April 21, 2023 • 30 mins
Did you know that rates of colon and rectal cancer in younger adults is on the rise? It’s estimated that 1 in 10 colon cancers and 1 in 4 rectal cancers will be diagnosed in adults under 50. This is a striking and worrisome trend, and seems to be strongly correlated to diet and lifestyle. Want to know the number one food you can add to your plate to help lower your risk? Some form of fiber. On this episode, we’ll talk about what exactly fiber is, what it does, and how to add more to your diet.
Check out Joanne’s new podcast: “In This Story…with Joanne Greene”. In each episode, Joanne shares a flash nonfiction essay, showcasing tales and observations from her animated life. Find it from wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
Follow us on social media @allthefwordspod
Write to us! allthefwordspod@gmail.com
LINKS https://dailynews.ascopubs.org/do/s-driving-rise-colon-cancer-young-adults#:~:text=It%20is%20estimated%20that%201,adults%20younger%20than%2050%20years.&text=This%20rise%20is%20striking%2C%20and,related%20to%20diet%20and%20lifestyle. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/fiber/#:~:text=Soluble%20fiber%20attracts%20water%20in,risk%20of%20developing%20heart%20disease. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/fiber/art-20043983 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/science/food-fiber-microbiome-inflammation.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/well/eat/tiktok-gut-health.html
"By Accident: A Memoir of Letting Go" by Joanne Greene is available for pre-order from your online favorite book sellers. Release date June 20,2023
Learn more at joanne-greene.com
Check out Joanne’s new podcast: “In This Story…with Joanne Greene”. In each episode, Joanne shares a flash nonfiction essay, showcasing tales and observations from her animated life. Find it from wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
Follow us on social media @allthefwordspod
Write to us! allthefwordspod@gmail.com
LINKS https://dailynews.ascopubs.org/do/s-driving-rise-colon-cancer-young-adults#:~:text=It%20is%20estimated%20that%201,adults%20younger%20than%2050%20years.&text=This%20rise%20is%20striking%2C%20and,related%20to%20diet%20and%20lifestyle. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/fiber/#:~:text=Soluble%20fiber%20attracts%20water%20in,risk%20of%20developing%20heart%20disease. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/fiber/art-20043983 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/science/food-fiber-microbiome-inflammation.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/well/eat/tiktok-gut-health.html
"By Accident: A Memoir of Letting Go" by Joanne Greene is available for pre-order from your online favorite book sellers. Release date June 20,2023
Learn more at joanne-greene.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome to All the Efforts, apodcast where two writer friends nearly thirty years
apart, explore everything we give anf about. I'm Gabby Moskowitz and I'm
joe Anne green On. Each episodeof All the Efforts will focus on a
theme, starting with the letter F, things like fire, frustration, and
fruit. We'll share stories from ourlives and our distinct generational perspectives and look
(00:28):
to the experts for insights and ideas. Today, we're talking about fiber,
the dietary variety. Why is thereanother variety? Oh, I guess,
yeah, the kind of clothing andfabric okay, and like fiber optics whatever
that is. I don't know,dietary fiber. Yes, we are talking
about dietary fiber. It may notbe one of our most glamorous topics,
(00:48):
but it is a very important one, and we'll get into that sexy.
Do you know, Joanne, thatcolon cancer is showing up with increasing prevalence
in younger adults, people under fifty. I hate hearing that. It's actually
estimated that one in ten colon cancersand one in four rectal cancers will be
(01:10):
diagnosed in adults under fifty. Isn'tthis is really newsworthy. Why are we
breaking this story? Yeah, Imeans as opposed to like splashing it across
the New York Times front page.Well, it's been there, it's been
it's it's it's something that is gettingtalked more. It's you know, it's
not a like we said in ourintro, it's not a glamorous topic.
(01:33):
But it's something that is becoming moreand more concerning. A lot of doctors
are starting to recommend earlier colonoscopies andthat especially like in my case, Um,
I have there's colon cancer on bothsides of my family. So I
actually had my first colonoscope when Iwas in my late thirties. So much
fun. It's so much fun.So you know, it wasn't bad.
(01:56):
I think we talked about my colonoscoPabe. We've talked about colonoscopies a few
times podcast, because we do loveto. That's why we get the big
That's why we get the big dumbloads. Yeah. Um yeah. If you're
in if you're into colonoscopy, taughtyou came to the right place. Oh
my god, I have to interruptyou for just one second and tell you
the craziest thing tell me, sothe way the algorithm algorithms on Amazon work.
(02:22):
You know, my book is nowavailable for pre order, and I
must have had to check every possibletopic that my book covered, so you
know, accident, injury, illness, loss, hurricane, colon cancer.
So I got notified that my bookis in the top ten of new books
(02:43):
on colorectal cancer. Oh my god, that it's really not about But it's
not about that at all, Sodon't buy it if you want to learn
more about colon cancer, except exceptabout why you should have a colonoscopy,
because again and no symptoms, nosymptoms, and they said, missus Green,
(03:04):
we think you have cancer. Sothere you have it. Early detection
really important as a as an asidebut related thing to books about calling cancer.
Mike father in law is a longtime social work or professional professor of
social work and has done a lotof professional writing. And he wrote like
(03:29):
maybe a foreword or a part ofa book based on someone else's experience called
CANS about someone having I believe rectalcancer, and it's called cancer up the
Wazoo. That's kind of a cooltitle. I will say. Okay,
now let's go back what I'm mostinterested in here is why they think they
(03:52):
being the experts, what the epidemiologists, why they think there is this precipitous
rise in the incident colorectal cancer inyounger people. So there is there's strong
evidence that the development of colorectal canceris related to diet and lifestyle. And
(04:13):
we're a lot more sedentary then wewere fifty years ago, and we eat
less fiber because we eat a lotmore processed foods. So the recommended amount
for children and adults is twenty tothirty five grams of fiber a day.
