Diet is a key factor in our overall health and wellbeing with certain foods known to be worse for us or better for us than others. Eating too much of some types of food can even raise your risk for dangerous conditions like high cholesterol or high blood pressure.
It can seem daunting to make big changes to your diet in order to boost your health.
However, an expert has shared one simple change we could all make that could have a large impact.
Nutritional scientist Tim Spector revealed that eating just a tiny amount of extra fibre daily could reduce the risk of early death.
It could even lower your chances of diabetes, stroke, heart disease and multiple cancers, he said.
But speaking on his Instagram page, Professor Spector said that up to 95 percent of people don’t get enough fibre.
Prof Spector, who founded the Zoe health app, explained: “We will need more fibre. In the US and the UK around 90 to 95 percent of us are lacking in fibre. And we know this is so important for not only our gut health, but also our heart health.
“Just five grams of fibre extra has been shown to reduce your risk of early death by 14 percent.”
He shared some easy ways to up your fibre intake. One such method is to add fruit to your breakfast.
“So you’ve got these bowls,” Prof Spector said. “Each of these has five grams just in whole grain pasta here.
“In any sort of berries, particularly in raspberries, packed with fibre – five grams here.
“Then the humble pear has six grams of fibre, much more than bananas.
“Avocado, just half an avocado, has six grams, as does my good friend fermented soy tempeh and you can slice that in small amounts.
“Even a tiny little slice of rye bread has four grams.
“So put all this together. You’ve got about 40 grams of fibre.
“These are some very simple tips, inexpensive ways to increase the fibre in your diet and improve your health and your gut health.”
The NHS recommended level is around 30 grams of fibre a day.
Captioning his post, Prof Spector continued: “The lack of fibre in our modern diets is thought to be a driver of human gut microbiome depletion and an associated increase in disease.
“Studies have linked eating more fibre with a reduction in your risk of diabetes, stroke, heart disease and multiple cancers.
“A recent review from the World Health Organisation found that an additional five grams of fibre every day could reduce your risk of premature mortality by around 14 percent.”
To get more fibre in your diet, the NHS recommends:
- Choose a higher-fibre breakfast cereal – plain wholewheat biscuits, plain shredded whole grain or porridge as oats
- Go for wholemeal or granary breads
- Choose wholegrains like wholewheat pasta, bulgur wheat or brown rice.
- Go for potatoes with their skins on
- Add pulses like beans, lentils or chickpeas to stews, curries and salads
- Include plenty of vegetables with meals
- Have some fresh or dried fruit, or fruit canned in natural juice for dessert
- For snacks, try fresh fruit, vegetable sticks, rye crackers, oatcakes and unsalted nuts or seeds.