In My Walking Shoes: Walk Kansas, Week 5

 

With Walk Kansas more than half over, I am continuing to meet my weekly walking goal of 150 minutes or more. For the second week in a row, I have hit 160 minutes. Fruit and vegetable intake is once more my downfall, with totals of 8 cups of fruit and 16 cups of vegetables for the week.

The Search for Fiber

Early on in the Walk Kansas journey, I made a goal of 30 grams of fiber per day. I have reached it only once. I usually muster a meager 20-22 grams. According to an article on WebMD, the average daily intake of Americans is 15 grams.  In this article, 25 grams of fiber per day is recommended for women. I settled on my 30-gram goal after reading an article on fiber and blood sugar swings. While writing this post, I zipped over to Google and searched for articles on adding fiber to my diet and came up with “How to Eat 30 Grams of Fiber in a Day.” I am definitely bookmarking this one.

New Yogurt/Oatmeal Recipe

Oatmeal is one of those foods recommended for heart health and fiber intake. Over the years, I have bought and tossed out many boxes of oatmeal. I’m sorry, oatmeal enthusiasts, but that gelatinous brown blob in a bowl is not appetizing. However, this week’s email brought an idea new to me: Combine Greek yogurt and oatmeal.

For my recipe experiment, I combined Yoplait’s coconut Greek yogurt with 1/4 cup of rolled oats in a small bowl, put a lid on the bowl, and put it in the refrigerator overnight (at least 8 hours). The next morning, I felt adventurous, so I stirred in a half cup of pineapple chunks. It looked good and tasted yummy! Two additional pluses were no cooking involved and 2 grams of fiber added to my daily total.

Of course, you can use any brand or flavor of yogurt for variety. The recommendation is to cover the bowl tightly, refrigerate immediately after mixing, and eat the yogurt/oatmeal combination within three days of mixing it.

If you have any good fiber recipes or links to them, please share them in a comment. See you next week.