Snack Review: Fiber One Bar Oats & Chocolate

I’ve always loved Fiber One products, especially their cereal. Like many other companies, Fiber One started coming out with lots of cool products, and I decided to try one of their bars.

For one, they are low in calories, have lots of fiber, and since many of their other products are so good, I figured these had to follow and be just as yummy as well.

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Snack Review: Fiber One Honey Clusters Cereal

Whenever I speak to people who monitor their dietary lifestyle, they seem knowledgeable about the major components. They track their carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake religiously; however, when I inquire about their fiber intake, I get met with blank stares.

Despite its lack of popularity in dietary discussion, it’s a vital component of maintaining homeostasis. For those who aren’t familiar with what fiber is, it’s a generic term given to the portions of plants that when consumed are not digestible. It can be anything from cellulose to chitin to lignin. Why is this good? Well, for starters, since our bodies lack the enzymes to digest fiber, we cannot convert it to sugar, and thus it has no caloric effect (this is why a piece of celery has so few calories in it, aside from it being mainly water).

Within fiber, there are two delineations: soluble and insoluble fiber. Essentially, soluble fiber conforms to a gelatinous state in liquids, while insoluble remains intact. Each in turn has varying effects on your body from preventing colon cancer (insoluble) to lowering LDL cholesterol (soluble).

Part of the reason I feel fiber is not generally consumed in its recommended dosage is because of the foods that contain them. Since it is a component of plants, you’ll only find them in various grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds. And let’s be honest, how many of us snackers out there munch on kidney beans or flax seeds when there are cookies available?

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