Foods with high fiber content provide many health benefits for both men and women, including improved digestion and greater satiety. Eating foods packed with fiber can help reduce hunger between meals, making them ideal for managing your caloric intake.
Here are five high-fiber foods you should consider adding to your diet:
Popcorn is one of the most popular snack foods in America. From movie theaters to baseball games, popcorn is easily accessible. Not all popcorn is created equal, however. The buttered popcorn you find at the store and the theatre can be loaded with fat from excessive butter and other unhealthy toppings. Plain popcorn without any additional toppings is the way to go. Because plain popcorn is also low in calories, it’s a great snack for those looking to lose weight.
Try This: Italian Popcorn Treat
Nuts get a lot of good press – and for good reason. Aside from their fiber content, nuts are also excellent sources of unsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E. Nuts are great by the handful or in some popular dishes. Thanks to the high amount of protein, nuts make especially great workout snacks. Nuts, however, are higher in calories than other high-fiber foods and should be eaten in moderation by those seeking to limit their caloric intake.
Try This: Sweet and Nutty Trail Mix
Potatoes are very rich in fiber, iron, vitamin C and potassium. The health benefit of a potato is determined by how it is prepared. It’s easy to strip all the nutrients and good parts of a potato by removing the skin, frying it, and covering it with unhealthy seasonings; French fries, chips and other processed potato products are unlikely to have many of their original nutrients left. Baked potatoes, complete with the skin, are far healthier than their fried counterparts. A baked potato makes a great meal on its own, or it can be paired with other foods to make a complete and balanced meal. Although there are a variety of potato varieties available, Russet is the most common.
Try This: Red and Sweet Potato Salad
Oatmeal may not look delicious to many people, but it’s packed with good nutrients, including lots of fiber. Studies suggest that oatmeal is also good for lowering cholesterol. There are many ways to mix up oatmeal, including making delicious oatmeal cookies. A simple bowl of cooked oatmeal can be dressed up with a number of toppings, such as berries or raisins, to add even more fiber or to improve its flavor. Other popular toppings include diced apples, brown sugar and cinnamon.
Try This: Homemade Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Brown rice is more nutrient-dense than the more popular white rice. These two types of rice are processed in completely different ways. Each grain of white rice undergoes thorough processing, leaving white rice with few nutrients. Brown rice, by contrast, only has its outer hull removed during processing, thus leaving most of its nutrients intact. The nutrients in brown rice include calcium, iron and potassium. Brown rice makes a great side dish for many main courses. The one downside is that brown rice tends to be pricier than its white counterpart.
Try This: Brown Rice Stuffing
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Guest Author: Geoffrey Anderson is editor of MenScience Magazine, a men’s skincare blog. He has more than four years of experience writing about diet, nutrition and health for major companies like eDiets.com and MenScience.com.
Also Read:
40 Whole Food Sources of Fiber
Get Back to Basics with Low-Fat, Low-Sodium, High-Fiber Diets
popcorn image and oatmeal image by BigStock