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August 2006
Quickie Snacks and Meals Lists for Busy People
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The questions I’m asked most often asked is about easy snacks for people on the go. Feel free to add to the list and share with the other readers.
Pocket Snacks
Nuts – Almonds, Walnuts, Pecans etc Soy Nuts Dried Fruit: Unsalted or lightly salted pretzels Granola Grape Nuts Muesli, raw no sugar Meal Replacement Bars
Drawer and Cupboard Snacks
Canned Tuna* Canned Salmon* Canned Chicken* Wheat Bread Instant Oatmeal Almonds, Walnuts, Pecans Raisins * Preferably salt free and packed in water
Cooler Snacks
Raw Vegetables Fruits Peanut Butter Cottage Cheese Low Fat Cheese Sticks Yogurt nonfat, no sugar Boiled Egg Whites Meal Replacement Drinks
Drinks
Water Nonfat Milk Soy Milk Tea Green or Black Diet Soda
Quick Breakfasts
Instant Oatmeal, unsweetened, unflavored Protein Powder Whole Grain Breads and Cereals Boiled Eggs Protein Smoothie
Quick Lunches
Yogurt, low fat, nonfat Almonds 1 oz Protein Bar Grilled Chicken/Turkey or Tuna Salad Sandwich
Quick Dinners
Steamed Vegetables Salads Skinless Chicken Breast, Turkey Seafood, Sirloin Steak Cereal w skim milk
Desserts
1 piece fruit 1 cup fat-free plain or artificially sweetened yogurt 1 large whole-wheat pretzel _ cup fat-free ice cream or frozen yogurt 2 kiwi fruits 1 low- fat or fat-free brownie 1 piece fruit with _ cup sorbet 1 4 oz fat-free pudding 1 oz Dark Chocolate
Remember if your goal is to lose ‘Fat’ the process is a steady .5 to 2Lb loss weekly. Drink 8 – 10 glasses of water daily. Stay away from foods containing sugar, salt, hydrogenated vegetable oils, transfats and high fructose corn syrup. Good luck
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Top 5 Tips to Make a Full-Body Workout Work for you
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Start with body-weight execises such as lunges, push-ups and squats. You want to work toward lifting your body weight with correct form and range of motion before you actually start lifting weights. Perform compound exercises such as deadlifts, squats and lunges - these will burn the most calories and let you work all of your muscles with fewer exercises.
Use a circuit-type routine, and keep your rest periods short. Pair upper-body exercises with lower-body ones and go back and forth between the two. Keep each of your rest periods 30 to 60 seconds long, with each set lasting 40 to 60 seconds.
Use no more than 24 sets per workout in total - this could be two sets of 12 exercises or three sets of eight exercises. Your workout should take less than an hour; beyond an hour, you’ll start to have diminishing returns.
Take at least one day off a week to let your body rest and recover. You will achieve results from your recovery period, not from your workout.
Don’t get stuck in the same routine for months on end. You have to change it up every four to six weeks. In order for your body to keep changing, you must continue to alter your routine, so as your body adapts, make a change.
Permalink | | Categories: Toning
The 3,500 Calorie Problem
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Do you know how many calories there is in a pound of fat? It’s a whopping 3,500 calories. To put that into perspective, let’s say you are 50 lbs. overweight. Multiply 3,500 to 50 and you get 175,000 calories. That’s 175,000 calories of blubbery fat you don’t need. Let’s look at it with another perspective. When you see one of those diets that say you can lose 10 pounds in one week, it is not likely you lost 10 pounds of fat. That would mean that you would have expended 24,500 calories in week and that is not likely even with exercise.
If your caloric expenditure at rest is 1,250 calories (not uncommon for many women), then you could survive on that for 140 days. Now, you could be thinking, “If I just quit eating for 140 days I could drop this 50 lbs.” Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. I’m just trying to put it into perspective.
So, I’m going to put it into a perspective where proper diet and exercise is incorporated. Hypothetically, let’s say as a result of weight training your caloric expenditure has increased to 1,600 (this is achieved by an increase of 7 lbs of lean muscle, an additional 250-350 calories per day). Then we add approximately 700 calories used due to cardiovascular exercise, weight lifting, and some other activities you could do in a day. This comes to 2,300 calories.
