The Fiber Slide Warning

I am a big touter of fiber, and one of my biggies is Fiber One Original cereal, containing in each half-cup serving 57% of your daily fiber and hardly a pittance of sugar or fat along with a bonus of some key vitamins, minerals and protein. It is a breakfast worth eating. But you needn't go further than the back of the box to get other great uses – in salads, in trail mix, even ground up and used as bread crumbs. All great ways to get some of that concentrated, healthy fiber in you (or others).

But you've heard that from me before. Now here's my warning. Don't let the richness of this one Fiber One product fool you. It is not that deep a brand. Its other cereals all have lower fiber contents per CUP than the Original does in HALF a cup. They all also have higher sugar content and less other redeeming traits. Even despite all this, they still go ahead and advertise the fiber content on the front of the box in the same manner as the original, leading you to believe it is a per half cup serving rather than a per cup serving.

Then there are the breakfast bars, with 35% per little bar, which are high fiber for their size, but are still pretty high in sugar. Those bars and the cereals are okay but not great. The truly lousy products, which are allowed to slide only by virtue of being under the Fiber One name, are the yogurts and the pop tarts. Each have pretty low fiber content relative to the Original and still advertise fiber in the same place to remind consumers of the product it's piggybacking upon. The yogurts are not even worth it, as they seemed like nothing more than a yogurt with some fiber powder (Bene-fiber) mixed in. Small, expensive, sugary and unexciting. The pop tarts, I believe, are actually a ploy. They don't even have that much fiber, at 25%, but taste pretty cardboard-ish and have the relative misfortune of carrying many of the same other nutritional characteristics as traditional Kellogg’s Pop Tarts. Not good. Plus they're a rip-off.

So if you're looking for some great ways to add fiber to your life, grab a box of the Original Fiber One and do something creative with it – remember, a little goes a long way. Don't bother allowing the other Fiber One products to slide on the fiber and the other peripherals nutritionals by grabbing on the coattails of the Original.

A Simple Bowl of Fiber

I'm a big proponent of fiber. I have witnessed changes in my fiber intake directly affect several aspects of my health, most notably my weight. Yes, weight loss. As a person who seems to be affected quite a bit by my metabolism, I have noticed that when I am caring a lot about fiber and whole grains and avoiding white carbs, my weight is significantly lower than when I am ignoring fiber and welcoming white carbs. It's as simple as that. Ignoring all other health benefits that high fiber intake is supposed to have, adding fiber and removing most white bread, white pasta, sugar/corn syrup, white rice and potatoes causes significant weight loss. At least for me. Within a few days even.

I know this is not a new adage, but I would hope that I can at least provide some testimonial support of the pro-fiber wave. Or at least “wave” is what most non fiber believers like to think it is, and this frustrates me. It is probably one of the most natural swaps you can make in your diet (i.e. moving from processed toward unprocessed and unrefined), and I feel best when I am actively embracing it, so I don't think it will ever fade as many fad diets tend to.

So whether you're a believer or not, go buy a box of the original Fiber One cereal. That's all. Wake up every morning and pour yourself one cup of fiber one. Then go ahead and dress it up with skim milk, nonfat Greek yogurt (very low in sugar) or nonfat regular yogurt. And maybe add a handful of slivered almonds and a few raisins. It takes 1 minute to prepare, 5 to eat. Your daily fiber. Yes, not a typo. This one cup serving with trivial fat and sugar will provide you 28 grams of dietary fiber! Roughly 114% of the recommended daily fiber intake. But I've heard that 25 grams per day is a conservative number and that women should consume up to 35 grams of fiber per day and men up to 40. All while most Americans average around 10. The raisins will add a couple grams of fiber and lots of potassium, the almonds some healthy unsaturated fat, protein and a few more grams of fiber.

You will be less hungry throughout the day, be more energized to start your day, and you’ll have a full day’s worth of fiber in just one bowl! Of course it is good to get fiber in every meal, but if you think it’s hard to get your daily fiber intake, you couldn’t be more wrong. Go for the Fiber One and get your fiber in one bowl, five minutes.