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The numbers are staggering. Obesity currently accounts for an estimated 400,000 deaths annually, costing us nearly $122.9 billion in health care-related expenses. In 2004, the US Centers for Disease Control ranked obesity as the number one health threat facing America today.

While there are many factors at play in the country's overburdened bathroom scales, there's mounting evidence that a key ingredient missing from the typical American diet may also be the key to beating obesity. That ingredient is fiber.

In a recent study involving 1700 overweight men and women, researchers found that those with the highest fiber intake also experienced the greatest weight loss over a period of 24 months. These results are credited to the fact that fiber helps to slow the movement of food through the body, reducing the pangs of hunger and, by extension, our overall intake of food. Diets high in dietary fiber also actually decrease the number of the calories absorbed from the food we ingest.

The typical American diet is high in animal fats and proteins as well as refined carbohydrates, which means that the fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains high in dietary fiber are often missing from our plates. This is bad news for more than one reason.

Studies have shown not only that obesity is dramatically less common in countries where fiber intake is highest, so are many of the diseases typically associated with Western, industrialized nations. Those diseases include heart attack, high blood pressure, diabetes and colon cancer.

Fiber plays a role not only in keeping us healthy and helping us lose weight, but helping to keep us from gaining weight in the first place. Some researchers have actually calculated that if Americans doubled their intake for fiber, they could cut 100 calories from their daily diet - which would shave off 10 pounds of yearly weight gain.

For these and other reasons, more and more health-conscious individuals are seeking to increase their daily intake of fiber. Supplements can play a key role in achieving this goal by offering dietary fiber in a convenient and ready-to-use form.

However, all supplements are not created equal.

Fiber supplements have traditionally come in a powder form that has to be mixed with water, forming a gritty, chalky mix. It's a format most people find distasteful and hard to swallow. Manufacturers have tried to address this problem by putting fiber in a capsule form, but suggested doses are often in the 10-30 capsule range, which many have found equally hard to take.

Finally, a new medical discovery makes it easy to consume adequate amounts of fiber for its desired weight loss health benefits. Ready Fiber is the world’s first and only clear liquid fiber supplement. Originally developed for hospital patients who could not use traditional fiber supplements, this proprietary formula contains only 100% soluble fiber that has only recently become available to the public. Ready Fiber's new, highly concentrated, natural formula offers 12 grams of fiber (the equivalent of six bowls of broccoli) per one ounce serving, in contrast to 3-5 grams per serving of the leading the leading fiber supplements.

Jim Caras is the owner of Health Direct, the manufacturer of Ready Fiber. If you'd like to give Ready Fiber a try, Health Direct is offering a $3 manufacturer's rebate on your first purchase. Go to www.ReadyFiberRebate.com to download your free rebate coupon.

Labels: clear liquid fiber, diabetes, diabetes mellitus type 2, digestive health, fiber supplement, fiber supplements, fiber vitamin, high fiber, obesity, Ready Fiber, regularity, soluble fiber, weight loss

Until now, individuals who wanted the health benefits of fiber had only two options: chalky, gritty powders you had to mix with water and quickly choke down (in order to keep it from turning to sludge) or handfuls of hard-to-swallow pills (often 20-30 at a time.)

But now there is a real alternative. Originally developed for hospital patients who could not use the traditional fiber supplements, Ready Fiber is the world’s first and only clear liquid fiber supplement. Once available only to physicians and specialists within the medical field, Ready Fiber is now available to the consumer.

Ready Fiber is ideal for individuals with busy lifestyles looking to improve their health. Unlike traditional supplements, Ready Fiber requires no mixing or water, no mess, and no clean-up. This highly concentrated formula provides 12 grams of soluble fiber per ounce, which is 400% more fiber than the leading fiber supplement. And it's tasteless, odorless and can be taken straight from the bottle as a daily “shot of health,” or added to any food and beverage (hot or cold) with no change in consistency. It is also fortified with prebiotic FOS, clinically to support healthy intestinal flora, making Ready Fiber a breakthrough supplement for complete digestive health.

