Some health care experts believe that eating more than 35 grams of fiber per day may adversely affect vitamin and mineral absorption. While this is technically true, rarely does anyone eat near that amount of fiber. Most of us don't eat even the small amount we need. While it is true that some fibers may absorb calcium, zinc, iron and magnesium, and while the presence of fiber in the intestines may inhibit the absorption of certain nutrients, these effects are present only under extreme conditions. In other words, don't let the fear of becoming nutrient deficient stop you from boosting you fiber intake. This particular phenomenon does not pose a significant threat. The marvelous benefits of fiber far outweigh the remote possibility that you will eat quantities large enough to pose any problem.

Remember to add fiber gradually, drink plenty of water and chew your food thoroughly so that the necessary digestive enzymes will be activated in the saliva. Some people believe that taking supplemental digestive enzymes right before eating fiber can cut down on the formation of gas.

In her book, The Complete Fiber Fact Book, Rita Elkins lists some simple ways to increase fiber intake:

• Take a good fiber supplement every morning with breakfast or 30 minutes before any meal.
• Grab a handful of oat cereal when you need to snack.
• Add bran, millet, barley etc. to your meatloaves, casseroles, pancakes, cake and cookie batters, stuffings, and compotes.
• Use crunchy granola cereals or barley nuts as a topping for ice cream, yogurt, baked potatoes, fish, salads, etc. Adding whole wheat that has been soaked to salads is delicious. Always add seeds or fresh raw fruit to make yogurt more fiber acceptable, and only buy active culture yogurts.
• Eat fresh, raw fruit and vegetables with their peelings whenever possible.
• Reach for prunes, dates, or figs when you need to appease your sweet tooth instead of cookies, candies or juice.
• Look for fiber-rich foods offered in salad bars and add them liberally (broccoli, carrots, red beans, garbanzo beans, sunflower seeds, etc.)
• Get in the habit of sprouting your own legumes. Peas, lentils, mung beans, garbanzo beans, lentils, soybeans and wheat can all be sprouted and make delicious additions to tossed green salads.
• Buy canned, precooked beans of all kinds and add them to salads, soups, casseroles and stews.
• Keep a good supply of grains on hand that you can add to any recipe to make it more fibery. Good grains are millet, barley, brown rice, whole oats and whole wheat.

Faulty Fiber Sources

Several misconceptions exist about certain foods that are thought to be high in fiber. One of the most common is that if you eat a lot of lettuce salads, youre getting plenty of fiber. Lettuce, tomatoes and even celery are not good fiber sources. They are, in fact, much lower in fiber than legumes and whole grains. So while these veggies provide some fiber, by themselves they are an insufficient source.

Another misconception is that a food is high in fiber just because the label says wheat, wheatberry, multigrain, natural, fortified, etc. None of these terms means the whole grain has been used. In fact, many products labeled with such terms are mostly comprised of white flour. Even the term whole wheat doesnt necessarily mean that all of the flour used has been milled from the whole grain. Caramel coloring is frequently added to food products to make them appear more natural.

Watch out for high-fat baked goods that are disguised as fiber rich foods. Oat-bran doughnuts, cookies or even tortilla chips are commonly high in fat and sugar and notoriously low in oat bran. A New York Times survey showed that some so-called oat bran muffins contain so little oat bran they are virtually useless as a source of fiber. Also, a single bran muffin can contain as much fat as three lunch-size bags of potato chips. Just because it has bran in it doesnt necessarily make it good