But since everyone reckons fibre is bland, boring and makes us bloated and flatulent, no wonder we don’t eat enough of it.
Recommended daily fibre intake for adults in most countries: 30g
All countries are falling short. Just 3% of people in Canada, 5% of those in the US and 9% of those in the UK meet the guidelines. Even in Germany, Europe’s biggest fibre fan, the max intake is 25g. In the UK, most people get about 19g a day.
So what is it and how does it work in the body? Fibre is a type of carbohydrate found in plants. It isn’t easily broken down in the gut, unlike other carbohydrates. It travels through the digestive system and into the small and large intestine. It’s great for preventing constipation, making stools soft and easy to pass. The reason fibre can affect so many areas of health is because it is not a single entity. It’s an umbrella term for a variety of types that behave differently when they reach the gut.
Beans means… lowering your risk of disease
So, soft stools aside, what’s the cancer angle, we hear you cry. Well :
- a 2019 landmark study showed that a fibre-rich diet reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and colon cancer by 16-24%.
- in 2015, the UK’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition found that every 7g daily increase in fibre (half a tin of baked beans) can lower your risk of noncommunicable diseases by up to 9%. And more recent studies have found that fibre also contributes to a healthy gut microbiome and brain.
If we take the UK, this advice has gone unheeded, with no increase in fibre intake since the guidelines changed in 2015. That’s unfortunate because of the health benefits Brits are missing out on, but also because it would be a more sustainable diet. Good for us, good for the planet.
Climbers need protein, not fibre, right?
James Collier, author of the book Well Fed, says: “Fibre’s not very sexy, is it? I come from the gym scene, where everyone talks about protein. No one says: ‘Oh, have you had your fibre today?’ But why not, because it is fundamental to living well.” Plus, he adds, “it’s not actually that hard to get 30g a day. If you’re having a plant-rich diet, it’s super-easy.”
So why aren’t we doing it? A study on attempting to make the 30g a day target listed barriers such as “a lack of awareness regarding the health benefits of fibre beyond bowel health”, and “negative perceptions of starchy foods,” which people see as fattening.
As an example, UK diets are typically high in salt, sugar, and fat. And only 27% of UK adults eat the recommended 5-a-day fruit and vegetables. If we turn the fibre frown upside down, we can think less about reducing things in our diet and more about upping fibre intake as a positive lifestyle change.
And it’s achievable. In Denmark, the Danish Whole Grain Partnership, a public-private enterprise to increase wholegrain consumption, has been a huge success. Between 2008 and 2019, the average daily wholegrain intake went up by 128%, and 54% of the population was hitting the wholegrain target – up from 6%!
Give it a go, here’s how
You wouldn’t try a 9a without ‘a bit’ of training, right? Same here. Making the change gradually is recommended to avoid side-effects such as discomfort, bloating and wind – which will put you off right away, let’s face it – and drinking lots of water (fibre draws water into the bowel, so you can become dehydrated if you don’t drink enough). One thing to watch out for: people with irritable bowel syndrome might have tolerance issues, but generally speaking, the more fibre the better.
30 (count ’em) ways to get your 30g a day
Thanks to the Guardian newspaper for this list :
1 Starchy foods in all three meals – mainly wholegrains and skin-on potatoes.
2 EIGHT portions of vegetables and fruit a day are your target, not five.
3 High-fibre snacks: unsalted nuts and seeds, slices of fruit dipped in nut butter (chunky has more fibre than smooth), slices of veg dipped in hummus, wholegrain crackers, toasted seaweed…
4 More exercise. Studies from Ireland show those who meet the fibre intake target eat more overall, so you need to work up an appetite.
5 Breakfast cereal: porridge/overnight oats, no-added-sugar muesli, Weetabix, Shredded Wheat, Bran Flakes or similar. Go half-and-half with your usual cereal to ease yourself into it. Top with fruit, nuts and seeds.
6 Eat the fruit, the whole fruit… It’s way better than drinking juice, which has no fibre. Smoothies have a little – more if you make your own and add oats, nut butters and seeds. You don’t want to go over 150 ml of smoothie or juice a day, however, which is probably less than you might think.
7 Check labels. High fibre foods contain at least 6g per 100g, “sources of fibre” at least 3g/100g.
8 Don’t peel your potatoes. Baked potatoes, boiled new potatoes and sweet potato wedges are all good. Keep the skins on other fruit and vegetables whenever you can, too, including root veg, kiwis, cucumber, apples and aubergine (makes sense to go organic if you can afford it, to avoid pesticides, which cause other issues, or at least wash everything).
