26 painless ways to add more fibre to your diet

Eating baked potatoes with the skin instead of mashed ups the fibre at least 3 grams (depending on the size of the potato).

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Not only will it add fibre, but with a low-calorie vinaigrette dressing, it will partially fill you up with very few kilojoules, and thus offers great benefits in weight loss or weight control.

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Not only do they add fibre, but they also reduce kilojoules.

Try classic simple entrees such as pasta e Fagioli, bean burritos, lentil soup.

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Tasty, chewy, satisfying, easy to eat on the go – and loaded with fibre. Try dried apricots, dates, figs, peaches, pears, and bananas.

Make your own smoothies by blending whole fruits (cut out the big seeds). If everything in the fruit goes into your glass, you’ll get the fibre from the edible peel, often missing from fruit juice.

You need water to help the fibre pass through your digestive system without getting, ahem, stuck. So as you’re increasing the fibre in your diet, also increase the amount of water or other unsweetened beverages you’re getting. (Find out what happens to your body when you start drinking eight glasses of water a day.) Also, don’t up your fibre load all at once. That’s just going to overwhelm your system, leading to gas, bloating and constipation. Instead, start slowly. Try one tip a week for the first couple of weeks, then two, then three. By week four or five, you should be up to the full 25-30 grams – or more.

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Source: RD.com