
  • Lettuce
  • Celery
  • Asparagus

…I think that’s enough.  You get the idea: VEGETABLES.

While many carbohydrates fall in to the main categories of simple or complex, fiber kinda falls in to it’s own separate category.  Fiber type foods include hard crunchy vegetables that are low in calories.  Actually, because fiber is non digestible it is feasible that you can actually LOSE calories from eating them.  It looks something like this:

1. You eat your fiber full food (cherries, raspberries, celery, etc)

2. Your body says “Hey FOOOOD, I gotta break that down”

3. Your body goes in to “digest mode” to break down the new food.  Essentially burning calories so it can bring in all the calories from the non digestible low calorie food you just ate.

4. You poop

And that’s the way of life kids….  Now don’t get me wrong there are exceptions to every rule.  If you ate a truck load of celery you are going to see some calorie intake, but think of it like this.  Who eats a truck load of celery?

A person may find it fairly easy to down 3 cups of pasta having 450 calories and around 135 grams of carbs, BUT it is a little less than fun to gulp down 3 cups of broccoli yielding 120 calories and 30 grams of carbs (all of which are susceptible to the previous theory of your body having to work hard to stop the “non-digestible fibers”.)

Now don’t get all crazy on me… on second thought GET ALL CRAZY ON ME!  Let me know your thoughts, where I got it wrong, or maybe just when the last time fiber made you do the bathroom dance in the comments.

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