Eating enough fibre

[DeepfriedPizza]

Probably the wrong place for this

There are studies that show the average person isn't eating enough fibre. Apparently we should be eating 30g per day but how do you make sure you are getting that plus everything else in?

For example today I had yoghurt and berries for breakfast. A vegan chili with added roasted veg, a banana and a satsuma

That's about 10g of fibre. I'll be having veggies with my dinner but not 20g worth.

Does anyone have any good tips on how to balance the fibre/protein "goals"

What are your fibre and protein goals?

What’s in your chili? I would think a vegan chili had a lot of beans so you’d get at least 15g of fibre from that.

I add ground flaxseed/nuts/chia seeds to my yogurt which adds some fibre.

Are you eating many grains?

Firstly you can add fibre into your breakfast - oatmeal and quinoa and fruit or wholemeal toast. If you want to absolutely blast it with fibre add chia seeds and nuts and seeds.

In a vegan chilli you can add legumes, beans and pulses or even lentil. All high fibre. Again? Top with some nuts and seeds or serve alongside brown rice.

High fibre snacks include raspberries and blackberries, dried fruits, popcorn!

I think for most people, swapping milled grains (any flour based items) for whole grains like lentils, chickpeas, beans etc as the carbohydrate portion of meals goes a fair way.

There was a Moseley Just One Thing on flax seeds, and adding spoonfuls to various dishes to up fibre content. I'll have to take a re-look as my diet has been lacking lately.

But you're right. Comparatively few people get enough fibre, despite the known links between lack of fibre and colorectal cancers.

Hi OP. I'm quite good at this actually. Bloody hate eating so much protein, but fibre I am good at!

I often eat more than 30g. Sometimes more.

Today has been:
Breakfast - handful of cashew nuts before I left the house
20g each of Oats/chia/flax/mixed seeds/blueberries and a banana - which MFP tells me is 18g fibre

Lunch I don't know, but I had a bowl of butterbeans (half tin), several serving spoons of roast veg with Miso paste, butternut squash and tuna.

Pudding - a ton of stewed pear with Greek yoghurt and a second banana

An apple

I'm pretty certain that this is well over 30g.

I eat like this most days. On holiday I make sure that I keep going with nuts and seeds and kiwi and pear.

It's imperative that I don't get bunged up so this really works for me!

For a snack when I get home I'll probably have a slice of sourdough with avocado spread instead of butter. Then I'm done.

Obviously also loads of water!

Organic rolled oats with either water or full far live bio plain yogurt, chia seeds, a selection of seeds and nuts - pumpkin, sunflower, almonds etc, with blueberries and honey or maple syrup.

Breakfast of Queens and full of fibre

The obvious thing would be to add flax and chia to your breakfast. Aldi and Lidl sell them both reasonably priced.

I eat the skin on kiwi fruit. It was a slimming world tip. At first I had kiwi with yogurt to hide the furriness, but not I don’t even notice and eat it peel and all in fruit salad.

These are all just guidelines so you’re not constantly stuffing your face with utter garbage

It was a vegan pot from m&s so the nutritional value was on the pot

My goals are enough fibre to keep me regular and to prevent bowel issues and enough protein to satiate me

I forgot about kiwi, I dont mind the skin so I'll get back on that.

I usually have chia seeds if I remember to add then to yoghurt the night before.

I'll look into adding flaxseed too

You don't have to add chia the night before. You can eat it as it is, as long as you are generally properly hydrated. I just stick in breakfast, on toast, in a sandwich. It’s just like poppy seeds.

DS is a hammer nut kind of guy, and has started eating them off a spoon. I have reminded him to have a drink. He won’t be soaking them, that’s too much to remember. He’ll be eating them off a spoon 🤣

I make my own porridge mix for breakfast adapted from an Emily English recipe which has oats, chia seeds, flaxseeds, nuts, dried fruit and pumpkin seeds in it which I have just with a splash of milk but will be warming it through when it (finally) gets cold where I am. We’re also big legume fans so try to add them wherever possible - I tend to use them instead of potatoes to thicken soup etc. I also leave skins on veggies whenever possible, mainly because I’m lazy af so it’s a good excuse not to peel them.

I know you don't "need" to put chia in the night before but I don't like the consistency otherwise

No idea what hammer nut is though but sounds interesting

Hammer/nut as in, not subtle, use a hammer to crack a nut.

He needs fibre so rather than faff about soaking chia or making anything, he spoons chia into his mouth.

I at least sprinkle it on food 🤣

I’m not one for the chia, and I loathe the texture of overnight oats. I crumble a wheetabix into my yogurt and berries and sprinkle with seeds.

All bread is brown and seedy.

Ive massively increased my consumption of legumes (Thank you Better Beans for making them actually nice!). A good couple of handfuls with some gochujang sauce and two eggs scrambled in is my lunch stand-by.

I struggle with fruit though and think that would really help me nail it. You’re right, 30g is a lot!

If anything OP I probably overdo it with fibre 🤣 In addition to oats, chia seeds, seeds and the like at breakfast...

I bulk out most of my other meals with beans (I use tins of mixed beans quite often for variety) and add lentils to soups and stews. When baking I add a generous amount of psyllium husk powder as well. Kiwis with the skin on are good, and handfuls of spinach added to all or any sauce!

I have yoghurt with 15g chia seeds (5g) for breakfast and then a wholewheat pitta with ham (5g) for lunch. Half a tin of baked beans is 8g and a portion of wholewheat pasta is 7g so I try and include one or the other in most evening meals.

I don’t really like much veg so I eat a lot of fruit. Other than that, I supplement with fibre gummies (4g) and Fibre One bars, which are 5g each.

All bran has 10g fibre per 40g serving, if you can bear it.

I looked at my food diary and I get like 50g a day. I think 30g is a minimum otherwise I’m way over as I think it would be hard to stick to.
Breakfast say 22g - oat bran with chia seeds and fruit with a bit of jam on it
Lunch say 11g sandwich with brown bread and a yoghurt
Dinner say 18g fajita bowl - quinoa, peppers, salsa, avocado, black beans, tomato, bit of tofu
There may have been chocolate and other snacks but let’s pretend I just eat meals haha.
I get about 105g protein a day and I’ll add soya crispies to food like yoghurt and cereal but I try to avoid powders. Fibre and protein foods are generally only 4 calories per gram, the trick is to not waste too many calories on alcohol unless you really want it, or fat which is 9 calories per gram- make it something you really enjoy.

I add flaxseeds and chia seeds to smoothies. I also make a berry compote to use as jam or to have with my yoghurt and homemade granola - frozen berries, honey, chia seeds (i sometimes add a couple of tablespoons of port because I boil it for ages and it seems to last longer if I do! and it tastes good!) . The granola is oats, nuts, seeds etc.

We eat beans or lentis a few times a week in some form - added to casseroles, served alongside rice, soups etc. Lentils are always in bolognaise etc to up the fibre. I put nuts and seeds in salads or top top veggies etc. Not as often as I should because I forget!

Wholeweat bread, rice and pasta when you can.

raspberries have an insane amount- I eat masses - defrosted

Also add psylium husk and linseed to morning muesli ...

i think it is good to buy the brown versions of foods. Brown bread, brown pasta, etc.