How on earth are you supposed to eat 30 grams of fibre every day?

[SleafordSods]

I’ve been listening to The Fibre Factor on R4.

I’m not on TikTok but according to this show, lots of TikTokers are now moving away from promoting eating high protein to now stressing how important it is to get 30g a day.

How do you do it though? Foods I thought might be high in fibre, like a banana, only have roughly 2 grams.

So if you’re getting 30 grams a day, how are you getting it?

30 000 is a lot

According to Nutracheck I've got 38g today.
Porridge and raisins for breakfast
Hummus soup and wholemeal bread for lunch
Large baked potato, celery X3, whole red pepper, large grated carrot and tbsp sunflower seeds for dinner

Lots of veg. Wholemeal pasta/bread. Beans. Chia seeds. Oats.
That's what seems to get me to 30g

I agree 30g is difficult to get to some days. I have overnight oats with chia, flaxseed and fruit for my breakfast which gets me about halfway there, then for lunch I try to incorporate some kind of beans.

Yeah I’ve swapped back to brown rice and wholemeal pasta. We used to always eat these and I’m not sure why we stopped.

So last night for tea we had Smoked fish and sweet potato curry with brown rice but it’s only sweet potato between 2.

I’ve just looked up the Muesli that I eat most mornings and it’s 6.4 grams, which will help I suppose

Hadn’t spotted that. Thank you. I’fe ask MNHQ to amend the title.

Prepare for an influx of posters who tell you they eat 40g plus a day easily (they don’t).

Its very hard to achieve 30g every day, I aim for 20g plus as I like a variety of foods.

Things like chia seeds, lentil soups, beans with jacket etc help.

Veg soups with lentils, sandwiches with brown bread, jacket potatoes with beans etc. if I find I'm short at the end of the night grabbing some popcorn is actually pretty good to top it up.

If you have a bowl of All bran for breakfast, that's 10g straight away.

As is always the case with these things, the 30g js random. If you have different calorie needs, you will eat less fibre. What's important is to eat enough and the recent fibre panic is because of the realisation that a lot of people are eating way too little - too much poor white bread, upf food etc. Eating plenty of fruit and veg and aiming for better quality bread, pasta and rice and you will be fine. Add a few chia seeds, flax seeds and lentils/beans/chickpeas to more of your meals and yiu are good. I think the 30 plant foods aweek thing is a really helpful and achievable thing and definitely helps..

Depends on what you are naturally drawn to though. I'm a veggie so hitting fibre isn't that hard for me as I naturally eat a lot of pulses and beans. I struggle with protein though as there is less protein in beans and pulses than meat.

Hitting all your macros is hard!

I aim for 20-25g but it’s probably not exact every day..

I have a seed cold milled mix in yoghurt or porridge.
Beans/ legumes
wholemeal bread/pasta
Veg or fruit with everything.
Add seeds to top things like soup/pasta or stews
Weetabix
Nuts
Popcorn

Its not easy but it adds up. But some people are food restrictive so they likely don’t get enough if doing things like one meal or day or VLC diets.

I try and eat more as it’s supposed to help lower blood pressure and for weight loss. Ground up flax seeds on most things. Seeds on most things, wholemeal bread with seeds. I make home made baked beans and bean stew a lot, put chickpeas or lentils in salads and roasted veg. I eat a lot of home made soup with veg and beans or lentils….or dal. I also have porridge most mornings.

if I’m having poached eggs or scrambled I’ll have some veg on the side too.

Hitting all your macros is hard

Yes I can never manage high protein & high fibre

Porridge doesn’t have loads of fibre compared to all bran or a good seed/nut granola.

Anyone increasing fibre should do it gradually though especially from low amounts

I airfry a tin of chickpeas every couple of days and sprinkle with various spices.
I snack on those. Every little helps.

I make homemade energy balls with dates, nut butter, nuts, etc as I prefer a sweeter snack. They are probably 2g of fibre per ball.

And yet most of the world manages on white rice, pasta and bread. Including all those long lived and healthy French, Italians and Japanese.

The key is just to eat a sufficient amount of fruit and veg in balance to what else you eat.

I personally don't eat enough, because I detest anything beany, and don't particularly like fruit, but I do eat something "whole" for breakfast like bran or wholemeal toast.

Like the other post on anxious mothers and child rearing, there is too much information on what we should all be eating, when in actual fact, a simple, varied range of fresh ingredients, will be absolutely fine for most people.

I eat half a tin of baked beans with scrambled eggs in the morning. The beans gives me about 12g. I can easily eat 30g a day if I do that. But I’ve never actually focussed on fibre. Just thought I’d look through my calorie app and realised I’m getting more than 30 most days without trying (but likely only due to the beans)

It’s not difficult to achieve with a bit of planning. Use a tracking app like my fitness pal or similar for a couple of weeks to see what 30g of fibre looks like for you.

The other day I tracked 37g fibre, 112g protein and total cals 1710, which had me in approx a 400 cal deficit, so it’s absolutely possible. And I’m not a smug arsehole, I’m really passionate about improving women’s health, so this post is hopefully to help.

High fibre foods that day:

Homemade granola 1/4 cup 4g
1 cooked apple 3g
120g rye sourdough 6g
1 cup kimchi 1g
10 cherry tomatoes 2g
50g blackberries 3g
100g raspberries 6g
Homemade minestrone soup (lots of veg and beans) 12g

I’m studying to become a nutritionist, which helps!

There are loads of benefits including feeling fuller after meals so helps with weight management/ loss, gut health, lower risk of several cancers, stroke, heart disease, diabetes.

If you aren’t consuming much already ensure you increase gradually over 7-10 days and ensure you are well hydrated.

*I eat half a tin of baked beans with scrambled eggs in the morning. The beans gives me about 12g”

Brands make a difference to as some beans will only be 8g for half a tin.

I struggle to eat that amount of fibre. I also struggle to believe we should all have 30g of fibre - does someone who is 4ft 10 need the same amount of fibre as someone who is 6ft 4?

It’s like the “average adult needs 2000 calories a day” - if I ate 2000 calories a day, I’d be morbidly obese within a few months!

I just use common sense and listen to my body.

Eat enough fibre so you’re not constipated and try to make sure you eat some kind of high fibre food each day.

50g blackberries 3g
100g raspberries 6g

Whereas I get 4.4g for this