If you have a choice - Choose Fiber!

Are you including foods with fiber at every meal and snack? Who knew all the good things that dietary fiber does! Fiber in your meal or snack makes you feel full more quickly. It keeps food in your stomach longer so your blood glucose doesn’t go up as high after a meal and you won’t get hungry as quickly. Fiber helps the bacteria who live in your intestines stay hard at work keeping the bad things from your food and environmental toxins from being reabsorbed into your body. Fiber helps lower cholesterol levels in your blood.

Looking for ways to get more fiber in your diet? Eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes - beans. Add high-fiber foods into recipes -- for example, adding beans to soup or oats to muffins -- also helps to increase the amount of fiber in the diet. The Goal here is to replace lower fiber foods with higher fiber foods in your diet. Increase the amount of fiber in your diet slowly or your intestines will complain loudly!

Whole fruits are a great place to start adding more fiber to your diet. But remember, if you just add more fruit to your diet without taking something else away, you are adding extra calories and extra calories result in extra pounds. Apples (4gm fiber 95 Calories) are easy to carry with you if you need a snack. If you add a Tbsp of almonds (1.5gm fiber 81C) or walnuts (1.1gm fiber 91C) to that you are well on your way to reaching the 25 to 35gms of fiber you should be eating every day. ½ of a large banana (2gm of fiber 60 calories) with 1 Tbsp Chunky Peanut butter (1.5gm 94C) balances the higher sugar content of the banana with the fat and protein in the peanut butter (or just have nuts with your banana).
If you eat cereal for breakfast add berries (frozen or fresh) ½ Cup Raspberries (4gm of fiber 32C) Blueberries (2gm of fiber 42C) or Strawberries (1.5gm of fiber 27C). Eat an orange (4gm of fiber 86C) with your eggs for breakfast or put 1 Cup of sautéed kale (3g of fiber 36C) in your scrambled eggs.

Flaxseed meal can be sprinkled on food instead of nuts. 1 Tbsp has 2gm of fiber and 30 calories. The downside of flaxseed meal is too much can cause GI discomfort, like nuts you have to make sure it is stored properly to protect it from becoming rancid and you should not use more than 3 Tbsp daily.

How to measure your success. You are doing a great job if you start having a bowel movement every day. Remember the bile in your blood picks up the excess cholesterol and toxic substances in your body. The fiber binds to the bile and helps to flush these substances through your intestines and out of your body faster. You should also see your Ldl Cholesterol, Triglyceride Levels and your Blood Pressure All Go Down!

Links of Interest: Fiber: Why it Matters More Than You Think in Experience Life Magazine
Nutrition Data Link to find out how much fiber is in everything (and all the other nutrients)