If you are in need of losing weight, start eating foods that rich in fiber. If you start a balanced diet is high in fiber, you will more likely be able to lose weight or maintain your current healthy weight. It is recommended that a high fiber diet contains approximately 21-38 grams of fiber per day. Dietary fiber works by making you feel full without actually filling you up. It suppresses your appetite and improves your digestive functions.
If you want to use fiber as a tool for weight loss, it is essential that you understand the benefits of fiber and know how to appropriately use it to achieve your weight loss goals. Below are some reasons why dietary fiber works, and some tips on how fiber can help you lose weight permanently.
How do fiber foods make you feel full?
High-fiber foods take longer to chew than other foods. When you chew, you are producing stomach juices. The longer you chew, the more your stomach will be filled with these juices. That is why the chewing duration of fiber helps fool your brain into thinking you have had enough to eat. As a result, you can control your hunger.
Studies have shown that the majority of people eat the same weight of food on a daily basis. If you switch to a high-fiber, water-rich food diet, you might eat the same weight, but the amount of calories will be fewer. That is because fiber has fewer calories per volume. For example, one slice of whole wheat bread is more filling than eating to slices of white bread.
Fiber is a part of plants that our bodies cannot digest. When we eat fiber, it slowly passes through the digestive tract, but it does not provide us with any nutrients or calories. However, it is healthy for us. It keeps us feeling fuller longer, improves our bowel movements and keeps us from certain diseases.
Eat Healthy with Fiber
Foods rich in fiber are great for your health. They are a better option than processed and soft foods. Although fiber does not have any nutritional value on its own, most foods that are rich in fiber are also rich in other nutrients. They also tend to be low calorie food items that are great for any diet.
Fiber is mainly found in whole and natural foods.
- Legumes (lentils, dry beans and peas)
- Other leafy vegetables
- Fruits (apples, bananas)
- Fiber cereal
- Brown rice
- Whole grains (wheat, oats, barley)
Studies have shown that eating high-fiber cereals for breakfast is the most beneficial for weight loss.
How to add fiber to your diet?
Women who eat at least 25 grams of fiber per day have the best weight loss results. For men, the number is 38 grams per day. People who eat more fiber are less hungry and lose more weight than people who eat less fiber. You can add up to 45 grams of fiber to your daily diet without any health consequences.
The best way to add fiber to your diet is to gradually do so. This will prevent you from getting any bloating or a large amount of gas into your digestive system.
Here are a few tips on how to add fiber to your diet.
Eat whole fruits, and do not use fruit juice as a substitution.
Your daily diet should consist of 5 fruits and vegetables. High fiber fruits are apples, bananas, citrus fruits, strawberries, pears, prunes and tangerines.
- Eat more whole grains (wheat, oats, barley)
- Use veggies for snacks. Celery sticks, carrot sticks, etc, are better snack choices for a person who wants to add fiber to their diet.
- Make vegetables a main course. You can have an all-vegetable dinner or lunch.
- Eat vegetable broth soup as an appetizer for meals.
- Eat high-fiber cereals or oatmeal for breakfast.
- Eat plenty of peas, beans, and legumes.
- If you eat pasta, switch to the whole wheat kind or the vegetable kind.
- Nutrient-rich Snacks such as popcorn and whole grain crackers are high in fiber as well.
High fiber diets can help you lose weight, because they make you feel fuller. As a result, you will not eat as much. Weight loss happens when you burn off more calories than you consume. Dietary fibers decrease your caloric intake and make it easier for you to burn off the necessary calories.