137 Fiber Check
Our goal for dietary fiber is 40 grams a day (or more). It is pretty easy to see how much you are eating by simply listing all the food you eat in a given day and then list the amount of fiber each food contains. If you have eaten a packaged food with a nutrition label use that information.
Here is a quick look at fiber content:
|
Food |
Serving Amount |
Grams of Fiber |
| Beans |
½ cup |
7 |
| Soy milk |
1 cup |
3 |
|
|
|
|
| Vegetables |
1 cup |
4 |
| Lettuce |
1 cup |
2 |
| Potato with skin |
|
4 |
| Potato – no skin |
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
| Fruit |
Medium piece |
3 |
|
|
|
|
| White bread, bagel, etc |
1 piece |
1 |
| Whole grain breads |
1 slice |
2 |
| Whole grain pasta |
1 cup |
2 |
| White rice |
1 cup |
1 |
| Brown rice |
1 cup |
3 |
| Cooked oatmeal |
1 cup |
4 |
| Dry cereals |
1 cup |
3 |
| Processed cereals |
1 cup |
1 |
|
|
|
|
| Meat, cheese, dairy, eggs |
|
0 |
If you want to be more exact about the amount of fiber you eat you can go to a website called: “caloriecount.about.com/”. You can search for a food and see a nutrition label for it. (If you cannot find the website, please let me know and I will send you the link.)
Now that you have determined your score for the day, here is what it means:
- Less than 20 – you need more fiber
- 20-39 – this is better than most people but adding more fiber will cut your calorie intake
- 40 or more – congratulations! this is the goal
Fiber is really wonderful. Not only does it help us control appetite, continue to keep things moving (you know what I mean), but it reduces the risk of degenerative disease. Wow! You can’t beat that for positive side effects. So… what’s for lunch?
Choose Well
