Fibre is the Golden Key for a Disease free Body.

Dietary fibre (DF) or Roughage or Bulk is the term given collectively to indigestible carbohydrates present in plant foods. This term  refers to all the parts of plant-based foods that cannot be digested or absorbed by the body unlike other food components, such as fats, proteins or carbohydrates- which your body breaks down and absorbs- it isn’t digested by your body.

Instead, it passes relatively intact through your stomach, small intestine and colon and out of your body.

It is most neglected food group in current eating pattern which is leading us to lot of medical problems like constipation, diverticular disease, haemorrhoids, coronary heart diseases, diabetes and obesity high plasma cholesterol leads to colon cancer too.

Fibre is commonly classified as:

1. Soluble Fibre:

In a layman language it dissolves in water and turns into mesh. It  attracts water and turns to gel during digestion. This slows digestion.
The health benefits include:

• Heart protection: Inside your digestive system, it attaches to cholesterol particles and takes them out of the body, helping to reduce overall cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease. Oatmeal may offer the most heart protection.
• Diabetes protection: Because it isn’t well absorbed, it doesn’t contribute to the blood sugar spikes that can put you at risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. If you already have diabetes (either type 1 or type 2) it can even help keep your condition under control.
• Weight loss: It can also help you get to — or stay at — a healthy weight by keeping you feeling full without adding many calories to your diet.
• Healthy bowel movements: It soaks up water as it passes through your system, which helps bulk up your stool and guard against constipation and diarrhoea. 

2. Insoluble Fibre:
As the name denotes which doesn’t dissolve. It does not dissolve in water and is left intact as food moves through the gastrointestinal tract. Plants contain both types of fibre in varying degree
The health benefits are:

• Weight loss: It can play a key role in controlling weight by staving off hunger pangs.
• Digestive health: Eating lots of insoluble fibre also helps keeps you bowel regular, and if you do get constipated, adding more of it to your diet can get things moving. It can also improve bowel-related health problems, like constipation, haemorrhoids, and faecal incontinence (problems controlling your bowel movements)

Therefore food sources of dietary fibre are often divided according to how much soluble and insoluble fibre they predominantly have.

Sources of soluble fibre are:

• Legumes like peas, soybeans and other types of beans like black bean, kidney bean(Rajmah), black eyed peas or cowpeas(Lobia), Lima beans(sem ki phalli)etc are high in soluble  fibre. They should be included in daily diet either as salad, snack or main course.
• Oats, oats bran, Rye, Barley(jau).They are cereals need to be consumed as main course.
• Some fruits and fruit juices like plums, berries, bananas, and the insides of apples and pears.
• Vegetables like broccoli, carrots, and root vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions.
• Psyllium seed husk.

Sources of insoluble sources are:

Most plant-based foods, such as oatmeal and beans, contain both soluble and insoluble fibre.
• Whole grain foods, wheat and corn bran.
• Nuts other edible seeds like flax seed, chia, sabja
• Potato and tomato skins as also skins of certain fruits
• Vegetables – green beans, cauliflower, edible gourd family
• Fruits like avocado, and bananas

Total dietary fibre intake should be 25 to 30 grams a day from food.

Instead of buying exotic fruits buy local, seasonal vegetables to fill your plate and use this Golden key to be free from disease.