fibriform.html -
noun (Health and Fitness) (Lifestyle and Leisure) Food material such as bran and cellulose that is not broken down by the process of digestion; roughage. Often in the fuller form
dietary fibre; occasionally abbreviated to F, especially in the US trade mark F Plan Diet (or F-Plan), a weight-reducing diet based on a high fibre intake to provide
bulk without calories. Etymology: A specialized use of fibre in its collective sense of 'matter consisting of
animal or vegetable fibres'. History and Usage: Scientists have written about fibre in this
sense since the early years of this century; what brought it into the more popular domain and made it a fashionable subject was the discovery in the seventies that a high-fibre diet could help to prevent certain digestive illnesses, including cancers of the colon, diverticular disease, and irritable bowel syndrome. In the eighties, the green movement added impetus to this by stressing the need to concentrate on natural, unprocessed foods (the highly
refined foods which most people in developed countries
normally eat contain relatively little fibre). The F-Plan diet (the book of which was published in 1982) is one of many diets put forward in the eighties which emphasize the need for fibre, and the
word now seems to have taken over from the more old-fashioned roughage in popular
usage . The newly promoted F plan diet,
which underlined the nutritional value of beans, fortuitously coincided with the Heinz
campaign message. 'They were talking fibre; we
were talking goodness.' Financial Times 18 Aug. 1983, p.
9
Bran is one type of fibre, nature's own 'filler' that is present only in plant foods and is essential for proper digestion. Here's Health Apr. 1986, p.
127 Get into a wholefood diet routine, sticking to high-fibre low fat foods, plenty of salads,
fresh fruit and vegetables. Health
Shopper Jan./Feb. 1990, p. 9