Most Americans only get around fifteen gramsper day people eating what they call the
(04:36):
standard American diet. And you know, there are a lot of nuances to
what food people eat. And Idon't like to get judgmental or you know,
talk about people just not doing whatthey need to do, as if
it's so easy. We live ina place where we have both the means
(04:57):
and easy access to all kinds ofhealthy food. But there are people who
live in food deserts. There arepeople who for whom it's not a financially
viable thing. So for a varietyof reasons, Americans are not consuming as
much fiber as they used to,and there is a lot of thought that
(05:19):
that is contributing to the uptick inthese diagnoses. So two things. First
of all, I just want toexplain what a food desert is for those
of you for whom this is anunfamiliar term. There are many places in
this country, in particularly inner cities, where there's easy access to fast food,
(05:39):
cheap fast food, and limited accessto fresh foods, fresh fruits and
vegetables for instance. So there mayeven be some foods sold in say a
large pharmacy I don't know what they'recalled, like a CVS or write Aid
or a wall Greens. Sometimes theyhave food, Rarely do they have fresh
(06:03):
food, and when they do,you might be paying a few dollars for
an apple. It's like airport pricesperfect, it is, right. So
a food desert is an area whereyou don't have options. Now, what
makes this so serious is that ina place where people have limited access first
(06:24):
of all, to resources, tomoney, maybe don't have cars to drive
to an area where they can haveaccess to a wider range of fresh foods,
they're paying more and essentially getting less. And then when we talk about
five or specifically you know, Ithink about it as something that I get
(06:44):
in bread, but that's because Ieat whole grain bread. But if you're
going to a fast food place andpicking up a burger that is not necessarily
a whole grain butt, that istrue. That is true, And I
want to actually get into to exactlywhat fiber is. I think probably most
of our listeners have some sense,but um, I learned a little bit
(07:08):
more about it than I had knownbefore, So teach, let me tell
you, okay. So, fiberis a type of carbohydrate that the body
cannot digest. So most carves arebroken down into sugar molecules called glucose,
which use for energy. But fibercannot be broken down into sugar and instead
(07:30):
passes through the body undigested. Andthis helps to regulate a few things.
It helps regulate our body's use ofsugars, and so that helps to keep
hunger as well as blood sugar incheck. So that's why, um,
you'll often hear doctors talk about howyou need to focus on bat protein and
fiber in order to stay satiated andalso in order to control blood glucose to
(07:56):
prevent things like pre diabetes and diabetes, to text your insulin um. But
then fiber also does something else,which is it helps with passage of waste.
It helps flush out are lower intestines. So there are two kinds of
fiber. Um. They're soluble fiberwhich dissolves in water and can help lower
(08:18):
glucose levels and also lower blood cholesterol, which is really important. So that
is those are foods like oatmeal,gf seeds, nuts, beans, lentils,
apples, and blueberries. The obviouslymost of those. They're all very
(08:39):
delicious foods. Basically anything you wouldput in um, you know, an
overnight oatmeal bowl. It's like avery a lot of breakfast fibers. We
think of our soluble fiber. Nowthere's insoluble fiber, which is also very
important. It does not dissolve inwater. It can help and it helps
(09:01):
food move through your digestive system,which promotes regularity and also helps prevent the
dreaded sea one of the dreaded seasconstipation. I told you this was going
to be a not so glamorous butimportant episode. Not so glamorous, but
you know, Americans are so squeamishabout talking about bodily functions and get off.
(09:22):
We need to get over ourselves,because this is all just part of
staying healthy. Absolutely for us fortalking about this unglamorous topic. And you
know, what's less glamorous than eatingfiber for your constipation. What's even less
glamorous is being constipated. So forso for insoluble fiber that includes whole wheat
(09:48):
products, you know, per yourreference to whole grain bread, things like
quinoa, which is actually a seed, not a grain, brown rice,
leg bombs, um, leafy greenslike kale and almond and kale, and
then also almond which is not chardyep, charred uh walnuts, seeds and
(10:13):
fruits with edible skins so um,pears and apples, and interesting, I
found apples listed in both. Ithink that the skins of apples are insoluble,
but the the fruit inside of theskin is soluble. So if you
eat an apple you get a doublewhammy of two kinds of fiber. I
have a question, Yeah, teacher, teacher, call on me. What
(10:37):
is the difference between a legum anda bean? Uh? So? No,
well, sometimes, um my,I'm not I'm not sure exactly I
should know this, but like whatthe general difference is. I know that
I believe pe so legumes include uhlagoons includes peanuts and peas. And then
(11:07):
there are some beans that are ina different category. Um, I don't
know exactly. Maybe we can ifif if we ever, um, if
we ever given to Bred's idea thatwe do a flatulence episode, I will
definitely do some heavy bean research.She won't let me do it. See,
this is where you eat like fiber. Yes, but farting, No,
(11:30):
okay, you do, you can. Absolutely, we can incorporate farting.
There's fiber and farting have a lot. We should just do that included
in this episode. So here's thething, bottom line. Eat seeds,
eat nuts, eat beans, eatfruit, eat full grains. Yeah,
what else do we need to know? Absolutely? Okay? So um so
(11:56):
there there's one. So well thereare There are also some functional um fibers.
If you're not able to get fiberfrom a food source, and so
that is stuff like cilium. Haveyou ever used cilium before? I cannot
say that. I have no.Have you ever had taken metamucilum? No?
(12:18):
I actually have not. Oh wow, let's just say this is not
a problem area. Well that's great, good for you. Um Cilium is
actually as a as a chef.Cilium is a great um tool if you're
making gluten free stuff. So wheneverI've made anything like I have a great
(12:41):
pizza, I'm not gluten free,but I cooked for gluten free people.
