Day 8: Finding Fiber

A few months ago mom shared with me a news report that stated if you eat 30-40 grams of fiber each day, you can lose 10 pounds within a year. Since I definitely wanted to shed 10 pounds, this idea of eating more of something - anything - and still losing weight sounded like a winner!

Do you know how hard it is to eat 30 grams of fiber in a day? Especially if you’re concerned about calories? OMG! I made it work, but it took a lot of label-reading effort. I did this for a while and it was a really good eating plan. But I got a little out of the habit once summer started, and once I started vamoosing random foods from our pantry. I figure I need to stick to it, though.

You’d be amazed how little fiber we consume on average through the foods that sound very fiber-ish. Once I started tracking fiber consumption on my LoseIt! App, I was disappointed to see that I averaged about 12 grams of fiber a day. So I purposely searched out foods high in fiber, but low in calories. There is almost no such critter. But I do have some suggestions for foods that have been good no-thought-required parts of our meals lately.

Mission Carb Balance whole wheat tortillas. Lifesavers. The burrito size offers 21 grams of fiber for 220 calories. Add a few veggies in there with some Laughing Cow and you have one heck of a wrap! And more than half the day’s fiber requirement is met. They make smaller size tortillas too, with proportionally lower calories and fiber.

Kellogg’s Fiber plus Antioxidant bars are really good. 9 grams of fiber for 130 calories. They are much easier to chew than the Fiber One version, and taste like a candy bar. Yum! The only drawback is the added BHT preservative, which has me now eating fewer and fewer of these. Otherwise, a handy tote-able snack.

I like my newest cereal find, Cascadian Farms Organic nut and honey, even though it only has 3 grams of fiber per cup. I’m still balancing calories with fiber with acceptable ingredients. Now, Fiber One cereal packs a whopping 13 grams in every cup. And it tastes really good if you get the version with the little banana chips in it (Even though it has HFCS).

The new Sandwich Thins by Natures Own and Orowheat have 5 grams in each pair for 100 calories. Also, Holsum’s whole wheat hamburger buns are higher in fiber than the other “healthy” ones I’ve looked at. 5 grams there too, I believe.

For supplements with none of the added ingredient garbage, two Fiber Gummies can give you 4 grams of fiber. I loved Fiber Choice for the same four grams, but learned that it had artificial colors in it, so it got tossed last week.

FYI, my Starbucks mocha powder has half a gram of fiber in a serving. I’m impressed it has any at all, but that’s just one more reason for me to love it! ;)