I have been a type-2 diabetic for 20 years now and there is still a lot I don’t know about diabetes, the diabetic diet and related dietary matters – and those are things that I should know about – I wonder whether there are many others like me?
Dietary fiber, colorectal cancer . . . and diabetes
What has captured my attention right now is fiber, dietary fiber — I have long known that some amount of fiber in the daily diet is recommended for everyone. But what interests me now, started with a wellness book I’ve been reading that explained that a daily fiber intake was found to be extremely beneficial in the treatment of polyps in the colon and colorectal cancer, a disease that if caught early enough can be cured apparently.
But it’s diabetes that always interests me and that is what I always look for in health and books about the diet. There were many other benefits described in the book in relation to other disease conditions, but nothing specifically on fiber and diabetes. Nevertheless, I needed to find out whether fiber has any benefit to diabetics and whether I should add it to my diabetic menu, and if so, how much and from what foods – maybe they are already on my diabetic food list anyway.
So, after checking my other sources, I found that the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends a daily intake of fiber in the amount of 20 to 35 grams. Also, I learned that 50 grams of dietary fiber each day can improve blood sugar levels and help lower cholesterol levels, providing a double benefit. Perhaps that is a lot of fiber to include in our North American diet, I will have to check that out too.
From another source, it appears that the ADA recommendation of 25 to 35 grams may be too little for a person who is over 125 pounds. Many diabetics, both men and women are overweight. The recommended fiber intake, given in minimums and maximum grams, correlated to a person weighing over 125 pounds are:
- 150 pounds 30 – 35
- 175 pounds 35 – 40
- 200 pounds 40 – 45
Dietary fiber is obtained from plant foods, fruits and vegetables, it is the indigestible part of those foods so it passes through the stomach and small intestines without being broken down.
There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble and the recommendation is to try to consume 3 times more insoluble than soluble fiber. That emphasizes the need to include a variety of cereals, grains, vegetables and fruit in the diabetic diet to achieve that ratio. Of course veggies and fruits do provide so many other nutrients too. For more on that topic, see the post Fruit and the Diabetic Menu.
For those of us who don’t like to eat our vegetables, as mother insisted, that might be a tough order.
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