According to the National Fiber Council, the health benefits of fiber include increased regularity and relief from constipation, as well as a lowered risk of life-threatening diseases and conditions such as heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, and certain cancers. Fiber can help lower cholesterol by helping to absorb fat and cholesterol from food and can play a key role in weight loss by decreasing the number of calories absorbed per day and by helping individuals feel fuller, longer.

The recommended daily allowance of fiber is 32 grams for a healthy adult. But according to the Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition, the average American barely consumes half that amount per day (10-15.) Traditional supplements provide only 3-5 grams of fiber on average, while one serving of Ready Fiber provides nearly 40% of the recommended daily allowance of fiber (as much as six bowls of broccoli) in each convenient one-ounce serving.

Want to give Ready Fiber a try? Health Direct is offering a $3.00 manufacturer's rebate on your first purchase. Go to http://www.readyfiberrebate.com/ to download your free rebate coupon.

Health Direct is a leading distributor of innovative, high-quality liquid supplements nationwide. Other Health Direct products include Fluid Motion (joint supplement formula), Sculpt n’ Cleanse (colon cleansing system), and AminoSculpt (liquid collagen supplement.) More information at www.HealthDirectUSA.com.

Fiber: it’s contained in the vegetables and whole grains missing from the typical American diet. It’s also contained in the chalky, gritty powders and pills that, until the recent new breakthrough, have been the only form of supplement on the market.

Most people know that fiber can help with regularity. Increasingly, many are also aware that fiber helps to protect against such common health risks as obesity, diabetes, heart attack, and certain cancers. But few know that fiber actually comes in two forms, and that these forms have very different characteristics.

Dietary fiber occurs in nature in both an insoluble and soluble form. Until now, insoluble fiber supplements have been the only kind on the market. The recent introduction of a fiber supplement in soluble form means big news for American health, for a number of reasons.

Insoluble fiber is the stuff many health-conscious individuals have come to know and dread. That’s because it’s bulky, gritty, chalky and otherwise hard to swallow. Insoluble fiber has traditionally come in a powder that has to be mixed with water and then consumed quickly (in order to keep the substance from turning to sludge.)

Manufacturers have tried to address this problem by putting insoluble fiber into an easy-to-swallow pill format. However, while one or two pills might be easy-to-swallow, the 10-30 pills usually required to bring an individual’s daily fiber intake up to the recommended level (32 grams a day) is not. This has led to countless bottles of pills that often sit in a kitchen drawer, unused.

Soluble fiber, on the other hand, dissolves completely in water, so it does not have the texture of traditional fiber supplements. It also does not possess the potential to block absorption of key medications or supplements in the digestive tract, the way traditional fiber supplements can. Soluble fiber also has the benefit of promoting healthy cholesterol and triglycerides within normal levels and can help maintain healthy blood sugar levels.

A number of the leading fiber supplements have sought to gain some of the benefits of soluble fiber by adding small amounts of it to their traditional, insoluble fiber products. However, since soluble fiber is more expensive to produce, the amounts of soluble fiber used in traditional fiber supplements have been relatively insignificant.

But that's all changed with Ready Fiber. Ready Fiber is the world’s first and only clear liquid fiber supplement. Originally developed for critically ill hospital patients who couldn't use the traditional thickening powder or pill fiber supplements, this new "super-fiber" breakthrough is now available over the counter to consumers. This new, highly concentrated, natural formula offers 12 grams of fiber per one ounce serving, in contrast to 3-5 grams per serving of the leading the leading (insoluble) fiber supplements.

Because it’s a form of fiber that completely dissolves in water (only turning to gel later on, within the digestive tract) Ready Fiber is odorless, tasteless and textureless. This means is can be readily added to any food or beverage, hot or cold, with no change in consistency.

In our fast-paced world, the ease of use offered by soluble fiber can to make a huge difference in our overall health.

Jim Caras is the president of Health Direct, the manufacturer of Ready Fiber. If you'd like to give Ready Fiber a try, Health Direct is offering a $3.00 manufacturer's rebate on your first purchase. Go to http://www.readyfiberrebate.com/ to download your free rebate coupon.

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