As someone who has suffered from wonky digestion in the past, I am often concerned with the amount of fibre I am getting, in order to keep things ticking over, as it were. If you’re out and about, having one of those devil-may-care beige food days, you may find things grind to a bit of a halt on occasion. Or maybe beige is your food colour of choice, in which case you may find things a little sluggish OR moving a bit too fast! After all, fibre is one of those chief variables involved in keeping things moving at the correct speed.

We’re often told to increase fibre in our diets but what constitutes a high fibre diet can seem a bit non-specific. Note: It’s not eating lots of high bran cereals, which are, frankly, cardboard-disgusting. In fact, the average diet in the western world is light on the fibre side, and in the UK, a whopping 91% of people fail to meet the target of 30g/day, with the average being less than 20g.

Why is fibre so important? Fibre is an essential part of a healthy diet as it helps with the digestive process, speeding it along and helping to eliminate waste and toxins from the system. Because the body cannot break fibre down, it moves the gut like a brush, sweeping up any wastes and ensuring a regular and sufficient bowel movement. Health conditions associated with low fibre foods include constipation and in some cases diarrhoea, bloating, pain, weight gain, general inflammation of the bowel, fatigue, or even more serious conditions like diverticulosis and colon cancer.

On the flip side, a high fibre diet has a lot of great health benefits. As well as the well-known aid to digestion, fibre can help with weight loss as it keeps you fuller for longer, optimises blood sugar, reduces so-called ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and is linked to better heart health.

Around 30-35g of fibre a day is recommended for health and it is easier to get this into your diet than you might think.

High fibre foods include:

• Beans and other legumes and lentils
• Vegetables, especially broccoli and peas
• Whole grains like brown rice, millet, wheat bran and oats
• Fruits including dried fruits, especially berries
• Nuts and seeds

There are two types of fibre: soluble and insoluble. Insoluble fibre which contains cellulose cannot be broken down by the gut and so this is the substance that bulks out the stool and keeps the digestion moving so well. Foods high in insoluble fibre include wheat bran, wholegrain cereals, nuts, beans, cauliflower, potatoes and the skins of certain fruit and vegetables. Soluble fibre forms a gel-like substance in water which is helpful for lowering blood sugar and LDL, and includes flaxseed, barley, dry beans, oat bran, peas, lentils and certain other fruit and vegetables. So, keep the skins on and consider upping your veg and fruit intake to 7 or 8 portions a day.

A typical adequate fibre meal plan might look like this:

Breakfast: Porridge or muesli with fruit, nuts and seeds

Snacks: Nuts or dried fruit e.g. a handful of almonds

Lunch: Stir fry with a variety of vegetables and cashew nuts

Snacks: Yoghurt with a handful of raspberries

Dinner: Lentil dahl curry with brown rice

Fibre-tastic. All of the above will keep you fuller for longer too, making it less likely you’ll reach for the beige or the chocolate. If you feel like your diet could do with an overhaul and your own efforts aren’t enough, please email me on jop.naturalnutrition@gmail.com to find out more about what I can do to help you. Sometimes involving that extra person in your health journey is exactly what you need to put things on the right track and I’d love to help.