Whole Grains, Fiber and Your Weight Control

The positive research about eating whole grains and fiber can have a tremendous impact on the state of your health.

The findings, published in the November issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also confirmed previous results in men and women that show adding fiber and whole grains to the diet helps cut the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and may reduce the odds of colorectal cancer.

And what about fiber and whole-grain foods in helping to control your weight?

Drawn from the Nurses' Health Study of nearly 75,000 women, these new results are the first to show that simply boosting consumption of fiber and whole-grain foods can help reduce the risk of obesity by 50%.

Add to those findings...in October, Harvard researchers reported that men who ate just 12 grams more of fiber than other participants per day whittled their waistlines by up to half an inch over a decade.

"Eating more fiber is one of the best things that you can do for your health," says JoAnn E. Manson, chief, preventative medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and co-author of the study.

Foods rich in fiber and whole grains "increase satiety...you feel fuller...and that may lead to consuming fewer calories, which can help with weight control."

Aim for a minimum of 25 to 28 grams per day as recommended by the National Academy of Sciences.

In Manson's study, women who increased fiber by 8 grams per day, roughly equal to eating one bowl of whole-grain cereal and a slice of whole-grain bread a day ate 150 fewer calories per day than those who decreased their fiber intake by 3 grams daily during the study.

Women with the highest daily fiber consumption wound up shedding about eight pounds during the 12 year study, compared with a nearly 20 pound weight gain for those who cut fiber intake during the study.

"Overall, the higher the fiber intake, the higher the intake of whole-grain foods and the lower the intake of refined carbohydrates, the less the weight gain and the lower the risk of obesity." Manson said.

Now add to that the elimination from your diet of all foods that contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, and, or, mono and di-glycerides, and you have a nutritious prescription for reducing your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and type 2 diabetes.

Here are some food recommendations: Switch to whole grain varieties of bread, crackers, pasta and rice. They have double or more the fiber found in white bread, pasta and rice, which lose fiber during processing.

Eat rye, pumpernickel and other whole-grain breads. They contain about 3 grams of fiber per slice.

Wild rice and brown rice have about three grams per cup. Whole wheat pasta has about 6 grams of fiber per cup.

Snack on organic popcorn, fruit or vegetables. Popcorn (without butter) has a gram of fiber per cup, two grams from a small banana, three from a medium apple with the skin and three from a half cup of broccoli.

And now for the king of fiber sources...BEANS! 17 grams of fiber per cup, so sip bean soup!

Beans, lentils and legumes are also high in protein and rich in complex carbohydrates which help keep hunger at bay.

Also try organic bean dips with whole wheat crackers or rice crackers. Makes for a good snack or meal starter and is filling.

Eating healthy is no real trial. There are plenty of options in the choice of delicious and nutritious foods available to you.

Ask questions. Learn about new recipes. Get a little creative.

You don't have to starve yourself to lose weight. Just make the right choices. Being fat is a choice that people have made in developing their eating habits. It's time to un-choose.

And don't forget your quality nutritional supplements.

To your good health and longevity! Because you're worth it!

Ira Marxe
CEO, Good Health Supplement

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