Everyone knows that fiber is good for your health. In fact, we’re told to eat more fiber all the time. The problem is that nobody really explains why. The truth is, the benefits of fiber go far beyond just digestion. 

At The Keys To Fitness, we simplify fitness for everyone and help heavier people who are ready to get fit and stay fit. 

Today, we’ll go over 3 surprising benefits of fiber that can change your health for the better. 

Fiber: The Nutrient Everyone Overlooks

Weirdly enough, most people are pretty aware of how great fiber is for your health but it’s still grossly under-eaten. Only about 5% of the American population eat enough fiber every day. 

Yes, you read that right. 

This means that 95% or roughly 323 MILLION people don’t get a healthy amount of fiber each and every day. Jeez. 

If this many people aren’t eating enough fiber, you’d think we’d be going through a pooping pandemic or something.

But then again, if this many people are getting in such little amounts of fiber, I could see why this “pooping pandemic” hasn’t really budged. 

Moving on. 

If you take a look around your local grocery store, you’ll see plenty of items claiming to be high-fiber or good sources of fiber. You ever wondered why these high-fiber foods are always recommended for good health?

Most people think that fiber is what helps you digest food better and to keep your bowels from being backed up. And they’re right. 

But wait, there’s more! – Billy Mays

For instance, did you know that fiber plays a role in heart health and fat loss? Probably not. 

Luckily, you’re in the right place. We’ll break down 3 of the top benefits of fiber (backed by science and real-world health outcomes) that you should know. 

After today, you’ll walk away with a new level of respect for this underrated nutrient. 

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Fiber Supercharges Your Gut Health

Soluble vs Insoluble Fiber 

There are actually two main types of fiber: Soluble and Insoluble fiber. Both play different roles in your digestion. 

To spare you the details of the duty, I’ll keep things brief:

• Soluble fiber dissolves in water and will form into a gel-like substance that helps with lowering cholesterol and regulating your blood sugar.
• Insoluble fiber doesn’t dissolve. It gets digested and adds the bulk to your stool, which will promote regular bowel movements. 

The Benefits of Fiber for Your Gut and Digestion System

Soluble fiber acts like a prebiotic. In short, a prebiotic feeds the beneficial bacteria in your gut. With this prebiotic, the good bacteria will improve the lining of your gut and can reduce inflammation. 

With reduced inflammation in the gut and a healthier lining of the gut, you improve your immune system. Bet you didn’t know that!

The improvement in your immune system is from the strengthening of your gut lining. This bolstered barrier helps to prevent harmful microbes from entering the bloodstream. And because it does this, it really helps your body fight off illnesses more effectively. 

And as we noted earlier, the insoluble fiber adds bulk to your stool. It also softens your poop and helps with preventing constipation. 

So with a healthy gut microbiome and healthy bowel movements, your stomach can digest food more efficiently. And having this healthy gut microbiome actually reduces bloat and gas over time. 

A high-fiber diet can also prevent common GI (Gastrointestinal) issues like diverticulitis, hemorrhoids, and IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). 

This is because the main symptoms of diverticulitis (inflammation pouches in the colon), hemorrhoids (swollen veins from straining during bowel movements), and IBS (bloating, cramps, and irregular bowel movements) can be helped with the benefits that fiber provides. 

But this is only the first benefit of increasing the fiber in your diet. Gut health isn’t the only area that fiber helps you with. 

Fiber Supports Sustainable Weight Loss

Did you know that fiber has an impact on satiety (fullness), cravings, and calorie control?

Not only does a high-fiber diet improve your gut health, it also slows down your digestion and suppresses your appetite. This means that you’ll feel fuller for longer!

And because you’ll feel fuller for longer, you’ll eat fewer calories when your meals are higher in fiber. 

Simply put: fewer calories per meal = fewer calories per day = weight loss. 

And with feeling fuller for longer periods of the day, you’ll be able to curb your cravings a lot easier. Part of why is because your blood sugar and energy levels will be more stable. 

