Before food science started to focus on the entire list of nutrients, people in the past frequently would consume foods that contained substances that they did not want to eat. But they ate these “negatives” (fat-salt-sugar) because it was the only way to get a specific needed nutrient. Fiber (called roughage) is an excellent example:

Super-high fiber breakfast cereal called All Bran. The old original All Bran breakfast cereal had twice the fiber of a true whole grain cereal, but to make it more palatable very large amounts of salt and sugar were added. Because the cereal was so effective in relieving and preventing constipation and was recommended by medical experts, people ignored the high sugar and salt. At one time it was the only “super high fiber” cereal available.

Remember:
The human animal needs from 25 –35 grams of fiber each day, and the average American consumes around 10 grams per day. What’s available in the year 2006?

Answer:
These cereals listed below do not take the place of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains as the foundation of a healthy eating style. But they are highly recommended because they are so “easy” to add to one’s diet, and they have such a large amount of a very key nutrient (fiber) without any negatives.

Still Available

* Fiber One Now has 14 grams of fiber with NO added sugar and very minimal salt.

* New All Bran (almost identical ingredients as Fiber One)

Also Now Available (Year 2006)

Check the nutrition labels and the infomercials on both the front and backs of cereal boxes. There are now dozens of cereals available in the middle range of five to ten (5 to 10) grams of fiber per serving. These are “fiber-added”, because natural whole grains usually have only three to five (3 to 5) grams.