25-35 grams of fiber per day sounds impossible

[FrontlineWarrior]

How do you guys get enough fiber to eat everyday? The guidelines recommend 25-35 grams, which sounds pretty impossible to do on a daily basis. Even fruits and vegetables generally only have 2-3 grams of fiber per serving. I mean I would have to eat 10 oranges everyday, or 2 cups of dried prunes. Even if people ate just vegetables it seems it would be very difficult. And the fiber drinks only give you about 3 grams, which is nothing.

Anyone have any tips?

 

[Whisper]

For fruits: raspberries have a lot of fiber (~8g/cup) comparatively. Pears and apples also have decent amounts (~4-6g/each).

For veggies: artichokes have a good amount of fiber if you can down a medium-sized one (10g each); peas also have a decent amount, as do brocolli and turnip greens.

For grains: whole-wheat pasta will net you around 6g/cup. And all those different bran cereals are of course an option; some can even be sprinkled on top of things like salads.

But the king of fiber, by far, is the bean. You'll generally get 10-15g/cup, depending on the type of bean. Just throw them in pretty much everything you eat, and you'll take care of your fiber needs (and then some) in no time.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

25-35 grams isn't hard at all. Throughout the day, I eat a banana, an apple, 1 cup of peas, 0.4 cup almonds, oatmeal/high fiber cereal, 2 cups salad, and a ton of veggies at dinner. Just from my almonds alone, I get something like 5-7g of fiber. With my peas, I get ~5g. Just with two of my foods, I'm getting over 10g of fiber (not to mention nearly 12g of fiber from my cereal). If you have to supplement, then go for it. Metamucil has 3g of fiber per 1 round tablespoon. There are 72 servings in the one that I have. They anticipate you're going to take 2-4 servings per day. If you take 3 servings, that's nearly 10g added to your diet. It's not so hard. You can also incorporate things like celery, which is nearly all insoluble fiber. Beans are a good option for soluble fiber. Here, I'll give you my list of fiber sources:

Insoluble fiber:
Fiber Cereal
Asparagus
Broccoli
Bell Peppers
Celery
Radishes
Carrots
Anything dense and leafy (lettuce, kale)
Nuts (especially almonds)
All fruits (especially berries)

Soluble fiber:
Peas
Beans
Oatmeal
Cream of Wheat
Any legumes

 

[Geocentricity]

the bread I use for my breakfast sandwich (Arnold's Double Fiber) is 6g per slice. Add in fruit and vegetables throughout the day and hitting 25+ is nothing.

 

[DeckardBlade]

My favorite cereal for fiber is Fiber One Bran (Original):
http://www.generalmills.com/stream_image.aspx?rid=28681

One cup (two servings) is 28g of fiber. My weekdays will normally involve that, an apple, banana, almonds, and a salad throughout the day. I've never really had a problem getting enough fiber.

You could always add Fibersure/Benefiber powder to oatmeal (wouldn't notice a taste/consistency difference imo). Or if you take any protein supplements throughout the day you can easily add some scoops of fiber to that without noticing it.

 

[The Sauce]

I use a scoop of VPX Fiberteq supplement once a day in oatmeal or yogurt. One scoop has 17g of fiber with probiotics.

 

[brikis98]

If your diet consists primarily of whole, unprocessed, "real" foods and has a good balance of fruits, veggies, meats, grains, dairy, etc then it shouldn't be difficult to get enough fiber. I've never made any special effort to increase my fiber intake, but my average day includes ~40g from the food I eat anyway: bananas, raspberries, carrots, peas, lettuce, broccoli, apples, oranges, lentils, brown rice, chickpeas, whole grain breads, whole grain pasta, quinoa, etc. If you're struggling to get enough fiber, it might be a sign that you are eating too much processed/packaged crap (processing often removes all the fiber from foods) or you have an unbalanced diet that doesn't include enough veggies, fruits, etc.

 

[skace]

I agree with overhauling your entire food menu to better suit your needs, but Fiber One products are a good interim solution since they require very little thought on your part. For a year I was eating their snack bars with good success until I didn't really need to supplement my fiber.