You don’t get the crashes and dips in energy because you won’t have spikes in your blood sugar because of the fiber slowing down the rate of absorption of the nutrients from your food. 

Remember how fiber slows down digestion? Because it’s slowed down, this means that you won’t get a massive rush of sugar into your bloodstream, which causes the spike and then the crash. 

And because an adequate amount of fiber in your diet slows down the absorption of food (and by proxy, sugar), this means that the pancreas doesn’t have to work as hard to pump insulin into the bloodstream to counterbalance the influx of sugar. 

Or in English, eating more fiber helps to prevent insulin resistance. Crazy, isn’t it?

By the way, that spike in your blood sugar is what causes your body to experience food cravings. That’s because that dump of insulin usually leads to an overcorrection for the sugar in the blood, which leads to a drop in sugar levels. And because there’s a drop in sugar in the bloodstream, your brain starts to send signals of hunger to try to balance the sugar levels again. 

And due to the hunger signals turning into strong cravings, this usually drives people to overeat (usually fats and carbs) and spike the sugar in the bloodstream again. Leading to a cycle of spikes and drops. 

Essentially, adding more fiber to your meals will help you reduce your cravings. 

But cravings and weight loss aren’t the only benefits of fiber in your diet, there are even more long-term advantages. 

Fiber Protects Your Heart and Lowers Disease Risk

Did you know that fiber can lower your cholesterol? Specifically, soluble fiber. Like we detailed earlier, soluble fiber turns into a gel-like substance when it’s been digested. This “gel” is what binds to your LDL (bad cholesterol) and gets excreted from the body when you poop, thus lowering your bad cholesterol levels.

Adding to this, because fiber helps to stabilize your blood sugar levels, fiber becomes a vital part of preventing your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. That’s due to the fact that you put yourself at risk of becoming insulin resistant when you constantly spike your body’s blood sugar.

And because fiber helps to blunt these spikes, it plays a pivotal role in preventing your body from becoming resistant to insulin.

In addition to diminishing your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, extra fiber in your diet helps with preventing other diseases by lowering chronic inflammation in the body, namely in the gut as we described before.

Heart disease usually shows up when plaque builds up in your arteries, slowing blood flow and making heart attacks and strokes way more likely.

On top of that, fiber can help lower your blood pressure and improve circulation, which just gives your heart less work to do overall.

Chronic inflammation is a major contributor to a whole host of problems and diseases, prominently diseases like heart disease and some forms of cancer.

Am I selling you on how powerful fiber actually is? If not, then check this out:

An increased intake of fiber is also related to a lower risk of not only heart disease but also strokes.

And if you’re getting your fiber from whole, natural foods (like fruits and vegetables), you’re probably getting the added benefits of the antioxidants and phytonutrients that come with them.

In short, antioxidants and phytonutrients work by neutralizing free radicals and calming the immune response, which reduces cell damage and chronic inflammation. And we’ve already described the effects of chronic inflammation.

Also, if you’re getting that fiber from actual food instead of powders or bars, you’re also cutting out more processed junk (aka, another win for your gut, energy, and long-term health).

Key Takeaway: Don’t Sleep on Fiber. Your Body Notices When You Do

The benefits of fiber span far greater than just better bowel movements. Although, that is a big deal, the improvements in your gut health, heart health, reduction in inflammation, reduction in diseases like diabetes or heart disease create an overwhelming amount of benefits. 

You’d be crazy to leave all of the benefits on the table. At this point, it’s not optional, it’s essential for overall health. 

By now, you should be able to see how a lifelong intake of a higher fiber diet correlates with longevity and a better, healthier life. 

All you need to do now is just start with simple changes.

 Add some fruit to your breakfast or as a snack during the day. Munch of vegetables like celery or carrots as a quick snack. Beans and oats are also easy to add to almost any dish. 

There’s no reason why you can’t add a handful of vegetables to every meal you make to get an extra boost in fiber. Especially when you know how impactful that added fiber is for you. 