But, you can’t forget that you must eat so you don’t waste muscle. So, let’s say you ingested 1,900 calories, but 20% of those calories were used in digestion alone (known as thermic effect of food). That leaves you with 1,520 calories. Subtract 1,520 from 2,300 and you will get 780 calories. Given that you had a sound workout and eating program, that 780 calories would mostly come from fat in the body. During the course of the week, let’s say you used 780 calories everyday and it all came from fat. That would add up to 5,460 calories. Divide that number by 3,500 calories (the amount of calories in one pound of fat) and you will get 1.56 pounds. That means you just lost 1.56 pounds of fat in one week. This means you could lose all 50 lbs. (the right way) in eight months and keep it off.
One of my most dedicated clients, let’s call her Julia, truly utilized this concept. From June 15, 2005 to December 23, 2005 Julia lost 45.85 pounds. That’s 1.91 pounds of body fat per week or approximately 46 pounds in 6 months. Her body fat percentage dropped from 34.8% to 18% (has since December capped off at 16%). If she did it through diet alone, she would be at great risk of getting all the weight back and developing chronic diseases. But, as a result of building a body that burns more calories and changing her lifestyle, she isn’t at risk. I hope that with this illustration, you truly understand that importance of incorporating proper eating habits, weight lifting, and cardiovascular exercise to improve metabolism.
If you have a topic you would like me to cover, don’t hesitate to e-mail me at kelly@kellyhuggins.com.
What is a Calorie anyway?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
3500 calories = 1 pound of Fat
A calorie is a unit of energy contained in food that provides fuel for muscles, like gasoline provides fuel for an automobile. Think of muscle as the engine in your body, and think of fat as high-test fuel, providing more than twice the amount of calories or energy as a gram of glucose (a simple sugar that is the main source of energy for the body). You can go more than twice as far on a gram of fat as you can on a gram of carbohydrate. The catch is learning how to get the fat to the muscle so that it can be burned for energy.
The bottom line to losing fat weight is to burn more calories than you consume. If you eat 2,000 calories a day and only burn 1,500, you’re going to gain weight. On the other hand, if you consume 1,500 calories and burn 2,000, you’ll be in caloric deficit by 500 calories. Since it takes 3,500 excess calories to gain a pound, you’d lose one pound per week if you produced a 500-calorie deficit each day of the week. To do that, you could reduce your calorie intake by 250 per day and increase your physical activity by 250 calories per day (for a 150-pound person, a 2.5-mile walk is all it would take). Do that each and every day of the week and you’ll drop a pound per week.
Excess calories in any form will cause fat gain. It’s always best to strive for a slow and steady weight loss of about ¾ to 2 pounds per week and not more than 3 pounds per week (weight loss may be faster at the start of a program) Nothing does more to burn fat and improve your health than physical activity coupled with a healthy eating plan.
Suffering for Stilettos
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We love shopping for them and prancing around in them and, most of all, we love the way stilettos make our legs look. We don’t on the other hand, love the pain they cause and the funny way they make our feet look afterwards.
It’s a fact that high heels are one of the main factors leading to foot problems among women. Oh, the conundrum! To look good or feel good? That is the question. Well, there are feet -saving tactics you could start using now to ensure your pretty feet stay pretty longer. Because they lose their natural padding over the years and countinue to grow longer and wider, it’s important to keep a close eye on your aging feet. Here are a few hints:
Choose a more sensible heel. When you can, opt for a heel with a lower heel - like a kitten heel - that is about 1 1/2 inches or less. Also, look for a wide - base heel.
Recheck your size. Since our feet get longer and wider as we age, It’s a good idea to get an updated size the next time you’re shoe-shopping.
Compare the shoe to your build. Examine the width of the shoe you like against the width of your own foot. Often, women squeeze into shoes that are too narrow. Don’t risk it, no matter how much you love them!
Try both shoes on. Most of us need one shoe bigger than the other, so be sure to step into both before buying. Be sure you have room for one finger between your big toe and the end of the shoe.
Shop for shoes in the afternoon or at night. Your feet swell throughout the day, so try new shoes on when you’re feet are at their biggest.