And cilia are everywhere. They're everywherethey are, especially these days. So
so cilium is a husk and um, you can get a fine powder or
you can actually get it in thehusk and when you combine it with water
it becomes a thick gel. It'sabsolute lutely disgusting. That's why people take
(13:01):
things like metamusil because um, it'sflavored and what that what it does is
it basically bonds to your what's whateveris inside and sharp botching this scientifically,
but um, back the lay it, I can tell you right here she's
referring to her now. So ithas a laxative effect and um, basically
(13:24):
what it does is it it holdsonto water inside of you and softens and
bulks stools so they come out moreeasily. So it's a treatment often for
constipation. But if you are lookingto make gluten free foods that are plying
anything that needs to be pliable orchewy, which if you've worked with gluten
(13:46):
free flowers, there's no gluten inthem, so that it's missing that protein,
so you don't have the same sortof stretchability. Um Cilium can add
that, so if you if youcome by gluten free flour and cilium with
water, then you can get kindof a stretchy dough that's easy to work
with and also when it bakes hasa little more shoe like a traditional dough.
(14:09):
So that's just at or you couldjust buy gluten free stuff that somebody
else already figured all this out untilthat's always a good option. That's always
a good option too. There's alsopolydextros and polyoles, which are made of
glucose and sorbital, so we're talkingabout like sugar alcohols. Those are fiber
and then pectin's inulin resistance start differentkinds of gums like carraghen in that kind
(14:37):
of thing. Those are soluble fibersderived from plant foods as listed above,
and you'll you'll often see these inin processed often gluten free or sugar free
foods. So this is what Idon't get. How is the typical consumer.
Let's take me supposed to know whichof these fancy sounding chemicals listed as
(15:01):
an ingredient in our foods are goodand which ones are bad? Do you
have to actually do a deep diveand learn about all of them? Like
karagenin does not sound good to me, And yet did I even say that
correctly? Yeah, I think it'skaraginin, it's it, or I don't
know, actually it's it's often inplant based milks. Like polydextros does not
(15:22):
sound good. It sounds like polyesterfood, which I don't. Here's my
general answer to that. I thinkthat it's it's very easy to who like.
Whenever I hear somebody say that theydon't eat chemicals, they don't like
chemicals, they stay away from chemicals, it makes me so mad because like,
(15:43):
first of all, chemicals keep usalive. Second of all, everything
is chemicals. Even natural quote unquotenatural things are chemicals. So my opinion
is, in general, you shouldbe working on getting most of your nutrition
from from food, from whole,real food. But also if you if
(16:07):
there's something that you like and it'sprocessed, there's no reason it necessarily has
to be excluded from one's diet,especially on the basis of having those ingredients.
And I think I think allowing ourselvesto give into the fear mongering that
is so prevalent, especially in likediet culture. It's just like a weird
(16:33):
goal of somehow nutritional purity that justdoesn't exist. I don't think that we
need to worry too much about that. I do think, however, whole
fruits and vegetables and grains and youknow, other sources of fiber, things
that are close to the original source, is in general a good thing to
strive for. So fiber is actuallyimportant in reducing the risk of other disease
(17:00):
as well. Yes, so,as I was mentioning before, fiber protects
against diabetes and other blood sugar relatedissues. So fiber can help keep our
blood sugar in check by by managingour absorption of glucose. The other thing
that it helps with is cholesterol levels. So fiber helps helps basically flush out
(17:26):
cholesterol and can keep help keep thoselevels and check. That's why you know
oats are often recommended. I thinksometimes one of the first approaches when somebody
has an issue with cholesterol is tostart with adding oats, and I think
Cheerios kind of tried to jump onthat for a while and try to get
(17:48):
people to eat, you know,eatable of cheerios instead of oats. And
I think because they're made from oats, you probably do get some benefit from
that. But whole oats or steelcut oats? Are you fans you'll cut
out? I am, I'm I'ma fan of making the oatmeal. You
know, the thirty minute thing,but you know, thirty minutes or if
you selk them the night before,I know it's quicker. Yeah, but
(18:12):
don't you be dis in my cheeriosbecause cheerios are kind of a perfect food.
First of all, I love cheeriosand you can make a necklace out
of them. And I was ableto divert my granddaughter's attention when she was
very upset about I don't remember whatrecently, and I said, you know
how they say you shouldn't play withyour food. I disagree. I think
(18:33):
you should play with your food.I mean, why would you not play
with your food if you can?And we made cheerio necklaces, and she
immediately stopped whining about whatever it wasnot that she whines. I digress.
We will discuss cheerios and other mattersrelated to fiber in just a moment.
(18:59):
So here's the thing. About cheeriosbecause I'm not ready to drop the topic
yet. When everybody went nuts aboutwhole grains and all that cheerios are a
whole grain, they always were,they don't have a lot of garbage in
them. And then they had tostart making this kind of cheerio and that
kind of cheerio, and all ofthose have sugar in them. So,
(19:21):
like I feel about popcorn, planeis perfect. Why do you have to
add hallopino? Why do you haveto add caramel or whatever? Do you
put butter on your popcorn? Ido not, really, I do not.
Do you know what my mom usedin the nineties? What my mom
(19:41):
used to put on popcorn? Shewould spray it with pam well because then
the salt will stick pam, andthen she would sprinkle it with Do you
remember Molly McButter? I certainly donot. Who is that? Actually?
It was like butter flavored powder.I'm sure it was. I'm sure it
terrible. It probably had it hada lot of syllables in the ingredients.
(20:06):
I'm sure there's definitely definitely some somegums and cara genin or something in there.
Um. But yeah, I rememberthinking it was delicious and did you
have an air popper in the nineties. Oh of course. Well here's the
thing. I love popcorn. Ilove the crunch, I love the salt.
