What you choose to eat has profound effects on your overall health. Thus, many people argue that food is our best medicine. Latest research in the field of Nutri-genomics shows that if we eat healthy foods, we can turn on health-promoting genes and turn off disease-promoting genes and vice versa if we eat unhealthy foods.
Although, healthy foods – real and natural plant foods – have tons of health-protecting nutrients including all the vitamins, minerals and Phyto-nutrients, there is one particular substance that is catching the attention of all researchers and that is Fibre.
Why is fibre important?
Dietary fibre, also known as roughage, is only found in plant foods. Fibre is an essential part of a healthy diet. It not only promotes proper digestion and elimination but also feeds the beneficial bacteria in your gut. In fact, we have billions of bacteria in our gut and the food of these gut bacteria is Fibre.
So, the more diverse fibre we eat, the healthier our gut becomes. Lack of fibre can cause serious issues like constipation, poor gut health, diabetes, heart diseases, overweight, high blood pressure, cancer and many more. In fact, one of the many reasons behind lifestyle diseases becoming an epidemic is the less intake of fibre among today’s generation.
There was a long study done by National Geography, where they had identified a few places in the world and termed those places as “Blue Zones” – areas in which people have the lowest rates of chronic diseases and live longer than anywhere else. One common trait among the people of Blue Zones was that they primarily ate 95% plant-based diets and thereby eating enough fibre apart from tons of vitamins, minerals, and Phyto-nutrients that they get from the food that they eat.
What is the recommended amount of fibre?
The recommended daily fibre intake to promote good health for women is 21-25 grams and 30-38 grams for men. But surprisingly, most Indians only consume half of the recommended amount.
How do we ensure we are taking the right amount of fibre?
When anyone is sensibly eating a variety of unprocessed and natural plant foods, they tend to get enough fibre. However, we are sharing with you a list of few foods that are high in fibre that are also easy to consume and have tons of health benefits.
A. Ripe papaya: A fruit which has maximum digestive enzymes and hence good for the gut and digestion.
B. Guava: A fruit which has much more vitamin C than oranges apart from being loaded in fibre.
C. Mango: Excellent for digestive health, higher in fibre and great to reverse macular degeneration.
D. Drumsticks: A superfood when it comes to immunity, bone health and very high in insoluble fibre.
E. Chia seeds: This special seed, apart from high fibre content, is also loaded with omega 3 and many other vital vitamins and trace minerals.
F. Green vegetables: The reason why green vegetables are excellent for gut health is due to the high amount of fibre that it contains.
H. Sprouted moong: Sprouted moong are an excellent source of plant protein apart from being an excellent source of plant fibre.
Ensure that you are consuming at least 3-4 items from the list above. It is only our habits that can create good health and reverse disease rather than any diets. Hence, we recommend people to add seasonal fruits and salad at least twice in a day so that they can develop a habit of eating sufficient fibre on a day-to-day basis.
(Karan Kakkad is a Disease Reversal expert based in India. He is the Founder & CEO of Reverse Factor. To know more call: 8100550660, or visit www.reversefactor.in)