Permalink | | Categories: Lifestyle
Eating to Survive, Don’t Survive to Eat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The word DIET is now a “four-letter” word. When you hear it, you think of the agonizing decrease in caloric consumption, cutting out carbs, lowering fat, and maybe eating nothing at all. The fact is, that you are always on a diet. The question is. On a diet of what? If it’s hamburgers and french fries, that’s not a good thing. If it’s whole foods like vegetables and lean meats, that’s a very good thing. When we speak of other species of life, such as a birds, you would say they are on a diet of worms and seeds. A hundred years from now, how would someone describe the typical American’s diet? Let’s stop and think about how people used to eat about 100 years ago, on back. Back then, human beings lived like all other creatures of the Earth. You ate what was born, what was grown, or came from the sky or ground.
Our staples of food came from naturally grown or agricultured vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, and leaves. During those times, there was no pasta, corn flakes, potato chips, or cheese cake.
Instead, you would either grow your plant foods in your gardens and fields or picked it from the wild. Eating whole foods like tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, and sunflower seeds came from your gardens. You might have picked berries, nuts, and strawberries from trees, vines, and bushes from the wild.
When you needed meat, you hunted, fished, and/or raised farm animals. Our ancestors cleaned and prepared the meat themselves. Leaving almost nothing to waste, even the fat. Yet, the meat had less fat as it was not tainted with modern day farming practices (like the use of steroids). You sure as heck didn’t deep-fry meat and add sugar.
Even the water you drank was not carbonated, colored, and filled full of sugar or articial sweetners. No aluminum cans or plastic bottles to put it in either. Just plain, simple, non-tasting fresh water. Hard to believe isn’t it?
To add in a little extra, you also exercised to retrieve those foods. You had to push the plow, walk and run to go hunting, pick the berries, and so on. You got exercise just to survive. Now, you need to exercise to survive.
Now, look at the modern day, Western civilized diet. Go in the grocery store and what do you see? Foods are packaged in boxes, jars, bottles, plastic wrappers, cans, Styrofoam, etc. The foods in these containers are processed grains, vegetables, meats, and fruits. They are dried, pumped up with fat (hydrogenation), sugar(usually high fructose corn syrup), depleted of vitamins and minerals, sprinkled with salt, etc.
Drive down the road, you have fast-food restaurants giving you their “meal of the day.” You can get more with a “value size” or “super size.” (If you haven’t seen the movie Supersize Me, go check it out). In the grocery stores and fast food restaurants you are given rewards like buy 2 get 1 free. Buy this “happy meal” and get this toy. Or, buy this soda you might win a million dollars, just look at the cap to see if you have won.
As a society, we have become gullible and ignorant to what is happening. Obesity and being overweight is now an epidemic, nearly 65% of the U.S. population is over “fat”. We are eating bad food and we don’t exercise. If you don’t care how it is affecting you, then look at your children. I must also compel you to think about the stress it is putting on the economy (both nationally and your own pocket) in health care costs and quality of life..
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you need to start hunting your own food and growing gardens. What I am saying, is that it is up to you to make wise choices and to eat a diet of moderation, variety, and balance. It’s no longer a question of whether you eat to survive, you have to eat. However, you must ask yourself, how do you survive to eat the way you do?
Permalink | | Categories: General Fitness, Lifestyle, Nutrition
ADD PILATES TO YOUR EXERCISE PRESCRIPTION
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Many of us are guilty of not stretching adequately after warming up, between weight-training sets or at the end of a workout…. period. We simply don’t make or take the time to do this important yet oft overlooked task. As a proponent of cross training , I offer Pilates to you as an excellent addition to your palate of movement . Exchanging one day of your chosen exercise for Pilates, may offset some of the ill effects we cause ourselves with our lack of stretching at otherwise appropriate times.
FITNESS PILATES
Fitness Pilates is a method of exercise and physical movement designed primarily to stabilize the trunk (the ‘core’), producing more effective stretching, strengthening and balancing of the body. Through systematic practice of specific exercises coupled with focused breathing patterns, Pilates has proved itself invaluable as a fitness endeavor and an important adjunct to professional sports training and physical rehabilitation. Fitness Pilates can condition the body from head to toe with a no- to low-impact approach suitable for all ages and abilities. It requires patience, attention to detail with your body and consistent practice.
Behind each of the benefits (listed below) there are physiological and technical justifications, but success depends entirely on understanding the basic principles and practices of Pilates and doing it right.
