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Home › Articles › Grandparent Health › Your Fill of Fiber

Your Fill of Fiber

Getting the Nutrition You Need

By Jill Weisenberger

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

When prescribed by a physician, fiber supplements like Metamucil and Citrucel may be important in treating certain diseases like diverticulosis. But Polk cautions that they can never substitute for a fiber-rich diet. She points out that it's not the fiber alone that helps prevent chronic disease, but the consumption of fiber-rich foods that scientists recognize as health aids.

Top Ways to Increase Fiber
Get more fiber starting today. Use the tips below to gradually increase your family's intake of fiber-rich foods.

At breakfast:

  • Pick a whole grain cereal for breakfast. Try to find one with at least 5 grams of fiber per serving. For taste, mix it with your usual cereal.
  • Slice fruit into your dry cereal.
  • Mix raisins or dried cranberries into oatmeal.

    • In restaurants:

  • Start your meal with a large low-fat, low-calorie salad or a cup of vegetable soup.
  • In Japanese restaurants, choose edamame beans (young soybeans) from the appetizer menu. Order red or black beans in Mexican restaurants.
  • Experiment with new vegetarian dishes or restaurants.
  • Ask for extra vegetables on your sandwich. Swap the pasta or rice for extra veggies.

    • In the kitchen:

  • Make a veggie dip by pureeing canned beans with lemon juice, olive oil and spices. Serve it with whole grain crackers like Triscuits and with raw veggies.
  • When baking, add some wheat germ, oatmeal, bran or flax to the batter.
  • Concoct a snack mix of dried fruit, nuts and whole grain cereals.
  • Add berries to ice cream and yogurt.
  • Have canned beans whenever you can. Add them to soups and salads. Cook up some beans and rice for supper. Wrap them into burritos and tacos.
  • Snack on granola bars (Fiber One, Kashi) and crackers (Triscuits) that have at least two grams of fiber for every 100 calories. Evaluate cereals, pasta and other grains the same way.

    • Did You Know?

  • Scientists estimated that adding about 13 grams of fiber daily would lower the risk of colorectal cancer in the United States by about 31 percent.
  • The soluble fiber in oats and many fruits may lower cholesterol levels by grabbing hold of bile acids in the intestines. Bile acids are made from cholesterol in the body and are needed for digesting fats. As bile acids are trapped by fiber, cholesterol in the body decreases because it's being used up to make more bile acids.
  • High-fiber diets increase stool size, which thereby helps prevent constipation. Bran and the fiber in whole grains are especially useful in promoting healthy bowels.
  • In diabetics, some fibers improve blood sugars by slowing digestion and glucose absorption. Studies show that very large amounts of fiber (50 grams) are needed to see a benefit.
  • A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2003 demonstrated that high intakes of whole grains and fiber from grains significantly lowered risk of type 2 diabetes.


    • Pages:  1  2  3  4  

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