Low Fiber Diet Not As Effective As High Fiber

Keeping your digestive system healthy as very important as it most often influences us during the day and can make a major change in our overall health. One way to find out if your diet is beneficial for your digestive system is to check your fiber intake. Having too little fiber in your diet can affect your health and the way you feel. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for fiber is a good way to check whether or not you’re getting enough of it in your daily diet.

With so many over processed foods on the market and the trend to eat more than our bodies require, it is easy to have a deficiency in our diet when it comes to fiber. This because many of these foods cut out the beneficial properties that are found in natural plant foods such fruits, vegetables and grains. The majority of natural unprocessed plant foods contain a high percentage of fiber that is necessary to help maintain digestive health.

A major diet overhaul isn’t always necessary to include the recommended amount of fiber. Simply adding some vegetables such as carrots and potatoes to meals already raises your fiber intake. Fruits such as apples, pears, peaches and similar fruits can be eaten with the skin which contains a lot of fiber that is good for your digestive system. When buying bread, choose a bread that contains whole grain as this is healthier and contains more fiber than typical white breads or fine grain breads.

A lack of fiber can aggravate problems with digestive health such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). IBS a condition that is rising in developed nations and is becoming more and more common in our stressful lives. The symptoms of IBS include regular constipation or diarrhea or a combination of both as well as a feeling of bloatedness as well as discomfort. Adjusting your diet and increasing your fiber intake can make a big difference in managing this condition. For some people this simple adjustment in their diet is enough so that they don’t have to take any additional medication to manage the condition.

Another condition related to digestive health is diverticulosis. This potentially life threatening condition is caused when pockets are formed within the intestinal wall. If untreated, it can progress to diverticulitis which is very painful. This results when food is trapped within the pockets. The trapped food can become enflamed causing a serious infection usually requiring the treatment of antibiotics and, in very serious cases, the intervention of surgery.

Switching to a high-fiber diet won’t necessarily remedy these conditions for everyone, but can help to improve them and lessen the complications and secondary symptoms that are associated with them.