We hear about having enough fiber in our diet and Meridian Health Protocol Review eating fiber, but what does it mean? What is fiber and why is it important to consume?We can find fiber in plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc. Fiber is the part of the plant that our bodies cannot digest. If we can't digest it, why do we want to eat it?Fiber normalizes our bowel function and its effect on transit time and nutrient absorption. Without normalized bowel function, we can suffer from constipation, especially as we age. Constipation is said to be the most common chronic digestive disorder in the United States and it affects 4.53 million people a year and costs over $200 million for prescribed cathartics alone each year
Transit time is the time that it takes food to move through the digestive track. It is generally divided into three phases. Gastric phase emptying of food from the stomach, which usually takes 2 to 5 hours; small intestine phase time it takes food to travel through the small intestine 3 to 6 hours; colonic phase is the longest taking any number of hours. It is here that problems of prolonged intestinal transit results in fewer bowel movements, constipation and disease.Dietary fiber, in general, prolongs transit time at the gastric phase helping the body to feel fuller longer. This is caused by soluble not insoluble fiber.