Another Look at Fiber and its Benefits, including Lowering Cholesterol



Nutritional Fiber is our friend in a few different ways.

Consuming fiber helps to keep the colon moving so it is clearing waste out of the body and it also can help to lower cholesterol. Here’s a review of some sources of fiber and what they can do to decrease cholesterol to healthier levels in the body.

First of all, a better understanding of what cholesterol does in the body may help you to understand why it is essential to your health. At the same time, why we want to regulate the amount floating in the blood stream in the body. Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that the body uses to make healthy cell walls, other cell constituents, hormones, vitamin D and bile acid which helps you digest your food properly. It is much needed but in the proper amounts. Over time, we can run into problems when cholesterol builds up too much in the blood stream. When this happens, cholesterol can possibly be deposited in blood vessel walls and cause a narrowing of the vessels. We need to supply blood to the heart and all organs and tissues of the body.

There Are 3 General Types of Cholesterol.

1. LDL - low density Lipoprotein is found in blood vessel cell wall plaque causing blockage if it is too plentiful.
2. HDL - high density Lipoprotein which is mostly cardio-protective for men and women.
3. Triglycerides which typically increase when we ingest a lot of carbohydrates, (particularly refined carbohydrates) like breads, cakes and cookies.

What Affects the Process of Cholesterol Accumulation?

1. For some people their genetics are such that cholesterol levels are increased by dietary sources.
2. For most others, if your diet has too little fiber, more cholesterol will be re-absorbed from the intestine back into the blood stream and so less is eliminated from the body. In other words the blood level goes up with too little dietary fiber.
   

Easy Solutions

Exercise is a great partner of a diet rich in fiber for balancing cholesterol. Exercise can help tremendously to keep cholesterol in good standing. It raises the HDL cholesterol which is cardio-protective and it helps to lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides…. all of which are beneficial to your health.

More Dietary considerations:

1. You can lower cholesterol with a diet rich in fiber, both soluble and insoluble.
2. Diets rich in fiber naturally absorb water into the colon. When this happens you eliminate more easily and avoid constipation. The fiber can also bind to cholesterol in your colon and this will help your body lower LDL by eliminating the bound cholesterol in your stool.
3. By adding fiber you can also slow the absorption of sugars into your blood stream and lower your triglyceride levels.



Why Does the Body do This?

Fiber that absorbs water can reduce the re-absorption of cholesterol through the intestines and into the blood stream. The body is conservative. It will try to reabsorb and reutilize those substances that it needs by reabsorbing them before we eliminate them as waste through the bowel. Fiber keeps the bowels moving and with cholesterol we also eliminate toxins from outside sources and the byproducts of our own cellular metabolism.

What are Common Dietary Sources of Fiber?

1. Pectin, for example, is found in stone fruits like peaches, pears, apricots, and apples.
2. Oat bran can be purchased as the bran from oats or consumed in lesser amounts in oatmeal.
3. Ground flax seeds are best consumed for all their nutritional value by grinding them about 2 tbs /day soon after grinding then fresh in a coffee grinder. Once ground, they can be kept refrigerated for a few days to catch the benefit of the essential fatty acids. Otherwise those oxidize quickly once the seed is ground. They still have benefits for the fiber they contain.
4. Psyllium husk, can be purchased easily in capsules or in bulk powder.
5. Guar gum (bene-fiber)

Other Nutrient substances known to naturally lower cholesterol are nutritious, delicious and rich in fiber:

Polyphenol containing foods which include blueberries, cranberries, bilberries, black currants, peanuts, onions, legumes, and parsley.

In Summary

Consuming a variety of fresh and well prepared vegetables, legumes, fresh fruits, and whole grains all are fiber rich and good for you in a myriad of ways. The fiber contained in them is not just a filler… It helps your colon health, your cholesterol levels and, in many biochemical ways, supports healthy blood sugar metabolism. This is nature’s bounty conspiring to keep you stay healthy …so fiber in its many forms is worth consuming every day.