Is popcorn fiber? Oh yeah?Pop? In fact, that brings
(20:32):
me to one of my next thingsto mention. So popcorn is like pure
fiber popcorn, and it's great unlessyou have something called diverticulitis. Are you
familiar with diverticulitis? Yes, mymother died of the complications of it,
so yes, I know it verywell. Oh my goodness, Well she
was ninety two, so okay,okay, it was okay, um,
(20:56):
yes about it. Did she haveto eat a low fiber diet most of
the time or what was there's somenew research on that, but I was
reading about she was she ate likeshe was really conscious about eating a balanced
diet and health food to the extentthat they had information in any given decade.
(21:22):
So, and this is just alittle aside. Like my mom put
wheat erm on her food. Mymom made yogurt from scratch before yogurt became
a mass commodity that you could buyin stores. She had different locations in
our kitchen where it was dark butdamp, and then another place where the
yogurt would be somewhere for one day, and then it would be up on
(21:42):
the top of the refrigerator, andthen it would be under the sink,
and she knew exactly how many daysbefore it turned into the yogurt to eat.
But yeah, I mean flax seed, all of it, back before
anybody had heard of those things.Yeah, it's enough to give her daughter
disorders. Oh jeez, Well that'sanother issue. But divert there has been
(22:08):
some interesting research about diverticulitis recently,and it sounds like your mom is kind
of ahead of her of her timewith that. The thinking for a long
time has been that people with diverticulatedshould avoid fiber. It is an issue
for people with diverticulitus to have largeseeds and sometimes nuts and popcorn is one
(22:30):
of those. But there has beensome new research that that regular consumption of
fiber when someone with diverticulitis does notis not having a flare up, can
actually be really helpful. And Ishould have said what diverticulitis is before I
start talking about it. So itoccurs when small bulging pouches, which are
(22:52):
called diverticula, develop in one's digestivetrack, and when one or more of
these pouches becomes in flame, thecondition is called diverticulitis. So, um,
you can sort of imagine how largeseeds could be a problem for someone
like that. But for everyone else, popcorn is a great and delicious source
(23:15):
of fiber. And and I happento like putting stuff on popcorn. I
make very good Um let's see,Well, I live in a house of
people who love really spicy food,and so we make um uh, well,
have you ever had the everything butthe alote from Trader Joe's. No,
(23:37):
but I've seen it. I don'tknow what it is. It is
delicious. Do you know what aloteis? Actually not? Please please inform
me. Okay, Mexican street corn. Yes I do know that, yes,
yes, yes, yes, yes, So it's all the flavors of
Mexican street corn. And it's actuallynot that spicy, but it's sort of
in the on the road. It'sa it's a gateway, the gateway spicy
food. So spice sooncha on everything? Yes, yes, it's true,
(24:04):
it's true. Um, so youst so we do butter and um uh,
everything but theolote. But what Irecently started doing is I make,
um, my four year old andmy husband and honestly my two year old.
But she's too little for popcorn.They're all obsessed with buffalo sauce.
(24:27):
So Frank's like Frank's buffalo sauce.You know I'm talking about. Nope,
well you know what buffalo wings.But my, but my, but my
not yet two year old grandson eatspopcorn all the time. Should I be
concerned? It's It's okay, Yeah, he's fine. We we have pictures
(24:48):
of him sitting with his left handin his bowl and his right hand in
his sister's bowl simultaneously. Yeah,you know, good supervision. Probably fine.
But I make a butter and buffalohot sauce. Um, you know
(25:08):
buffalo hot sauces. Right, Yeah, But you're talking to the wrong person
here, because, as I said, I'm a purist. Salt salt,
popcorn salt, okay, in avacuum. Do you like spicy food?
Yeah, well I don't know abouta vacuum, but I like it on
food. But popcorn is a categoryby itself. I feel this way about
(25:30):
certain things. I'm a purist whenit comes to certain things. So yes,
I do like spicy food. Butit doesn't always like me, so
I have to be careful. Thatcan be tricky. Yeah, well we
can. I could talk all daylong about the stuff I like to put
on popcorn. Evan likes to putnutritional yeast on his popcorn. Yeah,
(25:51):
that makes it taste almost like parmesancheesy kind of yeah. Yeah. Um,
all kind good stuff and lots ofpepper, which also can be a
problem for people with diverticulatus. Somy diverticulates cookbook is probably not going to
do very well. Here are mybig takeaways from this show. Gabby tell
(26:12):
me one itis. A lot ofwords end in itislis that means inflammation.
I mean you just sort of setit in passing, But I think it's
one of those things. Oh,that's what that means, Like it's an
inflammation of something. Number two,Eat more fiber. And where you get
(26:33):
more fiber is whole grains, nuts, seeds, vegetables, legumes, green
leafy kinds of things, charred kale, those things. And number three,
don't think that you're out of thewoods because you're under fifty, Because more
and more people under fifty are beingdiagnosed with these illnesses, perhaps due to
(27:00):
a lack of fiber in their diet. Yes, and four, which is
my personal biggest takeaway is popcorn isfiber. I'm so excited, and I
want to just say one little thing. If you're listening to this and you're
realizing that perhaps you should get yourfirst colonoscopy, um, you know,
(27:23):
the prep wasn't fun. But Ihave heard that in the last few years.
They I've got mine like three yearor four years ago. I three
years ago and I had to dothe actual like the prep where you drink
a bunch of stuff. But theythere's a there's a new kind of prep
that is available apparently, but that'sjust a pill, because you know this
a pill and a lot of water. Absolutely not. And I'm not going
(27:48):
to say that I'm looking forward tomy next colonoscopy, but I will dread
it less knowing this information. Andthe actual procedure is not well, it's
nothing because you take the cocktail ofversaid and fentyl. Yes, that is
what you get, and you wakeup and you go, it hasn't happened
(28:10):
yet, and they go, ohno, it already happened. And you
go, oh no, no,I did not happen, and they say,
oh it happened. Yeah, it'sthe best, but only under supervision.
Stay away from all these drugs endless. Yes, you're in a therapeutic
environment to listen to our fentyl episodeif you want to know more. Um.
