What's So Great About Fiber?

What's so great about fiber and why is it getting top billing on package labels these days? Have you noticed manufacturers are adding extra fiber to foods and even sweeteners now? A little inulin (fruit fiber) here and a little fiber there, and--ta-da!--it can be labeled "High in Fiber!"

So, what is it with fiber? It is truly a little magic for health?

Fiber is actually a carbohydrate that's found only in plants. It's the part of the fruit, veggie or bean that our human body can't digest, so we can't absorb calories or nutrients from fiber. It kind of just passes out of our system, shall we say.

There are two types of fiber. Soluble fiber dissolves into a gel like substance. It's been shown to help reduce cholesterol and stabilize blood glucose. You can find soluble fiber in oats, peas, beans, carrots, barley, the inside of most fruits (apples, grapes, etc.) and psyllium. I'm sure you've noticed the big red hearts on the outside of the oat cereal packages and the message that it may lower cholesterol that follows!

Insoluble fiber does not dissolve, but tends to create bulk and push things through the digestive system faster (a good thing.) Think bran, vegetables, whole wheat, nuts and seeds.

Both types of fiber help prevent constipation, as long as plenty of water is being consumed with the higher fiber.

A diet higher in fiber has been found to help reduce the incidence of heart disease. It actually decreases blood cholesterol and brings down low density lipoproteins (LDL.) Nice!

There is much evidence that eating foods higher in fiber stabilize blood glucose, which is so very important to managing diabetes.

Higher fiber foods tend to give people a greater feeling of fullness and keep you full longer, which gives you a higher satiety (there's a fun word for you!) level. This can really help with weight management.

The average American is slinking by on just 15 grams of fiber a day. Not too cool at all. Recommendations are that women consume at least 25 grams and men 35 grams each day. Most of us have some plant eating to do!

Fiber is found in cereals, breads, vegetables, fruits, legumes, beans, nuts, and seeds.

Keys to finding best sources:

• Eat the whole fruits, not the fruit juices
• Choose whole grain breads and cereals. Look for the word "whole" as the first ingredient: whole wheat, whole rolled oats, etc.

Add fiber slowly, one new source each week. Adding too much too fast will make you very uncomfortable (one way or the other!) And, be sure to drink plenty of water as you eat more fiber. If you don't, all that fiber could make you a bit blocked up. Ugh.

And what do I think of all these manufacturers adding all the fiber to yogurt, ice cream, and now even artificial sweetners? I don't think it will hurt us, but I am really concerned we are getting the wrong message about these foods. A sweetener with added fiber is NOT a health food. Eating a banana with your yogurt would give you so much more nutrition than relying on yogurt spiked with fiber. We need to reach for the whole food--that's were we'll get all the naturally present fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, macronutrients...the whole sheebang.

That's the right way to continue our quest toward become that healthy, svelte, buff, lean wonderful YOU!

Tomorrow's breakfast? 1 cup oatmeal, 1 sliced banana, 1 Tbsp. walnuts, 1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.....yum!!!!!

Fiber: A Fabulous Thing, Naturally!

A Little Warmth from Chicken Fiesta Soup

How are the preparations going for your Healthier Super Bowl Party? As promised, here's a wonderful soup recipe that can be made either on top of the stove or in a slow cooker. This one would be a great addition to your Super Bowl Sunday party!

It's fun to let friends "decorate" their own bowls. Try serving with small bowls of chopped cilantro or parsley, light sour cream, light shredded cheddar cheese, finely sliced green onions, and a bottle of Frank's Hot Sauce for those guests fond of more "fire-y" fare!

Chicken Fiesta Soup

In large pot, saute on medium high until onions are translucent:

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced (about 1 cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

Add and cook 5-7 minutes:

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed

Place into slow cooker, if desired, at this point. Into crock or pot, add:

• 1 quart chicken broth (low sodium, preferred)
• 1-15 1/2 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp. salt, only if desired
• 1-15 1/2 oz. can black beans, drained*
• 1-15 1/2 oz. can white cannellini beans, drained*
• 1 1/2 cups frozen corn
• For more fire power: add 1 small can green chilies

Cook on low in slow cooker for 8 hours, or on top of the stove on low for at least 1 hour. It's really OK to eat before that, but the flavors get richer the longer it simmers, and the beans will thicken up the soup the longer it cooks. It will thicken up better on top of the stove than in the slow cooker.

*Any combination of beans would be great...you decide! I love the combination of 2 beans in this dish: 2 colors and 2 slightly different textures.

Serving a soup like this provides a heartier menu option, smells great, and really is a super (souper?) filler-upper for those of us who would like to stay a bit in control of our food!

