Contest: How do you get more fibre in your diet?

However unsexy it may be, we all know that fibre is good for us. Low fibre consumption can lead to all sorts of unpleasantness, and not just constipation (as nasty as that is): eating enough fibre can also lower your risk of certain kinds of cancer.

So how much should we eat? In a recent article we published on foods for a healthy gut, gastroenterologist Dr. Cynthia Yoshida recommends aiming for 20 to 25 grams of fibre a day. Reading food labels is a good start’for instance, when comparing nutrition labels on bread, aim for the highest amount of fibre per slice’but really, it’s the food without labels that will really help your intake. That means plenty of fruits and vegetables and whole grains. For instance, check out these high-fibre picks:

‘ 1 cup (250 mL) cooked whole-wheat spaghetti: 4.8 g
‘ 1/2 cup (125 mL) edamame: 4.3 g
‘ 1 pear with skin: 5 g
‘ 1/2 avocado: 6.7 g
‘ 1/2 cup (125 mL) blackberries: 4 g
‘ 175 mL canned baked beans: 7.7 g
‘ 60 mL almonds: 4.2 g
‘ 1 Tbsp (15 mL) flaxseeds: 3 g

Who knew avocados were so high in fibre?

I use a few different strategies to keep my fibre intake high enough’some of which overlap with strategies for eating enough fruits and vegetables. For instance, I try to always have some fruit (or even vegetables) with breakfast, which makes a big dent in my daily goal. And when I buy cereal, I always choose varieties that are packed with whole grains’and therefore fibre. Today, for instance, I had plain yogurt mixed with a sliced banana, some blackberries and raspberries (frozen and thawed), and some whole-grain granola. That’s about 6 grams of fibre just for the fruit!

Now I want to know: How do you make sure you’re getting enough fibre? Are there any switches you make in your meals to increase the fibre content?

As an incentive, we’re offering a great prize courtesy of CharcoCaps Activated Charcoal Dietary Supplement’they’ll help balance out your bean intake! Just enter your tip in the comments below by Monday, March 29 at 11:59 pm EDT and we’ll pick one lucky winner to receive two boxes of CharcoCaps (click here for full contest rules.) Make sure to send this blog post on to your friends so they have a chance to win, too!