Eat Well, Feel Great Facts about fi bre

Facts aboutÉ

FIBRE Hit your daily fi bre intake and boost your health with these tips

Despite it being an essential nutrient, did you know that many of us aren’t getting enough fi bre in our diets? The recommended daily intake of fi bre for adults is 30g a day, but according to the British Nutrition Foundation, many Brits are consuming much less than this – with women averaging a mere 17.2g a day*. Never fear, as with just a few tweaks to your meals and snacks, you can boost your fi bre intake and feel better for it.

WHY IS FIBRE SO IMPORTANT? ‘Dietary fi bre is the part of carbohydraterich foods indigestible by our digestive enzymes,’ explains nutritional therapist Natalie Lamb. ‘It’s found naturally in all fruit and vegetables, as well as in the cell walls of wholegrains such as oats, beans, nuts and seeds.’ Eating a diet high in fi bre aids healthy bowel movements by adding bulk to stools, but it also feeds the good bacteria in your colon and keeps you feeling full after eating. So get stuck in!

Fresh fruit is a great source of fi bre

Did you know? There are two diff erent types of fi bre found in food: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fi bre – which is in fruit, vegetables, oats and pulses – turns into a gel-like substance during digestion and can slow down the emptying of the stomach, making us feel fuller. It’s also been shown to help stabilise blood pressure and blood-sugar levels. Insoluble fi bre can be found in wholegrain breads and cereals, nuts and seeds, as well as fruit and vegetables and adds bulk to the stool, helping it move through the bowel.

UP YOUR INTAKE

Increasing your daily fi bre intake is easy with these meal and snack ideas from dietician Hala El-Shafi e. BREAKFAST: 2 slices of wholemeal toast (4g) with 1 anana (1.4g) = 5g fi bre

you have toast for breakfast, opt r wholemeal bread as it contains ore than double the fi bre per ce, so is an easy way to boost ur fi bre intake. A serving of orridge contains around 3g of bre and is a great vehicle for

ding extra dried or fresh fruits, ts and seeds to bump up the re content even more. MID-MORNING SNACK: A handful 8g) of almonds = 4g fi bre monds are an easy snack to keep u going through the morning as

ll as increasing your fi bre intake. other bonus is that they have a

g shelf life, so you can keep them a pot in your desk drawer or

Eat Well, Feel Great

YOUR HIGH-FIBRE SHOPPING LIST

1 avocado = 5.2g fi bre 128g walnuts = 5.8g fi bre 1 medium pear = 3.3g fi bre 5 dried dates = 3g fi bre

2 tablespoons broad beans = 7.8g fi bre 2 tablespoons of cooked mushrooms = 3.4g fi bre 25g chia seeds = 9g of fi bre 1 small orange = 2g fi bre A serving of Kellogg’s All Bran = 11g fi bre

Five ways to add more fibre

1Choose wholegrain breads, pasta and rice. 2 Bulk up existing meals with pulses, such as chickpeas or lentils. 3 Eat your fi ve-a-day, including dried fruit, canned fruit in natural juice and frozen vegetables. 4 Choose a high-fi bre cereal in the morning –porridge and wholewheat biscuits are great choices. 5 Leave the skin on your apples, cucumbers and sweet potatoes as those peels contain lots of fi bre!

handbag for a quick and tasty fi bre hit. As well as being packed with fi bre, almonds contain healthy fats such as linoleic acid, which contributes to the maintenance of normal cholesterol levels. One study found that eating almonds results in signifi cant reductions in total cholesterol, bad HDL cholesterol and triglycerides, while having no impact on the good LDL cholesterol*. ✱ LUNCH: Baked potato with the skin (3g) and a 200g serving of baked beans (10g) = 13g fi bre Potatoes often get overlooked as a lunch option. A medium baked potato with the skin on contains around 2.6g fi bre. Add a serving of reduced salt and sugar baked beans for a classic combination which packs a punch in the fi bre department and counts as one of your fi ve-a-day, too! ✱ AFTERNOON SNACK: Apple with the skin = 4g fi bre Fruits and vegetables contain lots of nutrients and contribute to your fi bre intake too. Apples, bananas and oranges are easy, portable snacks which all contain around 3-4g fi bre per portion. Keep the skin on apples as that’s where most of the fi bre is found. ✱ DINNER: Chilli con carne (6g) with a 125g serving of wholegrain rice (3g) = 9g fi bre Chilli con carne is a quick, easy dinner that you can batch cook and freeze. It s also really simple to add in extra fi bre. Swap out minced beef for lentils, or add extra beans to make it veggie friendly. Serve with some wholegrain rice and you’ve got a wonderfully tasty fi bre-rich meal. HYDRATION HELPS! Remember to build up your fibre intake slowly and drink around 6-8 glasses of water throughout the day to help it move through your system. Add lentils and extra beans to chilli for extra nutrients