Fibre swap
We’ve all heard of fibre and know it helps to keep us regular, but most of us don’t really know why it’s important for a healthy diet or where to find it in food.
Foods containing lots of fibre fill us up for longer, so we’re much less likely to overeat.
Fibre is found in fruit and veg – where possible eat the skin as well to get even more fibre, for example apples and potatoes.
Top tips - easy ways to add fibre to snacks and meals
Snack fibre swaps
- Try snacking on a small handful of unsalted nuts and seeds.
- Or dip some carrot or cucumber sticks in reduced fat hummus – it’ll up your fibre and the veg contributes towards your 5 A DAY.
- And you don’t have to go without cake in order to eat more fibre!
Breakfast fibre swaps
Not only does eating breakfast help keep your energy up at the start of the day, it’s a good chance to add some fibre to your diet.
- Increase your fibre by swapping white bread for wholemeal or wholegrain toast.
- Swap sugary cereals for high fibre cereals e.g. bran flakes, unsweetened muesli, or porridge oats (watch out for added sugar!).
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Lunch and dinner fibre swaps
- Swap white rice and pasta for wholemeal versions - simply doing this can double the amount of fibre you’ve eaten. Just like white bread, white pasta and rice have had the fibre stripped out.
- Get some pulses into your meals, like lentils or beans. Swap lasagne for chilli con carne - it contains red kidney beans. Or try adding lentils or beans to stews.
- You could add some baked beans to your baked potato (and if you keep the skin on your baked potato that adds to your fibre intake too).
- Fibre is found in vegetables so try swapping some of the other things on your plate for more veg. Aim for half your plate to be veg at dinner (which also counts towards your 5 A DAY).
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