Expert Column
Christine Salazar, RD 
Christine Salazar, RD, has been a practicing dietitian since 1998. She is a consulting...read more
Articles In This Column
- A Delicious & Filling Summery Snack to Help Seniors Lose (or Gain) Weight
- How Antioxidants Affect Your Health
- Ditch the Diet Forever: 7 Healthy Habits for Seniors
- The Facts About Fat: How Fat Affects Cholesterol & Cardiovascular Disease
- Food Labels: What Does It All Mean?
- Straight Talk: How Important is Calcium, Anyway?
- Too Much or Too Little: Get the Right Amount of Salt for a Healthy Diet
- The Nutrient That Can Help You Lose Weight, Lower Cholesterol and Reduce Your Risk of Colon Cancer
- Food Safety: 10 Guidelines for the Elderly
- Undernutrition and Overnutrition: How To Prevent and Treat Through Diet
i have been reading up on high fiber diets and the thing is for a woman of my age it would take five servings of high fiber foods just to get what you need. it seems impossible!
Well, this answer can vary depending on the foods you like and if you are on any special diets for a medical condition. The bottom line is that this is not a high-fiber diet, but the recommended amount of fiber needed to help decrease various disease states. The key is to get a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet. When choosing bread or cereal products read labels and choose the good sources of fiber as I have outlined above. Cereal is a great way in the morning to get fiber-oatmeal as are cold bran-type cereals (½-1 cup) with blueberries. I eat bread that has 3g fiber per slice so when I eat a sandwich I am getting 6g of fiber just from the bread—have a small salad or some fruit and you are at 10g for just one meal. Pay close attention to portion sizes: 1 cup of veggies it not that much. I hope this helps. The key to getting enough fiber is to plan meals and to replace junk foods in your home with healthy snack foods. Also make sure that you do not skip meals and eat three small meals with two snacks a day.
i understand what it is saying but is it really good for you to take medamucil drink that makes you go to the bathroom all the time for a diet or is it bad for you?????
Metamucil should not be used as a substitute for food. Deciding to take Metamucil is something you should discuss with your doctor—just like any over-the-counter medicine.
I take fiber choice chewable tablets twice a day and buy fiber one snack bars for a snack during the day. Is this too much fiber?
Great question, Donna. Well you probably already know that one dose of the fiber choice tablets is 4 grams (so you are getting 8 grams) and there is 9 grams of fiber in a Fiber One bar. So if you are only eating one Fiber One bar then you are getting 17 grams of fiber, which is below what is recommended. Hopefully you are eating other fiber sources during the day that would help you increase your total daily intake.
flaxseed is an excellent source of fiber, you can mix it with oatmeal or any other food or drink you eat. One tablespoon supply 15gm of fiber.
you can lose weight by eating healthy food and keep your body heathy all the time