Experiencing poor digestive health or constipation? Need some help in adding more dietary fiber into your diets? Try these 6 tips to incorporate more dietary fiber into your daily regime and foods!
Legumes are a great source of fiber! Some examples of legumes include: chickpeas, kidney beans, soybeans, and peanuts. You can consider including these legumes into your daily meals, or even replacing your meat with legumes for a healthier options.
White rice refers to rice with its husk, bran and germ removed through a milling process to prolong its shelf-life, while brown rice has them intact. The husk, bran and germ in the brown rice contains nutrition such as fiber. To include more dietary fiber in your daily meals, you can start slowly changing your white rice to brown rice, and aim to have at least half of your entire portion as brown rice, if not all.
When looking out for bread or pasta, look for whole wheat or whole wheat flour in the first item of the ingredient list. Some products will have labels indicating wholegrains too! They are healthier options as compared to processed choices, which tend to have high glycemic index.
Add vegetables to your favorite meats or have fresh fruits instead of cakes and ice creams as your desserts. Moreover, fruits and vegetables are also rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants – additional reasons to increase your intake of these foods!
If you have a habit of snacking, pack your choices with nuts, dried fruits, wholegrain biscuits or fresh fruits, and avoid unhealthy options such as crackers, sweet candies, or chocolates.
Taking dietary fiber supplements is another way to increase your daily fiber requirement. However, do note that they should not replace your food sources of dietary fiber entirely as food sources contain a variety of other essential vitamins and minerals too. Some examples of ingredients in dietary fiber supplements include resistant maltodextrin, psyllium, wheat dextrin, inulin and methylcellulose.
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