Did you know that for every meal you eat you should be going? For most people that means you should be going 3 times a day. I'm still working on it despite my wonderful diet, but then mine are and have always been a bit sluggish (except when I was all raw and then it was too much!). I know TMI! But us Natural Healer/Herbalists are not shy about such things. :)
Here's how Neal Barnard tells us how to check if we are getting enough fiber (from his book The Reverse Diabetes Diet).
Write down everything you've eaten in a day. Here's a sample of the chart:
Food Fiber
____________________ _______
____________________ _______
etc
Total _______
And here's how you calculate it :
Beans:
for each serving of beans or lentils (1 serving = 115g/4 oz) or any food that includes about this amount of beans/lentils as an ingredient give yourself a 7.
a 240 ml/8 fl oz of soya milk or 90 g/3 oz of tofu rates a 3.
Vegetables:
For each serving of vegetables (1 serving - approx 140 g/5 oz or a good handful) give yourself a 4.
Lettuce only scores a 2
A Potato with skin scores a 4, without skin = 2
Fruit
For each medium piece of fruit (e.g. an apple, orange or banana; a banana smoothie) = 3
For 240 ml/ 8 fl oz juice = 1
Grains
For each piece of white bread, bagel or equivalent = 1
Wholemeal Bread = 2
140 g/ 5 oz cooked pasta = 2
170 g/ 6 oz serving of rice = 1
170 g/ 6 oz brown rice = 3
125b / 4 1/2 oz cooked oats = 4
Ready-to-eat cereals = 3
Highly processed cereals = 1
Bran = 8
How to interpret your score
Add all your figures up.
Less than 20 : surprise, you need more fiber in your diet. Your appetite will be hard to control and you may have occasional constipation. Adding more fiber will help control your appetite and cut your risk of many health problems.
20-39: Well you're doing better than the average person, but you still need more fiber in your diet. You'll find it makes foods more satisfying and cuts your calorie intake a bit too.
40 or more: Well done! You are getting plenty of healthy fiber in your diet that will help to control y our appetite and keep you healthy.