We’ve all heard how important fiber is for a healthy diet. However, Americans currently consume only 10% of the fiber that we did 100 years ago.* This dramatic drop in fiber is mainly due to the way wheat was processed at the turn of the century compared to today. Here are some facts about fiber and ideas on how to add more fiber to your diet.

Two Types of Fiber

• Soluble Fiber is found in oats, peas, beans, apples, citrus fruits, carrots, barley and psyllium.  It dissolved in water and can help lower blood cholesterol and glucose levels.
• Insoluble Fiber is found in whole-wheat flour, wheat bran, nuts, beans and vegetables.  This type of fiber is helpful with movement of the bowels.

Recommended daily fiber for adults is:

A good diet should contain 25g to 30g of fiber a day. The average American eats less than half of that.

• Men (50 or younger): 38g
• Men (51+): 30g
• Women (50 or younger): 25g
• Women (51+): 21 g

We love celebrating National Apple Month in October!  The delicious, crunchy apple is one of the most popular and favorite fruits!  In addition to being convenient and delicious, apples offer many health benefits:

• Weight Loss – The average medium-size apple has 95 calories.  They are high in fiber and tend to make your feel more full.
• Heart Health – According to the Florida State Study and Iowa Women’s Study (tracking 34,000 women for over 20 years),  apples were associated with a lower risk of death from both coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease.  There is also a Finnish dietary study (9028 men and women over 28 years) that showed apple eaters had the lowest risk of suffering strokes compared with non-apple eaters.
• Decrease Risk of Diabetes – Apples are loaded with soluble fiber which helps with blood sugar swings.  Some studies show that women who eat apples are 28% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those that do not eat apples.

“USDA FNS permanently eliminates the weekly grain maximums, thus making permanent the flexibility of daily and weekly ranges for grain alternates if documentation is compliant with the daily and weekly minimums.”

We asked a few questions about the new ruling, and the survey results are below.

• What is the greatest benefit of this change for your organization?
  Below were the most frequent answers by school nutrition directors and managers:
  1. More flexibility with menu planning
  2. Easer to plan menus
  3. Easier to meet calorie ranges
  4. Greater selection on menu
  5. Healthier food and a learning opportunity for students to try new healthy foods
  6. Happier students that have a more filling lunch and don’t leave hungry
      (i.e. whole  sandwiches)
  7. Increased participation