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How Much Fiber is in That: Fruit

FitSugar — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 11:45:00 -0700

Fiber, fiber, fiber. We all know we should be getting enough. It's recommended that women get 25 grams of fiber each day to help lower your risk of heart disease, as well as some types of cancer and type 2 diabetes.

Did you know that eating a little bit more - 30 grams of fiber a day - can reduce your risk of getting breast cancer by 50%!

We all know that getting our fill of fresh fruits is essential if you want to get enough fiber.

I made an easy-to-read chart listing all the fruits I could think of so you could see if you're getting enough daily fiber. To see the chart and find out, read more

Fruits:

Food	Serving Size	Fiber in Grams
Apple	1 medium	4
Applesauce	2/3 cup	3.6
Banana	1 medium	3
Blackberries	1/2 cup	4.4
Raspberries	1/2 cup	4.6
Blueberries	1/2 cup	3.8
Pear	1 medium	4
Grapes	15-20	1
Raisins	2 Tbsp	2
Dried Cranberries	1/3 cup	2.3
Cantaloupe	1/4 cup diced	1
Strawberries	1 cup	3
Kiwi	1 large	3.1
Cherries	1/2 cup	1.4
Dates	2	1.2
Figs (dried)	3	10.5
Grapefruit	1/2 regular size	.8
Orange	1 large	2.4
Fresh Orange Juice	3/4 cup	.4
Peach	1 medium	2.3
Nectarine	1 medium	2.3
Mango	1 medium	4.5
Pineapple	1/2 cup	.8
Prunes	3 pitted	1.9
Apricots (dried)	2	1.7
Watermelon	1 thick slice	2.8

Fit's Tips: Eating a diet filled with a variety of fresh fruits, veggies and whole grains is a great way to get your daily fiber.

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Nutritional Quiz: Fiber and Fruit

FitSugar — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:00:00 -0700

You all know that you should be eating at least 5 servings of fruit and veggies a day and some health practitioners even suggest upwards of nine servings. One of the benefits of fruit is that it contains fiber. You should be eating about 30 grams a day of fiber, so which fruits contain the most? Take this quiz to find out.

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Which Dried Fruit Has MORE Fiber?

FitSugar — Tue, 22 May 2007 12:30:00 -0700

It's recommended that women get 25 grams of fiber each day to help lower your risk of heart disease, as well as some types of cancer and type 2 diabetes. Eating a little bit more - 30 grams of fiber a day - can reduce your risk of getting breast cancer by 50%!

Since yummy dried fruits are a great way to get your fiber, add them to your salads, baked goods, or chow them alone.

I was wondering, do you know...

Source, Source, and Source

Diet Tip: Eat Fruit Instead of Drinking It

FitSugar — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:00:00 -0700

If you're trying to lose weight, when choosing between fruit and fruit juice, stick with fruit. The whole fruit not only offers more fiber than fruit juice, it contains fewer calories as well. Eating fiber not only prevents certain types of cancers and keeps you regular, but it also helps fill you up so you're less likely to eat as many calories. I'm not saying you should give up juice entirely, but if you have a choice it's best to choose the original source. If sweet beverages are your weakness, fruit juice is definitely a better option than soda for its nutritional benefits, but it still contains just about as many calories (8.1 ounces of Coca-Cola contains 97 calories). So if you're watching your calorie intake, you may want to limit yourself to one eight-ounce glass a day, and opt for water or herbal teas for the rest of the day.

To emphasize my point I have made a handy little chart comparing an orange to a serving of orange juice. To see it, just read more.

	Calories	Total Fat	Sat Fat	Chol.	Sodium	Carbs	Fiber	Sugars	Protein	Calcium	Potassium
One orange	62	.2g	0g	0mg	0mg	15.4g	3.1g	12.2g	1.26g	52.4mg	237.1mg
8 oz. orange juice	112	.5g	.1g	0mg	2mg	25.8g	.5g	20.8g	1.7g	27.3mg	496.3mg

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Ovarian Cancer: Prevent With Fiber and Less Fat

FitSugar — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 03:00:00 -0700

It turns out that including at least 30 g of fiber in your diet not only helps prevent breast cancer, but a new study also says that it could also reduce your risk for ovarian cancer by 40 percent.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cancer killer of women. About 20,000 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with this deadly disease every year, and about 15,000 will die from it. Unfortunately that is not a great survival rate.

That's why it's so important for women to stick with a long-term diet that's high in fiber and low in fat with less than 20 percent of daily calories coming from fat. Not only does this diet help reduce their risk for developing breast and ovarian cancers, but it can also help prevent heart disease, and head and neck cancers as well.

