Fiber: Why and how to get enough fiber in our diet
American women need to get at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day in their diet. Getting your daily grams of fiber is a great way to control your weight. Not only is fiber important to our daily diet but, it also contributes in helping us manage our weight. This is another reason to avoid the fast-food restaurants at all costs.
Highly refined and processed foods contain little fiber not to mention nutrition. Foods that are naturally high in fiber are also lower on the Glycemic index; they raise blood sugar levels much slower, making us feel fuller for longer periods of time.
Here is an idea of what I try to eat during the day to get all the fiber needed and also this is a perfect example of a healthy day of eating not to mention easy.
BREAKFAST:
½ cup Post Raisin Bran Cereal = 8 grams of fiber - 180 calories
½ cup fat free milk - 50 calories
1 cup blueberries = 4 grams of fiber - 80 calories
SNACK:
yogurt: calories 120
LUNCH:
½ TURKEY Sandwich with romaine lettuce & tomato & mustard
1 slice whole wheat bread = 2 grams of fiber - 80 calories
1 tomato - 1 gram of fiber - 25 calories
3 slices deli turkey - 60 calories
1 oz. Pretzels - 1 gram fiber - 100 calories
DINNER:
1 cup cooked spinach = 4 grams fiber - 50 calories
lemon pepper salmon using ½ fillet - 220 calories
¾ wild rice - 2 grams fiber - 160 calories
1 cup sliced strawberries - 4 grams of fiber - 50 calories
SNACK:
2 oz. low fat cheddar cheese & 1 glass red wine = 150 calories
Total Calories = 1,305
Total Fiber = 26
If you want to bump up your fiber total for the day - eat a pear. Pears are high in fiber and come in many different varieties. Place pears in a brown paper bag to ripen. Check for softness near the top of the pear. When ripe enough, you can keep pears in the fridge for about a week.
I have started walking to burn 200 calories per day so that brings my total burned calories (per day) to about 1,750 figuring in my BMR. So I have -450 calories in my deficit bank for the day. If I can do this every day I will easily loose a pound per week.
June 22nd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Lorelei
I am eating almost the same sort of diet as you listed on the blog some months ago. I am 63 and here’s a couple of ways I use your ideas with a change here and there.
I teach school so I need pumping up in the morning.
I eat the bigger meal at breakfast - a piece of pork chop or steak with toast and vegies is quite good at 6:30 in the morning… I often chop them up and make “Scrabble” by scrambling in an egg. This is where I add a slice of Oro-wheat Double Fiber toast and sprinkle Bran Buds over it all. These are extremely high in fiber and stay crunchy unless you stir them in.
For lunch at school, I eat tuna, chicken, sardines (I ONLY eat the Crown Prince tiny sardines in olive oil and I drain them - the King Oscar sardines are larger, saltier and fishy smelling. I know - some folks just hate them. But my calcium is TWO standard deviations ABOVE expected levels in the bones for 63 with a sedentary polio-limited lifestyle.) I almost always eat something small about 11:00 because our 9th graders don’t eat until 1:00.
I am a big Crystal Light fan and mix their 16 oz. drink packet in a 20 Oz widemouth Mt Dew bottle which makes it easy to drink between classes.
After school, I eat some fruit or cheese and celery….something, so I am not craving cheese and apricot danishes! When I ‘dream’ of food, it’s homemade chili, cornbread, danishes and buttery baked sweet potatoes - none of those chocolate cravings that could simply be satisfied with a fake candy for me, no sir! I crave ‘real’ food. So something is necessary about 4:00.
Before 8:00 I will eat a bowl of high bran mixed granola/cereal/sunflower seeds/FiberSure powder/bran buds/raisins/cranberries….and whatever else is looking good. If you eat cereal a couple of hours before bedtime, I have found that you will sleep more deeply since your system isn’t trying to digest and utilize a high protein meat dinner while your brain and body aren’t making any requests.
I became very ‘religious’ about a diet this spring after 20 years of near perfect health at 240 lbs. To date I have rounded down on the 200 mark and am feeling terrific.
I’ve also found it easy to eat OUT. If it’s fast food, it’s the Martha Vineyards salad at Arby’s…tons of fiber.
If it’s a restaurant, it’s salad and a soup (bean/vegie/chicken tortilla) or a Greek salad and broiled chicken breast.
If it’s Mexican, it’s a soft taco with carne asada which is roasted thinly sliced steak, not hamburger, and not oil fried like fajita meat.
If it’s Thai, it’s a Thai chicken/vegie soup and one spring roll (all vegie).
Sure I’d love triple cheese ravioli, creamed clam chowder and we don’t even think about baked potatoes and the fixings…..but they will be treats earned at the decades. 200, 190, 180, etc.
It’s all about what you put in your mouth, isn’t it? I cannot do many exercises, but I can walk and inside our NW Arkansas Mall is nearly 2 miles if you cover the perimeter completely.
So Good Luck losing all your weight THIS year! You will never forget the moment you see your target weight for the first time!
Kate Lacy