They always say eating lesser amounts of pure sugar is better than lots of sugar substitutes provided you supplement the sugar with fiber which makes it harder to absorb. even otherwise, they say high fiber diet is great for weight loss, healthy heart and healthy colon. So can I drink a glass of metamucil/citrucel (1 tbsp in water) every night to get that effect without eating the cardboard-like cereals/breads? Some taste just like water/OJ.
Also those are pure fibers and have no sugar/fat. would it help me to absorb lesser sugar and fats? (that doesnt mean I will eat more sugar/fatty food in the day).
Is it safe to drink metamucil everyday (for weight loss reasons) even if I do not have any constipation/bowel problems?
One thing to keep in mind is the fiber content of Metamucil isn't all that high. I checked the web site and depending upon the product, you'll get from like 2.5 -5 grams of the stuff in a serving of the stuff.. caplets or in a drink. You need 25-30 a day for good health so that would be a LOT of fiber pills.
I find if pretty easy to get my required amount and am over it every day.. I usually end up with 40-50 a day, but I need that since I do have pre-existing condition. And I don't eat ANYTHING that tastes like cardboard
As far as it being safe to take a supplement like that, I would say that you really should ask your doctor. Better be safe than sorry and she/he might be able to give you an answer just with a phone call!
Beans are pretty good source of fiber. Most vegetables have some fiber.
huhs.harvard.edu/PDF/FiberContentNutritiionFall2004a.pdf is a good list.
I also eat Bob's Red Mill High Fiber Cereal. It has 10 g of fiber per serving. I usually eat 2 servings in the morning. Keeps me full and I don't want to munch all morning long. All-Bran and Fiber One are both good cold cereals that have a lot of fiber.
willmakeit, to get the effect of fiber slowing down the absorption of sugar, you need to eat fiber and sugar at the same time. Plus if you are drinking regular metamucil, that in itself has sugar in it (unless you are doing the pills). There are lots of foods that have fiber in them and don't taste like cardboard. Most veggies have good fiber as well as fruit (but also the fruit sugar to go along with it), beans and whole grains have fiber. I think fiber is good and I think slowing down the absorption is good but protein and fat also help slow down the absorption of sugar.
There are sugar free metamucil/citrucel/benefiber flavours available. Most have no fat/no protein/no sugar. just fiber 5-6 gms. Benefiber recommend taking 1-2 servings 3 times a day which is 15-30 gms a day of fiber. I have benefiber which tastes like water.
Just my opinion but I think you'd do better to get your fiber mainly from food. And your body NEEDS a little sugar to feed your brain. I don't think that any diet that eliminates one food group totally (like fat or sugar) is one that you live with for the rest of your life, nor is it healthy in the long run. But that's just my opinion, not trying to start an argument here.
But isnt this fiber the same as fiber in foods? for example what is the difference between a whole fruit like say 2 clementines and having 1/2 cup Orange juice with 1-2 tbsp of benefiber?
Willmakeit, I know there are sugar free forms of metamucil but I thought you were trying to avoid artificial sweeteners. Every sugar free fiber drink I've looked at has artificial sweeteners. For my DF, I buy sugar free metamucil and I forget which artificial sweetener it has in it. I don't use because of the sweetener but I use straight psyllium husk powder. It doesn't really make much sense to me if you are trying to avoid artificial sweeteners and then use a fiber product that contains them.
As far as cereals go, not all of them have fat and sugar. I personally like spoon size shredded wheat if I was going to eat cereal. I generally don't eat cereal but I do stock oatmeal (which also doesn't have fat or sugars). I buy a brand of bread that doesn't add any sweeteners to it. It really is the best bread I've ever had.
But isnt this fiber the same as fiber in foods? for example what is the difference between a whole fruit like say 2 clementines and having 1/2 cup Orange juice with 1-2 tbsp of benefiber?
Whole foods rather than fiber supplements are generally better. Fiber supplements — such as Metamucil, Citrucel and FiberCon — don't provide the vitamins, minerals and other beneficial nutrients that high-fiber foods do. However, some people may still need a fiber supplement if dietary changes aren't sufficient, or if they have certain medical conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome. Check with your doctor if you feel you need to take fiber supplements.
When you mentioned metamucil, I thought you were talking about... well metamucil Anyway, I am not familiar with guar gum based fiber supplements such as benefiber. I don't actually trust fiber that I can't see or taste Psyllium husk powder is a really good form of fiber if you want a supplement, but guar gum may also be a good form of fiber, I'm just not familiar with it.
I would recommend getting fiber from foods as well because fibrous foods contain a lot of nutrients. As I said before, if you want to use fiber to slow the absorption of sugar, you will need to eat fiber at every instance where you eat sugar.
hey, jumping in.
I take fiber slupliment. I use high fiber cereals too.I personally have to be careful about the suger free fiber suplimemts as some of the fake suger does not like me
But you ask what the difference between eating 2 clementines and juice with fiber in it. CALORIES. most juice is very high in sugar and calories, where as whole fruit is not.
I prefer to get my fiber through whole foods, too. It eliminates the amount of refined carbohydrates I consume (by substituting whole-wheat bread for white bread, for example). While I don't know if supplements are bad or good, I do know that when you take a fiber supplement instead of eating high-fiber grains, you're missing out on all the other good things that are in whole grains - phytonutrients, vitamin E, magnesium, copper, etc. - and the synergy that happens with multitudes of nutrients present.
The difference between a glass of juice and 2 clementines is that you're missing out on all the good stuff found in the pulp and pithe of the fruit (pectin fiber, more vitamin C, etc.).
High fiber diet
but I think you'd do better to get your fiber mainly from food. And your body NEEDS a little sugar to feed your brain. I don't think that any diet that eliminates one food group totally (like fat or sugar) is one that you live with for the rest of your life, nor is it healthy in the long run. But that's just my opinion, not trying to start an argument here. 
