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Putting it All Together
No one food provides all the fiber we need, so including high-fiber foods with our meals and snacks
is essential. Here are the three key steps to meeting your daily requirement for dietary fiber:
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Make half your grains whole.
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Include fresh fruits and vegetables at most meals.
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Eat legumes (beans, peas, and lentils) more often.
Putting it all together, if you eat 2 cups of fruits and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables
and at least three servings of whole grain products, you should reach the younger man’s minimum goal
of 30 grams. You could, for example, start the day with 1 cup high-fiber cereal (eight to 14 grams per half-cup)
topped with 1/2 cup raspberries (four grams); order your sandwich on whole-wheat bread (three or more grams per slice);
choose a bean salad, vegetarian chili, bean soup, or a bean burrito (up to 17 grams per cup) to meet or even exceed
the daily recommendations. Do you see that everything that is contributing fiber comes from a plant?
10 Tips for Filling Up With Fiber
Eat a variety of foods. -
You’ll benefit from a mix of soluble and insoluble fiber.
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Check the food label. Reading the food label can help you find foods with more fiber.
Look for phrases such as “high in fiber” or “more fiber.”
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Eat breakfast. There are a wide variety of fiber-rich breakfast foods from
bran cereals and oatmeal to whole-bran muffins and whole-wheat waffles.
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Switch to whole grains. Eat breads, cereals, buns, pastas and more that are made from whole grains.
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Try brown rice. It has two grams of fiber in 1/2 cup, while white rice has less than
0.5 grams in the same amount.
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Eat dry beans. They are among the best fiber sources around.
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Eat more fruits and vegetables. They fit into any meals.
Keep eating more fruits and vegetables — with the skin on.
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Fortify your meals with fiber. For example, add bran or oatmeal to meat loaf or
ground flaxseeds to baked goods.
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Choose whole fruit more often than juice. The fiber content in fruit comes mainly from the peel
and the pulp.
This pumpkin muffin
recipe is a good example of "putting is all together".
"If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken
better care of myself."
Mickey Mantle
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