Yeah, I know there are supplements, but I’d prefer to add more fibre to my diet by adding a couple of foods that are high in fibre. Plus, the pills I bought, if I used them according to directions, would be done in a week after I took nine pills per day! No thanks.
So, what are the best, tastiest and highest in fibre foods?
I think there are a number of breakfast cereals that advertise the fact. Some sound like they have enough to likely be flammable.
Try to eat plenty of fresh fruit. In the summer, I love fresh peaches. You should eat plenty of salads, as well. Maybe you could go to your local farmer’s market and purchase fresh vegetables. They’d probably taste better than the supermarket. One thing I like to do for breakfast is make a protein shake. I combine milk, soy protein powder, frozen fruit and some psyllium(sp). This holds me till lunchtime, with some fruit snacks.
My 5 year old son needed more fibre and we added strawberries in mass quantities and that really did the trick. Also, I know it isn’t a popular answer, but prunes are really tasty. (This is, IMHO, of course)
Prunes get their fantastic effects from the large quantities of sorbital in them that supplements the fiber.
Personally, I used to find that a bowl of raisin bran cereal in the morning was sufficient.
$.02
Some ways:
Switch to whole-grain products (we love whole wheat pancakes/waffles with berries in the D_Odds house)
Vegetables (broccoli, peas, carrots)
Fruits (pick 'em, most are decent sources)
Add beans to dishes
Anything made out of cornmeal will do the trick. Cornbread, polenta, grits etc.
Eat string.
I’ve added fiber (fibre?) by adding these foods into my diet:
Higher fiber cereal that still tastes good – i.e. Kashi Go Lean Crunch and other varieties of Kashi.
Dried apricots: If you like them they are a really easy way to add fiber to your diet. They taste especially good when eaten with a few almonds.
fresh fruit : I especially like tart, crisp apples and every berry under the sun.
Beans: I love almost every kind of bean.
Veggies: I love corn. It’s also easy to mix veggies into other dishes. For example, I often mix cooked spinach into my pasta sauce. I also use baby carrots for dipping into healthy spreads like hummus. Salads are good too.
Whole grain foods: It’s easy to switch to whole grain versions of things like bread, bagels and pasta.
Definitely read labels, and you can find you can make small changes that add up in your overall diet. Some breads, for example, have NO fiber, but if you check you can find some with several grams per slice. Don’t just go by the names because some “wheat” bread isn’t whole-grain. Same with other baked goods like cookies and bagels, and it’s definitely true with cereal.
Kashi cereal isn’t always easy to find, but it’s a good one, as noted. They also have these snack/meal replacement bars called “Go Lean” bars that (IIRC) have fiber.
When I’m being fiber-conscious I also make a lot of my own breads, and supplement the ingredients with stuff that adds fiber (and inevitably it adds nutrition, too).
I have hot oat bran cereal for breakfast, and it has decent fiber content. Oatmeal is also a way to get a couple of grams in.
Fruits and veggies, as others have said, too.
Popcorn is also an excellent choice. go with the light stuff for less fat and very few calories. 3 grams of fiber 30 calories and 4.5 grams of fat in 1 cup so multiply that by 4.5 per bag of ACTII light butter microwave popcorn and you’ve got a keeper. It’s tasy too.