Making one change — getting more fiber — can help with weight loss

Getting to a healthy weight and staying there is an important way to prevent heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, and other serious conditions. Many of us know firsthand just how hard it can be to reach and maintain that healthy weight. And there’s no shortage of ways to try to get there: You can count calories, carbs, or points. You can cut back on fat or sugar. You can try any number of popular diets that forbid certain foods, or focus on just one (the grapefruit diet, anyone?). Any of these approaches might work for you. Or they might not — in large part because they are complicated. A study published in today’s Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that something as simple as aiming to eat 30 grams of fiber each day can help you lose weight, lower your blood pressure, and improve your body’s response to insulin just as effectively as a more complicated diet. Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School compared the effectiveness of two diets with help from 240 volunteers. Half were asked to follow the American Heart Association’s (AHA) diet for preventing heart disease, in which you try to eat more fruits, vegetables, high-fiber foods, fish, and lean protein but also cut back on salt, sugar, fat, and alcohol. The other half were asked to follow a diet in which the only goal was to eat 30 grams or more of fiber each day. Neither group received advice or recommendations for exercise. All of the volunteers had metabolic syndrome — ...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Diet and Weight Loss Healthy Eating fiber Source Type: news