Fiber IS sexy: Weightloss + Disease Preventative

Listen, Metamucil is like the farthest thing from sexy right? I agree. However, fiber is sexy. Bear with me for a sec okay?

Forget your grandparents fiber drinks or heck, even your parents telling you to eat prunes or drink prune juice (oh, yours didn’t? Guess it was just mine… er).

Sadly, I didn’t learn the magic of fiber until recently. Let me tell you, once I harnessed the power that is fiber, not gaining those extra pesky pounds has been a walk in the park. Literally. So. Easy.

I’m not talking about a diet or some weight loss program (although, fiber is a major tool in both). I am talking about a mindset change, a commitment of just incorporating more fiber every day. It’s so simple actually. It is EASY to add foods to your diet.

Did you know that women are supposed to get 25 grams per day and men 38 grams per day? Do you know 97% do not reach that amount, actually 97% come no where near it daily. THAT IS A HUGE number. According to NutritionFacts.org:

” Less than 3% of Americans get even the recommended minimum adequate intake of fiber. That’s something we really have to work on. On average, we get only about 15 grams a day. The minimum daily requirement is 31.5, so we get less than half the minimum. Men are particularly deficient. If we break down intake by age and gender, after studying the diets of 12,761 Americans, the percent of men between ages 14 and 50 getting the minimum adequate intake is zero. “

Big problem. Well, it’s a big problem if you want to stay full and satisfied all day, which is key in keeping weight off and even LOSING weight.

What is Fiber?

Fiber creates bulk. Fiber is the zero-calorie, non-digestible part of a carbohydrate that adds bulk to food. Fiber is made of two types, soluble and insolvable. Both can not be digested so they both pass through your system. The magic part, they take along fats and oils along with (CALORIES) it while boosting your metabolism. It also speeds up your digestion and cleans you out ( ahem, another important part of weight maintenance of loss).

Did you know increasing your fiber not only helps weight loss but decreases your risk of colon cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes and IBS? LOAD UP PEOPLE. It really is a miracle carb.

Let me tell you a HUGE secret and a few great ways to get all your fiber throughout the day. Before I was introduced to these two ways, I wasn’t coming anywhere close to the recommended amount per day, even though I was eating tons of veggies.

Meet your new best friend, the famous GG cracker or officially known as, GG Scandinavian Bran Crispbread, or I like to call them my skinny crackers.

They are a major secret weapon against the bulge, they pack a whopping 4 grams per cracker and only come in at 20 calories. The recommended serving is 4 crackers, so that is 16 grams right there at only 80 calories. I either eat these with various toppings for breakfast or lunch. It makes get my fiber in super easy and I stay full throughout the day as well as stay regular (wink wink). I even try to force my husband to eat them, he likes them!

My Secret weapon: The GG Cracker

They can taste bland and like carboard alone but I have made so many different recipes that are actually tasty with them (I should do some separate posts on that). Try out powdered peanut butter and banana, Cream cheese with my favorite “Everything but Bagel” seasoning from Trader joes (You can order on amazon!!!) or smoked salmon and tomato, tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, turkey and mustard. My favorite that I learned from FFactor is the pizza (Rao’s sauce with melted cheese. I swap out for a vegan version but it is delicious and guilt free).

They are sold on Amazon here, I buy all mine from Amazon but they sell them at Wholefoods and Fairway. They are sold out A LOT. They are in stock at the moment I am publishing this, so load up if you are interested. It seems everyone is on the Fiber train recently.

Want some other easy ways to up your fiber? Theses are some of my favorite: