Your grandparents probably turned to eating prunes and bran flake breakfast cereals to keep their bowl movements regular. Or worse still, they might have only turned to what they considered their limited choices in fiber when they found themselves irregular. Thankfully, gone are the days when the notion of eating fiber was considered a grueling ( and often just temporary) necessity to combat the awful effects of constipation. Of course we now know that fiber needs to be an important part of everyone’s daily diet. After all who wants to get constipated, ever? More importantly, we now know about the great health benefits of a high fiber diet. For starters, eating fiber keeps blood sugar levels in check and helps prevent chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and even certain cancers. A high fiber diet is also a great way to help lose fat.
Despite our current knowledge about the importance of a daily, high fiber diet, more than a few studies have concluded that the average American consumes only about 14-16 grams a day. The recommended amount is 25 to 35 grams. Well this situation can be easily rectified with just a little bit of education; specifically on the many tasty foods so readily available that are chock full of wonderful fiber. They include a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole unprocessed grains found in a multitude of cereals, pastas and certain breads.
BodyBast Personal Trainers and Health Professionals most often recommend the following choices for taste and variety:
Apples with their skin on offer twice the amount of fiber as other popular fruits like grapes, peaches and grapefruits. One apple with skin provides 3.5 grams of fiber; without the skin the fiber level drops to 1.7 grams. Apples are also a terrific way of way of keeping your cholesterol level in check, according to The American Dietetic Association. Another easy choice is the artichoke, each with 10 grams of fiber along with more potassium than a banana.
Next comes the avocado, truly a super fiber food, offering between 11 and 17 grams with each full serving. And never mind the overly publicized fat argument - “most of the fat in avocados is monounsaturated fat, the same heart healthy fat found in olive oil and macadamia nut oil,” according to Jonny Bowden, author of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. A half cup of cooked barley contains four grams of fiber and only 195 calories, plus it helps to keep blood sugar levels down while it fills you up for several hours.
Another fine, extremely healthy vegetable is broccoli. While carrying only a little more than 2 grams of fiber in a one cup serving, it also contains 2 grams of protein, a great deal of potassium and calcium all while offering some super disease fighting elements that help reduce the risks of breast and cervical cancers.
Oatmeal and other high fiber breakfast cereals boast anywhere from 5 to 8 grams of solulable dietary fiber per bowl. Experts caution to be sure that the first ingredient on the label reads “whole”, meaning all three layers of the grain are intact. Whole grains offer more fiber than enriched flour, which is often used in instant oatmeal for example.
Of course all berries make a great topping for cereal for their sweet taste alone, but in fact, most berries, especially raspberries help fight diseases like cancer and arthritis while providing a good amount of fiber - about 8 grams in a cup of raspberries.
Then there is the papaya with 2.5 grams of fiber per cup along with fine doses of potassium, calcium and vitamins C and A.
Finally, pumpkins aren’t just for Halloween decorating and Thanksgiving pies. It is in fact a healthy vegetable side dish with 2.5 grams of fiber in a serving.
So there you have it - a simple guide to healthy eating and regularity. Bon-appetit!
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Showing posts with label BodyBlast Nutrition Article. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BodyBlast Nutrition Article. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Fiber For Fat Loss
Can a high fiber diet contribute to fat loss? I get this question all the time with our BodyBlast Personal Training Clients. The Answer- Absolutely, a recent study concludes. In a “Continuing Study of Food Intake By Individuals”, researchers compared intake of calories, dietary fiber and other food consumption factors with body mass index on over 4,500 women aged 20 to 59. The women who consumed more dietary fiber were significantly less likely to be overweight than women who consumed little dietary fiber. Interestingly, eating a high fiber diet proved to be a far better approach than simply eating a low fat diet when it came down to both losing weight and avoiding gaining weight. For this reason, all BodyBlast nutrition programs are focused on fiber intake whether you are a personal training client or a group training client.
One of the reasons for this say nutrition experts, is that fiber moves fat through our digestive system faster and therefore less of it is absorbed. Still another related factor is that fiber fills our stomachs up much faster than many other foods and stays in our stomachs longer. Can you say... add lettuce to every meal! This succeeds in softening stools and slowing down stomach emptying, allowing for much better digestion and keeping us from becoming hungry at a much slower rate. So of course the obvious theory here is that the less hungry you are the less you consume, the less you gain, the more weight you lose, etc. Yet another related benefit of high fiber intake is that it helps to control blood sugar and insulin levels. A stable insulin level combats mood swings, food cravings, sudden fatigue and once again, since fiber stabilizes insulin, the body will burn fat for energy.
