Fibre is one of the things that often gets overlooked in our nutrition. We think of carbs, sugar, fat, protein, and water… but not always fibre. Yet, it is essential to our health to get enough of it every day. Are you getting enough?

Fibre does so much to keep us healthy. It lowers cholesterol, stabilizes blood sugar, helps prevent cardiovascular disease, keeps our bowels moving, our stool at a good consistency (not too hard, not too soft), and helps feed our gut flora, keeping it healthy. It also helps us feel fuller longer, making it a key component in weight management.

The recommended daily amount of fibre to consume is 25 to 35g per day, but Canadians generally consume about 14g per day.

You may be thinking that fibre just isn’t for you as it causes bloating and gas. That is true for many people, but the good news is that some types of fibre do this much less than others. Highly fermentable fibres are the ones that cause more bloating and include the fibre found in: onion, garlic, wheat, rye, beans, broccoli, corn, among others.

Fibres that aren’t as fermentable will cause much less bloating and be much easier to digest. Some foods include, oats, psyllium, chia seeds, celery, green leafy vegetables (especially the stalks), and pumpkin seeds.

So how do you get 25 to 35g of fibre?

Here are some examples of fibre content in foods:

Food Amount Fibre Content

Flax seed (ground) 1 Tbsp 1.9g

Chia seed (whole) 1 Tbsp 4.0g

Rolled oats, uncooked 1/2 cup 4.8g

Broccoli, raw 1 cup 2.4g

Kale, raw 1 cup 2.4g

Spinach, raw 1 cup 0.7g

Brown rice, cooked 1/2 cup 1.8g

White rice, cooked 1/2 cup 0g

Psyllium 1 Tbsp 7g

Apple, with skin Medium 4.4g

Spaghetti squash, cooked 1 cup 2.2g

Quinoa, cooked 1/2 cup 2.6g

Green lentils, cooked 1/2 cup 7.8g

Romaine lettuce 1 cup 1g

This is an easy resource to use to find the fibre content of different foods: https://www.eatthismuch.com/food/nutrition/lettuce,2013/

Try calculating your fibre intake for a day to see if you are reaching the target! I personally find that vegetables offer a deceivingly low amount of fibre. Much less than you would expect, but they offer many other health benefits! That being said, if you have trouble digesting fibre in vegetables, try cooking them, it makes them much easier to digest! If you aren’t eating very much, try increasing it slowly, and adding more low fermenting fibres (see above) to avoid excessing gas and bloating.

For a good fibre boost to your day, try chia seed pudding or a piece of high fibre seed loaf!