As long as you’re within a healthy range for your daily fiber intake, you’ll be good to go. For most adults, 25-38 grams of fiber a day is a great place to start. 

Now your next step is to audit your meals, are you getting enough fiber everyday? 

Let me know how much fiber you’re getting on a daily basis and tell me how you’re getting your fiber in for the day. 

The benefits of fiber are far too important to overlook. Especially now that you know how some small dietary tweaks now can help to prevent major health issues later down the road. 

The post 3 Major Benefits of Fiber That Transform Your Digestion, Weight, and Health appeared first on TheKeysToFitness.com.

How much do you really know about your body composition? You may be trying to figure out how to calculate body fat percentage at home. That’s great because knowing your body fat percentage is essential to tracking your progress.

At The Keys To Fitness, we simplify fitness for everyone and help heavier people who are ready to get fit and stay fit.

And in this article, we’ll go over 3 methods to teach you how to calculate body fat percentage at home so you can set smarter fitness goals without fancy equipment, without a gym, and all in the comfort of your home. 

The Problem with Relying on the Mirror or Scale Alone

Do you ever find yourself looking in the mirror to see if your clothes fit as well as they used to? Maybe you just hop on the scale every once in a while to check in on your weight. 

Most people tend to rely on the mirror or scale as their only indicators of their level of fitness. 

The problem with this is that weight alone isn’t the only factor of good health or not. Your total body weight doesn’t distinguish between how much of your body is fat, water, or muscle. 

A person can be “skinny fat” and not even know it. Your BMI can indicate that you’re at a normal weight but with low muscle mass and a higher body fat percentage, you’re actually skinny fat. 

Your amount of body fat is a more accurate metric of your health and progress. It’s not everything, but it’s a great piece to a larger puzzle. Without it, it’s harder to assess your situation and your health goals because you’ll be unaware of where you really are. 

Not everyone needs to lose or gain weight, you could want to stay the same weight but trim some body fat while gaining muscle. But without knowing your body fat percentage, where would you know where to start?

You could always use body composition tools at your gym like an InBody scan or the DEXA scan, but they’re not always available or affordable for everyone. 

You may even be one of these people who don’t have access to these tools. 

But if you’re reading this, then you probably want to learn how to calculate body fat percentage at home properly so you know where you stand with your body composition and overall health. 

Luckily for you, we have at least 3 methods to give you a good idea to measure your body fat at home and show you what you’re really made of.

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The Tape Measure Method: Simple & Surprisingly Accurate

Did you know that you can measure your body fat percentage with tape measure? That’s how the Navy measures body fat percentage for their soldiers. 

All you need is soft tape and an internet connection. I know you’ve got at least one of those things. 

For women, what you do is wrap the tape around the thinnest part of your waist and write down your measurements. You do the same for your hips, wrap the tape around your hips and glutes and measure the circumference. 

If you’re a man, you only measure around the waist but around your belly button. 

The last measurement you need is the circumference around your neck. Both men and women measure at the same place, just a tad below where the Adam’s apple is (or would be). 

For the best results, you’ll want to measure yourself at the same time and under the same conditions consistently. This means, if you measure after waking up weekly, try to stick to the same schedule. 

And before you measure in the morning, it’s also best to drop the kids off at the pool, if you know what I mean. 

Try to keep the tape leveled out, use the mirror for alignment if you need to. 

Just remember that results may vary on a lot of different variables. Extra water, less water, more food, less food, poor sleep, etc. can all affect your measurements. 

This is why it’s great to use this method as a trend indicator. Take your data over the span of weeks and months and look for trends in the direction you want to go. More data will paint a clearer picture of your progress. 

The site I like to use for calculating my body fat percentage is FatCalc.com

Soft tape measure is usually super cheap, you can find it at your local fabric store or Wal-Mart for maybe 2 dollars or less. Just make sure it’s long enough to fit around your body. 

Pro Tip: This method is better to be used weekly or biweekly rather than daily. Your body can fluctuate too much to accurately track data on a daily basis.  

