Approaching a High Fiber Diet Plan

While a good choice to curbing obesity, the diet is also heart healthy and improves the overall digestive tract.

It has also been found to help dieters become more “food aware” – that is, much more nutritionally informed about what they eat.

Because dietary fiber comes strictly from plant foods, a diet high in fiber will focus around this.

Fruits and vegetables are outstanding sources for fiber, as are whole grains, legumes and nuts.

Meat, pork, poultry, dairy products and even fish contain no dietary fiber.

A well developed diet high in fiber consider fiber and calories consumed.

The diet for a woman under 50 should include 25 grams of fiber; a man under 50 will be 38 grams of fiber.

Calories will depend upon your build, weight and goals.

Water intake is important with a high fiber diet.

The McKinley Health Center, part of the University of Illinois, suggests eight glasses of water a day to offset some of the problems that can arise from a high fiber diet plan.

This includes bloating, cramps, digestive tract strain and constipation.

Water alleviates these issues with no drawbacks.

The McKinley Health Center also says a diet high in fiber can be simple to follow and pleasantly diverse.

An example of a typical day includes:

Breakfast:

Cup of milk, bran muffin and an orange.

Lunch:

Glass of iced tea, two ounces of turkey with sprouts and tomato on pumpernickel bread, yogurt with fruit, two Fig Newtons and an apple.

Dinner:

Glass of tea, one chicken breast; cup of brown rice, a serving of carrot salad, half-cup of broccoli and a whole wheat dinner roll.

Keeping a list handy of high fiber foods and their calorie counts will help make a high fiber diet plan easier to follow.

While the sweeping health perks this diet offers are easily achievable, matching fiber content and calories needs to be done wisely.

Legumes, especially beans, can really help meet your diet goals – but there maybe times when you have to more closely watch the dietary fiber being offered, with the calorie count.

For example:

A serving of baked beans has eight grams of fiber (a very respectable number) for 250 calories; yet a serving of lima beans has 13 grams of fiber with only 217 calories!

Some days going with the lima beans will make your calorie count for the day more manageable.

Most Americans consume 12-20 grams of fiber a day – well short of the recommended levels, so to some a high fiber diet plan might look like complex carbohydrate loading.

To a degree this is, but the low calorie count prevents this from being converted to fat reserves and the digestive process moves slower, thus using more energy.

If considering shifting to a high fiber diet plan, regardless of the reasons, it is best to speak with a doctor or a dietician about what your goals are and the role you want this diet to play in your lifestyle.