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High Fibre Food
By WLR Dietitian
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Fruit,
vegetables, nuts, seeds and pulses are all good
sources of fibre. But with cereal-based foods such as
breakfast cereals, pasta, rice and bread, the amount of fibre
depends on how much of the outer layer of the grain has been
stripped away in the milling and refining process. The more
processing a cereal has been through, the lower its fibre
content will be. Meanwhile, it’s not just fibre that’s lost
during processing. Many vitamins and minerals are also found
in the outer layers of the grain, so when these are removed,
these vitamins and minerals are also lost. As a golden rule,
always choose brown over white. When it comes to shopping,
this means bagels, croissants, cornflakes and white rice
should stay on the shelf, while wholegrain bread, wholewheat
pasta, branflakes and brown rice should go into the trolley.
The following foods are all good sources of dietary fibre…
- Wholemeal, granary and softgrain varieties of bread
- Jacket potatoes, new potatoes in their skins and baked
potato skins
- Wholegrain breakfast cereals, eg. Weetabix, branflakes,
unsweetened muesli, Shreddies and porridge oats
- Wholemeal pasta and brown rice
- Beans, lentils and peas
- Fresh and dried fruits – particularly if the skins are
eaten
- Vegetables – particularly if the skins are eaten
- Nuts and seeds
- Wholemeal flour
How about adding bran to my breakfast cereal?
Bran is a rich source of fibre, but there are far more
pleasurable and healthy ways to boost fibre intakes! Not only
is raw bran quite unpalatable but it doesn’t provide the other
nutrients found in fibre-rich foods such as wholemeal bread
and wholegrain cereals. Plus it can reduce the absorption of
certain nutrients such as iron, calcium and zinc. For this
reason, it’s no longer recommended that you sprinkle raw bran
onto breakfast cereal.
Is there a simple way to tell if a food is a good source
of fibre?
Looking at
food labels is one of the easiest ways to
identify whether or not a food contains a little or a lot of
fibre. The Food Standards Agency recommends that any product
claiming to be a ‘source’ of fibre should contain 3g fibre per
100g or at least 3g of fibre in the amount that could
reasonably be expected to be eaten in one day. To claim that a
food is high in fibre, the product must contain at least 6g
per 100g or at least 6g in the amount that could be expected
to be eaten each day. Otherwise, use the table below to see
the fibre content of some common foods.
Further Information:
The F2 Diet, by Audrey Eyton.
The F2 Diet is a healthy way, not just to lose weight, but to
eat, forever.
The Complete F-Plan Diet, by Audrey Eyton.
Lose weight healthily without feeling hungry.
You can track your fibre and calorie intake with the food
diary and tools in Weight Loss Resources -
try it free for 24 hours.
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