The other thing is, you know, it can be very scary anytime
(28:30):
you go through a screening. Idefinitely felt this when I had my first
mammogram. O oh god, whatif they find something. That's of course,
you know, the most stressful part. But the good news is most
of the time with um colonoscopies,the um, the biopsy is the cure,
the removal of the polyp um andthe testing of you know, whether
(28:55):
or not it's cancerous. Is isthe cure for so many most of the
time, Well and yeah, well, well and yeah, I mean,
I will just share that in mycase, the biopsy showed that it was
cancer and so I had to havea subsequent surgery and then I was fine.
So bottom line is, we absolutelyhope that they don't find something.
(29:19):
But if we are having these kindsof medical tests prophylactically, meaning if we're
having them to assure early detection,if in fact something is wrong, then
it's good news because had I nothad that cholonoscopy, we would not be
doing this particular podcast right now.Thanks so much for listening to All the
(29:48):
F Words today. We invite youto communicate with us. We are at
All the F Words Pod at gmaildot com. You can also find us
on social media. As I said, we are on Instagram, Twitter,
Facebook, and YouTube at All theEfforts Pod. Have a great week.
Bye Eat Fiber.
Welcome to All the Efforts, apodcast where two writer friends nearly thirty years
apart, explore everything we give anf about. I'm Gabby Moskowitz and I'm
joe Anne green On. Each episodeof All the Efforts will focus on a
theme, starting with the letter F, things like fire, frustration, and
fruit. We'll share stories from ourlives and our distinct generational perspectives and look
(00:28):
to the experts for insights and ideas. Today, we're talking about fiber,
the dietary variety. Why is thereanother variety? Oh, I guess,
yeah, the kind of clothing andfabric okay, and like fiber optics whatever
that is. I don't know,dietary fiber. Yes, we are talking
about dietary fiber. It may notbe one of our most glamorous topics,
(00:48):
but it is a very important one, and we'll get into that sexy.
Do you know, Joanne, thatcolon cancer is showing up with increasing prevalence
in younger adults, people under fifty. I hate hearing that. It's actually
estimated that one in ten colon cancersand one in four rectal cancers will be
(01:10):
diagnosed in adults under fifty. Isn'tthis is really newsworthy. Why are we
breaking this story? Yeah, Imeans as opposed to like splashing it across
the New York Times front page.Well, it's been there, it's been
it's it's it's something that is gettingtalked more. It's you know, it's
not a like we said in ourintro, it's not a glamorous topic.
(01:33):
But it's something that is becoming moreand more concerning. A lot of doctors
are starting to recommend earlier colonoscopies andthat especially like in my case, Um,
I have there's colon cancer on bothsides of my family. So I
actually had my first colonoscope when Iwas in my late thirties. So much
fun. It's so much fun.So you know, it wasn't bad.
(01:56):
I think we talked about my colonoscoPabe. We've talked about colonoscopies a few
times podcast, because we do loveto. That's why we get the big
That's why we get the big dumbloads. Yeah. Um yeah. If you're
in if you're into colonoscopy, taughtyou came to the right place. Oh
my god, I have to interruptyou for just one second and tell you
the craziest thing tell me, sothe way the algorithm algorithms on Amazon work.
(02:22):
You know, my book is nowavailable for pre order, and I
must have had to check every possibletopic that my book covered, so you
know, accident, injury, illness, loss, hurricane, colon cancer.
So I got notified that my bookis in the top ten of new books
(02:43):
on colorectal cancer. Oh my god, that it's really not about But it's
not about that at all, Sodon't buy it if you want to learn
more about colon cancer, except exceptabout why you should have a colonoscopy,
because again and no symptoms, nosymptoms, and they said, missus Green,
(03:04):
we think you have cancer. Sothere you have it. Early detection
really important as a as an asidebut related thing to books about calling cancer.
Mike father in law is a longtime social work or professional professor of
social work and has done a lotof professional writing. And he wrote like
(03:29):
maybe a foreword or a part ofa book based on someone else's experience called
CANS about someone having I believe rectalcancer, and it's called cancer up the
Wazoo. That's kind of a cooltitle. I will say. Okay,
now let's go back what I'm mostinterested in here is why they think they
(03:52):
being the experts, what the epidemiologists, why they think there is this precipitous
rise in the incident colorectal cancer inyounger people. So there is there's strong
evidence that the development of colorectal canceris related to diet and lifestyle. And
(04:13):
we're a lot more sedentary then wewere fifty years ago, and we eat
less fiber because we eat a lotmore processed foods. So the recommended amount
for children and adults is twenty tothirty five grams of fiber a day.
Most Americans only get around fifteen gramsper day people eating what they call the
(04:36):
standard American diet. And you know, there are a lot of nuances to
what food people eat. And Idon't like to get judgmental or you know,
talk about people just not doing whatthey need to do, as if
it's so easy. We live ina place where we have both the means
(04:57):
and easy access to all kinds ofhealthy food. But there are people who
live in food deserts. There arepeople who for whom it's not a financially
viable thing. So for a varietyof reasons, Americans are not consuming as
much fiber as they used to,and there is a lot of thought that
(05:19):
that is contributing to the uptick inthese diagnoses. So two things. First
of all, I just want toexplain what a food desert is for those
of you for whom this is anunfamiliar term. There are many places in
this country, in particularly inner cities, where there's easy access to fast food,
(05:39):
cheap fast food, and limited accessto fresh foods, fresh fruits and
vegetables for instance. So there mayeven be some foods sold in say a
large pharmacy I don't know what they'recalled, like a CVS or write Aid
or a wall Greens. Sometimes theyhave food, Rarely do they have fresh
(06:03):
food, and when they do,you might be paying a few dollars for
an apple. It's like airport pricesperfect, it is, right. So
a food desert is an area whereyou don't have options. Now, what
makes this so serious is that ina place where people have limited access first
(06:24):
of all, to resources, tomoney, maybe don't have cars to drive
to an area where they can haveaccess to a wider range of fresh foods,
they're paying more and essentially getting less. And then when we talk about
five or specifically you know, Ithink about it as something that I get
(06:44):
in bread, but that's because Ieat whole grain bread. But if you're
going to a fast food place andpicking up a burger that is not necessarily
a whole grain butt, that istrue. That is true, And I
want to actually get into to exactlywhat fiber is. I think probably most
of our listeners have some sense,but um, I learned a little bit
(07:08):
more about it than I had knownbefore, So teach, let me tell
you, okay. So, fiberis a type of carbohydrate that the body
cannot digest. So most carves arebroken down into sugar molecules called glucose,
which use for energy. But fibercannot be broken down into sugar and instead
(07:30):
passes through the body undigested. Andthis helps to regulate a few things.
