Week 1 of My New Eating Program
December 5, 2006

I recently signed up for a new healthy eating plan with my new VIP physician. After doing blood work to determine what you're lacking, he recommends a combination of natural supplements, pharmaceuticals (if necessary), and a diet and exercise plan. Then he hands you off to his trainer/diet specialist to work with you as your eating coach.

To help me succeed, the eating coach put me on Calorie King, an Internet service that keeps tabs on your daily food consumption. It breaks everything down by key dietary considerations, such as fats, saturated fats, carbohydrates, proteins, and fiber. He told me that the worst mistake he sees in patients is eating too little fiber. That, as it turns out, is one of my worst eating problems. And it's something I would never have been aware of were it not for this new program and Calorie King.

Fiber is key for good digestion, avoiding cancer, and a hundred other things. I've been getting too little fiber for three reasons: I wasn't really aware of which foods provide a lot of fiber (which I now know include raw fruits and fresh vegetables), I don't particularly love fiber-laden foods, and I wasn't paying attention to my fiber intake anyway. Now I will.

The eating program I'm following recommends 35 grams of fiber every day. You should talk to your doctor about how much fiber you should be consuming on a daily basis - but if you know you're not getting enough, these are the foods that have been helping me eat a healthier diet:

* Apples - with three grams of fiber each

* High-fiber tortillas - with eight grams of fiber each and only 15 grams of carbohydrates

* One tablespoon of raw flaxseed - with about three grams of fiber

* One serving of lentils - with about 11 grams of fiber

* One serving of cauliflower - with three grams of fiber

* 12 almonds - with three grams of fiber

* One slice of organic, high-fiber bread - with five grams of fiber

posted by M. Masterson @ 1:53 PM,

5 Comments:

At 12:31 PM, Anonymous Cyara said...

I'm curious as to the best method for eating the flaxseed and lentils. Do you just swallow down a spoonful of the flaxseed or does it get mixed into something? Are the lentils cooked or raw?

Thank you in advance for your responses!

 
At 5:34 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting... what prompted the change? Well, I'm not surprised since you've been on a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. Fact is, eat plenty of "good" (low GI) carbs such as... hmmm... vegetables, fruits, and whole grains... along with legumes (carbs and protein)... and you'll get plenty of fibre. Sounds like your new approach will do wonders. And by the way, the whole "eat a lot of carbs and you'll get fat" thing is a myth. I eat plenty of carbs... and I've never been overweight. The key is my "carbs" are vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes... not fairy bread and french fries. Good luck with the program Michael.

 
At 10:33 AM, Blogger Nex said...

For cyara: don't know the best way to eat flaxseed, but I know that the best lentil soup I've had was Amy's organic canned lentil soup (http://www.amys.com/). Their blackbean soup's pretty darned good too, and full of fibre. :)

 
At 6:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Cyara - I found this out on the Internet. The best way to eat flaxseed is to buy the seeds and grind them yourself in a coffee grinder, or have the health food store grind them for you. Sprinkle it on soups, vegetables, fruits, in smoothies and stews. You can also bake it into muffins and such. People following Eat to Live generally use 1 tablespoon per day.

 
At 11:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I eat Flax and Hemp seeds every day. The best thing to do is to purchase as a powder and blend in a smoothie consisting of 8oz of water, 1/2 cup of frozen unsweetened berries, steevia for a no insulin impact sweetener and a scoop of flax powder and a scoop of hemp powder. Hemp is a great source of fiber and Omega 3 and 9 and the best protein source on the planet. If you just have flaz seeds mix it in organic unsweetened yogurt with some berries and again a bit of steevia for sweetener. I am 50 years old and 5-11, 198 pounds and 8% body fat. I also eat 3 apples every day. They are low glycemic and the peels have much of the fiber. Grinding flax in the coffee grinder is a bad idea, I've tried it and it makes a mess. All the Best!

 

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