How to Add More Fiber to Your Diet – With A Great Muffin Recipe

For a healthy diet, we need to eat enough fiber (appx 25 grams per day for women and 38 grams for men). A diet rich in fiber offers numerous benefits, including: lowering blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels, preventing constipation and other digestive conditions, as well as assisting weight loss.

But, it’s not always easy to get enough fiber into your diet every day. Besides eating fruits and vegetables, whole grains are a great source of fiber. One way I sneak in an extra serving of fiber is with these low-fat muffins. They taste great and are perfect for a breakfast on the run or as a snack.

Delicious High-Fiber Muffins

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp all-spice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg (or substitute 1 Tbsp soy flour and 1 Tbsp extra milk)
1-1/2 cups skim milk
2 Tbsp. applesauce
3 cups bran flakes or other high-fiber flaked cereal

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk egg in a small bowl, add in milk and applesauce. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and stir until moistened. Stir in cereal. Spoon batter (it will be lumpy) into greased muffin pans. Makes 12 muffins.

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Optional: Add in 1/3 – ½ cup of raisins, dried cranberries, blueberries or raspberries before baking.

You can also add up to two Tbsp of wheat bran with the dry ingredients. Doing so adds an additional gram of fiber to each muffin.

I like to use a silicone muffin pan. The muffins don't stick, you don't need to use those little cupcake papers, and they are really easy to remove. This one from Kitchen Etc. is great: