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High Fiber Diet For Weight Loss
How can the Fiber help me lose weight?
One of the best ways to lose weight is to add vegetables to your diet. I'm giving you some good reasons to add high quality vegetables to your diet.
What do I need to know?
A complete diet should have fiber in it for a number of reasons. Dietary fiber helps to prevent colon cancer and control diabetes which are both important considerations. The other thing that fiber in the diet can do for you is that is provides the roughage your body needs so that your bowels can function effectively. The fiber helps to absorb water in your large intestine. This is helpful because it makes the stool softer and easier to pass, which is important in helping to prevent hemorhoids and can also reduce the severity of diverticulitis (inflammation of your large intestine lining) and constipation.
How do I get fiber in my diet?
Vegetables are a good source of fiber so the best way to get more fiber is to eat more vegetables. Some very good examples of high fiber vegetables are broccoli, spinach, and romaine lettuce (iceberg lettuce is low in fiber).
It is a good idea to keep some vegetables all ready to go. Many times people complain about wanting to eat healthy, but when they get to the fridge, there are no fresh vegetables prepared so they eat junk food instead. Try to cut up some high fiber vegetables and keep them ready to go in the fridge. If you don't like cutting and preparing the veggies yourself, you can buy packages of vegetables that are already cut up. The prepared vegetables often cost more, but will ensure that you are getting healthy food inside you when you need it. Some good examples of high-fiber snack foods are: broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, beans and peppers.
Other fiber tips
- Leave the skin on potatoes and apples (that's where the fiber is)
- Oatmeal is one of the best sources of fiber
- Try oat bran (some find this a little tough to eat alone, so you can try mixing it with another cereal or by adding fruit)
- Add some cooked, dried beans to your favorite dishes
- Try dried fruit. 3 dried apricots, 2 dates, 4 tablespoons of raisins, or a fig have 2 grams of fiber. These fruits also give you potassium, beta carotene, and iron. These examples are fairly high in calories but you don't need to eat much to get the fiber.