Fiber plays a crucial role in weight control, diabetes, and digestion. It also helps protect against colon cancer. Eating a variety of unrefined foods is the best way to provide your body with the fiber it needs.
The principle is simple. For every plus, the food you ate added fiber to your diet. For every minus, a refined food added little, if any. Too many minus signs on your list? Then it’s time to make some adjustments to your menu.
When it comes to dietary fiber the Western diet is full of minuses. First, its focus on meat and other animal products provides a shaky foundation. Any food that comes from an animal has absolutely no fiber. Zero.
Second, about half of the calories in the standard American diet are empty calories. An empty calorie provides no vitamins, minerals, or fiber.
If you are following the western diet, it’s time you started replacing fiber-free foods with fiber-filled foods in your diet.