High Fiber Foods for Health and Weightloss

Posted by JE Jones on Feb-4-2010

Why We Need a High Fiber Diet

As we get older, eating a high fiber diet can solve many of our health issues and baby boomers want to stay in good health as they age. Gaining weight as you get older? Eating 40 grams of fiber a day can help you lose weight, especially that stubborn belly fat. Having troubles with your bowels - either constipation or irregularity? A high fiber diet, along with drinking plenty of water, can help your digestive system work properly and help reduce the risk of heart disease, colon cancer, high cholesterol and more.

High fiber foods not only keep your digestive system functioning in a healthy way, it also keeps you filled up so you don’t overeat or get hungry.

Women should get 21 to 25 gms of fiber daily and men should get 30 to 38 grams of fiber daily. How do you know if you’re getting enough fiber? Read labels. Grams of fiber are listed on every label.

There are two type of fiber, soluable and insoluable fiber. Water soluable fibers are found in fruits and veggies and insoluable fiber is found in whole grains, like oats, wheat and flaxseed. Avoid “fiber added” food products because today you can even find fiber in ice cream. These are usually isolated fiber products which are synthetic and don’t really have the same health benefits as eating whole grain cereal, like All Bran, or eating veggies and fruit.

Fiber Content in Common Foods

A bowl of whole grain cereal should have about 5 to 7 grams of fiber. Check the label to be sure.
whole wheat cooked spagetti has about 6.2 grams of fiber per cup.
One apple has about 4.4 grams of fiber.
Cooked black beans has a whopping 15 grams of fiber per cup. Beans are a terrific source of fiber and also contain muscle building protein if you’re trying to lose weight too.
Cooked peas have 8.8 grams of fiber per cup.

You can see just from this listing of high fiber foods, that it shouldn’t be hard to get your recommended daily fiber intake.

Here are some high fiber snacks to keep you filled: