Why Fiber is Magic

If you didn’t know, fiber is practically magic. It is a carbohydrate with no calories and tons of health benefits. What more could you ask for?

One of the best qualities of fiber, in my opinion, is its ability to help lower cholesterol levels. You probably have heard about your cholesterol levels if you’ve ever gotten blood work done. Generally speaking, cholesterol helps with the structure of your cells, but too much cholesterol can lead to clogging and hardening of your arteries. In turn, this can lead to health problems, including heart attacks and cardiovascular disease. Luckily, if you are eating low levels of cholesterol and saturated fat, this likely will not be an issue, and even if you have been eating a diet high in cholesterol your body typically can recover and go back to normal over time once you start making some shifts.

Fiber can play a major role in this reversal due to its positive effects on cholesterol levels. There’s a compound called bile that works in our stomach to keep the fat from clumping up together, and cholesterol is needed to make bile. Therefore, when the body starts running out of bile, cholesterol is used to make new bile, and cholesterol is lowered. This is where the fiber comes in. When we eat fiber, it attaches to the bile, and the two, fiber and bile, leave the body together. Therefore, the more fiber we eat, the more bile is used up, meaning that the body needs to use up cholesterol to make more bile. So, if you’re looking to lower your cholesterol, or just want to keep your heart healthy, eating more fiber is the way to go!

This tip is especially important when we look at the current nutritional profile of the United States population. Research has shown that only a mere 5% of the US population meets their fiber recommendations of 38 grams and 25 grams for men and women, respectively. Additionally, over 100 million Americans currently struggle with high cholesterol.

You may be asking: what kinds of foods have fiber or cholesterol? Cholesterol is solely found in animal products. Plants do not produce cholesterol, and just like animals, humans produce our own cholesterol when it is needed, so there is no such thing as too little cholesterol in your diet! The foods that are highest in cholesterol are fatty cuts of meat, full-fat dairy products, shrimp, and eggs. Conversely to cholesterol, fiber is only found in plant-based foods. Fiber is especially high in beans and lentils, followed by whole grains, nuts, fruits, and vegetables.

If cholesterol levels have been worrying you, think about using a site such as cronometer.com to track how much fiber is in your diet, just for a few days to give you an idea of the fiber content in the foods you are eating. Then, you can make a plan for small changes you can make to improve!

If anyone has any questions about this information, how to lower cholesterol and raise fiber, or just wants to discuss any of this, I’d love to hear from you! Please reach out!

Sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/cholesterol_education_month.htm#:~:text=How%20many%20Americans%20have%20high,high%20risk%20for%20heart%20disease.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6124841/

https://www.eatright.org/food/vitamins-and-supplements/types-of-vitamins-and-nutrients/easy-ways-to-boost-fiber-in-your-daily-diet#:~:text=Women%20should%20aim%20for%2025,in%20a%20number%20of%20ways.

https://www.raleighmedicalgroup.com/blog/entryid/528/how-to-lower-cholesterol-with-fiber#:~:text=Fiber%20helps%20to%20lower%20cholesterol%20in%203%20ways.&text=Reduces%20the%20amount%20of%20bile,blood%20sugar%20rises%20after%20eating.

https://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/cholesterol-content-of-foods

https://health.gov/our-work/food-nutrition/2015-2020-dietary-guidelines/guidelines/appendix-13/

#Nutrition #RD2Be #Dietitian #Cholesterol #Fiber #MotherNaturesDaughter