Using Calipers to Pinch Your Way to Accuracy

Skinfold calipers are used to estimate your body fat percentage by measuring the thickness of your skin. 

Calipers are another affordable way to measure your body composition at home with most calipers being priced around $5-$20. Best of all, once you buy them, they’re all you’ll need (and they’re reusable!). 

What you do is take 3 to 7 site measurements on your body, depending on the method that you’re using. The most common sites are: the abdomen, triceps, chest, and thigh. 

You will need some practice in order to ensure that your pinching technique is consistent. 

Once you have your measurements recorded, input them into a calculator to get your estimated body fat percentage. 

The same website I recommended earlier is also a great skinfold calculator if you need a site to get your results from. Just change the method to skinfold in the drop down box. 

Using skinfold calipers can be a very reliable method once you master the technique. Just make sure to measure yourself at the same time of the day as your other measurements for consistency. 

It’s best to measure after waking up without eating or drinking anything yet and after using the bathroom. 

Just a heads up: Using skinfold calipers can be difficult for you to measure certain sites on your own. You may need a second person to reach particular sites. If this is the case, it’s best to have the same person measure the same sites for better consistency with your results. 

Quick Options: Visual Comparisons and Smart Devices

Using your camera can be one of the cheapest and easiest ways to measure your body fat at home. In fact, if you have a phone, it’s free!

Simply take photos of yourself and keep track of the physical changes in your body. Take a photo of the front, back, and one side of your body. Try to get your entire body in the picture if you can. 

This method works because it’s very easy for us to think that we haven’t made any progress over time because we see our bodies every day. But by taking pictures, you can’t argue that you haven’t made any changes when you can clearly see your stomach looking smaller than it did a month ago. 

Taking photos won’t be as accurate as the other methods, but it plays a pivotal role by keeping you grounded with concrete evidence of your body’s adaptations. 

Bioelectrical Impedance Scales

A way around the accuracy problem is to use a smart device like a BIA (bioelectrical impedance) scale. The BIA scale sends a tiny electric signal through the body to measure your body composition.

But don’t worry, you don’t even feel the electricity!

BIA measurements are quick and easy but their biggest drawback is that your results can vary depending on your hydration levels. That, and they’re not the most accurate as far as pinpointing your exact body composition but they’re great at determining trends up or down. 

In other words, if BIA were a GPS, it would be close to telling you where you are on the map but excellent at telling you how far you’ve gone as you travel. 

To combat the inaccuracies caused by varying hydration levels, you’ll want to step on the scale in the same conditions as the other methods we discussed. Right after waking up, no food or drinks, after using the bathroom, and at the same time every time you measure. 

Both, taking pictures and the BIA scale, aren’t the most accurate methods, but in combination can be a great tool in your arsenal. 

You’ll want to take photos (at the very most) weekly. Bi-weekly, monthly, and quarterly are all great options too. 

For the BIA scale, it’s best to weigh yourself daily or as many days of the week that you can. At least weigh yourself 3 times a week. But look for trends instead of using the daily fluctuations of your numbers. 

See if your body fat percentage is up or down after a week or two (preferably two) before deciding to make a change. 

Key Takeaway: Choose a Method, Track Consistently, Get Results

When you want to know how to measure body fat percentage at home, there’s no perfect method, but you don’t need one. 

Each option in this article, from tape measurements and calipers to smart scales and progress photos, offers useful insight into your body composition. On their own, they give you estimates. When used together, they give you clarity.

If you want the most accurate picture of your progress, the best results will come from using all the methods in combination. Consistency and repetition under the same conditions will help you track real trends and remove the guesswork.

You don’t need a gym, a lab, or expensive equipment to understand your body. You just need simple tools, honest measurements, and the patience to track the changes over time.

Which method are you going to try first? 

Stay consistent and let the data guide your next step.

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How bad is sitting all day? We’ve all heard the line that “sitting is the new smoking”. There’s a lot of truth to that statement. 