It helps regulate our body's use ofsugars, and so that helps to keep
hunger as well as blood sugar incheck. So that's why, um,
you'll often hear doctors talk about howyou need to focus on bat protein and
fiber in order to stay satiated andalso in order to control blood glucose to
(07:56):
prevent things like pre diabetes and diabetes, to text your insulin um. But
then fiber also does something else,which is it helps with passage of waste.
It helps flush out are lower intestines. So there are two kinds of
fiber. Um. They're soluble fiberwhich dissolves in water and can help lower
(08:18):
glucose levels and also lower blood cholesterol, which is really important. So that
is those are foods like oatmeal,gf seeds, nuts, beans, lentils,
apples, and blueberries. The obviouslymost of those. They're all very
(08:39):
delicious foods. Basically anything you wouldput in um, you know, an
overnight oatmeal bowl. It's like avery a lot of breakfast fibers. We
think of our soluble fiber. Nowthere's insoluble fiber, which is also very
important. It does not dissolve inwater. It can help and it helps
(09:01):
food move through your digestive system,which promotes regularity and also helps prevent the
dreaded sea one of the dreaded seasconstipation. I told you this was going
to be a not so glamorous butimportant episode. Not so glamorous, but
you know, Americans are so squeamishabout talking about bodily functions and get off.
(09:22):
We need to get over ourselves,because this is all just part of
staying healthy. Absolutely for us fortalking about this unglamorous topic. And you
know, what's less glamorous than eatingfiber for your constipation. What's even less
glamorous is being constipated. So forso for insoluble fiber that includes whole wheat
(09:48):
products, you know, per yourreference to whole grain bread, things like
quinoa, which is actually a seed, not a grain, brown rice,
leg bombs, um, leafy greenslike kale and almond and kale, and
then also almond which is not chardyep, charred uh walnuts, seeds and
(10:13):
fruits with edible skins so um,pears and apples, and interesting, I
found apples listed in both. Ithink that the skins of apples are insoluble,
but the the fruit inside of theskin is soluble. So if you
eat an apple you get a doublewhammy of two kinds of fiber. I
have a question, Yeah, teacher, teacher, call on me. What
(10:37):
is the difference between a legum anda bean? Uh? So? No,
well, sometimes, um my,I'm not I'm not sure exactly I
should know this, but like whatthe general difference is. I know that
I believe pe so legumes include uhlagoons includes peanuts and peas. And then
(11:07):
there are some beans that are ina different category. Um, I don't
know exactly. Maybe we can ifif if we ever, um, if
we ever given to Bred's idea thatwe do a flatulence episode, I will
definitely do some heavy bean research.She won't let me do it. See,
this is where you eat like fiber. Yes, but farting, No,
(11:30):
okay, you do, you can. Absolutely, we can incorporate farting.
There's fiber and farting have a lot. We should just do that included
in this episode. So here's thething, bottom line. Eat seeds,
eat nuts, eat beans, eatfruit, eat full grains. Yeah,
what else do we need to know? Absolutely? Okay? So um so
(11:56):
there there's one. So well thereare There are also some functional um fibers.
If you're not able to get fiberfrom a food source, and so
that is stuff like cilium. Haveyou ever used cilium before? I cannot
say that. I have no.Have you ever had taken metamucilum? No?
(12:18):
I actually have not. Oh wow, let's just say this is not
a problem area. Well that's great, good for you. Um Cilium is
actually as a as a chef.Cilium is a great um tool if you're
making gluten free stuff. So wheneverI've made anything like I have a great
(12:41):
pizza, I'm not gluten free,but I cooked for gluten free people.
And cilia are everywhere. They're everywherethey are, especially these days. So
so cilium is a husk and um, you can get a fine powder or
you can actually get it in thehusk and when you combine it with water
it becomes a thick gel. It'sabsolute lutely disgusting. That's why people take
(13:01):
things like metamusil because um, it'sflavored and what that what it does is
it basically bonds to your what's whateveris inside and sharp botching this scientifically,
but um, back the lay it, I can tell you right here she's
referring to her now. So ithas a laxative effect and um, basically
(13:24):
what it does is it it holdsonto water inside of you and softens and
bulks stools so they come out moreeasily. So it's a treatment often for
constipation. But if you are lookingto make gluten free foods that are plying
anything that needs to be pliable orchewy, which if you've worked with gluten
(13:46):
free flowers, there's no gluten inthem, so that it's missing that protein,
so you don't have the same sortof stretchability. Um Cilium can add
that, so if you if youcome by gluten free flour and cilium with
water, then you can get kindof a stretchy dough that's easy to work
with and also when it bakes hasa little more shoe like a traditional dough.
(14:09):
So that's just at or you couldjust buy gluten free stuff that somebody
else already figured all this out untilthat's always a good option. That's always
a good option too. There's alsopolydextros and polyoles, which are made of
glucose and sorbital, so we're talkingabout like sugar alcohols. Those are fiber
and then pectin's inulin resistance start differentkinds of gums like carraghen in that kind
(14:37):
of thing. Those are soluble fibersderived from plant foods as listed above,
and you'll you'll often see these inin processed often gluten free or sugar free
foods. So this is what Idon't get. How is the typical consumer.
