Staying Healthy: Eating More Yet Weighing Less

Eating a high-fiber diet need not be a chore. On the contrary, if you cut your fat intake, you can boost the amount of high-fiber carbohydrates you eat without increasing your calorie intake. The result? Not only by will you be healthier and trimmer, but you'll be able to eat significantly higher volume of food. lf it sounds too good to be true, just- take a look at the facts:

High Fiber Diets

• One gram of fat contains about nine calories; a gram of carbohydrate, only about four (although one gram of alcohol contains seven calories). Fiber, since the body does not digest it, contains no calories.

• Fiber fills you up and helps you l feel full longer

The body tends to use carbohydrates as energy, rather than storing them as fat. Fat, on the other hand, more easily ends up on your hips and thighs.

To put it another way, which would you rather have—two tablespoons of olive oil on your salad or a white meat turkey sandwich on whole-wheat bread with lettuce, tomato, onion, and mustard?

The former contains 28 grams of fat and 240 calories; the latter about the same number of calories, but only about four grams of fat. Another example: You can have one ounce of potato chips (about 10) if you’re willing to consume more than 150 calories and nine grams of fat. Or you can choose one ounce of pretzels, (about 10 large twistsor 50 stick pretzels) for 1 10 calories and less than one gram of fat. It’s simple: Cut the fat, and you can eat more.