Fiber

The digestive system is an important part of the human body. Therefore the digestive system is also important an aspect for maintaining your health and regulating digestive system, in a certain way, will help you loose weight. For you to fully understand how to properly regulate the system I will inform you on what your digestive system actually does for you.
First off, the digestive system is a living organism that needs food to stay alive and to follow through with various activities. These activities include: ingestion, digestion, ingestion, respiration, movement, circulation, absorption, coordination, secretion, excretion, and reproduction. Also, it builds up immunities against diseases while maintaining and building metabolic and cellular growth. Food is absorbed by the digestive system’s body tissues which convert your food to energy.
To learn about the actual process that food goes through, check out hyperlink. Also here is a list of interesting facts (know your body) about the digestive system.
The key to regulating your digestive system is FIBER. Fiber is not digestible so it creates mass in the intestines that helps cleanse the internal digestive tract. There are two types of fiber-soluble and insoluble.


Soluble fiber is the type that will dissolve in water and as it dissolves, it forms a gel-like substance called bulk. This type of fiber can be found in apples, oat bran, citrus fruits, pears, beans, and carrots.
Insoluble fiber is the one can’t be dissolved in water and is the bulk that cleanses and moves through the system. These help those with constipation or irregular movement issues. Insoluble fiber is found in cabbage, wheat bran, all nuts, and many vegetables.
Fiber has a lot of benefits which make it a key to being healthy internally. Insoluble fiber eliminates constipation. This is caused by creating a bigger size and weight of food excreted from the body. A high-fiber diet can lower your risks of contracting disorders such as: hemorrhoids, IBS, and the development of diverticular disease. Soluble fiber lowers bad cholesterol levels. When this cholesterol is pulled out through waste, the digestive system takes the cholesterol out of the blood. This causes a significant decrease in cholesterol levels. Soluble fiber can also slow the process of sugar being absorbed which helps regulates blood sugar levels for patients and could possibly reduce the risk of contracting diabetes type 2.
Foods high in fiber are harder to chew and might take longer; which causes you to eat less and be filled up faster. This is a good tip to use while eating. Get tough foods that are somewhat hard to chew and try chewing for about 20 seconds. Be sure to pick fiber foods so that you actually get filled up fast and stay full for a longer time. Fiber foods are also lower in calories so choose these rather than a lot of meat or pastas.
The National Academy of Sciences’ institute of medicine says that men younger than 50 should consume about 38 grams of fiber and women should consume approximately 25 grams each day. Men over the age 50 should intake 30 grams and women 21 grams of fiber every day. On this page you will find a list of some foods that are high in fiber and should be consumed at least once a week. Fruit juice, white bread, and pastas are refined or process which lowers the protein. (Juice is really good for you so try to buy brands with the least amount additives. A good sample is Ocean spray or Welch’s.

Ocean spray and Welch’s are a hundred percent real juice and are guaranteed to have no additives!) Don’t remove the skin on your fruits and vegetables either; it is the most important part!
Don’t use supplements like Metamucil or Citrucel either because they don’t provide the “real deal.” Yes, they do have an abundant amount of fiber but they don’t have the vitamins and minerals that you get from the actual food.
Also, some people can get addicted to the results and increase their intake. Increasing the amount of fiber to you diet to quickly can cause bloating, gas, and cramps. Do not start taking fiber supplements or laxatives every day. It’s alright to take the supplements if you’re just looking to boost your fiber intake but do it every other day or maybe once a week. Wal-mart has many tasty fiber supplements that you can add to a water bottle. I found that the Vita Splash and the South Beach Diet work the best. These come in two different enjoyable flavors, raspberry lemonade and strawberry and banana smoothie. There around $2 each and come with about ten packets per box. Crystal Light also has two flavors: berry and raspberry peach but these only have 3 grams of fiber. The two I mentioned early have five grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein.
High fiber foods