Let's take me supposed to know whichof these fancy sounding chemicals listed as
(15:01):
an ingredient in our foods are goodand which ones are bad? Do you
have to actually do a deep diveand learn about all of them? Like
karagenin does not sound good to me, And yet did I even say that
correctly? Yeah, I think it'skaraginin, it's it, or I don't
know, actually it's it's often inplant based milks. Like polydextros does not
(15:22):
sound good. It sounds like polyesterfood, which I don't. Here's my
general answer to that. I thinkthat it's it's very easy to who like.
Whenever I hear somebody say that theydon't eat chemicals, they don't like
chemicals, they stay away from chemicals, it makes me so mad because like,
(15:43):
first of all, chemicals keep usalive. Second of all, everything
is chemicals. Even natural quote unquotenatural things are chemicals. So my opinion
is, in general, you shouldbe working on getting most of your nutrition
from from food, from whole,real food. But also if you if
(16:07):
there's something that you like and it'sprocessed, there's no reason it necessarily has
to be excluded from one's diet,especially on the basis of having those ingredients.
And I think I think allowing ourselvesto give into the fear mongering that
is so prevalent, especially in likediet culture. It's just like a weird
(16:33):
goal of somehow nutritional purity that justdoesn't exist. I don't think that we
need to worry too much about that. I do think, however, whole
fruits and vegetables and grains and youknow, other sources of fiber, things
that are close to the original source, is in general a good thing to
strive for. So fiber is actuallyimportant in reducing the risk of other disease
(17:00):
as well. Yes, so,as I was mentioning before, fiber protects
against diabetes and other blood sugar relatedissues. So fiber can help keep our
blood sugar in check by by managingour absorption of glucose. The other thing
that it helps with is cholesterol levels. So fiber helps helps basically flush out
(17:26):
cholesterol and can keep help keep thoselevels and check. That's why you know
oats are often recommended. I thinksometimes one of the first approaches when somebody
has an issue with cholesterol is tostart with adding oats, and I think
Cheerios kind of tried to jump onthat for a while and try to get
(17:48):
people to eat, you know,eatable of cheerios instead of oats. And
I think because they're made from oats, you probably do get some benefit from
that. But whole oats or steelcut oats? Are you fans you'll cut
out? I am, I'm I'ma fan of making the oatmeal. You
know, the thirty minute thing,but you know, thirty minutes or if
you selk them the night before,I know it's quicker. Yeah, but
(18:12):
don't you be dis in my cheeriosbecause cheerios are kind of a perfect food.
First of all, I love cheeriosand you can make a necklace out
of them. And I was ableto divert my granddaughter's attention when she was
very upset about I don't remember whatrecently, and I said, you know
how they say you shouldn't play withyour food. I disagree. I think
(18:33):
you should play with your food.I mean, why would you not play
with your food if you can?And we made cheerio necklaces, and she
immediately stopped whining about whatever it wasnot that she whines. I digress.
We will discuss cheerios and other mattersrelated to fiber in just a moment.
(18:59):
So here's the thing. About cheeriosbecause I'm not ready to drop the topic
yet. When everybody went nuts aboutwhole grains and all that cheerios are a
whole grain, they always were,they don't have a lot of garbage in
them. And then they had tostart making this kind of cheerio and that
kind of cheerio, and all ofthose have sugar in them. So,
(19:21):
like I feel about popcorn, planeis perfect. Why do you have to
add hallopino? Why do you haveto add caramel or whatever? Do you
put butter on your popcorn? Ido not, really, I do not.
Do you know what my mom usedin the nineties? What my mom
(19:41):
used to put on popcorn? Shewould spray it with pam well because then
the salt will stick pam, andthen she would sprinkle it with Do you
remember Molly McButter? I certainly donot. Who is that? Actually?
It was like butter flavored powder.I'm sure it was. I'm sure it
terrible. It probably had it hada lot of syllables in the ingredients.
(20:06):
I'm sure there's definitely definitely some somegums and cara genin or something in there.
Um. But yeah, I rememberthinking it was delicious and did you
have an air popper in the nineties. Oh of course. Well here's the
thing. I love popcorn. Ilove the crunch, I love the salt.
Is popcorn fiber? Oh yeah?Pop? In fact, that brings
(20:32):
me to one of my next thingsto mention. So popcorn is like pure
fiber popcorn, and it's great unlessyou have something called diverticulitis. Are you
familiar with diverticulitis? Yes, mymother died of the complications of it,
so yes, I know it verywell. Oh my goodness, Well she
was ninety two, so okay,okay, it was okay, um,
(20:56):
yes about it. Did she haveto eat a low fiber diet most of
the time or what was there's somenew research on that, but I was
reading about she was she ate likeshe was really conscious about eating a balanced
diet and health food to the extentthat they had information in any given decade.
(21:22):
So, and this is just alittle aside. Like my mom put
wheat erm on her food. Mymom made yogurt from scratch before yogurt became
a mass commodity that you could buyin stores. She had different locations in
our kitchen where it was dark butdamp, and then another place where the
yogurt would be somewhere for one day, and then it would be up on
(21:42):
the top of the refrigerator, andthen it would be under the sink,
and she knew exactly how many daysbefore it turned into the yogurt to eat.
