Week 3 Challenge - 12 Steps to Fitness

The average American consumes approximately 10-15 grams of fiber a day. This falls really short of the recommended daily allowance.

Women 50 years old or less - 25 grams per day

Men 50 years old or less - 38 grams per day

Women over the age of 50 - 21 grams per day

Men over the age of 50 - 30 grams per day

So what's the big deal about fiber? Actually quite a lot when it comes to your health and weight loss goals. Studies have shown people that consume between 35 to 45 grams of fiber a day are more likely to feel less hunger and therefore actually lose more weight than those that consume less fiber. Fiber takes longer for the body to digest, which results in you feeling full for longer periods of time.

But it's not just good at helping you shed those unwanted pounds, it also packs some nice health benefits.

Fiber fights against colon cancer.

Fiber decreases your risk for diabetes.

Fiber lowers cholesterol and triglycerides. 

This is only a select few of the benefits and definitely makes this a challenge worthy step for our 12 Steps to Fitness Challenge. So this week we will be adding the challenge of consuming at least 25 grams of fiber per day. For those of you who haven't already been consuming much fiber, slowly increasing your fiber each day and gradually working your way up to the recommended daily allowance will probably help you avoid any discomfort such as gas and bloating. You might perhaps try increasing your fiber by adding in 1 or more servings fruits and vegetables each day.

Of course, don't forget to drink plenty of water. Water will aid with the digestive process and keep everything flowing regularly!

You can also get 3 grams of dietary fiber per serving of Shakeology ®! I mix mine with unsweetened almond milk, which gives me an additional 1 gram of added fiber...if I also throw in a chopped banana I can even get another 4 grams of fiber! WOW! That gives me almost a third of my daily recommend allowance in one terrific tasting shake!

Ok, so let's get out there and keep the challenge going!

Step #1 - Drink at least 64 oz. of water per day.

Step #2 - Get at least 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.

Step #3 - Ingest a minimum of 25 grams of fiber per day.



Let's BRING IT!