Let’s go back and understand what really is fibre?
Fibre is the indigestible parts of plant foods, such as vegetables, fruits, grains, beans and legumes. It is type of a carbohydrate that helps keep our digestive systems healthy. It is very important for our digestive health and regular bowel movements.
Some of the benefits of consuming fibrous foods are:
o It helps to slow the emptying process in our stomachs, which helps you feel fuller.
o It controls the cholesterol level and assists in lowering it.
o It ensures there is no insulin spike and stabilises your blood glucose levels.
o It supports regular bowel movements by continuously absorbing water
o It helps in production of good bacteria and improves overall bowel health.
o It assists in preventing some diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, heart disease and bowel cancer.
Some of the good source of fibre are found in fruits & vegetables (especially skin), oats, barley, legumes, wholegrain breads, cereals, nuts, seeds, wheat bran, yoghurt.
Be careful with not loading your diet with starchy fibrous foods such as pasta, potato, rice, underripe bananas as they are high in carbohydrates and fats.
It is recommended that Males above 18 years should consume upto 30g per day and Females upto 25g per day.
How to increase your consumption?
Apart of course from your daily consumption of my day blend smoothies, here are our tips for filling up with fibre:
1. We Consume More Seeds and Oilseeds
Consider adding chia / flax seeds or nuts to your yogurts or salads to enrich them with fibre but also with good fats (omega 3).
Did you know? We use a lot of seeds (chia, flax, hemp, squash) and oilseeds (almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios) that we activate by soaking them, which maximizes the absorption of their nutrients.
2. Starchy Foods Are Replaced by Legumes (Or Pulses)
Still little consumed, they are however particularly rich in fibres: beans (black, red, white), lentils (brown, green, yellow), peas (chick, split), broad beans
Did you know? It is quite possible to use legumes in smoothies, especially chickpeas. But it is more common for soups.
3. We Strongly Recommend Raw Vegetables
Once cooked, vegetables can lose up to half of their fibre content.
Did you know? Many of the vegetables used in our smoothies are raw (Carrots, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Baby Spinach, Kale).
4. We Eat Fresh (Or Frozen) Fruits with Their Skin On
All fruits contain crude fibres and their concentration is particularly high in their skin.
Did you know? frozen fruits and vegetables often have more vitamins and minerals than fresh ones. Freezing at harvest allows all nutrients to be retained until their consumption.
5. We Start Our Day with A Breakfast Rich in Fibre!
It's easy to get half of your recommended fibre intake for breakfast. So, take a step ahead with breakfasts rich in whole grains, fruits, seeds and nuts: smoothie or smoothie bowl, porridge, chia pudding.
Did you know? Our “breakfast” smoothies contain up to 15g of fibre, or 50% of your recommended intake.
6. We Check The “Fibre” Content on Nutritional Labels
Too often we tend to focus on sugars or saturated fat, but also consider looking at the fibre rate. A high fibre rate (5% +) is generally a good indicator of the nutritional density of a product. For cereal products, we aim for a fibre / carbohydrate ratio of 1/10 or ideally 1/5. Be careful, many products are enriched with fibres which are not as beneficial for the health.
So, take a look at the composition and favour products with whole grains in the first rank of ingredients.
Did you know? All of our smoothies have a fibre / carbohydrate ratio between 25% (1g of fibre for 4g of carbohydrate) and 35% (1g of fibre for 3g of carbohydrate) which is very high.
7. We Go There Gradually and We Think of Drinking A Lot!
Avoid switching too quickly from a diet low in fibre to a diet high in fibre as this may cause constipation and / or abdominal cramps. Also, make sure to hydrate well as fibre needs to mix with water (soluble) or soak up with water (insoluble) to be fully effective.
Did you know? consuming fibre in a drink like smoothie maximizes their effectiveness.
How to Boost Fibre in Your Smoothies?
Considering their fruit content, smoothies are naturally quite high in fibre. It is nevertheless very easy to boost them further by adding:
• Seeds: chia (35%), flax (27%), squash (18%), hemp (12%), sesame (12%)
• Oilseeds: almonds (12%), pistachios (11%), Hazelnuts (10%), Pecans (10%), walnuts (7%),
• Pure cocoa (powder or sparkle): 37% fibre!
• Coconut in flour (39%) or grated (16%)
• Dried fruits: goji berries (13%), dates (7%) Cereals: oat bran (15%) or flakes of oats (11%)
• Superfoods (admittedly we use relatively little but their content is sometimes so high that they still provide a plus): Baobab (54%), Cranberry powder (49%), Maca (40%), Acai (32%), Wheatgrass (29%), Matcha (27%)
• Spices: Cinnamon (53%), Cardamom (28%), Curcuma (23%), Ginger (14%)
