Importance of Natural Whole Food
As soon as a piece of fruit is turned into a smoothie in a blender, the insoluble fiber is sheared. It’s destroyed! The soluble fiber is there but is less helpful without the capillary network of insoluble fiber.
fructose, being a naturally occurring fruit sugar, comes in fruits which have a lot of other benefits too. Fruits contain a high amount of dietary fiber. Fiber is an essential nutrient which has eventually got excluded from our diets. Processed food is fiberless food as fiber decreases shelf-life and increases depreciation of food sitting on the shelf.
Presence of fiber reduces the amount of food that can be eaten at a meal. The insoluble fiber acts as a sort of lattice work within the intestine and then the soluble fiber plugs up the little holes in between to form a barrier. The lattice work acts as a secondary barrier to prevent absorption of nutrients from the gut into the bloodstream rapidly. Some portion of food further goes down the intestineand is metabolized by the intestinal bacteria. In such a situation, it is not utilized.
For example, if a portion of almonds give 160 calories, one might actually absorb only 130 calories and 30 calories may be lost to the bacteria in the gut.
Therefore, consumption of natural fiber rich foods is of utmost important. In the food industry, foods are fortified with fiber. We feel fit by choosing a food that contains at least 3 grams of fiber. These foods have soluble fiber added to them because the addition of insoluble fiber in the long run would cause spoilage. Soluble fiber is important but it doesn't work without the lattice work of the insoluble fiber. The added fiber and its benefits displayed on the food label is made known to us but the fact that it may not work the expected way is not conveyed!
As soon as a piece of fruit is turned into a smoothie in a blender, the insoluble fiber is sheared. It’s destroyed! The soluble fiber is still there but is less helpful without the capillary network of insoluble fiber. The idea is not to completely reject smoothies, milkshakes or fresh juices from the diet as they are healthful food preparations, but it is to consciously choose whole fruits and grains in the diet whenever possible.
Natural or real food has fiber, and it is primarily low in sugar. Nature provides foods of great benefit to us. It is we who have tampered with it. We have purified it and added all the harmful ingredients to add taste, color and shelf life.
Excess fructose consumption, over the threshold sets in disease and an unhealthy state. The threshold is different for different people. One has to ultimately work towards increasing the threshold. Fiber and exercise are two important weapons to fight against its ill effects.
It is most essential to eat real food and exercise for a long and healthy disease-free life. It is the right approach to prevent metabolic disturbances in the body. One has to make efforts to minimize the consumption of processed or refined foods and choose real whole foods instead.
