Add Fiber With Veggies

Do you know how much fiber you need per day?  You need 14 grams for each 1000 calories you eat.  Children over 2 years of age need their age plus 7.  It's a challenge, but one most definitely worth a try.  Fiber fills you up - that's good in weight control.  After all, how many people have reported weight gain from eating too many vegetables!  Fiber may also help prevent colon cancer and reduce cholesterol levels.  So - fiber is a very good thing!  There are a lot of ways to increase fiber, like eating fresh fruits and vegetables with the skin and adding nuts, seeds, whole grains, beans and legumes to your diet.  One of the easiest ways to increase your fiber is to follow the recommendations of the Food Guide Pyramid and eat 3-5 servings of vegetables per day (usually 1/2 cup of cooked or 1 cup leafy).  Place an 'x' beside the following ways to increase the vegetables in your diet that you realistically can and will do.

•     Try to have two servings of vegetables with lunch and dinner, as well as one serving as a mid-afternoon snack.  If you don't want to prepare two different vegetables, double your serving size to one cup.

•     The flavor of fresh vegetables can't be beat.  Preserve the flavor, tender-crisp texture, and nutrients of fresh vegetables by placing in a steamer insert in a saucepan.

•     If you don't want to cut or chop fresh vegetables, but love the fresh taste, purchase pre-cut vegetables at a salad bar.  With today's age of convenience, pre-cut vegetables can also be purchased in bags in the produce section at your local grocery store. Pre-cut vegetables include bags of salad, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and mushrooms.  

•     If you find you are discarding rotten vegetables each week, then purchase bags of frozen vegetables.  Stock up on several varieties and take out the servings you need for each meal.  Frozen vegetables even come in specialty packages for stir-fry, pasta, stews, and soups.  Add meat and voila, you have a one-dish meal.

•     Do you eat frozen convenience meals for lunch?  Before you microwave, add 1/2 additional cup of frozen vegetables in the corner of the container and microwave according to package directions.

•     Top frozen cheese pizzas with chopped broccoli, onion, mushrooms, and red pepper slices.  Add these vegetables to spaghetti sauce, canned reduced-fat cream based soups or salsa as pasta and baked potato toppers.

•     Eat vegetables at breakfast!  What?  That's right.  Add chopped zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, water chestnuts, and peppers to breakfast omelets.  Chop these vegetables and mix together in a plastic storage bag.  Pull out 1/4 cup for each omelet.

•     Reduced-fat or fat-free salad dressings are also a flavorful way to add a little zest to your vegetables.

•     Are you trying to cut down on the amount of butter or margarine that you use?  Top your vegetables with imitation butter sprinkles as a fat-free alternative.

•     Up the calcium amount of your diet by topping your vegetables with a couple tablespoons of reduced-fat cheddar cheese.

•     And don't forget to add as many vegetables as you can to your sandwiches - lettuce, tomato, onion, pepper slices and anything else that sounds good to you.  

• Happy Crunching!  

You can also increase fiber by adding beans.  Click here for more on beans.