YSK that the recommended daily fiber intake is 25g for women and 38g for men in the USA. 95% of the country does not meet this amount.
YSK that the recommended daily fiber intake is 25g for women and 38g for men in the USA. 95% of the country does not meet this amount.
Why YSK: fiber is important for optimal human health. It helps us avoid diabetes, heart disease, colon cancer, obesity, and other diseases. This is particularly important in developed countries such as mine (USA) that are suffering greatly from these diseases.
The recommended daily fiber intake is 25g for women and 38g for men in the USA, and 95% of us don't meet this amount. This suggests an urgent need for us to increase our daily fiber intake, which can be achieved by swapping out ultra-processed foods and animal foods that are void of fiber with whole plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.
You should also know that there's soluble and insoluble fiber. Both are important, but what people are more likely to lack is insoluble fiber.
Why so much higher for men? On an average day I eat probably somewhere between 25 and 45 g depending on what I've meal preppes D for the week and what I've decided on for snacks. I am a vegetarian who eats mostly whole foods. I can't even fathom how the average American could come anywhere even close to that. It's a LOT of beans/whole grains/vegetables/chia seeds/etc.
You forgot the part where it allows you to have a normal bowel movement without straining. It’s the path to hemorrhoid reduction, possibly annihilation.
25 GB per day? I don't even HAVE fiber, I'm stuck with fucking Comcast, which might I add is down right now. Typical.
We highly recommend Benefiber for anyone. It is tasteless, doesn't change the texture of your food or drink, and can be added to almost anything.
I think many people avoid adding fiber to their diets because it requires a change in diet or a supplement that is often gross.
Edit: Here's a link. https://www.benefiber.com/fiber-supplement-products/benefiber-powder/
Finally, a pro-health justification for eating the whole container of oatmeal cookies.
Thanks for the reminder. I keep forgetting to look out for chia & flax seeds when grocery shopping...
Reading this as someone blessed with whole grain rye-wheat mix bread, heck I can even buy the flour to make my own bread.
Change to whole grain, folks!
As some people here already know since I talk about it endlessly, I have a weird medical condition where I have not eating solid foods in almost a year now. You have no idea how much fiber you need just to have decent bowel functions when you start at a base of zero.
I drink four cans of V8 and take 2 Metamucil capsules a day to get me up to about 30g. Still less than the recommended amount, but it's all I can manage at the moment.
Before that, there were a couple of times when the constipation was so painful that I literally started yelling, "OH FUCK! OH FUCK! OH FUCK!"
Fiber should be the principle and perhaps only macro nutrient most people interested in improving their health and weight should track. If you are consuming enough fiber, you are necessarily eating a large volume of healthy, calorie-poor food, and it becomes a challenge to overeat at all. Once you've got your fiber intake high enough you can basically eat anything you want in addition to that.