Healthy and Shockingly Tasty!

I’ve come across two new addictions this week I thought I’d share with you.

First of all, you know how much I love tea. You probably know that within the past few years I’ve fallen hard for Green Tea (…and I have no idea why I capitalized it - showing reverence, maybe?). Fortunately there are plenty of tea companies now who are making tea bags for Green Tea lovers, so with the right sweetening, I’m good to go.

However, I also love the convenience of bottles that I can grab and take with me, especially when the weather is nice. Lipton makes several varieites, but I wish they’d come out with one that wasn’t flavored so heavily. Don’t get me wrong, they’re delicious and you’ll find both the citrus variety and the berry variety in my Kroger cart regularly, but that’s just it - they taste like “the citrus variety” and “the berry variety” - you forget about the Green Tea even being there…for haters, I guess that’s a good thing.

I recently bought a bottle of Arizona Diet Gren Tea with Ginseng and I’m hooked. They’re flavored slightly with honey, so diabetics are advised to check with a physician first. I’m in love with the flavor….the pure GREEN TEA FLAVOR. It’s also amazing warmed up with a slice of lemon floating in the cup. Very, very nice. I was surprised just how good it was.

Something else that surprised me this week was a new cereal I tried. Cereal fanatic that I am, I won’t stop until I’ve tried them all. This particular cereal didn’t get my hopes up when I brought it home with me. I thought, “Okay, buddy, I’m going to give you a shot one evening (that’s when I eat my cereal - late at night), but I’m not expecting much.” I wasn’t being unkind, but how can your taste buds get their hopes up when the word Fiber is in the title? Hmmm?

So, Mrs. Doubtful grabs her favorite purple ceramic bowl - famous for introducing all new ceral to my world - and pours a bowl of FIBER ONE. THe picture on the box has strawberries and blueberries in the bowl, but I only have strawberries, so I go with that. Blueberries, bring your price down some and we’ll be friends again. I poured my milk on top, grabbed a spoon and sat down in my favorite rocking chair to watch Good Eats and see if I was going to experience any in the process.

I was totally surprised. This stuff is very, very good. A serving’s only 60 calories, with 0 grams of sugar….and, get this, it provides 57 percent of our daily value of fiber (or 14 grams). All of us are constantly searching for ways to add more fiber, vitamins, iron, and calcium to our diets. But it can get kind of confusing and tricky to work everything into our meals. The answer is actually just a bowl or two of cereal away! After all, if this cereal provides 57 percent of our daily value of fiber in one bowl - if we have a bowl in the morning and one in the evening with Alton Brown, we’ll be as set as Humpty Dumpty was before the fall.

Why should we be so stoked about Fiber? Read on!

According to Fiber One’s website, the following are healthy benefits from having enough fiber in our diets:

Digestive Health
The most recognized benefit of fiber is its important role in keeping the digestive system running smoothly by promoting regularity. Fiber adds bulk to help move food through the digestive tract.

Along with regular exercise and plenty of water, fiber plays an important part in maintaining digestive health.

Heart Health
Fiber – specifically soluble fiber – may also help lower blood cholesterol levels, thereby reducing the risk for heart disease. Fiber appears to lower cholesterol by interfering with its absorption in the digestive tract.

Diabetes
Fiber may also be important for people who have diabetes. Diets high in whole grain and fiber have been shown to help people with diabetes manage their blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Weight Management
Getting enough fiber can also help curb your hunger and help you feel satisfied, which can help with weight management. Research suggests that people who have higher intakes of fiber tend to have healthier body weights.

High fiber foods, like Fiber One cereal and Fiber One Honey Clusters®, may help with managing caloric intake.

Also on the website you’ll find coupons, recipes, more healthy advice and information, and even a Free Sample offer for Caramel Delight Fiber One Cereal. Look alive purple bowl!