Most nutrition conscious people today are aware of the importance of fiber in their daily diet, although they may not fully understand why. They may not know there are many different types of fiber found in various foods which perform equally important, but distinctively different, functions in our digestive process.

Fiber keeps the entire gastrointestinal system functioning smoothly. In fact, if your diet is deficient in fiber, and this unfortunately applies to most of us, nothing you could do would restore the smile of health to your face faster than to correct this deficiency.

Most people tend to think of fiber as a laxative, primarily to use when symptoms of constipation occur. This is unfortunate since few of us need laxatives at all. Constipation, in an otherwise normal person, is an almost certain indication of inadequate fiber intake and, consequently, an improperly functioning gastrointestinal system. Fiber will certainly correct constipation, but it is not a laxative. It is an internal regulator. You should not take a laxative that is going to roar through your system overnight like an internal rotor-rooter. You want something that is going to maintain a normal transit time for food to pass through your body and make elimination regular and easy. Any artificial increase in the transit time through your body defeats the function of your natural internal laboratory where all nutritional processes take place. Laxatives are the wrong way to deal with a problem that can be handled simply by allowing your body to function the way it was made to function.