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Fiber is your friend, especially during the holidays
It’s a familiar holiday chorus: struggles with weight, struggles with digestion, and struggles with Aunt Ida Lou, who keeps insisting that you can’t possibly have had enough to eat yet!
We can’t help you with Aunt Ida Lou – at least, not this month – but we do have a few suggestions to get you through the holidays without too much weight gain or digestion problems. |
Fiber: What you can’t digest can be good for you!
Your grandparents probably called it “roughage.” Fiber is an indigestible carbohydrate in plant-based foods, and it’s essential for keeping your system running. Fiber is one of the key requirements for keeping solid waste solid, but soft enough that it doesn’t clog the pipes. There are two types of fiber, and each works in a different way.
- Soluble fiber – the kind that dissolves in water – is found in oatmeal, nuts, beans, and many fruits. As it dissolves, it forms a gel that traps substances related to cholesterol and slows the release of glucose into your bloodstream. Soluble fiber regulates the after-meal spikes in blood sugar that scientists believe are a key to developing type 2 diabetes, and it also appears to reduce insulin requirements for people with type 1 diabetes.
- Insoluble fiber is found in whole-grain foods like whole-wheat bread, pasta, cereal, and bran; brown rice, couscous, seeds; and vegetables like carrots, celery, and tomatoes. It’s the kind of fiber that keeps things moving through your digestive system.
You can get fiber by taking supplements, but here are a couple of reasons it’s better to increase your fiber by adjusting your eating habits:
- Many fiber supplements don’t contain the other nutrients you need – they’re just fiber.
- With a supplement, you can increase your fiber too fast, which can make life really uncomfortable for a while!
- And honestly, food tastes better than supplements!
High-fiber meals help control weight because they fill you up faster and stay with you longer. You’re less likely to overeat if meals contain plenty of fiber – you’ll also feel better after eating, without that “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!” sensation.
Bumping up fiber is tastier than you think!
It may seem difficult to change the way you eat, but increasing fiber can be quite simple. Here are just a few basic things to remember:
- Start slowly. You may want to monitor your fiber for a few days, to gauge your typical intake. Then increase your fiber gradually. Most adults need between 20 and 25 grams of fiber a day, depending on age, gender, and body type. If you increase fiber at a moderate pace, you’ll skip the unpleasant – but temporary – side effects of gas, bloating, and constipation.
- Find a few new favorites. Sprinkle some crushed bran cereal on your yogurt or mix walnuts and dried dates or figs with your hot cereal. Check your local bakery for whole-grain bread with raisins, cranberries, or nuts. Eat a piece of fruit at every meal.
- Make friends with nutrition labels. Look for dietary fiber content and keep a tally of your daily grams of fiber. Also, check the ingredients on packages. Bread, cereal, and pasta should list a whole-wheat or whole-grain product as the first ingredient. Sugars – including corn sweeteners, sucrose, and fructose – should be very close to the bottom, if they’re included at all.
- Eat the peels. The “natural wrappers” on apples, pears, potatoes, and other thin-skinned fruits and vegetables contain a good bit of fiber, as well as other nutrients.
- Mix it up. Layer chopped vegetables like broccoli, zucchini, and carrots in your homemade lasagna recipe. You can buy them fresh or frozen and already chopped – how easy is that? Stir a can of kidney beans into your soup and add refried or black beans and a good, chunky salsa to your taco salad or nachos.
Bottom line:
Especially during the holidays, with all the massive “eat-togethers,” your life will be more pleasant if you get adequate fiber. All year long, fiber can help you feel better, maintain a healthy weight, and prevent or control digestive problems, high cholesterol, and even serious ailments like diabetes.
Additional resources:
For more information to help you manage your weight check out the tips, tools, and trackers in the Weight Management Center on MyHumana. Just log in to MyHumana – there’s a log-in box at the top of this page – select “Condition Centers” from the “Health & Wellness” menu, and choose “Weight Management” from the drop-down box.
For more information about fiber:
Food and recipes:
Tracking:
FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal – This is a great site for setting up a free, personal, private tracking and planning account. You cover the basics – like what you eat and how it breaks down into fat, protein, and carbohydrates – or you can create personal goals, like daily grams of fiber, calcium, vitamin D intake, and exercise, and generate reports on how you’re doing.
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