Are You Getting Enough Fiber?

Fiber is a fundamental part of our diet, and critical for good health. Experts recommend a fiber intake of 25- 30 grams per day, yet the average American only gets 15 grams.

A high-fiber diet:

• Makes you feel full faster – helping you lose weight and maintain a healthy weight
• Reduces the risk of heart disease
• Maintains healthy cholesterol
• Reduces your risk of developing diabetes (and if you have diabetes, a high fiber diet can help you healthy blood sugar)
• Maintains regularity, so you don’t need laxatives
• Reduces your risk of certain cancer
• Improves your immune system

Focusing on fiber helps you return to the foods that Mother Nature intended you to eat in the first place.

Increasing Your Fiber Intake

If you’re not currently getting enough fiber, you may find that:

• You’re constipated – this is often the first warning sign that you need more fiber in your diet
• You’re cholesterol and blood sugar levels are too high

It’s easy to eat more fiber, without making radical changes to your eating habits. Here are five simple tips you could put into practice this week:

1. Eat whole fruit instead of drinking fruit juice
2. When buying products, look for the phrase “100% wholegrain” or “100% whole bran” – the 100% is crucial.
3. Start your day with a bowl of high fiber cereal – I like to add fruit to mine
4. Eat lots of beans, nuts and seeds
5. Eat a vegetarian meal at least once a week

If you don’t normally eat much fiber, increase your intake gradually, adding a little more each week. If you start having digestive problems (like a lot of gas) then chances are, you’re eating too much fiber and you may need to cut down slightly until your body adjusts.

Do you have a question about fiber? just leave a comment below, and I’ll be happy to answer. 

“Let food be your medicine and let medicine be your food.” – Hippocrates

“Let food be your medicine and let medicine be your food” – Hippocrates

Snacking keeps the cravings down. You don’t get over-hungry-so you don’t eat as much at mealtimes. If you snack a little during the day, you’ll consume fewer calories during meals: aim to eat a light meal or snack every three hours.

Of course, you need to eat the right things. Snacking on candy bars and chips won’t help you lose weight. Here are some healthysnacks to try:

Healthy Snacking: Nuts

Almonds make a great snack: your portion shoyld be  about 12 – 15 individual almonds. They’re a great source of calcium – which makes them especially good for those of us who don’t like milk. They’re also heart healthy.

For the chocoholics (like me!) out there, combine almonds with about an ounce of good quality dark chocolate – 70% 0r more cocoa. Avoid milk chocolate, as it usually has a lot of sugar. Dark chocolate has been scientifically proven to lower your blood pressure.

Nuts in general are good for snacking. Peanuts have gained a bad reputation – they’re actually healthy, so long as you don’t eat too many. Walnuts are a great choice as they contain Omega 3 fatty acids – particularly useful if you dislike fish.

Healthy Snacking: Fruits

It’s important to include fruits in your diet: they’re high in fiber and vitamins. Bananas are often a good choice, unless you’re diabetic (they have a high sugar content, especially when very ripe). They contain a lot of potassium so they’re good for people with high blood pressure.

Many fruits are easy to grab and eat straight away – like grapes (freeze them if you like) or berries. The dark-colored berries like blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are packed with antioxidants.

Snacking While You’re Out

It can be tough to eat healthily when you’re on the move – traviling or shopping, for instance. You may need to plan ahead and take some healthy snacks with you.

Although popcorn makes a good snack while at home, the type you buy at the movies is often covered in butter, sugar or salt. Wholewheat pretzels are a better option.

Other good snacks on the move include fruit, and small containers of yogurt (look out for the sugar content, thought).

Don’t just think about what you eat while you are out and about – think about what you’re drinking, too. “Liquid calories” can add up to a surprising amount. Your favorite latte could contain up to 500 calories, which is equal to a cheese burger. While the occasional special coffee will not ruin your diet, having one every day may may add on the pounds.

You can – and should – snack while you’re trying to lose weight. Sensible snacks are a vital part of a healthy diet.

Have you got a favorite healthy snack? Share your suggestions in the comments.

Bio: Patricia Setzer is the author of  How to Eat Healthy for Life (Without Giving Up the Foods You Love), available in ebook form for just $9.99. You can click here to find out about it here.

A food diary is considered one of the most effective weight loss tools that there is, potentially doubling your rate of weight loss.

Your food diary makes you aware of what your habits are. Many people aren’t even aware that they’re eating - you can probably think of times when you have eaten “just a few” chips from a friend’s bag. Little snacks can easily add up to the equivalent of an extra meal a day, without you realizing.

You can’t solve a problem if you don’tknow what it is. People often think they’re working hard to lose weight or to get healthy – but nothing’s changing. This is because they don’t know what they need to change. A food diary can help.

