Shed pounds by eating more of this nutrient
I recently had a baby and am trying to lose those last few pregnancy pounds. With a young child and a full-time job, I have little time for exercise. Luckily, there's another option: eating!
New research suggests that there's a way to prevent this weight gain or even encourage weight loss-without dieting. The secret? Eat more fiber. Why? Researchers at Brigham Young University in Utah found that women who increased their fiber intake generally lost weight. Read more about the study below.
In the meantime, try these 20 delicious fiber-rich recipes to help you lose weight. Or add more of these four foods to your diet to help you get your fill:
Raspberries: 1 cup = 8 grams
Eat more of them in Raspberry, Avocado & Mango Salad and 9 more delicious raspberry recipes.
Chickpeas: 3/4 cup = 8 grams
Enjoy these protein-packed beans in Middle Eastern Chickpea Platter (yum!) and more healthy chickpea recipes.
Strawberries: 1 cup = 3 grams
Pile them onto this healthier version of Strawberry Shortcake and 20+ more strawberry recipes.
Green Beans: 1 cup = 4 grams
Toss them in Green Beans with Bacon & Hazelnuts and 9 more savory green bean recipes.
Researchers at Brigham Young University in Utah found that women who increased their fiber intake generally lost weight. Women who decreased the fiber in their diets gained. The scientists boiled the findings into a single weight-loss formula: boosting fiber by 8 grams for every 1,000 calories consumed resulted in losing about 4 1/2 pounds over the course of the study. And this held true whether a woman was eating 3 or 25 grams of fiber a day at the start of the study.
While it helps you feel full, "fiber has no calories." So if you fill up on high-fiber foods you crowd out less-healthy foods. Try it for yourself. If you're consuming 2,000 calories per day, aim to increase your fiber by 16 grams.
By Michelle Edelbaum
Michelle is the associate editor of interactive for EatingWell Media Group. In between editing and writing, she enjoys sampling the tasty results of the easy, healthy recipes that the EatingWell Test Kitchen cooks are working on.
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