9 Wholemeal, rye or granary bread. Or at least choose added-fibre white bread. Bulk out sandwiches with salad.
10 Avoid white rice, which is low in fibre – move over to brown, or even better, black or red. Same with pasta, go wholewheat. And if you don’t like that, try a legume-based pasta made from red lentils or green peas.
11 Plenty of vegetables: particularly high-fibre ones like parsnips, broccoli, peas, green beans, sweetcorn, carrots, brussels sprouts and cauliflower.
12 Go vegan! OK, we may lose some of you there, but vegan and vegetarian diets tend to be high in fibre. How about a couple of meat-free days in your week as a compromise?
13 With fruit, vegetables and pulses, fresh, frozen, dried and tinned (in natural juices/water) all count. So fill that freezer with peas, spinach and berries, and your cupboard with tinned sweetcorn and beans. All of which are really easy to prepare for midweek meals or after a sesh at the wall.
14 Variety! Try new fruits or vegetables regularly to vary the types of fibre. For example, chicory (endives) and jerusalem artichokes are a source of oligosaccharides, a sort of prebiotic. Also, the humble mushroom is a rich source of fibre.
15 Vary your wholegrain too: try bulgur wheat, barley, rye, buckwheat, quinoa and couscous.
16 Have fresh or dried fruit, or tinned fruit in natural juice, for dessert. Dried fruit is typically higher in fibre than fresh, but it can increase the risk of tooth decay, so it’s better eaten as part of a meal, rather than a snack. Great when training though, it has to be said – high-fibre fruits include figs, berries, pears, apples, bananas, melons, avocado, dried apricots, raisins and prunes.
17 Spice up your life! Herbs (fresh and dried) and spices will help too.
18 Simple swaps, big impact. For breakfast, swap two slices of white toast with jam and a glass of orange juice (1.6g total fibre) for two slices of wholemeal toast with peanut butter and an orange (8.3g). Mix in some chia seeds if you can’t let go of the jam.
19 Mid-morning snack? Instead of plain yoghurt (no fibre), add some strawberries and almonds (5.5g).
20 For lunch, instead of white spaghetti with a tomato-based sauce (3.9g), try wholewheat spaghetti with a lentil and tomato-based sauce (10.9g).
21 Mid-afternoon, try rye crackers with hummus (8.5g) instead of cream crackers with cheddar cheese (0.9g).
22 For dinner, instead of chicken breast, mashed potato and carrots (4.7g), have chicken breast, baked potato, carrots and green beans (11.2g). With these easy swaps you’ll have taken your daily fibre hit from 11.2g to a whopping 44.4g. Check out the BNF’s seven-day 30g fibre meal plan for inspiration.
23 Check your pulse(s). For mince-based dishes like spaghetti bolognese, lasagne, chilli con carne or shepherd’s pie, you can replace half the meat with pulses such as chickpeas or lentils (for meatballs, you could use 50% oats). You can add beans to soups and stews, and sprinkle seeds on top too. Bonus, it’s cheaper than 100% meat.
24 Good news too, because it’s quick and easy, two slices of wholemeal toast with baked beans provides more than a third of your daily fibre intake.
25 Also, you can use nutritional yeast in place of parmesan on pasta, in pesto …
26 Add vegetable toppings to pizza and add a side salad.
27 Use tahini – particularly high in fibre ) in homemade hummus, sauces and desserts.
28 Wholewheat or oat flour if you’re baking, or mix 50:50 with white flour. Look for recipes that use fruit and veg: banana bread, beetroot or avocado brownies, carrot or parsnip cakes …
29 Treat yourself! But with high-fibre treats like flapjack, dark chocolate and popcorn. Even crisps contain a bit of fibre – try the root vegetable and skin-on varieties.
30 Forget the fibre supplements (unless your doctor advises it). Potatoes, oats, lentils and beans are some of the cheapest, most filling foods you can find.
So, good for your health and your wallet! Give it a try!
You may remember that we partnered with Bowel Cancer UK last April – bowel cancer awareness month – and we plan to do so again this year.
Martha Douglas, Corporate Partnerships Officer at BCUK responded to our request for comment on this article: “Every 12 minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with bowel cancer, making it the country’s fourth most common cancer. Climbers Against Cancer’s kind support will help us continue to be there for every person affected by bowel cancer and work towards our vision of a future where nobody dies of the disease.”
