Bumping Up Fiber
Information overload. New trends. Nutrition buzzwords. Fiber.
We need fiber. Good nutrition is a well balanced every-day diet. Fiber must be a part of that and will be, if we’re including plenty of variety of fruits, vegetables, and other helpful foods. Some eat legumes, some don’t. Living a healthy lifestyle, a nutritious lifestyle, can be easy, fun and exciting. This, of course, depends on you and me.
The CDC says:
In their natural state, fruits and vegetables have high water and fiber content and thus are low in calories and energy density.
So, eating enough fiber-rich fruits and vegetable can aid in efforts to lose weight.
Some of the other benefits of fiber in your diet are that it not only keeps you regular, it also helps you feel fuller longer. Fiber also helps control blood sugar and lowers cholesterol levels.
Bump up Your Fiber
Here are six tips to help you bump up your fiber:
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Slice up raw veggies and keep them in to-go baggies to use as quick snacks;
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Start your day off with a high-fiber breakfast like whole grain oatmeal sprinkled with pecans or macadamia nuts;
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Steam veggies rather than boiling them. When buying frozen veggies, look for ones that have been “flash frozen”;
- Add half a cup of beans or peas to your salad to add fiber, texture, and flavor; and
- Take fiber supplements that contain fiber-rich ingredients such as psyllium, oat fiber and rice bran, just to name a few.
Yes, eating a fiber-wise diet will help us have healthy lifestyles.
Some of this information came from the Center for Disease Control.
https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/nutrition/pdf/rtp_practitioner_10_07.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psyllium
https://www.cdc.gov/features/national-nutrition-month/index.html
The pictures of the peas, cherries and Chinese cabbage are from
https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/nutrition/pdf/rtp_practitioner_10_07.pdf