Weight Check Update

Fact is, I am not losing weight. But hold on before you judge me based on that statement. Fact is that I am losing body fat quite good, but I am building up muscle at the same time. I am currently working out in one way or the other for about 35-45 minutes per day. I also increased my overall activity. As an example I am no longer using the elevator at work and rather take the stairs. It’s only like for 2 or 3 floors as the building I am working at has only 5 floors, but at the end of the day the number of steps counts, right!? I was reading health magazine the other day and they had some really cool tips for burning body fat faster. One tip was to try to walk at least 10,000 steps per day. Wow. 10,000 steps a day sounds a lot, but it is not really. At an average speed you can walk between 400-600 steps in 5 minutes. Go for a 30 minute lunch walk and you just added maybe 3,000 steps to your daily average. For many people that will often be enough to bump the daily step volume up to 10,000.

So, back to my weight checkup. I have not been losing weight, but I can feel that I am burning fat. The “love handles” are getting much smaller. The belly is still to big in my opinion, but overall I am very happy with how things have been developing. The combination of eating more fiber and doing a little more workout is great.

Eating Healthy

Sometimes you want to look at certain foods just because they are healthy and help to prevent diseases. Adding some of these food groups to your diet is good as it also helps to level things out a little bit. Many serious diseases like diabetes, heart disease, even cancer can be prevented (or at least delayed) if we choose to eat right and exercise. When picking the right food you need to look at the label to see if they are really healthy or not. As an example, if you would eat one bag of ordinary microwave popcorn you eat already 40% of your daily recommended value of saturated fat (~9 grams). That is considered bad because just think about what else you will eat through-out the day and where you will end up with at the end. Anyway – here are some very healthy food products that you should try to add to your diet:
 
Spinach
– High in vitamin A & C (antioxidants), folate
– Good source of vitamin B-6, calcium, iron, magnesium, riboflavin
 
Broccoli
- High in vitamin A & C, folate, calcium, potassium
- Cruciferous vegetables (plant family that includes cauliflower and cabbage) have specific cancer-fighting phytonutrients
 
Sweet Potatoes
- Deep orange fruit and vegetables are very high in beta carotene (vitamin A)
- Also good source of fiber and vitamin C
 
Blueberries
- One of the highest sources of vitamin A & C
- Specific phytonutrients that amplify the use of vitamin C in the body
- Improves memory, brain function
 
Whole Grains: Oats
-High in soluble or viscous fiber which lowers LDL or “bad” cholesterol.
 
Wild Salmon
– Lean source of protein
– One of the highest forms of omega-3 fatty acids which lowers triglycerides, blood pressure and risk of blood clots (stroke)
– Wild versus farm raised – wild is the best because it has the least amount of toxins
 
Nuts: Almonds/Walnuts
– Both are high in vitamin E (antioxidant)
– They’re full of heart-healthy unsaturated fats
– You only need one ounce a day to meet your needs
 
Legumes/Beans
- High in soluble or viscous fiber
- Lean protein
- Red, pinto, and black beans are in the top twenty high antioxidant foods
 
Cultured Dairy products
– Yogurt, kefir, cultured milk
– Probiotics – each product is full of helpful bacteria
– Helpful bacteria increase digestive health, absorption of nutrients in the gut and can help to alleviate lactose intolerance
 
 
And again a reminder. These products should be eaten in consideration. Too much of some of those can cause gas and bloating as an example.

Easy Ways to add Fiber to Your Diet

Dieting usually sucks, because you cannot eat what you like. Often you have gulp down bitter tasting shakes or the food looks like it was digested at least once before. It becomes even more difficult if you have to work during the day with limited access to a real kitchen or fresh foods. If you are like me, you might have access to a Microwave in the kitchenette at work, but that is it. There is no easy way to prepare fresh meals or good tasting self-made shakes during the day. But that does not mean you cannot add more fiber to your overall fiber intake over the course of a week.  In this fiber blog posting I already mentioned a few lunchables that will fit your fiber35 diet just fine. But variety is king and so I spend another 30 extra minutes in my local supermarket reading food nutrition labels.

When I was younger I loved to eat Beefaroni and I still do. Especially since I took a closer look at the label. Beefaroni are available for lunch in microwaveable portions. You’ll find them in the pasta section in your supermarket. These little lunchables contain a total of 400 calories. I am usually stuffed after ¾ of it, which makes it approx. 300 calories. But I took an extra look at the label. Each serving (2 per container) comes with 3 grams of fiber. If you eat an entire bowl for lunch you will eat 6 grams of fiber. There is a little more fat involved compared to like the Campbell’s Creamy Tomato Soup, but on the upside there is much less Sugar involved. So, you are trading some fat for some Sugar, which probably equals out just fine. And keep in mind that Fiber will give you a “filled” feeling and you will be less hungry for quite a while.

And here is the typical reminder: Eat in moderation. Add more fiber to your diet. Try to exercise a little bit to increase your possible weight loss.

My Fiber Update

I read this article about when the first studies came out that suggested to increase the daily fiber intake to at least 25-30 grams a day. That was in the 1970s. Nothing has much changed since then. Actually – the only thing that happened was a further decrease in fiber intake for the average American. I have to admit for myself – I have not been eating enough fiber for many years now. Even if you are busy traveling, getting your daily fiber intake while on the road is easy. Using fiber supplements for those busy days in life is not the preferred way, but it is still much better than not getting any fiber at all. The main thing you should stay when eating out is to eat too much. Today’s meals are about 25% bigger (on average) compared to just 10 years ago. And still – the amount of fiber has decreased significantly.

I am already quite a bit down the road away from ignoring fiber. The last 3 weeks I changed my daily behavior significantly. It feels good. Here a note about my website. I added a sitemap to the site so that it is easier for you to navigate around.

But Fiber is not everything

In my previous post I finished up with my calculation of how much fiber I am now eating per day and how easy it is to get to the 35 gram of fiber per day. But eating fiber is not everything. If I would eat a lot of meals with high fat foods it would be very difficult to lose weight. Fat or sugar can destroy the effect of a fiber diet easily. Keep in mind that I am not a doctor nor do I work in a health related profession (Reminder: please consult with your doctor before starting any diet or special exercise). I am just writing about common sense in regards to food groups and what I learned from researching the fiber35 diet. as with every diet you have to eat less calories than what your body can use during any 24 hour period. Adding fiber to your diet is step One. Step Two is to reduce the consumption of specific other foods at the same time. You do not have to eliminate foods from your diet completely (my personal opinion and approach), but you have to eat in moderation and add more variety to replace the gaps the other food groups leave.

I started looking at what else I usually eat during the day. For lunch I usually eat a Campbell soup out of the microwave. Soup in general is already a good choice as the liquids fill your stomach and you will eat less. I spend some time at the supermarket again and read all the labels. For the first phase of my weight loss I wanted to reduce lunch meals that would make it more difficult to lose weight. To have variation I came up with mainly two choices.

• Campbell’s Creamy Tomato Soup
• Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup

Why these two soups? Creamy Tomato comes with 3 grams of fiber while regular Tomato soup comes with less fiber and more sugar. Creamy Tomato Soup has 16 grams of sugar. The Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup comes with not even 1 gram of fiber, but zero grams of sugar. If you have not eaten those lunch soups for the microwave – they are actually quite filling. Add a slice (or two) of whole grain toast to each meal and you just added a good meal choice to your meal plan.