Tips for increasing fibre and protein without adding too many calories

[RaspberryArcadia]

Would like to up my fibre intake alot and get a little more protein. Can I ask for any tips on how you manage to get your quota in for the day without piling on loads of calories?!

Watching as I’m trying to cut down on carbs

Ooh Interesting to see any good ideas! I only meet these kind of targets if I fill in my calorie app ahead of time and consciously work on it.

my contribution would be that Blackberries are good for fibre and can have with skyr yog maybe add a few walnuts or some flax seeds. Then the usual of adding egg whites to scrambled eggs or omelette with some chopped pepper and spinach. I also make a Turkey breast casserole in my pressure cooker with tinned lentils for liquid and some root veg and green beans, stir in a little psyllium husk after.

These sound like some good ideas! I’m trying to add in more fibre laden fruit. Thank you!

lidl have some lovely blackberries. Strawberries are amazingly low in calories bit not sure how fibre rich they are. Raspberries are pretty good though for fibre but think blackberries are highest. Asparagus is another good veg for things like eggs and pretty easy/quick.

A green salad with air fried tofu (Lidl marinated ones are nice) and a drizzle of olive oil dressing

Lean meat and green veg or salad
low fat yogurt
scrambled eggs, plain omelette, with beans
porridge

Loads more veg (better than fruit) - I always have at least three different good sized portions of veg if I'm having a meat based meal. Pulses are great, I base at least one evening meal a week and a lunch on beans or lentils. Experiment with vegetarian cooking a bit more.

Cabbage is great - I love roast hispi/sweetheart cabbage, I can easily eat a whole half.

Nuts are packed full of protein and fibre - they are calorific, but it's debatable whether all the calories are available to the body.

Wholemeal everything - pasta, rice, noodles, bread (not just brown or granary) that's just coloured white bread!

Do make sure you raise your fibre gradually though and drink plenty of water. so your body can get used to it!

Add milled (not whole) flax and chia seed to weetabix or porridge. You can add oat and/or wheat bran also. A very easy way to get the fibre in at one go! It's what I do every day and I don't overthink fibre intake after that really.

What temperature and for how long do you do the tofu for?

I had this exact issue earlier in the year - I wanted to increase my protein and fibre but also lose a few pounds.

I found taking an additive approach - trying to add protein and fibre to my existing diet - didn't work at all. It just stacked up calories.

I found a substitute approach - swapping out low protein or fibre foods for ones with higher content - worked better.

But I found a full mindset shift about the 'value' of food worked best, and actually made me really excited about new foods.

I started with a list of high protein and high fibre foods with calorie and portion information too.
Then I started from scratch with each meal and snack, sticking to calorie limits for each meal and snack, and getting as close to protein and fibre recommendations for each day. It helped me cut out a lot of empty shit. So I was approaching each meal thinking about its "value" - like am I getting the most out of every food stuff, every calorie here?

I've tweaked and experimented since the new year. But I'm on a really good vibe. So, for me, a tip would be to start from scratch with meal planning, and use AI to identify really high fibre food stuffs.

AI put me on to psyllium husk which has incredible amounts of fibre - 3g of husk gives about 7g of fibre.

It takes like tree bark that's been eaten and shat out, and then marinaded in arsehole sweat. But it's got lots of fibre.
If you stir it into some lemon flavoured drink (lemon squash, lemonade) and gobble it down quickly, its bearable.

That is genius! I think my daily intake should be about 155g a day so a good few tablespoons 🙂

Protein powder added to Greek yogurt. I do this for overnight oats in the morning. That gets me 35g of protein in just one meal.

Your fibre intake should not be 155g a day! Jesus! Aim for 30g. And don’t use AI if you can’t sense check adequately. How can 3 grams of anything contain 7g of fibre, that’s impossible. If it was 100% fibre (it isn’t) then 3g would contain…3 grams.

I put a 15g chia seeds in greek yogurt, protein powder, 30g porridge oats with blueberries and raspberries and it's made a huge difference to feeling full, getting protein, and managing constipation.

The rest of my day isn't as good but I've got breakfast sorted now.

Gosh 😅 Thank you.. I must stop listening to strangers in coffee shops! This now feels doable.

Soya chunks and spinach added to dishes.
Eat prunes instead of biscuits/sweets.

3g of husk gives about 7g of fibre.

You should aim for 30g of fibre a day.

I supplement my morning smoothie with whey protein and fibre from bulk

For anyone with gut issues:

Most days I have scrambled egg(s), Gouda cheese, dark ryveta or oatcake, tinned tomatoes, a few green beans, kefir yogurt. Maybe tuna, olives, beetroot, avocado, sweetcorn, rice, potato.

Everything else is supplements.

Trust me, on this, you’ll lose weight, whether you want to or not. I spend more time than I want to trying to stay healthy, and the above is the best protein & fibre balance I can manage.

Cut into 1cm cubes and air fry for 8 minutes at 190

I use a fibre supplement, it’s 25 cals for 10g fibre, I add it to my protein shake and it makes a massive difference in how full I feel. I add the wonky frozen berry mix and that tends to get largely blackberries and redcurrents, plus soaked chia seeds. I don’t really like supplementing these things but it makes a simple breakfast and boosts both my protein and fibre

I think the guidelines are 14g fibre per 1000 calories. So if you’re on 1500 cals for example, you can reduce your goal slightly

Quinoa instead of rice or pasta.
Always whole meal bread not white.
Veggies and Avocado. Apples and bananas.

I can’t eat chicken pudding/porridge I’ve tried and just can’t get past the texture but I do add them to yoghurt with crushed up berries in because the berry bits hide the chia and I also add a couple of tablespoons to things like casserole/chilli because they help thicken the gravy and are completely hidden by all the other stuff.

egg whites are an easy win, I use a mix of whole egg and just white for things like omelettes or scrambled egg, you barely notice the reduced yolk and the white adds a decent amount of protein very very low calorie.

Another vote for ground flax seeds and chia seeds. I add them to defrosted berries and Greek yogurt. Yum!

Urghh, that should read Chia pudding/porridge not chicken pudding/porridge. Though I’m now wondering whether chicken porridge is a viable recipe, I like chicken, and porridge can be savoury or sweet…would it really be that different to chicken and stuffing???

Edited to add: arghh it’s actually a thing and apparently packed with protein and fibre! Chicken oatmeal congee.