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5 Ways to Add Fiber to Your Diet

With the kids back to school and schedules filling with activities, sometimes a healthy diet gets pushed to the back burner. Getting enough fiber can become a challenge. We all know fiber is an important part of a healthy diet:

  • Lowers cholesterol levels
  • Helps keep blood sugar in check
  • Helps reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease
  • Keeps the colon happy and us, um…going

Yet many of us get nowhere near the recommended daily amount of fiber. Men should get between 30-38g/day, women should get 20-25g/day. Here are some easy ways to do so:

veggies1

  1. Eat more fruits and veggies. Remember fiber does not come from animal products. But add gradually in order to give your digestive system time to adapt.
  2. Leave the skin on. Don’t peel those apples! You’ll find lots of nutrients and fiber lurking there. My grandma always told me apple and potato peels were “good for your stomach.” She was right! 
  3. Work more fibrous dishes into your weekly rotation. Bean dishes like chili are tasty ways to up your fiber intake. Hummus is great too. 
  4. Don’t forget about nuts. 1/4C of almonds has 4g fiber. They make great travel snacks and are excellent sprinkled on yogurt or veggie dishes. 
  5. Supplement. Use a fiber supplement like Metamucil. I’ll admit I thought it was strange when I was challenged to create a dish using Metamucil. Then it occurred to me: I add psyllium husks to my after-workout protein smoothies all the time. That’s the active ingredient in Metamucil. Just 2 teaspoons gives you 6g of dietary fiber. It’s as simple as mixing some in water. No grittiness and the orange flavor was nice! With fall right around the corner, everyone’s clamoring for something pumpkin. Soooo I messed around in the test kitchen and came up with this:

pumpkin spice smoothie
Pumpkin Spice Protein Smoothie

1C Almond milk (or whatever milk you prefer)
1/2C Pumpkin puree
1/2 Frozen banana
1t Cinnamon
1t Pumpkin pie spice
2t Metamucil orange
1 Scoop vanilla protein powder
1/2C ice (or my secret weapon, coffee ice cubes)
Stevia or maple syrup to taste (optional)

Whip it all up in a blender and enjoy! I promise, you won’t even know the Metamucil is in there.

Get $1 off some Metamucil of your own by signing up for Meijer’s digital coupon program here. Plus I’ve got a $25 Meijer Gift card for one lucky winner

I received samples and a gift card in exchange for review. All opinions are my own. Special thanks to Meijer and Metamucil for sponsoring this post.

Comments

  8. That smoothie sounds delish! YUM! We have metamucil on the kitchen counter – my hubby takes it every day and it has really helped lower his cholesterol. He will like the smoothie idea!

  9. Fiber is just no problem for us, on a mostly unrefined plant-based diet we get easily twice as much as the recommended minumum. Never have used psyllium husks in my cooking yet but they are on the to-do list, I have bought some and have a GF cracker recipe in mind that has the husks as an ingredient.

  23. I swear my smoothies are on EVERYTHING overload. I put anything I can fit into a glass into my smoothies. This will just add another thing to it 🙂 Thanks for the suggestion!

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