AIBU to doubt only 4 per cent of adults get enough fibre?

[Anonnewbie]

To think that the recommended 30g of fibre per day isn't that hard to achieve for most people and be confused by the stats I keep seeing recently that 96% of UK adults get less than this?

Is it 96% don't meet it EVERY day, because that seems reasonable. Or don't average over 30g, which I think is pretty bad. But I'm realising as I type I should Google that question

My real question is how much fibre did you eat today? I just put it into chat gpt by typing out my food for today and despite being horrified by today's diet (1 piece of fruit, a few veg, way too much pastry and cheese, and quite a lot of Easter egg...saved by half a tin of beans), it estimated 37g. I asked it for a breakdown of that and the calculations seemed correct within reason as I'm not going to start weighing etc.

I would have guessed I was above average due to eating plenty of veg and home cooked meals, but cant believe I would be in the top 4% of fibre eaters in the country.... What do you think?

I don't know if I find the stats that hard to believe. I eat a pretty healthy diet. At present, to deal with some health concerns, I am having a smoothie every day for breakfast consisting of oats soaked overnight in kefir, and 2 or 3 portions (weighed, so I know they are full portions) of various fruits. Then salad every lunchtime, usually leaves, cucumber, tomato, avocado, beetroot, some grain, eg lentils, seeds and nuts. Then a home cooked dinner at night, usually with at least 2 veg, Wholemeal pasta if applicable, potatoes with skins on, if applicable. I easily get my 7 a day. I've just inputted yesterday's food into an AI calculator and it estimated maximum 28g of fibre. Is it worth me adding the Easter chocolate I ate afterwards?!

@EverardDeTroyes not if it's Cadbury! I compared the fibre content of my dark egg to my sons creme egg egg and there was zero fibre in the Cadbury one.

Yeah me too. I guess it's just a ballpark measure? Most people don't track it, you probably don't need to track it, and even if you do it seems it's hard to get right!

Quite a few people here are below 30g because they are losing weight and not eating that much in total, which makes perfect sense - you would assume everything needs reducing in roughly proportionate amounts when dieting.

Yeah I know it won't be right but I don't really want to start weighing food out - I have used MFP briefly in the past and it's such a pain when you eat lots of home made food and have leftovers (and then turn the 1/7th of the meal leftovers into something else the next day).

But in this case I think it was fairly accurate - the soup is the main uncertainty but I checked how much it was suggesting and I think I had at least that amount of cauliflower/nuts. Things like half a tin of beans are nice and easy to measure too,and the pear said 5.5g while Google suggested 6g for an average pear.

I'm not surprised that we woefully lack dietary fibre in the UK. But I also think it's pretty easy to up your levels - just by adding nuts, pulses and beans to your diet. Plenty of fibre and great for your gut flora.

I know, but the wheat bran in the packet lasts me for a few months and makes economical sense. I buy the knock off weetabix in Aldi aswell.

I have to think more carefully these days, so i can keep a stage 1 rectal prolapse at bay.

I usually do Greek yog + chia seeds+ flaxseeds+ prunes for breakfast. Then banana and apple during the day. Salad for lunch. Chilli/ fish/ beans/ rice/ sweet potato tea.

This week I'm off.

I have had:
2 x hot x bun
2x small cakes
Avocado+ egg on white bread
More cake later

God, so now we are back on fibre! Last month it was protein, before that it was 5-a-day. I've given up trying to meet some of these impossible RDA. Plenty of veg, fruit, lean meat occasionally and fish. No ready meals, but a craving that can only be satisfied by a daily packet of crisps and the occasional mini pork pie. I'll live with the guilt and the consequences. I'm 73, active, garden, exercise regularly and walk a lot.

20 years ago it was protein and 5 a day 😂

I guess part of the problem is huge variations in different products and in the information about them. I've just checked my meridian crunchy peanut butter and 4g of fibre would = 47g of peanut butter. I don't actually know how much that is but it seems manageable? A few tablespoons maybe?

