A Regular Diet

Fiber’s the teacher’s pet of the food kingdom. It fights cancer. It’s good for digestion. It even prevents heart disease. And like any overachiever, it’s not happy until it does the impossible: The more fiber you eat, the more pounds you lose.

Sounds oxymoronic; eat more, lose more. But it’s really quite simple.

“Fiber is a form of carbohydrate that cannot be digested, so it doesn’t add calories to a food,” said obesity researcher Barbara Rolls, professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of Volumetrics: Feel Full on Fewer Calories (Harper Collins, 2000).

The bottom line
Rolls has studied overweight people and concluded that they eat the same weight or volume of food daily, regardless of the number of calories consumed. She also found that energy density, or the calories divided by the weight of food, has a profound effect on the amount of calories people consume.

That’s where fiber comes in. Because it isn’t digested, it lowers the energy content of food. High-fiber foods like fruits, vegetables, and cooked whole grains like barley, oats, and rice also are high in water content, which further reduces energy density. Fiber also slows down the digestion of foods and tempers the response of insulin after eating carbohydrates.

So, if you throw some high-fiber snacks in your diet, you’ll feel full before you consume your fill of pound-packing calories.

The breakdown
There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber is found in fruits, vegetables, oat, psyllium (plantain of Mediterranean regions whose seeds are used as a mild laxative), and beans. This type of fiber has been shown to lower blood cholesterol levels. Studies have shown that by adding more oats, psyllium, or beans to the diet, cholesterol can be reduced by up to 15 percent. Insoluble fiber, which is present in whole wheat, wheat bran, and vegetable skins improve bowel function and reduce risk for colon cancer.

The American Heart Association, American Dietetic Association, and most other health organizations recommend eating 25 to 30 grams of fiber daily. Most Americans eat only half that amount. “People are choosing the wrong foods,” adds Rolls, “they don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables and they eat too many refined, highly processed products that aren’t filling but contain a lot of calories.”

What about supplements?
There are several fiber supplements available, so why not just pop a fiber pill and watch your belly disappear? Adding a fiber pill to a high-calorie diet won’t aid weight loss, notes Rolls. Fiber supplements may also interfere with mineral absorption and they also cause gastrointestinal discomfort. The idea is that the foods rich in fiber are the ones that help keep you fuller longer, so you’ll eat less.

The list below highlights fiber-rich foods to add to your diet. If you diet is currently lacking roughage, be sure to increase fiber slowly to allow time for your system to adjust to the change. You should also drink 8 to 10 eight-ounce glasses of water or fluid daily to aid in digestion.

Fiber facts

• Brown “wheat” bread isn’t necessarily rich in fiber. Check food labels, especially when purchasing bread, to see how many grams of fiber they contain. Eat breads with at least 2 grams of fiber per serving.



• Gradually increase the amount of fiber in your diet. The GI tract needs time to adjust; too much too soon can cause gas, diarrhea, cramps, and bloating.



• Start your day with a cereal containing more than 5 grams of fiber per serving. Breakfast is one of the easiest meals to get your fill, as many cereals contain more fiber than other fiber-rich options.



• Strive to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily; opt for the whole fruit or vegetable over juice.



• Eating soup as an appetizer will help you eat less during your meals, but you cannot live on a soup-only diet.



• Modest amounts of lean protein foods including chicken, fish, beef, dry beans, and soy products are filling and should be part of a high-fiber diet.