At The Keys To Fitness, we simplify fitness for everyone and help heavier people who are ready to get fit and stay fit. 

And in this post, we’ll go over how sitting all day is bad for your health, sitting’s mental and physical impact, why exercise doesn’t fully undo sitting, and simple ways to sit less and move more. 

The Hidden Danger of Sitting All Day

Did you know that the average adult sits for 8-10 hours a day? If you have an office job, you’re more likely in this category. 

You may think that you don’t sit that long, but think about it. Most of us lie down for 8 hours a night (which is great), but then sit to eat, sit on the commute to work, sit at work, sit at lunch, sit on the way home, sit to relax, sit at dinner, and jump right back into bed for another 8 hours of lying down. 

You may be sitting down as you read these words right now. Don’t feel bad, I’m sitting down as I write them. 

The problem is that the human body was built to move, not remain sedentary for extended periods of time. 

Sitting obviously reduces your energy output, or simply put: you burn less calories when you sit a lot. And for prolonged bouts of being on your butt, you risk slowing down your metabolism and causing your body to gain fat. 

The only way to lose fat is to burn more calories than you eat. 

So if you’re not burning that many calories, you must either eat very little to maintain your weight (because you’re burning very little) or just gain a bunch of fat because your body has nothing else to do with the extra calories. 

This is why sitting for long portions of your day is linked to serious chronic health issues like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. 

This is because when you sit for extended periods of time, your muscles become inactive (especially in your legs, which are the biggest muscles on your body). 

This inactivity dramatically reduces your body’s ability to absorb and use glucose (sugar) effectively, which can increase your body’s resistance to insulin over time. This is how being sedentary can lead to raising your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. 

In addition to insulin resistance, chronic sitting leads to slowing down the blood flow, especially in the legs, and increases your chances of developing blood clots and poor circulation. 

These clots can become dangerous if they break loose and travel to the lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism. 

At the same time, a long-term sedentary lifestyle will lower your HDL (aka the good cholesterol) and raise your triglycerides, both of which are strong risk factors for cardiovascular disease. 

It can also raise your blood pressure and increase inflammation throughout your body, which are also key contributors to heart disease.

And to tie this up in a neat little bow, sitting for long periods of time may shorten your life expectancy by years. Largely due to any combination of the detriments of sitting that we’ve already named, you can clearly start to understand how sitting is bad for your health. 

In fact, multiple large studies have found that people who sit for 6 plus hours a day have a significantly higher risk of an early death – even after controlling for physical activity. 

Basically, the more you sit, the higher the risk of an early death, often compared to smoking in terms of mortality.

Sadly, this is only the

of how horrible a sedentary lifestyle can be for your health. 

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The Physical and Mental Impact of Chronic Sitting

Staying in a seated position for long periods of time will lead to tight hips and hamstrings, weakened glutes, and low back pain. All of which are common issues caused by long-term sitting and even worse, usually each symptom worsens the other. 

Not to mention the postural problems caused by constantly leaning forward and rounding your shoulders. This excessive rounding of the shoulders causes the forward head, hunchback look you see more commonly today. 

Take a second to look up what upper cross syndrome is, you’ll recognize it everywhere you go these days. 

And if you needed more motivation to get up and move around, slouching can compress your organs, reduce your lung capacity, and reduce oxygen flow. 

No bueno. 

What’s not talked about enough is the mental impact that sitting all day can create. The reduced blood flow not only affects your heart and muscles, it affects your brain. 

Symptoms like mental fatigue, fogginess, mood swings, cognitive function, and focus can all be worsened with a lack of movement. 

In fact, being sedentary is linked to feelings of depression and anxiety. And in this study, they found that long-term sedentary behavior, or being sedentary for 600 minutes a day, was significantly associated with symptoms of depression. 

Over time, chronic sitting can even contribute to spinal disc problems and nerve compression. 

And even if you have a good mattress, poor posture from sitting all day usually leads to even worse sleep. And sleep is vital for your recovery and mood.