So get your fiber ladies. If you want to know how much fiber is in the foods you eat, then read more

Check out these posts to make sure you're getting 30g of fiber a day:

Fiber in Fruit
Fiber in Vegetables
Fiber in Nuts, Beans, and Grains

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Healthy Eating Tip: Have a Fig For Dessert

FitSugar — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:00:04 -0800

Figgy pudding may be a traditional holiday dessert, but it isn't exactly the healthiest choice. If you crave something sweet after a meal, give dried figs a taste. If you've never tried this sweet, tasty treat, then you are really missing out. Like dates and many other dried fruits, figs are unexpectedly dessert-like in flavor and texture.

Just three dried figs packs a whopping 10 grams of fiber. That's about 40 percent of the recommended daily allowance of fiber for women. Eating 25 to 30 grams of fiber every day can help reduce your risk or heart disease, so why not get part of your RDI through dessert?

Yes, You Can Eat Carbs!

FitSugar — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 13:30:00 -0700

I am so sad when I see people on diets that restrict their carb intake. Carbs are compounds made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen - and they are VITAL for providing energy to our bodies and our brains. Without them, we'd be unconscious noodles!

Not all carbs are created equal; therefore not ALL of them should be avoided like the plague. There are 2 different kinds: simple and complex.

Simple carbohydrates are the ones to ditch. These are mostly made up of refined sugars and very few essential vitamins and minerals. They metabolize quickly, giving us a sugar high and quickly dropping us into sugar meltdown. It isn't pretty. This rollercoaster blood sugar ride makes us feel even hungrier, so we tend to repeat the cycle. Foods like soda, diet soda, candy, foods made with white sugar, and breads and pasta with white flour - should really be consumed in moderation, and YES moderation is my new favorite word.

On the other hand, complex carbs are made up of starch and fiber, so they release gradually and provide our happy bodies with a steady source of energy. Foods like beans, veggies such as potatoes and sweet potato, and whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat, and barley are complex carbs. When you eat them, they make you feel full and satisfied for longer, so you eat less.

What about fruit? To find out, read more

Fruits contain naturally occurring simple sugars and many of them contain a great deal of fiber that slows down digestion - thus limiting the sugar energy from immediately flooding our bodies. So go ahead and eat that fruit - your body will be psyched with all those enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and cancer-fighting tannins and flavonoids. Another thing, fruit is mostly made up of water, so it hydrates your body and aids in the cleansing, detoxifying, and elimination process.

Fit's Tips: Read labels and look for foods containing whole wheat flour. Enriched flour is a fancy word for the process of stripping all the healthy stuff (nutrients, vitamins, and minerals) out of the whole grains to make them lighter in color and smoother in texture (companies thought lighter, smoother products would sell better). They then add some of the nutrients back (hence the word "enriched" or "fortified"), but our bodies can't absorb them as easily, and they make us feel crappy.

Do you love these shirts?

You can order all 3 designs - i love carbs, i eat carbs, or carb queen - from Alternative Outfitters for $22.

Don't Let Traveling Get You in a Bind

FitSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:30:31 -0800

The stress of traveling and being away from home can really mess with your bathroom schedule. Changing times zones, eating foods you're not used to, and skipping out on exercise doesn't help either. To prevent tummy issues, here are some tips on how to stay regular when traveling.

Drink water whenever you can as your choice of beverage. Not only will it keep you hydrated, but it'll also keep things moving.
When traveling, bring your own snacks that are high in fiber. Nibble on carrot sticks, apples (with the peel), trail mix with dried fruit and nuts, granola bars, and high fiber cereal. Having healthy snacks on hand will prevent you from eating processed foods that can tie the digestive system in knots.

For more helpful tips keep reading.

Learn to Love: Persimmons

FitSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:00:01 -0800

Now that berry season is long gone, I'm expanding my breakfast fruit horizons. Celebrate the cold weather with pomegranate seeds in your oatmeal, or slice pears or persimmons and serve them with nut butter on toast or whole-grain waffles.

You probably know how to pick and slice a pear, but persimmons have a steeper learning curve. They're worth learning to love, so read more.

Persimmons come in two varieties: hachiya, which are orange-red and shaped like acorns, and fuyu, which sort of look like yellow-orange tomatoes. The hachiyas are bitter and astringent when they're not ripe, but when ripened, they have a soft, jelly-like texture. Fuyu persimmons are a bit firmer like a pear when ripe and can be sliced up like apples.

This fruit is an excellent source of antioxidants and chock-full of vitamins. One persimmon packs 55 percent of your daily allowance of Vitamin A and 21 percent of your recommended Vitamin C, plus six grams of fiber. In addition to having persimmon for breakfast or a snack, you can slice them up and serve them in a pretty Fall salad.

Have you tried persimmons? Tell me how you like to eat them in the comments.

Fruits: More or Less Than Five Grams of Fiber?

FitSugar — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:00:15 -0700

Hopefully you're taking advantage of the season and eating pounds of fresh Summer fruits. Fruit is a great way to cool you down on a hot day, and is a healthier choice than ice cream since it's lower in calories and fat, and offers more fiber. Just how much? Take this quiz and find out.

Flickr User Muffet

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