Eating a high fiber diet has long been known to promote good digestive health and regularity. But fiber can also help you maintain a healthy weight and lower the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Did you know that just one 8-ounce bag of Unique Pretzels’ Sprouted 100% Whole Grain “Splits” or Shells can satisfy at least 10% of your recommended daily fiber requirement? So if you’re looking for high fiber pretzels you should head on over to our online store and buy some today!
Unique’s Sprouted “Splits” and Sprouted Shells are made with a revolutionary new sprouted flour from Essential Eating® Sprouted Foods. The flour has delicious flavor and is kosher, USDA Organic certified and GMO-free, but there some other great reasons we use it in our pretzels.
- Sprouting (germinating) turns dormant whole grain seed into a living plant. The sprout fuels its growth by digesting some of the starch in the grain, converting the starch molecules to simple sugars. Simple sugars are considered to be vegetables by the USDA, and vegetables are the easiest foods to digest. This also means that they can be used for energy instead of being stored as fat.
- Properly sprouting grains increases their vitamin and mineral content and neutralizes a substance called phytic acid which is thought to hinder the body’s absorption of nutrients during digestion.
- Sprouting removes the bitterness usually associated with whole grain. This means that sprouted grain flours taste better without the need for added sweeteners.
- By baking with the sprouted flour, Unique Pretzel Bakery is able to deliver the only 100% whole grain sprouted flour pretzels in the market to help our customers eat better. Unique Sprouted “Splits” and Sprouted Shells are made from over 35% whole grains without sugar or malt additives. And they are the only pretzels to naturally provide 4 grams of dietary fiber per serving!
How Much Fiber Do We Need?
The amount of fiber we need is tied to how many calories we eat in a day. For healthy adults, the USDA recommends 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories consumed. So a person eating 2,000 calories a day should try to get 28 grams of fiber daily. Adult men generally need 50% more fiber than women, and adults over the age of 50 require a slightly lower amount of daily fiber than younger adults.
If you examine those fiber requirements in terms of foods, you could meet or exceed the 28-gram fiber target every day by eating 1/2 cup each of oatmeal (3 g) and blueberries (3 g) for breakfast, and one small apple (5 g), one small banana (3 g), one medium sweet potato (4 g), and 1/2 cup of cooked red or black beans (7 g) through the remainder of the day. Add an 8-ounce bag of Unique Sprouted “Splits” (4 g) at snack time and it will put you over the top!
An important factor to keep in mind is that whole grains are an excellent source of dietary fiber. Refined grains, however, contain little or no fiber.
How Fiber Helps
A high-fiber diet has many benefits, including:
- Bowel health
High fiber diets help with regularity and may lower your risk of developing hemorrhoids or diverticulitis (which affects the colon). - Cholesterol
The soluble type of fiber found in beans, oats, oat bran and flaxseed may lower “bad” cholesterol levels. They may also reduce blood pressure and inflammation. - Blood sugar
Fiber, particularly soluble fiber, can improve blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. The inclusion of insoluble fiber (such as from fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains) in the diet may lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. - Weight
High fiber diets tend to make you feel full for a longer time, making overeating less likely. High fiber foods also have fewer calories for their volume and can help maintain a healthy weight.
Try making Unique Pretzels’ high fiber pretzels – including the Sprouted “Splits” and Sprouted Shells – a part of your healthy diet and get the healthiest pretzels on the market. Order them from our online store or look for them at your local Wegmans, Fresh Market, Whole Foods and Giant stores.