With obesity and heart disease at a record high in the United States, the complex carbohydrate called fiber is taking center stage. Dietary fiber comes from the plant foods you eat, including fruits, grains and vegetables. After you swallow a plant-based food, the partially digested material passes through your stomach and into your intestines. The sugar, vitamins and minerals from the plant food travel through your intestinal wall and into your bloodstream, but the fiber remains behind to promote heart health, weight management and normal bowel function.
Quick Meals
Fruits, vegetables and grains provide the basic ingredients for quick, nutritious meals. Serve an array of sliced fruits with edible skins and seeds intact, such as apples, pears, peaches, cherries, blueberries, plums and peaches. Create a colorful salad from dark green leafy vegetables, including kale, spinach and Swiss chard, and layer on pieces of tomatoes, carrots, snow peas, green beans and corn. Canned or frozen fruits and vegetables have just as much fiber as their fresh counterparts. Select prepackaged salad mixes to cut down on food preparation time.
Meatless Meals
Create meatless meals once or twice a week by substituting fiber-rich legumes. Split peas, baked beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, black beans and pinto beans are packed with fiber and protein and are cholesterol-free. Use spices, herbs, onions or vegetable broth with pureed vegetables to flavor your legume dish. Crockpots are perfect for simmering legume recipes while you're at work.
Traditional Meals with a Twist
Read traditional recipes and your family favorites with an eye toward increasing fiber content. Use whole-wheat pasta, such as fettucine or rotini, instead of plain white pasta in spaghetti dishes, macaroni and cheese or casseroles. Try high-fiber grains, including brown rice, barley or quinoa, as a substitute for white rice in casseroles, side dishes and soups. Replace sugary breakfast cereals with steel-cut oatmeal, high-fiber cold cereals based on oats or bran or leftovers from dinner, such as barley casserole.
Heart-Healthy Snacks
The American Heart Association recommends eating three to five servings a week of nuts or seeds to reduce your risk of heart-disease. In addition to omega-3 fatty acids, nuts and seeds are rich in dietary fiber. Keep a small bowl of nuts on the counter for munching, pack individuals servings in snack-size plastic bags for your lunch or carry prepackaged nuts and seeds in your car or briefcase. Combine a slice of whole-wheat bread with 2 tbsp. of peanut or almond butter for a quick fiber boost.
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