Eat...like me! The fibre challenge...

This week at work was our employee fibre challenge as part of our ongoing employee wellness program...we challenged everyone to meet their minimum recommended fibre intake (25 grams for women, 38 grams for men) with only whole foods - no fibre supplement bars or metamucil. The average Canadian eats only 14 grams of fibre, generally because we eat too many nasty processed foods...but it can be really easy to get what you need.


I thought I would take a photo log of what I ate this Tuesday. It is a pretty honest "real world" day - I had a terrible selection of food in my fridge and barely any fruit and veg because I needed to go grocery shopping and I spent the last half of the day out (and didn't grocery shop)...but at least I still managed to get my minimum 25 grams of fibre and pull off a not too bad day!


Breakfast: 1 small mango, 3/4 cup of Liberte Apple Pie Yogurt (no artificial sweeteners or stabilizers...good stuff!), 1/3 cup of Kellogg's All Bran Buds with Psyllium. 13 grams fibre total.

Lunch: leftover whole wheat pasta (1/4 box), made with lots of garlic, chili flakes, parmesan, olive oil and butter. A cup of Numi Emperor's Puerh tea. I ate this at 10:00AM because I was starved and didn't want the snack I brought. 8 grams fibre total.

Snack: which I ate at about 12:30....carrots and hummus...I definitely would have brought more to snack on if there was more in my fridge :) About 2 grams of fibre.

On the road...on my way to a meeting at 3:30 and absolutely starving (surprise, surprise!) so stopped at Starbucks for a banana chocolate Vivanno. I feel like this is a slightly healthier bevvie than average because I can actually watch them put in the real milk and whole banana. Also, it is way less sweet than their other varieties. 6 grams of fibre.


Dinner: out with family at Nuba, one of my favourite places! Easy place to eat healthy foods...always a challenge to estimate the fibre, etc in restaurant meals but here is my attempt!
Hummus and pita...maybe 4 pieces and 1/2 cup hummus...4 grams fibre...and one piece of the heavenly haloumi...no fibre...just yummy :)

Next came my fruit and nut salad...and my falafel...roughly 6 grams fibre...mostly from the falafel and dried fruit in the salad.

I also had a couple of bitefuls of the amazing cardamom creme brulee...just a couple as I was stuffed!

Grand total for the day? 39 grams fibre and I also managed to eat my minimum servings of fruit and veg too...If you are wondering how I figure out the fibre in foods, our lovely government provides a database where you can look up detailed nutritional information for almost any food...called the Canadian Nutrient File. Here is the link! http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/fiche-nutri-data/index-eng.php 

Happy Spring,

Desiree