So if your sleep is bad, you’re only going to make things worse. And now it can become a never ending cycle. 

Why Exercise Doesn’t Fully Cancel Out Being Sedentary

You may be thinking to yourself that you get plenty of exercise every day. “I workout every single day, this doesn’t affect me!”

You might be working out every day l, and that’s great. 

But this is a numbers game. 

Your 30 to 60 minute workouts every day doesn’t reverse 8-10 hours of daily inactivity. It’s simply impossible. 

Studies are now showing how chronic sitting can actually counterbalance the positive effects of exercise. Crazy. 

What people don’t understand is that movement throughout the day is essential for metabolic health. Long bouts of inactivity will spike your inflammation, regardless of your fitness level. 

Your level of NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) drops with prolonged sitting, which can lead to slowing down your fat loss or speed up your fat gain. 

And if you didn’t know, all NEAT is are the regular movements you do every day. Things like fidgeting, tapping your feet, pacing, yard work, any movement really that isn’t structured exercise all count as NEAT. 

True health comes from your total daily movements, not just gym sessions or sports practices. 

Which is what we’ll get into next. 

Simple Ways to Sit Less and Move More

It’s obviously a good idea to get up and move around a little every once in a while. A great way to do this is to set an alarm to get up and move every 30 to 60 minutes. 

Most smartwatches, like fitbit, are capable of sending you a reminder to move to keep you from sitting too long. 

If you have an office job, try swapping your desk out for a standing desk. If you’re unable to make a complete swap, you can always buy a standing desk stand for your computer to sit on. It sits on top of your desk, lifting up your computer screen and forcing you to stand up. 

If you have meetings over the phone, try walking outside or around the office to build some activity into your workday. I’ve even heard that this boosts productivity for in-person meetings as well!

The goal here is to increase your NEAT, and another great habit to do that would be to take a short walk after each meal. 

This is an easy habit to add to your day. For me, I’ve watched this little habit boost my daily steps by 3k a day! Simply go for a 10 minute walk after each of your meals. And an extra benefit of this is that it helps you digest your food better!

Another awesome trick to increasing your activity is to park farther away from your destination. The next time you go to the store, park as far away from the store as possible within the parking lot. This way, you’ll have to walk further to and from your car when you’re running your errands. 

You can also build habits like pacing while you talk on the phone, stand while you read, walk while you brush your teeth, or stretch while you watch TV. 

If stretching isn’t your thing, mobility drills may be just what you need. A great hack I’ve heard from Adam Schaefer was to do mobility drills during commercial breaks every time he sat down to watch TV. Perfect. 

Adding just 5-10 minutes of stretching or mobility work will do wonders for your body in short order. This trick, I highly recommend. 

Another great idea is to drink from smaller water bottles. Because of this, you’ll have to get up more often to refill your drink. And in addition to this bottle hack, try increasing your water intake. 

By drinking more water, you’ll force yourself to get up more often because you’ll be moving yourself to the bathroom more often. This makes increasing your activity almost automatic!

Key Takeaway: Stand Up for Your Health

So, how bad is sitting all day? 

Pretty bad. 

Sitting by itself isn’t bad. To be clear, what’s bad is chronic sitting. Movement is thy medicine and your body needs it often throughout the day. 

The good thing is, you don’t really need to overhaul your entire life. All you need to do is simply interrupt long bouts of sitting consistently. 

Once you reduce the amount of time you spend being sedentary, you’ll begin to feel improvements in your mood, energy, posture, and long-term health. 

Just take one of these habits and tricks and start small. Even a break to get up and move around and stretch once every hour adds up to real change. 

Thankfully, most chronic issues caused by sitting all day can be reversed with regular movement. Just remember that your workouts matter but your daily activity matters more than what most think. 

So stand up, move around, and take control of your health one step at a time.

Let me know which habit or activity hack you’ll try to add into your life. Or tell me about some tricks you’ve added that weren’t mentioned here, I’d love to know!

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