Now there are actually two kinds of fiber, known as soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber dissolves in your intestinal tract and forms into a kind of gel that slows down digestion and contributes to that fullness associated with weight loss. Since soluble fiber binds with water to help create that soft mass or gel that in turn gives us that full feeling, experts recommend drinking plenty of water before and during meals.
“Insoluble fiber is the champion of the gastrointestinal tract,” states David Beck, MD, Chairman of colon and rectal surgery at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans. “It’s a good natural laxative because it holds onto water and moves waste quickly through the intestines.”
Soluble fiber comes from fruit, oats, barley and beans. Insoluble fibers can be found in vegetables, wheat and certain cereals. Both soluble and insoluble fiber are necessary for any healthy diet, but of course even more so and at higher levels for those seeking to lose fat.
Another recently published report claims that since high fiber foods have more texture this results in more chewing time, giving your body time to register that it is no longer hungry. So the texture of fiber slows down our intake and gives the brain a signal that the stomach is full. For textured, good tasting meals that fill us up faster, one diet expert suggests cooking whole wheat pasta “al dente” - meaning soft yet with some firmness - allowing the pasta to have a texture that offers some resistance to the teeth. Another suggestion is to cook vegetables just to the crisp stage, again contributing to slow chewing. Avoid the traditional white breads as much as possible, in lieu of the more healthy textured breads like pumpernickel, rye, muti-grain or whole wheat.
Not surprisingly, by sticking to a healthy high fiber diet for weight loss there is no longer any need to bother taking any of those additional non-food fiber supplements (in powder and pill form) so commonly found on drug store and supermarket shelves. Ask your BodyBlast personal trainer for more information about our high fiber, GI cleansing programs.
Stephen Williamson
One of the reasons for this say nutrition experts, is that fiber moves fat through our digestive system faster and therefore less of it is absorbed. Still another related factor is that fiber fills our stomachs up much faster than many other foods and stays in our stomachs longer. Can you say... add lettuce to every meal! This succeeds in softening stools and slowing down stomach emptying, allowing for much better digestion and keeping us from becoming hungry at a much slower rate. So of course the obvious theory here is that the less hungry you are the less you consume, the less you gain, the more weight you lose, etc. Yet another related benefit of high fiber intake is that it helps to control blood sugar and insulin levels. A stable insulin level combats mood swings, food cravings, sudden fatigue and once again, since fiber stabilizes insulin, the body will burn fat for energy.
Now there are actually two kinds of fiber, known as soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber dissolves in your intestinal tract and forms into a kind of gel that slows down digestion and contributes to that fullness associated with weight loss. Since soluble fiber binds with water to help create that soft mass or gel that in turn gives us that full feeling, experts recommend drinking plenty of water before and during meals.
“Insoluble fiber is the champion of the gastrointestinal tract,” states David Beck, MD, Chairman of colon and rectal surgery at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans. “It’s a good natural laxative because it holds onto water and moves waste quickly through the intestines.”
Soluble fiber comes from fruit, oats, barley and beans. Insoluble fibers can be found in vegetables, wheat and certain cereals. Both soluble and insoluble fiber are necessary for any healthy diet, but of course even more so and at higher levels for those seeking to lose fat.
Another recently published report claims that since high fiber foods have more texture this results in more chewing time, giving your body time to register that it is no longer hungry. So the texture of fiber slows down our intake and gives the brain a signal that the stomach is full. For textured, good tasting meals that fill us up faster, one diet expert suggests cooking whole wheat pasta “al dente” - meaning soft yet with some firmness - allowing the pasta to have a texture that offers some resistance to the teeth. Another suggestion is to cook vegetables just to the crisp stage, again contributing to slow chewing. Avoid the traditional white breads as much as possible, in lieu of the more healthy textured breads like pumpernickel, rye, muti-grain or whole wheat.
Not surprisingly, by sticking to a healthy high fiber diet for weight loss there is no longer any need to bother taking any of those additional non-food fiber supplements (in powder and pill form) so commonly found on drug store and supermarket shelves. Ask your BodyBlast personal trainer for more information about our high fiber, GI cleansing programs.
Stephen Williamson
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