A few things to remember for our partying crew:

• Know your game plan before the game!
• Have a snack before you go, never go to a food-fest on an empty tummy!
• Fill half your plate with fruits and veggies first, if they are offered! This minimizes space for less healthy food.
• Bring something to the party that is healthier---check yesterday's post or make some of Chicken Fiesta Soup!
• Hold one low-cal beverage in your hand at all times to minimize the possibility of the "munchy" attack. If the score is tied and the game is getting really tense and you find yourself edging toward the chip bowl, grab a second beverage. It's really hard to dive into the chips holding 2 drinks. I am talking about a bottle of water and maybe a lite beer or diet soda here. Not 2 beers!
• Sit away from the food bowls, if possible.
• Try to have a non-alcoholic calorie free drink after each alcoholic drink. This will save you lots of calories and help keep your head more focused on the game.

It looks like there are more Saints fans in my family than Colts. I would love to see the Saints win simply because they have never won before...but truth be told, I haven't been following the season much at all. Even so...

We'll kick off with some Chicken Fiesta Soup!

By the way...for those of you who have been having trouble posting a comment, I'm so sorry about that. I adjusted a couple of settings, so please try again!

Super Bowl Super Healthy

Super Bowl Sunday! Whether you are a football fan or not, the Super Bowl brings on a great reason to get together and do some serious munching. Typical Super Bowl party fare around the TV includes incredibly high fat and high calorie foods: chips & sour cream dips, sliders, nachos, fiesta dips, and lots of beer. One high-fat, stuff yourself until you hurt party won't trash your long term goal toward a healthier you, but it certainly doesn't help, either. Let's see if we can come up with some healthier YOU party food options...

Salsa is a Super food! Rich in antioxidants, high in nutrient density, low in calories, and high in taste...and it counts as a vegetable! Serve lots of different types: hot, mild, medium, chunky, smooth, black bean, mango, verde, etc.

Tortilla chips. Tortilla chips are usually made from ground whole corn, which is a good thing. Choose a brand with less salt added. South-of-the-Border chips are great, they're my husband's favorite. Baked are really quite good, but if you think your fans will need regular chips, too, provide both. You could even mix a bag of both in every bowl you serve which creates a fun variety in each bowl.

Make your own chips, guests love them!

• Heat oven to 375.
• Cut fat-free corn tortillas into chip size wedges.
• Spray chips with olive oil cooking spray, or lightly brush with canola or olive oil.
• Bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Flip over.
• Bake another 3-5 minutes.
• Sprinkle lightly with salt, if desired, or try adding a shake or two of cumin and chili powder.

Fiesta Layer Dip (close is good enough for this recipe!)

• Spread in layers on large plate or platter:
• 2 cans fat-free refried beans (try the black bean, yum!)
• Blend 8 oz. container of light sour cream together, 8 oz of Greek yogurt, and 1/2 pkg. taco seasoning mix (use more if you'd like, but it's higher in sodium.) Spread on top of beans.
• 3 cups shredded lettuce (darker leaves = healthier)
• 1-2 cans green chilies, drained
• 1 cup shredded light cheddar cheese
• 1/2 avocado, diced and tossed with 1 tsp. lime juice
• 1 small can sliced black olives, drained
• 4 green onions, sliced
• 2 tomatoes, diced

Fruit Kabobs

• Cube chunks of pineapple, strawberries, grapes, kiwi, or other firm fruit, and skewer on toothpicks. Fun and very popular!

Veggies and Dip

• Cherry and grape tomatoes
• Celery sticks
• Baby carrots
• Broccoli and cauliflower
• Kohlrabi
• Radishes
• Olives

Black Bean Dip

Straight from the jar is often great!

Make your own:

• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed

Or..

• 1 cup salsa
• 1 can fat-free refried beans
• sprinkle with light shredded cheddar cheese
• heat until hot

Creamy Dips

Make your favorite standby dip recipe, but use half light sour cream and half Greek style low fat plain yogurt to replace the full-fat sour cream. Result? No one will know the difference, and every body will thank you!

Creamy Salsa Dip:

• 1 cup Salsa
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1/2 cup Greek style low fat plain yogurt
• 
  

Remember to offer plenty of light beer, calorie-free sodas, and bottled waters for lighter drink options for your guests!

Tomorrow, a recipe for your slow cooker on Sunday: Chicken Fiesta Soup.

Let us in on what you're serving for lighter Super Bowl fare!

-- What do YOU like to make for creamy dips? Do you have a special twist to share?

--What other dips and specialties can you think of that would serve up some health along with fun?

Remember: It's all about our choices... Make them healthy ones today!

Restaurants and Salt Abuse

Why do restaurants use so much salt in their foods? Lbbls wants to know what's up with the over use of salt in restaurants. Great question! I wonder just how much salt an average restaurant goes through in a week?

In order to answer "why," we first have to understand what the purpose of the salt is in the first place. Salt is used in preservation of foods and as a flavor enhancer, improving the taste of foods that would otherwise not be as tasty to many people. Simply put, many of us like foods that have salt added better than if left plain. Since most restaurants are not preserving foods, we can be sure they are trying to enhance flavor and make the food taste better.