BENEFITS OF PILATES
The kinds of results you can expect from an accurate, educated, well designed program include:
â—?Enhancing mobility, agility and stamina;
â—?Improving strength, flexibility and balance;
â—?Toning and building long, lean muscles without bulk;
â—?Challenging deep abdominal muscles to support the core;
â—?Engaging the mind and enhancing body awareness;
â—?Reducing stress, relieving tension and boosting energy through deep stretching;
â—?Restoring postural alignment;
â—?Creating a stronger, more flexible spine;
â—?Promoting recovery from strain or injury;
â—?Increasing joint range of motion;
â—?Improving circulation;
â—?Improving the way your body looks and feels.
There are some great studios in Atlanta. If you haven’t tried Pilates yet…what are you waiting for.
Top10 Exercises You Can’t Do Without
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
*Although fitness experts are constantly discovering new ways to target muscles there are a few staples that can never be left in the dust of your new fitness program. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) has compiled this list of exercises you simply can’t live without:
Squats - Great for glutes, hamstrings, quads and calves.
Lunges - Great for your lower body, as well as the stabilizers that help you balance while you lunge.
Push - ups - Work your chest, triceps and core. Nothing multitasks like the old-fashioned push-up. Place your feet on a stability ball for added intensity.
Pull-ups Sculpt your lats, shoulders and biceps with this key move.
Shoulder Press- This is the best exercise you can do to target the front delts and can be done sitting or standing (we recommend standing).
Triceps Dips- Just find a bench or a chair and you’re all set to zap flab from your triceps, chest and anterior delts.
Seated Rows - Build your dream back with the classic move. It targets the upper back, rhomboids, lats and bis.
Abs Training - Strong abs are key for maintaining a strong core. Do a variety of moves every other day.
Walking - It’s simple but low-impact and a great form of cardio for all fitness levels.
Running - Burn calories quickly and improve your cardiovascular fitness with running. Build up to distance running slowly.
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Health and Fitness Myth #1: All You need is a Cholesterol Screening or Stress Test to Determine You are at Risk for Cardiovascular Disease
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is my first health and fitness myth, versus the regular weight loss and fitness myths I typically have been covering. Even though you may not be “overweight,� you can still be vulnerable to certain health risks.
When I get a new client, one of the things I have them do is complete what as known as a health history questionnaire. As a matter of fact, I have them complete more than one. Each of which is pertinent in determining what is the best course of action (if any taken at all) for prescribing exercise.
Some of the questions asked are related to your risks of having a cardiac event while doing exercise. For example, one of the questions asked is, “is your LDL cholesterol greater than 100 mg/dL?� It’s really kind of interesting, but most people have no idea. However, even if you do have high cholesterol, most likely your doctor would have you taking some kind of medication to take it down. If you’re a certain age, your doctor may have you take a stress test. So long as the results are negative, you’ll be considered to have a clean bill of health. However, is that enough?
Recent studies show that it probably isn’t enough. You can have cardiovascular disease and not even know, even if your blood cholesterol and stress test are within the guidelines. If you’re wondering how this is possible, let me explain.
Damage to the arteries in the heart can occur regardless of the amount of cholesterol levels. As much as 50% of arteriosclerosis cannot be explained by diet, smoking, or lifestyle. Most sudden cardiac event deaths are attributed to blockages in the arteries at as little as 50% occluded. In regards to the stress test, the stress test doesn’t even recognize that there is a problem until the artery is 75% occluded. Therefore, if you are at high risk at 50% occlusion, you can be in a whole lot of trouble and the stress test won’t even pick it up. If those statistics don’t alarm you, listen to this one. More than a quarter (that is 25%) of those who recognize having heart disease results in sudden death. That’s not a good way to find out!
So, what do you do? Much in the same way that I explain that weight isn’t enough to determine one’s physical health, you have to do body fat measurements, do a health history, flexibility tests, etc. The same is true in detecting heart disease. Some of the other tests you should take are also non-invasive. These tests include family history, waist-to-hip ratios, looking for C-reactive protein and homocysteines, and most notably a CT scan.