But yeah, I mean flax seed, all of it, back before
anybody had heard of those things.Yeah, it's enough to give her daughter
disorders. Oh jeez, Well that'sanother issue. But divert there has been
(22:08):
some interesting research about diverticulitis recently,and it sounds like your mom is kind
of ahead of her of her timewith that. The thinking for a long
time has been that people with diverticulatedshould avoid fiber. It is an issue
for people with diverticulitus to have largeseeds and sometimes nuts and popcorn is one
(22:30):
of those. But there has beensome new research that that regular consumption of
fiber when someone with diverticulitis does notis not having a flare up, can
actually be really helpful. And Ishould have said what diverticulitis is before I
start talking about it. So itoccurs when small bulging pouches, which are
(22:52):
called diverticula, develop in one's digestivetrack, and when one or more of
these pouches becomes in flame, thecondition is called diverticulitis. So, um,
you can sort of imagine how largeseeds could be a problem for someone
like that. But for everyone else, popcorn is a great and delicious source
(23:15):
of fiber. And and I happento like putting stuff on popcorn. I
make very good Um let's see,Well, I live in a house of
people who love really spicy food,and so we make um uh, well,
have you ever had the everything butthe alote from Trader Joe's. No,
(23:37):
but I've seen it. I don'tknow what it is. It is
delicious. Do you know what aloteis? Actually not? Please please inform
me. Okay, Mexican street corn. Yes I do know that, yes,
yes, yes, yes, yes, So it's all the flavors of
Mexican street corn. And it's actuallynot that spicy, but it's sort of
in the on the road. It'sa it's a gateway, the gateway spicy
food. So spice sooncha on everything? Yes, yes, it's true,
(24:04):
it's true. Um, so youst so we do butter and um uh,
everything but theolote. But what Irecently started doing is I make,
um, my four year old andmy husband and honestly my two year old.
But she's too little for popcorn.They're all obsessed with buffalo sauce.
(24:27):
So Frank's like Frank's buffalo sauce.You know I'm talking about. Nope,
well you know what buffalo wings.But my, but my, but my
not yet two year old grandson eatspopcorn all the time. Should I be
concerned? It's It's okay, Yeah, he's fine. We we have pictures
(24:48):
of him sitting with his left handin his bowl and his right hand in
his sister's bowl simultaneously. Yeah,you know, good supervision. Probably fine.
But I make a butter and buffalohot sauce. Um, you know
(25:08):
buffalo hot sauces. Right, Yeah, But you're talking to the wrong person
here, because, as I said, I'm a purist. Salt salt,
popcorn salt, okay, in avacuum. Do you like spicy food?
Yeah, well I don't know abouta vacuum, but I like it on
food. But popcorn is a categoryby itself. I feel this way about
(25:30):
certain things. I'm a purist whenit comes to certain things. So yes,
I do like spicy food. Butit doesn't always like me, so
I have to be careful. Thatcan be tricky. Yeah, well we
can. I could talk all daylong about the stuff I like to put
on popcorn. Evan likes to putnutritional yeast on his popcorn. Yeah,
(25:51):
that makes it taste almost like parmesancheesy kind of yeah. Yeah. Um,
all kind good stuff and lots ofpepper, which also can be a
problem for people with diverticulatus. Somy diverticulates cookbook is probably not going to
do very well. Here are mybig takeaways from this show. Gabby tell
(26:12):
me one itis. A lot ofwords end in itislis that means inflammation.
I mean you just sort of setit in passing, But I think it's
one of those things. Oh,that's what that means, Like it's an
inflammation of something. Number two,Eat more fiber. And where you get
(26:33):
more fiber is whole grains, nuts, seeds, vegetables, legumes, green
leafy kinds of things, charred kale, those things. And number three,
don't think that you're out of thewoods because you're under fifty, Because more
and more people under fifty are beingdiagnosed with these illnesses, perhaps due to
(27:00):
a lack of fiber in their diet. Yes, and four, which is
my personal biggest takeaway is popcorn isfiber. I'm so excited, and I
want to just say one little thing. If you're listening to this and you're
realizing that perhaps you should get yourfirst colonoscopy, um, you know,
(27:23):
the prep wasn't fun. But Ihave heard that in the last few years.
They I've got mine like three yearor four years ago. I three
years ago and I had to dothe actual like the prep where you drink
a bunch of stuff. But theythere's a there's a new kind of prep
that is available apparently, but that'sjust a pill, because you know this
a pill and a lot of water. Absolutely not. And I'm not going
(27:48):
to say that I'm looking forward tomy next colonoscopy, but I will dread
it less knowing this information. Andthe actual procedure is not well, it's
nothing because you take the cocktail ofversaid and fentyl. Yes, that is
what you get, and you wakeup and you go, it hasn't happened
(28:10):
yet, and they go, ohno, it already happened. And you
go, oh no, no,I did not happen, and they say,
oh it happened. Yeah, it'sthe best, but only under supervision.
Stay away from all these drugs endless. Yes, you're in a therapeutic
environment to listen to our fentyl episodeif you want to know more. Um.
The other thing is, you know, it can be very scary anytime
(28:30):
you go through a screening. Idefinitely felt this when I had my first
mammogram. O oh god, whatif they find something. That's of course,
you know, the most stressful part. But the good news is most
of the time with um colonoscopies,the um, the biopsy is the cure,
the removal of the polyp um andthe testing of you know, whether
(28:55):
or not it's cancerous. Is isthe cure for so many most of the
time, Well and yeah, well, well and yeah, I mean,
I will just share that in mycase, the biopsy showed that it was
cancer and so I had to havea subsequent surgery and then I was fine.
So bottom line is, we absolutelyhope that they don't find something.
(29:19):
But if we are having these kindsof medical tests prophylactically, meaning if we're
having them to assure early detection,if in fact something is wrong, then
it's good news because had I nothad that cholonoscopy, we would not be
doing this particular podcast right now.Thanks so much for listening to All the
(29:48):
F Words today. We invite youto communicate with us. We are at
All the F Words Pod at gmaildot com. You can also find us
on social media. As I said, we are on Instagram, Twitter,
Facebook, and YouTube at All theEfforts Pod. Have a great week.
Bye Eat Fiber.
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