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Focusing on fiber may help you waistline. The list of foods to eat and avoid can seem endless when looking to lose some weight. But new research has found that focusing on fiber may be all you need. “The researchers zeroed in on fiber because previous studies have shown it can help people feel fuller, eat less and improve some metabolic markers like blood pressure, cholesterol levels and blood sugar. They recruited 240 people who showed signs of prediabetes and randomly assigned them to the American Heart Association (AHA) diet, which focuses on eating fewer calories, or to eating more fiber. The fiber group was simply asked to eat more foods rich in fiber, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, to reach a quota of at least 30 grams of fiber per day. After a year, both groups lost about the same amount of weight. Even more surprisingly, the people in the study also showed similar drops in cholesterol levels, blood pressure, blood sugar and inflammation.” The team says that keeping the initial diet recommendation to lowering fiber could help first time dieters drop weight in an accessible, simple and healthy way before diving into more complex diet changes.
