Getting enough dietary fiber in on a daily basis will help to reduce the level of hunger you experience, slow the digestion of food through the body, enhance heart health, and regulate blood sugar levels. Taking good care of your dietary fiber intake is important to overall digestive health.
While it is important that you always make sure that you are eating the right amount of calories and a good balance of proteins, carbs, and fats, dietary fiber is also going to play a role in your weight-loss success.
Unfortunately, many people are still falling low in their fiber intake on a day-to-day basis so it’s important that you take some time to learn which foods to integrate into your diet to boost it upwards.
And this is how you can do it:
• Add blackberries or raspberries to your muesli. With a wealth of seeds, these little berries are one of the highest-fiber fruits available.
• Sprinkle wheat bran in your oatmeal. While oatmeal is high in fiber by itself, adding some wheat bran boosts the fiber content even further.
• Use oat flour. By substituting ground oats for white flour, you’ll get an instant complex carb boost.
• Puree vegetables into a sauce. High-fiber choices like sweet potatoes, spinach, carrots, and broccoli will instantly boost both the fiber and vitamin content.
• Add flaxseeds to shakes and smoothies. You’ll get more fiber and more good-for-you omega fats.
• Snack on fresh fruit rather than granola bars. Fruits are far higher in fiber and nutrients.
• Serve a side salad with every meal you eat. Load it up with peppers, mushrooms, spinach, and tomatoes.
• Swap rice for beans. Beans are not only a good source of fiber, but complex carbs as well.
• Eat nuts as a source of healthy fat. Nuts provide fiber, healthy fats, and a small dose of protein.
• Choose whole wheat over heavily processed products whenever possible. Whole wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta, and whole wheat pita are all excellent choices.
• Eat an apple a day. Each medium apple provides about 5 grams of fiber. Serve with a handful of nuts, seeds, or 10g dark chocolate to make a balanced snack.
• Serve up vegetable soup when hunger strikes for a great low-calorie snack that has lots of fiber.
The Bottom Line
Eating more fiber doesn’t have to be a challenge as long as you have some smart strategies in place. Just remember that you should only consume one or two of these fiber sources per day. You don’t want to increase your fiber intake too high, too fast, or this can shock your digestive system, causing gastrointestinal problems that leave you in great pain and discomfort. It’s smartest to increase your intake slowly for the best long-term results.
