Roughaging It
Forget the fad foods, just eat more fiber
Every year there is new research and studies leading to a rash of stories on the foods that will either help you get ripped or lose weight.
Musclefood.com is a fun site for just this kind of research. It listed among its superfoods for 2017 offerings such as red algae, bone broth, goat meat, and raw cacao nibs. While it may be fun to figure out ways to incorporate goji berries into your diet, most people in America would just be better off just eating more fiber.
Protein, carbohydrates, and fats provide the energy and raw materials to increase and maintain muscle mass. Fiber carries away the waste byproducts of muscle production. When you don’t eat enough fiber, that waste builds up in the body, leading to an increase in fat mass and poor overall health. The science is simple. When you lift moderate to heavy weights, you cause small tears in muscle fibers. Growth hormones are triggered to repair the tears, which results in increases in muscle mass and strength. The process, however, creates metabolic waste from the damaged fibers.
Fiber is crucial in washing the waste away. Your body is not able to digest fiber, so it passes through your body, collecting excess nutrients and metabolic waste along the way. Without fiber, the waste gets reabsorbed into the body. High-fiber diets can aid in weight loss and colon health and prevent Type-2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease.
Obviously, fiber is a very good thing to eat. But according to NutritionFacts.org, while 97 percent of Americans eat enough protein daily, only 3 percent eat enough fiber. In fact, we eat less than half on average. The minimum daily requirement is 31.5 grams per day and in the U.S. we eat about 15 grams a day. The only nutrient we shun more than fiber is potassium.
The United States is a meat-loving country. We also eat well more than our share of dairy, eggs and junk food. Unfortunately, there is no fiber in any of that, save for the occasional peanut in your candy bar. Fiber is found in things such as beans, greens, and whole grains, and nearly the entire U.S. population fails to eat enough whole plant foods.
So this year, forgo trying to figure out how to make exotic meals, and go back to the basics with meals full of lentils, peas, broccoli, avocados, pears, whole-wheat pasta and oatmeal.