I have found it difficult getting my 30g per day. I normally end up between 20g and 30g. Raspberries, Greek yoghurt and homemade granola for breakfast, jacket potato with baked beans for lunch, a cereal bar and an apple is just under 20g according to Nutracheck. So still need 10g for dinner.

Ive recently stopped taking WLIs and had heard on a podcast that eating the recommended daily intake of fibre will activate the body’s natural GLP1 and I can honestly say that I haven’t experienced the hunger or cravings that are commonly reported so there’s definitely something in it.

Really ? Why ? It's 37 calories per slice so the same as 2 slices of bread.

I reached 18 apparantly
and that’s eating cereal, grapes, big spinach salad with pepper cucumber etc, smoothie, wholemeal bread sandwich. The thing that had the highest fibre content was graze oat boost I ate

Graze oat boosts are brilliant for fibre. The choc one is 8g!

The back of the packet says a portion is 15g with 1.5g of fibre and 93 kcal, yes my dinner last night was 6 ryvita and 45g of peanut butter and an apple- I thought it was reasonably healthy.

Fibre is what I struggle with. I eat a pretty healthy diet but eat nowhere enough fibre. I make a conscious effort but still don't eat enough.

@Neurodiversitydoctor what were the really high fibre apples?

It’s great you are eating such healthy food. Please don’t use supplements when you are doing so well. The easiest way is to make a few high fiber switches - add berries to breakfast, add lentils, beans or chickpeas to everything saucy - soup, casseroles, curries, shepherds pie. If family don’t like it whizz it in.

Im loosing weight and eating more fibre then ever - its a filler upper

Loads of lentils and beans - all types , grains, any pasta or bread wholemeal, brown rice

I quite easily get 30gr a day

I have read that the skin has the most fibre and it is recommended that you eat it. I don't see why people would peel them

I have a reasonable diet and still struggle with fibre intake (breakfast either porridge with berries, or in summer, homemade muesli with berries and yoghurt, lunch homemade wholemeal or rye bead with eggs or cheese, veggies, supper is usually meat or fish with potatoes in their skins, carrots, green beans, peas, and snacks are fruit). My average fibre intake is 25g a day (had things checked due to some medical issues).

So many replies...thanks I like being nosy on food!

I checked the study (or a study) and had a read of how much fibre people calculated and what they were eating, and actually as it's an average per day, I do think maybe I'm not hitting 30g on average after all this! Because the odd day of eating basically none will bring the average down.

To everyone saying look at what people eat (or meet more people?!) yes I do and it's often awful, I just thought that it would be more like 65-85% of people not a near universal 96%. But that was based on adding it up for the day yesterday and estimating at over 30g for a random day.

To everyone sniffing at the concept of measuring your diet, no I don't think it's ideal to be obsessing over numbers but I also don't think it harms to check in from time to time on what you really are eating as it can be illuminating and nudge you in a useful direction. As lots of people have said, fibre in fruit and veg varies a lot and much of it is not as high fibre as you think which is good to know.

And now, I really should do something good for my health like get off my phone....

OP despite some detractors this is a really interesting post. I thought I’d easily hit 30g of fibre as I have cereals and fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch, homemade dinner with min 2 veggies plus always an apple as a snack. But now I’m not sure. You’ve inspired me to eat more berries and to add more lentils and chickpeas to everything. Seeing your 9g from black beans alone is impressive.

My diet isn't bad, I hate fruit (haven't got a sweet tooth), but love veg, salad, pulses etc. No idea how much fibre I get though.

Has anyone tried those jars of beans from the Bold Bean Co ... they are delicious. I could eat the butter beans straight from the jar without any seasoning .. so soft and different from the tinned varieties. Bit expensive but sometimes on offer. Fab in a curry/chilli/salad.

To be fair, when I Google the first 4 results all say 4g or more per apple (180g ish). It's only when I got to the pink lady website that I got 1.8g per apple. I think without getting obsessive you can only make an estimate based on available information...