Want to Feel Full? Dietary Fiber to the Rescue!

Increasing your intake of dietary fiber is a well-recognized and surefire way to lose weight. Dietary fiber is a successful weight loss tool because it does what lowering your calories doesn't-it actually helps you feel full. The standard, and best, formula for weight loss is burning more calories than you consume. It sounds simple, but it can be hard to stick to. Lowering calories is going to make you feel hungry, and you'll eventually cave into the temptation to sit down to a hearty meal. This is where dietary fiber comes in.

Fiber-rich food expands in your stomach. The result is that it takes less food to make you feel full (lowering your caloric intake). Also, fiber speeds up the rate at which fat moves through your body, which means that the body is going to absorb less fat. Also, by eating fiber-rich food, the full feeling lasts much longer than with other foods.

There are two types of dietary fiber: water-soluble fiber and water-insoluble fiber. Water-soluble fiber keeps you feeling fuller for longer because it's the type of dietary fiber that exits your stomach slowly. Water-insoluble fiber is what adds bulk to you diet and this is what makes you feel satisfied. You'll find water-soluble fiber in fruits, oats, seeds, and legumes. Water-insoluble fiber is in whole grain breads and cereals and certain vegetables. Here area few low-calorie, high-fiber snacks you can try:

• Rice cakes
• Air-popped popcorn
• Carrots
• Apple slices

Avoid white rice, white bread, and the tasty but sugary breakfast cereals. These foods are virtually stripped of fiber. You'll experience a temporary insulin spike, but this increase in energy will quickly result in an insulin drop, leaving you sluggish and hungry. Lovers of white bread can rejoice, however. "White" versions of whole wheat bread are now available. They look and taste more like good old white bread than wheat bread.

While foods rich in fiber tend to be very healthy-fruits, veggies and whole grains to name a few-there are still some potential, rather unpleasant side effects you can experience if you try to increase your dietary fiber intake too quickly. So go slow and drink plenty of water.

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