I’m big on digestive health and think you should be too. Most of you know this. You know how I struggled with regular flow, one extreme time landing me in the emergency room. I thought I must have needed surgery for something that was surely coming apart in my insides. The issue was not a torn hernia or appendicitis but excessive compaction. That’s right. I had eaten too many non-juicy foods that made their way through only half of my intestines then stopped. That traffic jam had my system backed up and had me bent over all because of what I chose to eat. And this is the case for most Americans. In fact just this week one of my mom’s doctors said that 75 percent of all Americans would get diverticulosis, a condition that my mom has where out-pouches have formed in her intestines from foods struggling to pass through. He said “this is an inevitable part of growing old, except for those who take in fiber.”

So 75 percent of all Americans DON’T HAVE to get diverticulosis whose problems range from discomfort from food and feces getting stuck in the out pouches and inflaming the intestines (changing the condition while inflamed to diverticulitis) to life threatening bacterial infections forming from festering waste that didn’t pass through. To avoid the horror of this condition, all we have to do is add fiber to our diet. Following are some of my favorite foods and their fiber content to help you get in your daily recommended allowance of 25 grams for a woman on a 2,000 calorie diet and 30 grams for a man on a 2,500 calorie diet:

½ cup of (uncooked) pinto beans=18.8 grams
¼ cup of yellow split peas=12 grams
1 cup cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans) =12 grams
¾ cup of cooked broccoli=7 grams
3 (unpopped) tbsp. popcorn=6 grams
1 baked potato=5 grams
½ cup of oatmeal=4 grams
1 medium apple=4 grams
1 cup of brown rice=3.5 grams
1 medium orange=3.1 grams
¼ cup of almonds=3 grams
¼ cup of raisins=2 grams
¼ cup of pumpkin seeds=2 grams

Not to dampen your Christmas cheer, I just want you to make sure you add some fiber to your mix as you are getting your grub on. I’m not talking about drinking some fiber supplement but getting fiber in throughout the day with food. If you do this, and drink plenty of water to push the fiber through, you may be okay doing some damage at the dinner table this weekend. You will even be preserving your body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, to offer to Jesus as a living sacrifice to Him. What a perfect gift to give our Savior in celebration of His birth.

Merry Christmas! How do you plan to add fiber to your holiday food mix?