Getting the Most from Whole Grains and Fiber

If you’re trying to watch what you eat, you hear a lot about fiber and “whole grains” – but you may want to know more about what these terms mean, why they’re important, and how you can not only live healthier with them, but enjoy them, too.

A grain like wheat is naturally packed with nutrients. But when wheat is refined into white flour, most of its nutrients are stripped away. One of the nutrients you lose is fiber, which helps regulate digestion and makes you feel full so you eat less. My Best Life Diet recommends at least 25 grams of fiber a day for women and 38 grams for men.

Fruit and vegetables are great sources of fiber, as are my favorites: bread and pasta. A lot of breads and pastas are advertised as “whole grain” – but check the label. A product can be labeled “whole grain” when it’s mostly refined grain with a miniscule amount of whole grain added in for appearance. Other products really are 100 percent whole grain, but if you grew up on white flour, that can be an acquired taste.

That’s why I love the balance Barilla has found with its Whole Grain pasta. It says right on the front of the box that it’s made with 51 percent whole wheat, it has three times the fiber of regular pasta, and the taste is terrific.

Food Energy to Fuel Your Workout

Normally, I suggest that people should get about half of their calories from carbohydrates. However, if you’re going to be more active, I recommend a small increase in carbs – to about 55 percent of your calories. This is something you should do gradually, in the weeks before an event, not the night before. And you should make the adjustment by reducing fat, not protein.

Not all carbs are the same, so it’s important to choose the right ones. The carbs in pasta are a bit more complex, so they burn more slowly, which is why I think pasta is a really good fuel if you’re highly active. PLUS™ by Barilla is an especially good choice because it combines a blend of proteins and fiber with those complex carbohydrates. 

The Right Choices for the “Best Life”

I meet a lot of people who want to lose weight, and they often ask me which they should start first: exercising, or improving their diets. My answer usually surprises them, because they expect me to say, “They’re both important.” They are – but I recommend starting exercise first.

For one thing, exercise makes a difference almost right away. It also revs up your metabolism so your body is ready to take advantage of a new, better diet. If you simply reduce calories without becoming active, your metabolism will slow down and you won’t lose any weight.

Exercise doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. It’s really just a question of doing something to move your body in a way that you enjoy – whether it’s jogging, swimming, or walking. Changing the way you eat doesn’t have to be complicated either. If you take control of snacks, cut out late-night eating, and make a few good choices, you can improve your diet without turning your life upside down.

If you love pasta, I recommend making your favorite recipes with PLUS™ by Barilla, which adds a good source of protein, fiber, and Omega-3s to the good carbs pasta already offers. You don’t have to take everything you love off the menu to live the Best Life. All it takes is a few adjustments – in the right order.

Vegetarian Diets and the “Best Life”

My Best Life approach is built on balanced nutrition, and sometimes people ask me if they can achieve that balance without meat. It is possible, but a vegetarian diet presents more challenges, especially finding high-quality protein.

Multigrains and whole grains are a good vegetarian protein source. So are soy and nuts, if you’re not allergic. But if you enjoy pasta as much as I do, you’ll be glad to know that now you can get protein from pasta—10 grams per serving—without adding meat. PLUS™ by Barilla not only serves up pasta’s classic flavor and versatility, but it’s made with great protein sources like lentils, chickpeas, and egg whites.

PLUS™ also supplies Omega-3 fatty acids, which are important for health in a number of ways. You have to eat them – your body can’t make them. Many people get Omega-3s from fish, but fish isn’t an option for vegetarians. PLUS™ has flaxseed, which is packed with high-quality Omega-3s and doesn’t impact the flavor.

If you want to get your protein by eating a lot of beans, nuts, and soy, you can. But it can be challenging to maintain a “one-note” diet. I love taste and variety in my life, and to me, that says pasta!

Balance in Eating, Balance in Living

Everyone knows a healthy diet takes balance. But what kind of balance? The answer you hear most often is in nutritionists’ language: 50 percent of your calories from carbs, 30 percent from fat, 20 percent from protein. That kind of balance is important, but I’m happy to tell you it’s not the only kind.

Humans are meant to eat a variety of foods – to enjoy all the wonderful tastes and textures that food provides. Too many dieters get in a rut, limit their options, and ignore the pleasure that eating can bring. Even color is an important part of balancing your diet, because different colors – a red apple, green broccoli, an orange sweet potato – signify different nutrients.

The low-fat fad taught us that we need some fat to feel satisfied. The low-carb craze left us hungry. It may be easy to let the latest hot diet make your eating decisions for you, but usually these diets are nutritionally unbalanced – and don’t satisfy our human need for variety.

That’s why I’m such a fan of pasta. I don’t know another food that’s so easy to prepare or has so many forms and textures. Eating it is a very visual experience too. Whatever you’re missing in your diet, you can add to pasta – fish, chicken, vegetables, whatever. It can be a main course or an appetizer. If you PLUS™ by Barilla, you can enjoy all that variety along with a great source of protein, fiber, omega-3 and the good carbs pasta offers. 

A Healthy Diet for Life

It’s been great to see people embrace my book, “The Best Life Diet.” But to be honest, I never saw myself writing a book with the word “diet” in the title, because of what the word has come to mean. To most people, “diet” means “temporary weight loss plan” – and usually, the weight loss is temporary, too. To me, a diet is a long-term eating lifestyle.

Diet fads have led many of us to think that eating well is a bland ordeal. The fact is, eating well means great tastes, textures, and choices. Think about Mediterranean cooking, with its whole grains, versatile pastas, heart-healthy oils, and fresh fruits and vegetables – it’s a great way to eat, and you can enjoy it for life.

Smart foods like PLUS™ pasta by Barilla follow that blueprint: simple, good for you, and delicious. You’ll never run out of new ways to use PLUS™ , and that’s why I think it’s a great building block for a healthy lifestyle that will never give you “flavor fatigue.”

Remember that a lifelong diet should change as you do. As you age, your body is less forgiving of poor eating habits or inactivity, so every positive change you make – like eating multigrains, whole grains and getting exercise – gets more important, not less.

Reversing bad eating habits starts with how we raise our kids, and what I see makes me optimistic. The other day I saw a mother give her little girl an orange wedge – and the girl’s eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning. A generation ago, she might have offered her candy instead. More and more, I believe that if we teach them how to make the right choices, the next generation will reap the benefits of living the “Best Life.”