How do you get enough fibre on reduced calories?

[DeftGoldHedgehog]

I tend to eat two meals a day, brunch and dinner, and cook from scratch but struggle to get 30g fibre a day on 1400/1500 calories. I eat lots of veg and I'm not veggie but only tend to have one slice of high fibre bread a day, and don't really eat cereals apart from a high fibre granola on the odd days I do eat breakfast. I like lentils and beans but get a bit fed up if I have them every day and don't want to add them to meals just for the sake of it. I like nuts but you have to watch the portion size. I know pears are good, but again don't always fancy them. My gut seems absolutely fine on 15-20g fibre a day, have a normal bowel movement at least once a day and I'm not constipated and not hungry. Does it matter that much?

For example today I had for brunch salmon, artichoke hearts and scrambled egg on rye sour dough with tomatoes and cucumbers. Tonight I've having bacon, gnocchi and peas in a creamy tarragon sauce, with tenderstem broccoli on the side, a naturally high protein yogurt and cherries for dessert, and medium conference pear for a snack.

It's only 21g or so of fibre. What else could I add/swap without adding too many more calories? I'd think a handful of nuts but it's only another 1g or so, and I'm already up to 1432 calories as it is.

Inulin in tea and coffee, on yogurt, in cereal etc, Each 5g spoon is 4g fibre and 10cals.

You could make vegetables more a central theme of your calorie intake

For example, having courgette spaghetti instead of calorie dense regular pasta. Adding an apple in each meal fruit and vegetables are very low-calorie so you could add a lot in by taking not much of something else away.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/nutrition/the-facts-on-fiber

Another article advising 14 grams of fibre per 1000 calories. This article focuses on men but the information would be useful to anyone. The 30 grams per day would be a good fibre goal for men's calories intake.

Up to everyone to decide whether they trust Hardvard on scientific facts or the Australian government in questions of public health I guess

About the raspberries, information on line varies but some sources do indeed give figures of 7 grams of fibre per 100 grams of raspberries, 8 grams of fibre per cup etc

As mentioned before, plants don’t have as much fibre as you think
Not heard that before, if anyone can find any sources of fibre that are not plants or derived from plants please share

Up to everyone to decide whether they trust Hardvard on scientific facts or the Australian government in questions of public health I guess

or, whether they trust the WHO, NHS/ British government, CDC/ American government, Canadian government (all governments apart from Australia I imagine) British diabetic association, cancer UK etc etc etc

as opposed to the (one) Australian government or some papers Harvard university press published?

I make a chia seed pudding to up my intake. I usually have it every other day.
soak a couple of spoonfuls of chia seeds in a milk of your choice. After half an hour ad some mashed up frozen raspberries, mix in some freeze dried fruit powder for a bit of colour and taste.
Fruit powder also adds fibre and they are very concentrated. I add pomegranate, wild blueberry, purple sweet potato powder. Then I sprinkle on some chopped nuts or add a kiwi and some sort of nut butter.
i also have jars on the side with all different seeds and randomly sprinkle them on food to boost fibre.
Nutritional yeast is another way of adding a bit more fibre into sauces.

Seeds on top of salads/soups.
if you are having a creamy sauce blitz in a can of white beans and you may not even notice them.

There's a balance though, isn't there? I'm sorry, but courgette spaghetti doesn't appeal, and has less fibre per 100g than regular spaghetti. I certainly make pasta dishes in summer with courgettes, but not to replace the actual pasta.

And as I said, my intake is typically well more than 5 a day anyway, any more and I'd feel like I had veg coming out of my ears. Also I'm cooking for two other people so I'm making things everyone likes for dinner.

Also find most apples a bit meh.

Its beans, lentils, legumes, seeds that make the biggest difference.

I will try to aim for the 30 then as set out above, it makes sense to me that your bowel doesnt know how much calories you're taking in although there is less output the less you eat, I dont know if that has an impact on bowel cancer risk, is it from the way fibre interacts in the bowel or is it from being constipated?

Anyway just a note on calorie counters/macro counters, they are incredibly innaccurate, I use MFP but both MFP and nutracheck in my view are hugely inaccurate, you have to be forensic about making sure what you're logging is true because both systems muddle up portions/cups/grams/ounces, etc

Even checking independently on google isnt foolproof because it will come up with an AI answer which is a combination of all the sites, including nutracheck, MFP, other calorie counters, supermarkets, american measures etc etc and you have to wade through that very carefully

So Waitrose has their raspberries as 6.5g per 100g, Tesco has 3.7g per 100g

They're raspberries, no different to each other. Why so different?

But those guidelines aren't mutually exclusive

The NHS gives a daily calorie guideline of 2000 for women. Using the 14 grams of fibre rule per 1000 calories rule, the recommended daily fibre intake for women would be 28 grams. Which is very close to 30.

For most people there are no downsides to increasing fibre intake so it makes sense for governments to give a simplified, blanket recommendation of 30 grams.

The problem comes when you calorie intake is significantly over or under the average for whatever reason. Someone like the OP who is motivated, well informed and able to obtain a variety of healthy foods is finding it difficult to get up to 30 grams on a regular basis. She's at around 21 grams IIRC and her body is doing just fine. Following the 14 grams fibre per 1000 calories, with her intake of 1500 calories a day, her recommended amount of fibre would indeed be 21 grams a day.

No- the nhs doesn’t link it to calories. You have linked those 2 pieces of information which is not their policy to relate them

Yes, I am comparing, evaluating and cross-referencing different sources of information and making a decision that suits my circumstances

Here is what AI told me (and I spend a lot of time slagging it off so Im not saying this is right), because I wanted to know 'why 30, why not 20 or 40.