How to Keep a Food Diary

• Decide what your goal is. Are you aiming to lose weight, to eat healthier or something else?
• Record your portion sizes - how much you are eating at each meal?
• Record the time of day you ate - you may find that you end up eating at a specific time (or in a specific place) even when you’re not hungry.
• Try writing down what you’re going to eat in advance of eating it: this can help you make good decisions.
• It’s often helpful to record the calories or the grams of fat inwhat you’re eating, because this makes you aware.
• Write down the drinks you consume - It’s easy to forget the sugar and/or fat content of these. A 64-ounce super-sized drink can contain 64 grams of sugar.
• Aim to fill in your diary every time you eat - otherwise you forget. Take a small notebook if you’re out and copy snacks, drinks and meals into your diary later.
• Make sure you record everything - including free samples, or just one candy. It all adds up.

If you want to get going, you can download my free food diary template by clicking here.

For lots of tips on how to eat healthy without depriving yourself, buy my new book, How to Eat Healthy for Life. It costs just $9.99 in ebook format – and you can find out all about it here.

How to Eat Healthy for Life will teach you:

• The most important tool for healthy eating (it’s free!) – clinical studies have shown this to doubleparticipants’ rate of weight-loss
• What shapes your eating habits – so you understand the triggers that cause you to over-eat
• Which food myths just aren’t true – don’t risk harming your health by following poor advice
• Nine easy steps to a healthy diet – you don’t have to make huge changes overnight

… and much more.

There is a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you have nothing to lose. Click here to check out the full details for the ebook today.

Let food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food. Hippocrates

Let food be your medicine and let medicine be your food. Hippocrates

Excuse #1: “But I like food!”

Do you think that the only people who eat healthy don’t like food?

You might be surprised by what new foods you can find and enjoy while becoming healthier.

Excuse #2: “I hate eating fish (or any other food)”

I hate fish. And I know fish is the best source of omega 3 fatty acids – which are very important for me, as I have been through heart surgery, and my father has type 11 diabetes. But someone couls stand here and tell me from now until the end of time that I need to eat fish … but I’m not going to.

So, I searched out other sources that I could get the same benefits from, like nuts, flax seed and krill oil.

Excuse #3: “I don’t have time.”

Lots of people say they don’t have time to exercise. I am at the gym at five in the morning – because I don’t have time not to exercise.

Would you rather spend your time in the gym, or in the hospital?

Excuse #4: “I don’t want to deprive myself.”

The secret to maintaining a healthy diet is portion control, not eliminating the food.

There is always chocolate ice cream in my freezer; my granddaughter and I just can’t imagine life without chocolate. When we indulge in our favorite treat I serve the ice cream in dishes that will hold no more than a couple of scoops. This is just enough to satisfy my cravings and enjoy a little time with my granddaughter.

Excuse #5: I have to cook for my family…”

Your family needs to be healthy too. Do you really want to put their health at risk? You are not running a cafe: your kids need to eat what is on the table.

Remember that kids are only picky eaters if you train them to be.

Do you have another excuse? Let me know in the comments – and I will tell you how to overcome it.

Can you trust the label when you are trying to eat healthy?

Probably not!

1. “Lite” or “light” may refer to nothing more than the color of the product.
2. “This has 50% less fat” or “lower fat” - when you read the fine print, you’ll find it’s often less fat than a similar product rather than the standard version of the same product.
3. “2% milk” might sound good, but it is pretty close to full fat.
4. “Sugar-free” - the product can still containhalf a gram or less of sugar per serving and be classified as sugar-free.

             Sugar comes in many different forms, simple and complex, but companies are only required to list the amount of white sugar in their poducts. For this reason you may find many hidden sugars in processed foods. Examples of hidden sugars are high-fructose corn syrup, brown sugar, cane sugar or any ingredient ending in -ose. 

     5   “Fat-free” - similary, this actually means half gram or less of fat per serving. These products may also be packed  with sugar.

           If your cart is full of  “sugar-free and “fat-free” products you are probably getting lots of unwanted sugar from the fat-free and the fat from the sugar-free.

     6. “Whole-grain” simply means that the product started out as a whole grain. Once it’s processed, all the nutrition and fiber is removed – unless it says 100% whole grain.

     7. “Multi-grain” just means it has more than one grain – but not necessarily enough of any one grain to be of any particular benefit.

     8. Manufacturers may give statements like “whole wheat is good for your heart” - even though there is no whole wheat in there product, this is known as a structure-function claim. The statement refers to the benefits of a certain nutrient not the product.

The front of the label is designed by the company’s marketing department to sell you their product. It is not legal for a company to mislead you but they often do. 

     9. “Natural” the most over used and abused word in food advertisement. There is no law or regulation on the use of the word “natural” on food labels.

Have you come across any outrageous food label claims? Let me know in the comments.