I was invited to join in a very interesting experience recently when Warburtons asked me to keep a diary of everything I ate and everything Sophie ate for three days then have it analysed to see if we were getting enough fibre in our diets. I purposely picked three absolutely standard days, with me eating at the school canteen and making no changes to our usual meals rather than trying to pack more fibre in to look good ! Warburtons have discovered that many people are way below the daily recommended amount of fibre and are trying to show people how easy it is to incorporate more fibre into their diet. I was intrigued to see what the findings would be and here they are :
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Cheryl - Your average intake of fibre over the 3 days you kept the diary was 16g, which is better than average but still below the recommended amount which is 24g. However, you shouldn't worry as there are several quick and easy ways that you could increase the amount of fibre in your diet.
The first would be to have a couple of slices of wholemeal toast each day for breakfast - 2 slices of Warburtons Wholemeal provides 5.2g of fibre contributing 22% towards your GDA. Secondly, adding more fruit and vegetables into your diet would also help boost your fibre.
Sophie - Sophie's diet over the three days provided between 10-12g of fibre. You haven't said how old she is but the GDA for children aged between 5-10 years is 15g/day so she is a little shy of this target.
To increase Sophie's fibre intake, try Warburtons Half & Half loaf as it's a good place to start as it tastes like white bread with the benefits of being 50% wholemeal. 2 slices will provide around a quarter of her GDA of fibre. Other foods rich in fibre include fruit and vegetables, beans and pulses and wholegrain cereal like brown rice and wholemeal pasta.
Another way to boost her fibre would be to give her a slice of Warburtons Fruit Loaf with Orange (1.6g fibre per slice) as a snack.
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Warburtons sent us through a selection of their bread products which was actually a revelation because I learnt that Sophie loves wholemeal bread just as much as white bread, which was a real surprise. Pierre and Juliette weren't keen but they did really like the Half and Half so that would be an easy switch to make.
Dr Hilary Jones has some top tips to show us how to improve our fibre intake too :
Increase your fibre slowly
Your body needs to adjust to a change in fibre intake. Add no more than 5g per day until you reach your GDA of 24g for an adult.
Drink more water
When you increase the amount of fibre in your diet, it’s important to increase the amount of water you drink too.
Eat the whole fruit & vegetable
The skin of fruit and veg contains fibre, so try to eat it (e.g. jacket potato skins) – and aim to eat whole fruits rather than juices or smoothies.
Aim for 3 portions a day
It’s important to spread your fibre intake throughout the day, so aim to reach your GDA over three meals .
Kids should eat fibre too
The GDA for children is less than for adults. Children aged 5-10 should consume about 15g per day. Fibre should be introduced to under 5s gradually, through fresh fruit, veg and whole grains.
Warburtons also gave us some really nice recipes to try out to up our fibre intake, so I'll share those with you in a separate blogpost. If you'd like to take the fibre test yourselves, head over to their facebook app here.
Disclosure : I received a selection of Warburtons bread products as well as a shopping voucher as a thank-you for taking part in the Fibre Diary challenge.
Other blogposts you may be interested in :
Our Vitamix juicer is so powerful you can put a whole orange in or the whole apple which I do sometimes. I limit it to one or two or it could taste bitter and pithy but at least we're getting the fibre.
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