To lose weight this month, shop smart! Read food labels and look at the amount of fiber in your food purchases. Fiber helps create a feeling of fullness. For example, purchase whole grain products like whole wheat breads, pastas and tortillas. When reading labels, you may find that one tortilla brand contains 1 gram of fiber per tortilla, and another variety or brand will contain up to 9 grams of fiber per tortilla. Which tortilla will help you eat less? The one with 9 grams of fiber because fiber helps you feel full, and even helps improve blood sugar levels. Eat two tortillas and this brings your fiber intake to 18 grams of fiber. Wow! This is over half your fiber needs for just one day. The US government’s 2010 Dietary Guidelines recommend that Americans consume 20-35 grams of fiber a day.
Foods low in fiber are quickly digested, causing blood sugar levels to rise faster, and then they may also fall faster because these foods are so quickly digested. Fiber will slow down the digestion process, and raise blood sugar at a slower rate, leaving you full longer. Be careful though to avoid high refined sugar content foods, or blood sugars will rise rapidly even with higher fiber content. You can read the ingredient list to determine if a product contains sugar. If sugar is one of the first 5 ingredients, it is likely the product is high in sugar.