Recently, I have had the pleasure to interview Dr. Robert Superko on my show Fitness Mythbuster, at www.RadioSandySprings.com. He works out of the Fuqua Heart Center located at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Superko is a medical researcher that has been exploring risks associated in the realms of cardiology for the past two decades. At his facility, you can have these tests done at a relative low cost. In some cases Medicare will cover it; however, at this time hardly any insurance programs will cover the costs.
To mention a little more about costs, if it is determined that you have heart disease you will not have to spend as much money on medications. This is the result of alternative treatments such as taking niacin and changing diet, plus incorporating (the dreaded) exercise components. Moreover, if you have a heart attack and survive, think about all the costs involved. Even if you have insurance, there will he a huge price to pay. As it is said, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.�
If you want to learn more about the services at the Fuqua Heart Center, you can call 404.605.5003 and ask for Brenda Garrett. You can also go to www.FuquaHeartCenter.com to learn more. From what I understand, there are satellite programs throughout the USA. They can explain a heck of a lot better than I can about all of the programs that they offer and why they work.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Categories: Health
CARDIO OPTIONS DURING PREGNANCY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you’re new to exercise keep your intensity low and stick to walking or low impact step.
Here are some basic ideas for dedicated cardio exercises. Do a session of walk or step routines, if you’re already athletic and your doctor say it’s okay, you can run or even bike etc 3–6 times a week.
Warm-up
Stride for about 5 minutes at a mild rate before picking up the pace. Stop at a wall or fence and stretch your hamstrings, calves, quads and back. If you’re stepping, begin with 5 minutes of basic steps, switching lead legs every minute; then stretch.
Reebok Step Routines
After warming up, you can choose a basic stepping exercise, including V-steps and alternating knees to corners. Do 20 reps of each step during the first trimester, 15 during the second trimester and 10 during the third. You can also rent or buy a prenatal step video appropriate for your level, trimester and familiarity with stepping.
Step cautions.
In the second trimester, when your balance starts to feel compromised, use a step no higher than 6 inches. As your pregnancy progresses, you may want to lower the step to 4 inches. Make sure your feet are planted squarely in the center of the bench as you step.
Walking
After you warm-up, walk at a moderate pace for 1–1 1/2 miles (about 3.5–4 mph). Walk 15 minutes away from your starting place, then 15 minutes back (for a 30-minute walk). Include intervals (see below) during all 3 trimesters (an interval is simply walking faster than usual for a short time, then recovering by walking at a mild pace). On a scale of 1–10 (1 being very easy, 10 very hard), your usual walking pace would be rated 4, intervals 5–6 and recovery 3.
Walking caution.
Be sure to drink plenty of water and wear cool clothing in hot weather (and removable layers in cold weather). As your belly grows, change your speed, form and intervals as needed.
Interval Training schedule
1st Trimester Interval Length = 5 minutes Recovery Length = 2 minutes Number of Intervals = 3
2nd trimester Interval Length = 4 minutes Recovery Length = 2 minutes Number of Intervals = 5
3rd trimester Interval Length = 3 minutes Recovery Length = 1 minute Number of Intervals = 2–3
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“Good habits that hurt you”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When it comes to our health, some of our most cherished assuptions about eating, working out, and body fat are wrong. In fact, some of our “healthy” convictions can be downright dangerous. Here are a couple of the most commonly made mistakes.
- “I rarely miss a day at the gym.”
Everyone needs a break from their workout routine - even Olympic athletes - for two reasons. First, your body needs new challenges in order to maintain or improve fitness. Second, overtraining can lead to muscle aches and tears, joint injuries, lack of energy, unrelenting fatigue, decreased immunity, even depression. If you’re gearing up for an event like a 10k, you might push yourself harder than usual. At other times, give yourself a break from the gym. Walk outside. Schedule days off and enjoy some social time with friends. Flexibility is key. The truth is that going as long as a week without breaking a sweat won’t impact your fitness signifiantly - but going too long without a break from your workouts definitely will. Doing more and more without building rest and recovery into your routine - does you less and less good.
- “I’ve cut way back on carbs.”
