If you want to lose a few pounds, there's one thing you should definitely be eating more of: fiber! Why? This plant-based roughage is a weight-loss wonder. But fear not: you don't need to resort to eating old-school oat bran cereal or adding a fiber supplement to your smoothie in order to up your fiber intake. Some of the most delicious foods, such as raspberries, strawberries, chickpeas, edamame, and sweet potatoes, are also some of the highest in fiber. Read on to get the lowdown on how fiber can help you shed pounds, find out how much fiber you should be eating, and get 10 yummy fiber-rich meal and snack ideas.
We all know most Americans aren't eating enough fiber, but how much do you really need? The USDA recommends you eat 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories. So, if you are eating a 2,000-calorie diet, you need about 28 grams of fiber per day. Most Americans get about half that, since the Standard American Diet is high is processed foods and animal fats that are devoid of fiber. In order to get more fiber, you need to eat more plant foods: fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds are all excellent sources.
While nutritional labels don't discern between insoluble and soluble fiber, they come from different sources, and act differently in the body, too.
If you focus on eating more whole plant foods, you don't need to be overly mindful of the difference between soluble and insoluble fiber, since they are usually packaged together in whole foods such as brown rice, corn, beans, chickpeas, grapes, apples, raspberries, and celery.
Fiber-rich foods are important for weight loss for two reasons:
Nutritional Information Source: US Department of Agriculture Nutrient Data Laboratory