Believe it or not, enjoying a fiberful diet -- especially at breakfast -- can reduce your calorie intake for up to 18 hours a day. And it helps control blood sugar and lower insulin levels. Although you should aim for 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day, avoid adding it all at once or you'll produce more gas than a Saudi oil field, say the doctors. Start with an additional 1 to 2 grams of dietary fiber -- the amount in a slice of whole-grain bread or 1/2 cup of green beans -- at and between meals and slowly increase from there.
Putting fiber-rich foods like oatmeal, whole-grain toast, or a veggie-packed omelet on your morning menu to curb afternoon binging on Cheetos or cookies. That's because fiber acts like a speed bump in your gastrointestinal tract, slowing everything way down, so you stay fuller longer.
These tips can help you choose a healthy balance of foods to lower the calorie density of your diet:
• Sneak vegetables and fruit into your diet throughout the day: top cereal with berries, snack on an apple or carrot sticks, tuck your favorite veggies into sandwiches or casseroles, increase the proportion of veggies on your plate.
• Cut the fat in foods without sacrificing taste by using a smaller amount of highly flavored vegetable oils, switching to lower fat milk and buying lean cuts of meat. Fat packs more than twice as many calories into an ounce of food as carbohydrates or protein.
• Keep your pantry well-stocked with a variety of your favorite low-calorie-dense foods so these are what you eat when you have the munchies.
• Focus on what you can eat, rather than what you can’t. Find a low-calorie-dense eating pattern that you enjoy so you will stick to it.
• Find ways to tweak your own diet using foods that you like and find appealing.
Eat more weigh less
