26 painless ways to add more fibre to your diet

One cup sports 10 grams of fibre, nearly half your daily allotment. And, it doesn’t require any soaking before cooking!

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Oatmeal’s not just a breakfast player (but it sure is a tasty morning choice). Use regular oatmeal in place of bread crumbs for meat loaf and meatballs, sprinkle it atop casseroles and ice cream, bake it into cookies and muffins, and add it to homemade breads and cakes.

Even Subway and other such sandwich shops offer whole wheat options for lunchtime munching. If you want to gradually break into the whole wheat club, use whole wheat bread as the bottom slice of your sandwich and regular bread as the top layer, before gradually make the switch to whole grains.

So instead of instant white rice, switch to instant brown rice. Instead of regular pasta, switch to whole wheat pasta. Similarly, whole wheat pitas instead of regular, whole wheat burritos instead of corn, whole wheat couscous instead of regular. Within two months, you should be eating only whole grains, and should have increased your daily fibre consumption by an easy 10 grams without radically changing your diet!

Bam! You just got 7.5 grams of fibre in a tasty package. Lay some spinach leaves and a tomato slice atop for another couple of grams.

They’re packed with fibre (15 grams in just a cup of black beans) and, since they come canned, so easy to use. Just rinse before using to remove excess sodium. (Learn to spot the signs you’re eating too much salt.) Here are some tips for getting your beans:

Puree a can of cannelloni beans for a tasty dip. Add 2 cloves garlic and a tablespoon each of lemon juice and olive oil to the blender. Use as a dip for veggies and whole grain crackers.

Spread non-fat refried beans on a whole wheat tortilla and sprinkle with chopped chicken and shredded cheese.

Use 1/2 cup black beans and salsa as a filling for your morning omelette.

Make a bean salad with canned black beans, fresh or frozen corn kernels, chopped coriander, chopped onion, and chopped tomato. Drizzle with olive oil and a dash of vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Make your own special chilli pizza. Top a prepared (whole wheat) pizza crust with some kidney beans, shredded cheese, and ground turkey cooked with chilli flavourings.

Start serving edamame (soybeans) as a side dish. You’ll get 4 grams of fibre in 2/3 cup of the sweet legumes, not to mention the cancer-fighting phytonutrients inherent in soy.

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You won’t taste a difference, but you will get some extra fibre, say the nutrition twins, Tammy Lakatos Shames, R.D., and Lyssie Lakatos, R. D. The two are the authors of Fire Up Your Metabolism: 9 Proven Principles for Burning Fat and Losing Weight Forever.

Beetroots are ultra nutritious with virtually no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium, quite a bit of potassium, and 2 grams of fibre. Try roasting whole, peeled beets for 45 minutes, chilling, then dicing into a summer salad.

Bonus: Boosting your fibre intake is an effective home remedy for constipation.

The microwave variety works just fine, but we prefer air-popped popcorn without the oil. Each cup of popcorn delivers 1.2 grams of fibre.

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Throw some flaxseeds, wheat germ, or other high-fibre add-ins into batter

They add crunch to your cookies, muffins, and breads – and loads of fibre.

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