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How to Increase Your Dietary Fiber Intake

    There are various benefits to getting sufficient dietary fiber in your diet everyday like help with reducing your level of hunger, slowing the digestion of food in the body, regulating blood sugar levels and enhancing heart health. It is also important that you take good care of your dietary fiber intake for improved overall digestive health.

    Though you need to make sure you consume sufficient calories and a good balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in your daily diet, dietary fiber has an important role in successful weight loss.

    Dietary Fiber Intake

    Despite this, many people still consume insufficient fiber everyday which is why you need to take some time to learn which foods should be consumed to boost your dietary fiber intake.

    Add blackberries or oatmeal

    You can improve your dietary fiber intake by adding blackberries or raspberries to yogurt as these fruits have lots of seeds and are thus one of the highest fiber fruits available. Oatmeal on its own is rather high in fiber but by sprinkling wheat bran to it before eating, you boost its fiber content even more.

    You get an instant complex carb boost just by substituting white flour with ground oats or oat flour. If you don’t actually like eating vegetables, you can puree high-fiber vegetables like carrots, broccoli, spinach and sweet potatoes for an instant boost to your diet’s fiber and vitamin content.

    Flax seeds and fresh fruit

    By adding flax seeds to your protein shakes, you introduce more fiber and healthy omega fats to your diet. Instead of snacking on granola bars, snack on fresh fruit as they are higher in fiber and nutrients.

    Include side salads

    Make it a point to include a side salad loaded with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes or peppers with every meal you eat. Instead of eating rice, swap it up with beans which are not only a good source of fiber, but are also a complex carb.

    Whole wheat products and nuts

    Eat more nuts as they are not only a source of healthy fat, but they also provide fiber and a small dose of protein. By sprinkling bran buds over your Greek yogurt, you add some crunch and extra fiber to your yogurt.

    Always choose whole wheat products like whole wheat pita, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pita and whole wheat pasta instead of heavily processed products. Eating an apple a day provides your body with about 5 grams of fiber. For a balanced snack, you could even serve your apple with an ounce of low-fat cheddar or cheddar cheese. For a low calorie snack with lots of fiber, just drink vegetable soup.

    Conclusion

    It is no more a challenge to include more fiber to your healthy diet with the many strategies available. Just make sure to consume only one or two of these fiber sources everyday as increasing your fiber intake to too much of fiber can shock your digestive system. This in turn can lead to gastrointestinal problems that leave you in great pain and discomfort. It is therefore wise to slowly increase your fiber intake to reap its long-term results.

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