Fun and Fabulous Fare with Fibre

Increasing your intake of high-fibre foods helps prevent disease and is another important step toward better health. Fibre keeps the bowels healthy and fills your stomach so you tend to eat less. It also plays a major role in preventing heart disease, binding to and sweeping cholesterol out of the body.

The "father of fibre," Dr Denis Burkitt said, "We are filling our stomachs with foods to which our constitution is not adapted, and our modern diseases may well be some of the inevitable results." In modern times, Canada and other industrialized countries have favoured refined, processed, less fibre-rich foods and have seen a corresponding increase in health problems such as constipation, diverticulosis, colon cancer and gastrointestinal disorders.

This month’s whole foods kitchen gives you simple ways to return fibre-lots of it-to your daily fare. This Valentine’s Day, make fibre-rich foods the heart of your diet. Sit down with your sweetheart and enjoy a piece or two of the delicious onion flan and drink a glass of wine to each other’s health.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Christel Gursche

• Onion Flan
• Endive Salad
• Fibre-Rich Pasta Salad
• Indonesian Vegan Rice
• Savoury Brussels Sprouts
• Carrot Muesli

For more whole grain, fibre-rich cereals, read Super Breakfast Cereals written by Katharina Gustaves (alive Natural Health Guide #21), available at health food stores.