Holy Shit!

So . . . I've been thinking about fiber. As a matter of fact, I've done more thinking about fiber in the past two weeks than in the 59 3/4ths years of my life that preceded the last two weeks. 

And on the one hand, I don't want to go all Born Again Dieter. There are few things more obnoxious and off-putting than a Born Again Dieter / Non-Smoker / etcetera. But I will say this: if I'd known some of the stuff that I've recently found out about earlier on, I would have made some serious changes in my life long ago.

At first it was just a matter of wanting not to feel hungry when I cut down on the amount of food was eating. I bumped into the idea that if I had more fiber in my diet . . . especially the soluble kind . . . that I would feel fuller longer. It wasn't the first time this idea's fin had broken the waters of my life. I'd heard that if I ate oatmeal in the morning that it would make me feel full. So I bought some oatmeal. (Instant, of course.) Ate it. Was hungry a few minutes later. So I ended up eating two for each breakfast, which still didn't make me feel full, and when it was gone I was done with that little experiment. 

This time around I was a little smarter about it, though. For one thing, I started drinking a lot more water with my meals. My understanding is that soluble fiber soaks up liquid and that's what makes you feel fuller. And it seems to have worked well, as my breakfasts tend to be high in fiber and I sometimes don't even feel very hungry at lunch time.

But being an inquisitive sort of fellow, I kept poking at this fiber idea, wanting to know more. Which is why I picked up a book at Goodwill entitled The Save-Your-Life-Diet High-Fiber Cookbook, written by  Dr. David & Barbara Reuben. (Yes, THAT Dr. David Reuben.)  And it was startling.

If I understand it aright, the basic premise is this: many diseases (especially cancers) were pretty much unknown until we began to eat highly processed food. The theory is that this shifted most of us to a low fiber diet, which meant that food didn't move through our digestive system as rapidly as it should, and that by lingering in our colons, it caused bacteria to develop. These bacteria actually break down substances in our "food" which create carcinogenic agents. With high fiber diets, we can see that our colons are swept clean.

Hmm.

There seems to be evidence to support this notion.

I don't like thinking about shit very much. But you know what I like thinking about even less? Shit sitting in my guts and rotting inside of me and creating cancer causing agents.

High fiber for me, thanks. 

24 grams (2 tablespoons) of Trader Joe's Organic Chia Seeds = 120 calories. And gives you 8 grams of fiber, which is 32% of your Daily Value. And / or 144 grams of blackberries = 62 calories and gives you 8 grams of fiber. From what I've read, it's not a good idea to pack too much fiber into one sitting, though. Not for the obvious reason so much as because you won't get the full benefit unless you spread it out over the course of the day. I'm guessing that you will know if you're taking on too much at one time.

I've also become quite the Raisin Bran fan, as that packs a good fiber punch as well.

And there's probably more stuff out there that I haven't happened upon yet, but I've got my ear to the ground.

Just sayin', sir.