48 Joel Fuhrman, M.D.The reality is that healthy, nutritious foods are also very rich in
liber and that those foods associated with disease risk are generally
fiber-deficient. Meat and dairy products do not contain any fiber, and
foods made from refined grains (such as white bread, white rice, and
pasta) have had their fiber removed. Clearly, we must substantially
reduce our consumption of these fiber-deficient foods if we expect to
lose weight and live a long, healthy life.
Fiber intake from food is a good marker of disease risk. The amount
of fiber consumed may better predict weight gain, insulin levels, and
other cardiovascular risk factors than does the amount of total fat
consumed, according to recent studies reported in the October 27,
1999, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association}s Again,
data show that removing the fiber from food is extremely dangerous.
People who consume the most high-fiber foods are the healthi-
est, as determined by better waist measurements, lower insulin lev-
els, and other markers of disease risk. Indeed, this is one of the key
themes of this book — lor anyone to consider his or her diet healthy,
it must be predominantly composed of high-fiber, natural foods.
It is not the fiber extracted from the plant package that has
miraculous health properties. It is the entire plant package consid-
ered as a whole, containing nature's anti-cancer nutrients as well as
being rich in fiber.