Caffeine: Pros and Cons

Caffeine is one of the most widely studied beverages in the world and research has deiscovered a lot about its benefits and why some people should stay away from it. Being a college student, I know that sleep is the last thing I squeeze into my daily agenda. Some students choose to skip it and not to sleep for a whole day, depending on their upcoming exams. These students wake up in the morning and immediately think "I need some caffeine!" This is why I decided to do some research on the pros and cons of consuming caffeine. I know this doesn't have a lot to do with diets in general but caffeine has some effects on your overrall health and I'm pretty sure most of you consume it daily.
First, let me explain to you what caffeine does internally. The healthy living webiste explained this pretty well, it said: "Caffeine revs you up by stimulating the central nervous system and increasing blood pressure. It changes the brain's chemistry by blocking the action of a neurochemical called adenosine. When adenosine can't do its job, more neurons fire in the brain, which in turn tells the pituitary gland to release more adrenaline. Within about 15 minutes after you've consumed caffeine, your heart beat increases, your lung capacity increases, and the liver releases sugar into the bloodstream to boost your energy."
Now here are some pros:
-According fitwise.com , "injesting caffeine 30 minutes to an hour before workouts results in longer endurance, faster times, less exertion, less fatigue, and more rapid recovery." (This is true of tablet forms of caffeine, not coffee.)
-Caffeine speeds up metabolism, which is something that all people should strive for.
-Caffeine breaks down(bad)fat,this frees fatty acids that are immediately burned.
-"While the fat is being burned, the glycogen, glucose, and amino acids (blood sugars) are being reserved -- so blood sugar levels remain higher for longer. Low blood sugar = hunger; high glucose staves starving. This is why coffee is popular among students and think-tankers. The brain functions exclusively on glucose, and higher blood sugar levels facilitate thinking." (fitwise.com)
-Caffeine increases alertness and short-term memory.
-"Studies have shown that coffee may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. Researchers at Harvard studied 120,000 people over an 18-year span and have found that drinking 1-3 cups of coffee each day can reduce the risk of diabetes by several percentage points, compared with not drinking coffee at all." (healingdaily.com)
-"At least 6 studies indicate that people who drink coffee on a regular basis have up to 80% lower risks of developing Parkinson's disease, with 3 of those studies indicating that the more coffee they drink, the lower the risk. Other studies indicate that, compared to not drinking coffee, drinking at least 2 cups per day can lead to a 25% lower risk of colon cancer, an 80% drop in the risk of liver cirrhosis, and nearly 50% the risk of gallstones." (healingdaily.com)
-Caffeine increases alertness and short term memory.
-Coffee is loaded with antioxidants. These are substances that protect your cells from molecules that can cause cell damage and some cancers from forming.
-Coffee has an antioxidant called quinine which can increase insulin sensitivity. This is a plus at reducing diabetes risks.
-Coffee contains a compound called trigonelle which serves the purpose of making coffee an anti-adhesive and antibacterial for cavaties.
-A little side not...The recommended amount of caffeine intake is no more than 300mg per day. Drink coffee instead of soda! Also, diet soda IS more harmful than regular soda!
The Cons:
-"A cup taken one hour before bed can be enough to trigger insomnia." (knet.com)
- Caffeine also has a diuretic effect which causes unwanted fluid loss along with loss of potassium and chloride.
-"Dr David Kerr of the Royal Bourmouth Hospital in England has been looking at the effects of coffee on mental alertness, and disputes some of the more positive findings. 'Within half an hour of drinking one or two cups, the flow of the blood to the brain is reduced by 10 to 20%,' he says. 'Combine that with the low blood sugar; either in diabetics or in those who haven't eaten for a while, and they can start having pulpitations, feelings of anxiety or blurred vision.'(knet.com)"
-You can become addicted to caffeine and withdrawal will cause headaches or sickness.
-Unwanted consequences of caffeine are: anxiousness, restlessness, dizziness, irritableness, being unable to concentrate, and GI (stomach) aches.
-Here is a list of other harmful things caffeine can cause but aren't researched enough yet to be 100% certain: "osteoporosis, birth defects, miscarraiges, infertility, cancers, high blood pressure, PMS increase, ulcers, heartburn, and heart disease." (http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/1485.html)

A little of my own research:
I drink a cup of coffee before dinner about twice a week and I've found that on the nights that I do drink coffee before I eat, I don't eat as much and don't have a want for midnight snacks. I found that on the nights that I didn't drink coffee, I ate like a cow and had the "munchies" a couple of hours later. This probably isn't true for every single person, it's just a suggestion so try it and see if it works for you.

Food Guide Pyramid and Portions

In the United States the food portions given at restaurants has increased tremendously in the past century. At the grocery store you can get about every snack in the family or jumbo size. Therefore I will inform you on what a serving size of each food group should look like and how much of that you should try to eat in a day. This will help you when looking at nutrition facts on food products and help you know when you've had enough you've needed for the day. This will help you maintain or maybe even lose weight.
We'll start the bottom of the pyramid with grains, pasta, cereal, and rice; then work our way up. You should try to have an intake of 6-11 servings of these carbs. According to dlife.com, a serving size for pasta is about 1/2 a cup or half of a baseball. Considering grains, a cooked grain servings size is 1/2 a cup and for uncooked the serving size is 3/4 a cup.
The vegetable group should be used in the diet for consumption of 3-5 servings per day. The servings sizes, according to 5aday.com, consists of 1 cup raw, leafy vegetables,1/2 cup of cooked, canned legumes, or 3/4 a cup of vegetable juice.
For the fruit group, the recommended serving consumption is 2-4 servings. A whole fruit, such as an apple or pear, has the serving size of one serving. 1/4 a cup of dried fruit is also a serving.
You should consume 2-3 servings of dairy products a day. One cup of milk or yogurt is always the appropriate size for one serving. One serving of natural cheese (cheddar, provolone, Swiss, etc) consists of 1.5 ounces. Processed cheese; such as American cheese is 2 ounces for a serving size.
The egg, poultry, meat, and nut group should have the consumption of 2-3 servings per day. The serving size equivalent to 2-3 ounces, depending on how fatty the meat is. This portion would look comparable to a deck of cards.
For the beloved fats, oils, and alcohol group, use these products as sparingly as possible.

I created this blog to provide tips and advice on living and being healthy. Over a span of 6 weeks, I'll inform you on interesting tips that I've found in magazines or online and have done further research on.