Fiber

applcorp

Yesterday I ran across an article about an experiment in which one group was instructed to raise their fiber intake to 30gms a day and another group followed the AHA diet, and both groups went without any other changes. At the end of the year, both groups had lost about the same amount of weight and had the same sorts of improvements on their cholesterol, bp, etc. Has anyone here tried increasing their fiber, and if so, did it help?

jgnatca

I bet the fiber watchers did so by increasing their vegetable and fruit intake, essentially following the AHA by default. Anyone watching their fiber intake I refer them to this educational article.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/insoluble-soluble-fiber

I think an easy newbie mistake to make is to think if 30g is good, then 50g is even better. Or calorie watchers for instance, if a 1500 calorie a day diet is good, 1200 calories a day is better. I swear, there are happier results by incorporating these changes gradually. Especially with fiber.

I'm partial to adding soluble fibers like oatmeal and chia to my mornings, and insoluble like fruits and veggies during the day. I incorporate beans in my meal plan every week. Wheat bran is the worst for constipation.

knittnponder

I haven't raised it for weight loss purposes but I can tell you it helps with my IBS. Some benefits aren't reflected on the scale or in numbers but just in how much better I feel.