Fiber and Fitness

By : | Comments Off on Fiber and Fitness | On : April 18, 2014 | Category : Cutting Calories, Diet, Dieting, Health Benefits

Charro Beans with Parboiled Rice

One of the simplest way to reduce calories and lose weight is by increasing the amount of fiber in your diet replacing high saturated fat and fried foods with low saturated fat fiber rich foods. Most Americans eat a fiber poor diet providing less than 10 grams per day. Daily fiber intake should be 20 to 30 grams per day. Soups, stews and beans make increasing fiber easy without resorting to fiber pills and powders. In addition to feeling fuller longer and reducing calories while increasing essential vitamin and minerals, adding more fiber to your diet can help maintain regularity.

High fiber foods include, soups, stews, legumes (beans) and lentils. These foods should replace high saturated fat low fiber foods like beef and pork, fried foods and snack foods.

Vegetable rich soup can provide 8 to 10 grams of fiber per 1 cup (240 ml) serving. Broths like chicken, beef or vegetable provide no fiber.

All the vegetable and bean soup recipes on this website provide more fiber per serving than a large salad. Lettuce is a poor source of fiber. Here are some examples. Serving sizes range from 12 to 18 oz.:

Split Pea Soup – 13 grams

Lentil Soup – 12 grams

Hearty Italian Soup – 10 grams

Vegetarian Minestrone Soup – 10 grams

Meat Minestrone Soup – 9 grams

Creamy Red Lentil – 8 grams

Red Beans & Rice – 8 grams

Spicy Cauliflower Soup – 5 grams

Butternut Squash Soup – 5 grams

Slow cooker Vegetable Soup – 5 grams

Charro Beans – 5 grams

Add these fiber rich foods to your diet and see the difference they make to your overall health. Most are low calorie so you can eat several servings per day.