I have to say personally I really struggle with a lot of fibre, it leaves things too loose and 'not well formed' as the description might be.

Here is why 30g is the recommended number:

• Significant Health Protection: A 2015 review by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) found strong evidence that a daily intake of 30g or more of fibre is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and bowel cancer.
• Optimal Disease Reduction: Studies found that every extra 7g of fibre in the diet reduces risks: an 8% reduction in colon cancer and a 9% reduction in cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. The 30g target captures these protective effects effectively.
• Scientific Consensus: This figure is consistent with, or slightly higher than, other global recommendations (which often range from 25g to 30g) and represents an increase from the previous 18g daily recommendation in the UK, aimed at better tackling disease risk.
• Gut Health and Microbiome: Eating 30g supports a healthy gut microbiome by providing sufficient fuel (prebiotics) for beneficial gut bacteria, increasing their diversity and aiding digestive health.
• Achievable Target for Better Health: While the average UK intake is around 20g, 30g was selected as a realistic, yet challenging, goal to encourage a diet based on high-fibre, plant-based foods.

It is important to note that the recommendation is for adults over 17; children's recommended intakes are lower (15g–25g depending on age). While more fiber is generally better for health, it is recommended to increase intake gradually to allow the digestive system to adapt.

Do you do that with anything else though? Do you ignore or recalculate the RDAs for iron, omegas, proteins, calcium on the basis you don’t eat much?

This is why so many women end up with bone health issues, undereating and resultant lack of calcium

I promise you @soupyspoon and @Itsmetheflamingo I was eating over 55-65g fibre a day - I had got into the mindset of more veg/fibre is better and aiming to eat 9 portions a day - I hadn't realised how large my portions were, and I do enjoy eating cooked veggies for breakfast. And quite often I found myself eating 450g frozen rasps/blackcurrants during the day.

I looked into it when I realised I was pooing 5-6 times a day and thought that was probably too much! After that I cut out my daily linseed, and reduced other things but not hugely. Now digestion normal, and weightloss slow and steady.

Even if Chat GPT is out, I can't imagine it is by more than 10-20pc. Below an extreme but not atypical day coming in at over 2,000 cals and over 90g fibre on ChatGPT: I had no idea there were so many calories in veg!! 300g frozen raspberries, 100g frozen blackcurrants. 1T psyllium husk, 2T oat bran, .5T potato starch, 2T linseeds. 300g yogourt and kefir. 1T buckwheat puffs. 1T barley flakes. .5T cacao nibs .5T coconut flakes. .5T walnuts. 10 almonds. 3 brazil nuts. 30g 90pc choc. 3 roast courgettes average size, 1 roast aubergine, 1 cup roast cauliflower. 30g anchovies. 100g smoked tofu. 3 eggs. large bowl of mixed leaves. 1 T olive oil. . 2 seabags fillet. large portion cabbage, 1 carrot, 1 cooked red pepper 2T sauerkraut (cabbage +) 2T chickpeas 1 portion spinach

More recently, as I've said, I've cut the linseed and might have 200-300g berries alongside 20g dark choc, less nuts, and perhaps 2/3 of the veg above...so Chat GPT is calculating a typical day for me at 65g... if its 20pc less, its still over 50g and I am comfortable (and losing weight) with this, believing its great for my long-term health.

I've definitely found the secret to good weightloss for me is IF, lots of fibre and protein, lowish carb.

ps my top tip is to add - if you enjoy them - some defrosted raspberries and blackcurrants each day - easily boosting your fibre intake by 5-10g.

They really do make my diet far more pleasurable and have helped me lose over 4 stone and return to a healthy BMI.

You daily food take is utterly bizarre. Did you know that fibre overdose can be seriously detrimental and you would be overdosing 60g per day.
Constant pooing would just be a side effect - the damage to your bowels would take years before symptoms of the damage it’s done showed.

Celeriac, spinach, cabbbage

What do you mean by bizarre, do you mean the fibre levels?

When I was reading about this it said you cant have too much fibre

A massive amount of food and much of it fibre for fibres sake ie “1T psyllium husk, 2T oat bran, .5T potato starch” it’s bizarre because it’s pretty much eating constant fibre

I took it just to be the list of what had been consumed, my list would look like that on paper but its a small amount if I added on every single tsp of things. I make all my own food so a lunch for example is a recipe Ive made up which might have 10 or 15 components to it, even if its quite small in itself

It is a lot of volume in OPs list but then I dont know if that is normal because I cant eat large volumes so everyones food looks a lot to me.

And the trouble is with things like courgette or cabbage, they cook down to nothing at all.

This would be my advice too. If you have a yoghurt most evenings add chia seeds. I eat them with breakfast most days. Soak them first in a splash of water

Agreed, I'd rather not have pasta at all than have courgette spaghetti

Chia
Flax
90% dark chocolate from Waitrose is 1.2g per square and I eat 4 a day!
Cooked carrots
Avocado. 50g usually
Edemame beans - protein and fibre
Navel oranges at this time of year

And from choice and taste though not super high sources - hemp and oats.

I have a prolapse so have to make my bowel movements big and easy. Easily hit 30g a day. Sometimes I'm close to 20g for breakfast.

Oh I like the sound of the chocolate, thanks.

Thank you, I'll try that. The look of chia pudding puts me off but seeds in yogurt I could do I think.