How can I get more fibre?

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 so this means white bread, rice, pasta and cereals has much less fibre content. It’s not just fibre that’s lost during this processing other vitamins and minerals which are also found in the outer layers of the grain are also stripped out. As a golden rule, always choose brown over white. When it comes to shopping, this means bagels, croissants, cornflakes and white rice should stay safely on the supermarket shelf, while wholegrain bread, wholewheat pasta, branflakes and brown rice can go happily into the trolley.

Tips:-

• If you can follow this rule most of the time and then you have the occasional treats of white bread or pasta. (With children you should aim that they get about two thirds wholegrain produce and a third white products - I will explain this a little more later on.) I'm sure as time goes on though when you have white bread or pasta as a treat you will feel that sluggish and stodgy that you will actually prefer wholemeal produce!
• Another good tip is that if you are making a meal which contains pasta or rice you can have half and half just mix it up for a while, so your body and bowel can get used to the changes in your diet gradually.

The following foods are all good sources of fibre…

• Wholemeal, granary and softgrain varieties of bread
• Jacket potatoes, new potatoes in their skins and baked potato skins - remember cooked and cooled potatoes are particulary good for you.
• Wholegrain breakfast cereals, such as porridge oats (this should always be your first choice) weetabix, unsweetened muesli, shreddies.
• Wholemeal pasta and brown rice.
• Beans (any type), lentils and peas, sweetcorn - remember to chew thoroughly!
• Fresh and dried fruits – particularly if the skins are eaten - again chew carefully!
• Vegetables – particularly if the skins are eaten - do i need to say?!
• Nuts and seeds - grind them up, keep in an airtight container and sprinke on salads or cereals whenever you like.
• Wholemeal flour.