Carbohgydrates are vital to our diet - despite what the high protein proponents maintain. Carbs are the body’s primary source of fuel - for muscles and the brain. Eliminating carbs from your diet can lead to short-term memory loss, fatigue, lack of energy, and vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
Nutrition scientists agree that the staple of any healthy diet is carbohydrates. And those carbs should come from a variety of mostly whole foods. Look for foods that are as unprocessed as possible. Vegetables and whole grains are best, followed by fruits, high fiber breads and whole wheat couscous and pastas. The worst choices: cakes, candy, white bread, and crackers. The research has shown over and over again that whole grains reduce the risk of disease and help you maintain a healthy weight.
Permalink | | Categories: General Fitness
Even if there was a Magic Pill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
To this day, at any event I attend, whether with family or friends I am hit with the inevitable question(s):
* What do I do to get rid of this?
* What do you think of this diet?
* I walk, isn't that enough?
* What do you think about this pill I keep hearing about?
* Do you think I should do Pilates?
Most often times than not, these questions are not being asked in a way that is really asking for my opinion, but for me to support their position. To their dismay, I don’t tell them what they want to hear but what they need to hear.
My answer will always remain the same. “There is no single answer to any weight loss issue and/or fitness quest.” It will always be the three basics of exercise. Those basics are resistance (weight) training, cardiovascular exercise, and supportive nutrition. (But who wants to do that?)
Let me ask you a few questions:
- Can a diet give you muscle tone?
- Can weight lifting provide you with Vitamin C?
- Can running improve your strength in your arms?
- Does taking diet pills make you healthy?
- Does a high protein diet eliminate stress?
I can ask more questions similar to those above, however, I am hoping that you get my point and that you answered “no” to all of the questions. If you are not getting my point let me tell you again - There is no single answer (no magic pill) to lose weight, get fit, or healthy. No matter how hard you try or think about it, there will never be a “magic pill.” You have to incorporate a systematic, all encompassing fitness program to get in shape.
As I said before, I will not tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to hear. I will not pretend that working-out and eating well all the time is all that fun. However, by doing so, you reap the benefits of looking good, feeling good, and staying healthy.
For those who are incorporating a well-rounded fitness program, I commend you. For those who are not, I must ask- what are you waiting for? Get it going, avoid the short-cuts, and truly enjoy life.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: General Fitness
Got to eat more fiber
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Most Americans eat around 14 grams of fiber per day when they should be eating 25-38 grams per day. A low fiber diet is one of the best predictors of obesity and diabetes, a problem related to the abdominal fat deposition. People who eat large amounts of whole wheat bread, fruits and vegetables have a much lower risk of developing diabetes or obesity. High-fiber diets, composed of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, keep the blood sugar in check, it interferes with fat absorption and give you a feeling of fullness. Also people with high-fiber intake also have a lower risk of diabetes.
How do you get your daily fiber?
Permalink | | Categories: Nutrition
Fiber is important at any age
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dietary fiber has been shown to contribute to the prevention of cancer, heart disease, bowel disease, diabetes and obesity. Cereal fiber, the type found in grains, seems to be particularly beneficial. Consumption of fiber relieves and prevents constipation. Fiber also blocks fats from the body by absorbing cholesterol from food, helping you to feel full for longer periods of time. Filling up on high-fiber foods means having less room for high fat and highly caloric low-fiber foods. Commonly called “roughage’, fiber is the part of plant food that we can’t digest. There are two kinds of fiber generally referred to as: ‘Soluble and insoluble’.
Soluble Fiber absorbs water and forms a gel-like material that traps sugars, cholesterol and fats in the stomach. It then carries these substances through the digestive tract.
Insoluble Fiber moves through the digestive system quickly and intact, promoting bowel regularity.
How Much Fiber Do We Need in Our Daily Diet?
Although the recommended amount of fiber is 20 to 35 grams a day, the average American consumes only 12 to 15 grams on a daily basis. Asians, on average, consume three times as much fiber as Americans do.
Good Sources of Fiber
The best sources of fiber include beans, wholegrain cereals (barley, oats, rice), fruits, vegetables and nuts. Sources of insoluble fiber include: wheat, corn, rice, veggies and beans. Sources of soluble fiber include: citrus fruits, apples, mango, oats, dried apricots and beans (haricot, soybeans).
There are several ways to ensure one consumes enough fiber. First, it is important to read food labels. Although they do not distinguish between the two types of fiber, the labels of almost all foods will provide the amount of dietary fiber in each serving.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Nutrition
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