OK. Let's also acknowledge that the restaurants are in the business of serving food to make money. Can't blame them for that! How do they make money? They have to serve food that people like, so that you and I will come back again and again to buy more of their food. Bland food doesn't offer that draw to most of us. Salt sells, or at least up to a point. If it gets too salty, all bets are off.

Restaurants are also known to kick up the salt on foods that are lighter fare. Fat is a great flavor carrier, so if fat is reduced or removed, lots of flavor can go away, too. The easiest, least expensive way to counteract that is to bump up the salt. Flavor can also be zipped up with herbs, spices, vinegars and fruits, but salt is cheap, requires little creativity and it has no calories. On the lighter fare menu, most restaurants just list the total calories and grams of fat. If the salt has to go up to make the food palatable, the restaurants figure that's the way it has to be.

Many Americans love their salty taste buds stimulated. People complain if the fries don't have enough salt, and some immediately salt them again before they even taste them. In a way, restaurants are serving what they see patrons wanting: salted foods. This gets to be a vicious cycle for those of us striving for truly healthy options. We want the fresh, healthy foods, lower in evil fats, sodium, and all that jazz, but it seems that not enough people do want that to make it cost effective for the restaurant to carry those menu choices.

So, what can we do? Stay in communication with the restaurant you like. Let them know that you really want these healthy options and tell them that you need low sodium foods. If you mention any medical needs, good servers will normally go out of their way to help you on this. Remember their help in your tip. Ask for off the menu choices, fresh is best, prepared without added salt or soy sauce.

Until restaurants get the message from us that we want healthy lower sodium foods that taste good, change will probably be slow coming, unfortunately. It may help if New York City and some other cities decide to mandate labeling sodium content on restaurant menus. Now, that would be an eye opening experience that just may encourage some change!

Remember, when you eat out, ask for no salt added.

Fire up! You can do this and your heart will thank you...

Shake the Salt

So, you love salt. Is it really a health problem? Do you really need to watch how much salt you consume? The simple answer is, yes.

(We're going to use the term sodium, which is actually the part of salt giving us the grief. Table salt is sodium chloride, or NaCl, just in case you were wondering.)

For people who have high blood pressure (HBP) consuming more sodium increases blood pressure. When this happens, the risk for developing coronary heart disease and stroke goes up. Not good if you are planning to live a long, fun-filled life. If you don't have high blood pressure right now, you could still have a tendency toward developing HBP later on, or you may be what some experts call sodium sensitive. If you are, too much sodium may also zip your BP higher. If you don't have HBP, aren't sodium sensitive or don't have a tendency of developing HBP, consuming more sodium won't give you HBP. Yikes---this gets confusing! The real trouble is, you may not know if you are one of those with a tendency toward HBP. To top that off, almost one-third of all Americans currently have HBP. Are you next? Clearly, there's only one answer here: we all need to limit our sodium intake.

The average American is chomping down from 3300-4200 mg of sodium each day. Recommended levels are under 2300 mg which is as much as what's in a teaspoon of salt. If you already have HBP, the American Heart Association is advising 1500 mg.

Most of the sodium we are getting is coming from salt added to the foods we are eating for flavor, processing, or preserving foods. 20% is in the food naturally, so we can't take out all sodium, nor do we want to. We need some!

To Reduce Sodium

• Choose fresh, frozen or canned foods without added salt.
• Beware of our biggest sodium sources: condiments, tomato sauce, soups, canned food and prepared mixes. Choose lower sodium selections if possible, otherwise, do with less.
• Buy nuts and seeds, dried beans and lentils without added salt.
• Cut down on salty snacks: chips, pretzels, etc.
• Add less salt to foods: salt shaker off, pepper grinder on!
• Choose low sodium soups, broth, bouillon: the regular ones are loaded with sodium.
• Start using herbs, both fresh and dried to season dishes; lemon on fish is great.
• Be careful in restaurants. Specifically ask for no added salt to your foods.

One little note: eating salt/sodium will not make you gain body fat. It may make you retain excess water, so you could see the scales go up if you are a daily scale hopper and you enjoyed bunch of salty food the day before. In this case, the scales may truthfully be up due to fluid retention---it's temporary.

Bring on the Potassium

Foods rich in potassium bring an amazing ability of offset some of the evils of excess sodium. Potassium helps regulate fluid balance and has been shown to decrease blood pressure--cool! (And reduce the risk of kidney stones and bone loss, in case you wanted to know.) Reach for the potassium rich foods, not the supplements for the magic here.

• Cantaloupe, watermelon
• Bananas
• Oranges
• Almonds
• Mushrooms
• Spinach, kale, greens
• Milk
• Apricots, raisins
• Sweet potato, squash

The moral of the story: A healthy diet is not one with a daily dose of salt overload. We all need to watch just how much we shake that salt shaker!

And while we're at it, have an orange.

To your health!