Fiber's Benefits Go Well Beyond Healthy Digestion

By Allen S. Josephs, M.D.
President, Vitacost.com 09/22/2005

Autumn is now officially upon us. In the next several weeks we'll see tremendous changes in the weather and, unfortunately for a lot of us, in our body habitus. As the winter months come, we tend to be less physical and tend to eat more, especially around the holidays. Perhaps some of you are already thinking about next year's New Year's resolution as you contemplate the likelihood of adding another 10 or 20 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Weight gain is obviously not aesthetically pleasing, but more importantly, with increasing weight comes associated disease. Your risk of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and even cancer can rise dramatically by only gaining an additional 15 to 30 pounds.

One important relationship that we need to understand in our battle against weight gain is between dietary fiber and our metabolism. Fiber can help protect us against many illnesses through read more