Fabulous Fiber!

Can you imagine what special food you could eat more of while it helped you to both lose weight and reduce your risk of many chronic diseases? This magic mystery food is fiber. So why don’t people get more excited about eating fiber? Just the term ‘fiber’ can conjure up the image of eating cardboard in many people’s minds. However, that’s a false image as fiber is found in many delicious foods such as, whole grains, beans, nuts, fruits and vegetables. Fiber is the part of the plant that the body can’t digest, but is an important part of any healthy diet. Fiber helps you feel full faster and longer which is how it helps you better control your weight. It aids in digestion and helps the body absorb nutrients, plus helps to prevent constipation. It’s truly a wonder food.

Try these simple ideas to add more fiber to your meals:

  • Start off the day with a high fiber breakfast. Choose old-fashioned oatmeal or whole grain and high fiber cereals. Add fresh berries or bananas to ramp up the fiber content.
  • Eat fruit at every meal. Apples, oranges, pears and berries are all excellent fiber sources.
  • Exchange white bread and white rice for whole grains like wheat, corn, rice, oats, barley, quinoa, rye and even popcorn.
  • Add beans to soups, stews and salads.
  • Read food labels carefully and buy items showing high dietary fiber gram contents. Start slowly when adding more fiber to your diet. Incorporating more fiber into your diet too fast can cause discomfort, bloating or gas. Drinking more fluids helps your body to better digest fiber so aim to drink 8 glasses of fluid (preferably water) each day. Fill up on fabulous fiber for winning good health!