By: Elizabeth Rahavi, RD   Date 1/25/10

The IFIC 2009 Functional Foods/Foods for Health Consumer Trending Survey found that people’s top health concerns are (in order of importance) heart health, weight management, cancer, diabetes, nutrition/diet, and exercise. Interestingly, people don’t always prioritize their New Year’s resolutions the same way. In fact, most people—including my colleagues here at the International Food Information Council Foundation—mention losing weight, improving diet, and exercising more as their top resolutions for the New Year. 

Are you one of the people who made a resolution to improve your health? Whether your goal is to manage your weight, improve heart or digestive health, or improve your energy levels so that you can exercise more, the benefits of adding fiber to your diet should not be overlooked. One key that can help you find success with your New Year’s resolution is to break down your ultimate goal into smaller, more achievable, baby steps. Adding more fiber to your diet can be one of these steps.  Why should you add fiber? Here are just a few good reasons:

• Fiber is good for your heart and can help you manage cholesterol levels.
• Fiber is a digested more slowly, which can help you feel full for longer periods of time.
• Fiber provides your body with sustained energy, which can be helpful when you hit the gym, walk the dog, or increase your physical activity.
• Fiber is good for your digestive system. (Some people may experience discomfort as they increase their fiber intake. This is temporary and will change as the body adjusts. Try increasing fiber in small steps to avoid discomfort.)
   

Visualize your success by adding fiber to your diet in a variety of ways, including: 

• Eat more whole grain breads and cereals by looking for products that are made with “100% whole grain” or “whole wheat flour” at the top of the ingredient list.
• Eat more fiber-rich fruits and vegetables. The more color that your plate contains the more fiber you are eating.
• Oatmeal is a good source fiber. Trying keeping instant oatmeal in your desk drawer at work to eat in the morning or as an emergency snack.
• Dried fruits and nuts also have fiber. Experiment with making your own trail mix that contains your favorite dried fruits and nuts. Separate the mix into multiple sandwich baggies with about 1 cup of the trail mix inside for a multiple healthful snacks to eat throughout the week.

What was your New Year’s resolution? Can increasing your fiber intake put you on the path to New Year’s Resolution success? Tell us about it!