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Fiber One bars are generally considered a healthy snack choice by those trying to stick with a diet. They also happen to be a fairly tasty snack choice as well. The bars come in a variety of flavors that might combine chocolate, strawberry, mocha, or caramel with oats.
Fiber One bars are specifically designed as a snack between meals and as a supplementary source of fiber throughout the day.
Unfortunately, when something is healthy and delicious it can be easy to justify overeating. Rather than the recommended mid-day snack, a person could go through several bars in place of a healthy lunch. They might also rely on these bars as their primary source of fiber throughout the day.
This can lead to several different problems depending on the rest of their diet.
Are you wondering if you should invest in Fiber One pars to supplement your diet? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing so. Especially if it helps you stick with healthy meals for the rest of the day. But you should avoid the temptation if you believe you will end up eating too many of the bars.
Let’s look closer at what these bars contain and exactly what happens when you eat too many.
What’s Inside a Fiber One Bar?
These bars are meant to be healthy and as such contains a large number of healthy nutrients. In particular, they have a high volume of fiber per bar; hence the name. The fiber comes from oats, wheat, seeds, bran, dried fruits, psyllium fiber, and other potential sources.
In the correct amounts, the fiber will do great things for your body and your diet. It’s especially good at satiating hunger, which will help you eat less and stick with your diet.
One of the main reasons people add Fiber One bars to their diet is because the fiber helps them feel full for longer. This means that they eat less and they lose weight more easily.
Fiber can also help regulate blood pressure and cholesterol levels. A few other benefits of the fiber include reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, alleviating the symptoms of IBS, and reducing digestive tract inflammation.
As with all nutrients and minerals, it’s possible for a person to consume too much within a given day. Each person has a recommended daily intake (RDI) of each particular mineral and nutrient. For fiber, the RDI is 33 grams for men and 25 grams for women.
When you surpass this intake limit you stop experiencing benefits and can encounter a variety of potential problems.
The RDI of nutrients also changes with age. In the case of fiber, a man over the age of 50 should lower their intake 30 grams. A woman over the age of 50 should lower their intake to 21 grams.
How Much Fiber do they Have?
A Fiber One bar will contain anywhere between 9 and 12 grams of fiber in a single bar. That means that two of these bars can be enough to cause a woman over the age of 50 to exceed her daily intake limit.
Three can be enough for a woman under the age of 50 and a man over the age of 50 while also being nearly enough for a man under the age of 50.
But remember that these bars are not intended to serve as your sole source of fiber. Chances are, your diet already includes several other sources of fiber.
If you are eating healthy foods any fruits, vegetables, beans, or grains, then your diet already has large sources of fiber.
That would mean that two bars are most likely going to put you past your daily limit even if you are a man under the age of 50.
That said, they can be a lifesaver for people who eat a low-carb, high protein diet, or even folks suffering form hemorrhoids. There are plenty of instances when you need additional fiber in your diet, and chances are, you probably know whether or not you do, but it’s always a good idea to check with your medical doctor to decide the proper fiber treatment for you.
What Happens When You Eat Too Many Bars?
Highlights
- Diarrhea
- Irritable Bowels
- Long Periods in the Bathroom
You start your day with a bowl of cereal and toast. That is already two sources of fiber.
Later in the day, you decide to have a Fiber One bar as a pre-lunch snack. It’s so delicious that you eat another. Then, after lunch, perhaps you decide to eat the third bar.
There have been cases where people have eaten more than 8 bars in a single day. What will this do to the body and is there any potential for harm?
Fiber is well known for its ability to help regulate bowel movements, but when too much is consumed it can actually have the opposite effect. Eating too many fiber bars in a single day could lead to some pretty irritable bowels. And if you surpass even that limit the excess fiber could actually cause diarrhea.
It all depends on exactly how much fiber you consumed and how well your body can handle it.
Whether it causes excess gas, constipation or diarrhea, you can rest assured that you will feel cramping, abdominal pain, and feel generally uncomfortable for the rest of the day. It may even take multiple days for your bowel movements to return to normal.
However, it’s very unlikely that any serious or long-term harm will come from their over-consumption. You will hopefully learn from the experience and better regulate your fiber intake in the future.
A Few Helpful Pointers for Eating Fiber
Wanting to start a healthy diet with adequate fiber intake is a great move, but many experts suggest that you shouldn’t start raising your RDI from day one.
Instead, you should gradually increase your fiber intake over the course of a few weeks. This will help your body adjust efficiently to the changes in your diet.
If eating a Fiber One bar causes any uncomfortable side effects, then you should reduce the amount for several days. Consider starting with only a half of a bar each day as a snack and then increasing to a full bar within a week.
Finally, always pay close attention to the nutritional information on the Fiber One bars and on the other foods you eat.
It’s impossible to know if you are coming close to your fiber RDI if you don’t know how much fiber is in the bar you’re eating or the cereal you had for breakfast.
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