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?

I chuck chickpeas or butterbeans in my pasta sauce, kidney beans in chilli, black beans with tacos, eat dahl when you have a takeaway, sprinkle seeds on everything. Mushy peas with your chipshop order. Wholegrain up your rice/pasta/bread. Eat potatoes with skin on, even mash. Eat peas, beans, lentil soups. Oatcakes, porridge, high fibre cereal. Plenty of high fibre veg. Nuts and fruit for a snack. Noodles get a sprinkling of sesame seeds and edamame beans on the side.

I do all of this too but don’t get 30g of fibre every day.

Also if you don’t want to obviously eat beans, you can blend a tin of white beans into lots of creamy type sauces. It’s nice with pasta and parmaesan with a touch of of cream cheese.

I've had 37g today and have only had one meal (a roast with 6 veg - which was enormous), 2 kiwis, a portion of almonds and a portion of Pistachios. I'm on a really low calorie allowance, so have had 1,008

The nuts had 2.6g each and the 2 kiwis had 6.5g between them.

The key is to eat lots of plants.

Most days, breakfast is 40g bran sticks with 80g raspberries and 80g blueberries and semi-skimmed milk. That's 15.3g fibre and 250 calories.

I don’t think we’re on the same wave lengths 😂 I’m not asking for ideas. I have said I eat 25g everyday. I can easily think up high fibre meals. I am arguing that eating them every day without fail is not easy for many people, and for me personally, after 3 years of genuinely eating 25g a day I would still say it’s not easy.

@soupyspoon
“Dinner is 80g of each, broccoli, swede, parsnip, carrots and pineapple” I would be gobsmacked if the poster had eaten 80g portions of each of those in one meal (although she will def say she did 😆)

I can easily get twice as much, but my daily intake is over 2000 calories and im vegan

I don’t see what’s hard about 80g each of broccoli swede parsnip carrots and then pineapple for pud , I would
have potatoes with skins on as well though

Certainly possible but given the average ready meal is around 400g or 450g, the veg alone there would be 320g (not including the desert)

That is a pretty hefty amount of solid veg to get through. Duck breast is quite dense and rich so thats a substantial meal, not sure if potatoes were on the menu

But as we have said, the breezy 'thats 30g of fibre' claims often dont hold up. People think they're getting more than they are, including me.

I don't think it's particularly easy to eat that much fibre per day.

But if you don't have potatoes, it's much easier to fit in more veg.

why would you do that though, potatoes are the best veg for fibre 🤣 better off eating 320g potato than anything else

Yes I cant eat potatoes personally so my veg/beans/pulses is my substance to a meal generally. I eat some grains but only in the mornings.

A cup of peas, a cup of raspberries, a bowl of all bran and two medium potatoes and you’re there. Add in some psyllium husk or flaxseed and you’re laughing.

This is the issue. Most recipes have one, maybe two vegetables in them. I add at least 4 kinds of vegetables (not including onion or chopped tomatoes) to every dinner. If I use a recipe I always add extra kinds of vegetables. I made a curry tonight and the veg were sweet potato, fine green beans, red pepper, carrot. Usually I add broccoli too but I cba today.

I heard a dr turned nutritionist use the phrase, “just one more…”. When you make a meal, even breakfast, have in mind to add one more thing that contains fibre. So I could serve a spag Bol and put broccoli on the side. Or I could make porridge for breakfast and add nuts and seeds on top.

I absolutely love potatoes, but am trying to lose weight.

Nutricheck tells me that:
100g of potatoes has 77 calories and 2.10g of fibre.
100g of broccoli has 34 calories and 4g of fibre.

Anyway, it's all about making the best choices for you. I absolutely love potatoes, but can't if I want to be thinner.

What about the 50g of butter on top of them both.

'drools'

I flipping love butter! Have had to get out of the habit. It's nowhere near as nice, but it's a choice.

Popcorn: about 13g in 100g of kernels, which makes a nice size portion (I have it as a meal).
Ryvita (rye anything): 14.3g per 100g in the dark version. I often have about this amount as a meal (with dips/toppings).
Wholewheat cereals, like malted wheats and shredded wheat (about 12.5g in 100g, which is the portion size I typically have).
Beans: half a can is usually at least 8g of fibre.
Peas: about 6g per 100g.
Bombay Mix and similar South Asian savoury legume-based mixes: usually at least 10g per 100g.
Wholemeal bread (homemade is best) and wholemeal pasta.

Basically, the best way is to base most of your main meals around wholegrains and/or legumes. Various fruits and vegetables have smaller amounts of fibre that can help build up the total, but they're generally not enough on their own.

Burgen bread used to be a superb source of fibre (and delicious), but I see it's been discontinued... :( Poor sales, apparently. Maybe if more people had been buying it, they wouldn't have struggled with their fibre intake so much!

Gosh I remember Burgen. I loved that stuff

But then I dont eat bread any more, well not much very rarely. They probably went bust due to people like me

That’s interesting. I took mine from the USA food database. Unsure which is right, although the USDA seems as though it should be.

https://snaped.fns.usda.gov/resources/nutrition-education-materials/seasonal-produce-guide/raspberries

I never use that database

Try searching and making sense of the macros in salmon for example in that data base or chicken

Its all over the shop

Same here. I eats loads of fruit and vegetables, but avoid brown rice, chia seeds and wholewheat flour as they give me diarrhea. If I ate 30gm of fibre a day I would never leave the bathroom.

There are a few accounts i follow on Instagram that cover this.

Like this one. Or this.

I never count, but I have made a lot of effort lately to improve my diet, so I have started adding chai seeds, dried fruits, flax seeds and greek yogurt to my porridge. Then I add pulses to the soup I make. Add lots of vegetables to every meal.

Nice idea but its an awful lot of bulk, quite difficult if you're older or trying to eat small volumes in each meal

@ElectoralControversyi find vegan kimchi munch nicer than non vegan one as the non vegan one just smells of fish. I’m non vegan btw and love fish.

Plant based is the way, not saying you have to go vegan but a chunky portion of fruit or veg with each meal. You can't easily do it eating mostly animal protein and carbs, even if they're the complex carbs.