Fiber
 

*sigh*

This is my biggest challenge. Getting enough fiber in my diet. Suggestions from you guys? What should I add to my day to raise my fiber intake?

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I always get over 100% of my daily intake of fibre - for all you know, you might be getting enough too. It surprised me - I only have one slice of a bread product per day, always whole wheat.

i suggest yogurt, apples. There's always metamusil, or those fibre one bars.

I eat at least one apple a day - it's my favorite afternoon snack! :)

I'm still not getting enough fiber. The suggested number I've seen is ~25g, although there's no official RDA. I'm getting much less than that even. I think yesterday I had 11g of fiber. Today I'm topping out at 7g, even with my apple.

So just trying to figure a way to add more to my diet.

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prunes, apricots and figs (dried)
nuts
tahini sauce
broccoli is your best bet vegetable wise
barley
cornmeal
bran cereal

Personally I eat 5 prunes a day and they have 7 grams each. I love prunes so I have to stop myself from eating more!!

Would you mind posting what you typically eat in a given day? It's hard to give suggestions without knowing what you are eating.

Whole grains, veggies, fruit, and beans all tend to be high in fiber. Do you like raspberries? They have only 64 calories and 8 grams of fiber per cup (per calorie-count.com)

I'm a fiber addict.

Slim Fast has 5 grams
Fiber One Bars have 9 grams
Fiber One Raisin Bran Cereal has 11 grams
Kashi Vive cereal has 12 grams
Fiber One's new yogurt has 5 grams
Double Fiber Whole Wheat Bread - 1 slice = 5 grams
Banana = 4 grams

I get about 50g of fiber every day and I eat lots of veggie, fruit and legumes. I eat minimal grains but I do eat some.

I eat Fiber One in the mornings -- it has 57% fiber in one serving - 1/2 cup. I have a full cup - just make sure to drink lots of water to help the fiber do its job!

An average day for me would be something like this:

Breakfast: Coffee w/ cream, oatmeal w/ some kind of fruit/nuts (blueberries, strawberries, whatever).
Snack: V8 juice and almonds or sunflower seeds
Lunch: Sometimes a deli sandwich (turkey or chicken on whole grain), sometimes leftovers from the night before. Recent lunches have included lentil soup, crustless quiche and fruit cup, brown rice and beans, etc.
Snack: apple and string cheese (or sometimes cheddar cheese)
Dinner: some kind of protein and some kind of veggie - fish, chicken breast, pork chop, etc. and a variety of veggies. Over the winter I most often mix and roast squashes and root veggies. In the summer I'll steam broccoli or asparagus or a combination fo summer squashes. Somtimes I make a cold veggie salad with all of the above, steamed and tossed with sesame seeds and vinegarette.

If I have calories left over after whatever I've eaten, I'll treat myself to 2 T of peanut butter for "dessert".

Every once in a while a glass of red wine with or after dinner.

Looking back at my food tracking, my highest consumption of fiber was 15g.

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Oh, I'm trying very hard to limit processed foods.

I don't eat nutrition bars of any kind.
I don't drink diet drinks or fiber drinks.
And I hate cold cereal! :) (sorry)

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Maybe up your consumption of beans? Looking at your 'typical' day, it seems like you should be getting plenty of fiber but maybe your portions of veggies and high fiber foods are small?

Hmmm... Looking at your menu I'd say you are getting enough fiber. Especially if you are eating lentils. On days that I consume lentils my fiber is typically over 40 grams. Which program are you using to track?

Here are some ideas though:

If you have 1 cup of cooked regular oatmeal with 1/2c frozen blueberries (thawed) you are already at 6 grams of fiber. You could add 1T flaxseed meal to your oatmeal for 2 more grams of fiber.

You could substitute cut up veggies for the V8. Almonds are a good thing and 20 almonds (138 cals) contain almost 3 grams of fiber.

According to fitday 1 cup of lentil soup has 13 grams of fiber, so that's a good choice. Maybe add a salad or some raw veggies to your lunch? Do you like hummus? It's good as a veggie dip or on sandwiches and 2T has 2 grams of fiber and only 50-ish calories.

I really think you are probably getting more then you think.

Nelie - that's what I thought too - that I was eating plenty of high fiber items. But I was surprised at how little actual fiber many of them have.

A slice of whole grain bread only has 4g of fiber. I medium apple has 3.7g. 1 cup of cooked broccoli has 5g. The V8 has 1.8g. Etc. The one that really suprised me was the oatmeal - a serving of Quaker oatmeal (not the instant, but the kind you cook) has only 3g of fiber.

By the time I add it all together, it's almost always less than 15g and usually right around 10g.

Just oddly frustrating for me since I do try to incorporate whole grains, eat apples, etc.

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Really, really, really I'm not. :) I appreciate the thought, but I'm not. I use Spark-people to track, but I've double checked the figures in other trackers as well just because I was concerned that they were underestimating.

I make lentil soup about once every 2 weeks, so ok, once every 2 weeks I get more fiber than the rest of the time.

The rest of the time, I'm still well under the recommended 25g. So I'll add more cut up veggies for my snack, but again ... a handful of carrots has a negligible amount of fiber. The V8 has more than raw carrots. Celery has 2g.

Etc.

So what other foods are high in fiber that I can add to my diet that won't totally blow my calorie levels?

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I add chia seeds to a number of things I eat. Most commonly I soak them in water, then add it to whatever cold beverage I'm drinking. They just slide down your throat. I've also added to jam and my SF shake in the morning. They are high in calcium, iron, fibre and omega fatty acids. They should be available at health food stores. Sold under the brand name Salba, but I've bought the whole seeds bulk for much cheaper.