If you are following a gluten free diet you may already know that many gluten free foods are often low in fibre. This is because they tend to be highly processed and made from refined starches, which have lost the majority of their fibre content. Fibre is important to help keep things moving through our digestive tract and can also keep the cells in our digestive tract healthy. For those of us eating gluten free for medical reasons such as coeliac disease or gluten sensitivity, there isn’t any other option. However, there is no need to worry because today we give you our top tips for getting enough fibre on a gluten free diet.
1. Use a high fibre flour mix
The store-bought gluten free flours tend to be made up of highly refined, low fibre starches such as corn starch and rice flour. Some great high-fibre flours that are also gluten free include quinoa flour, buckwheat flour, almond meal or teff flour. You could try using half plain gluten free flour and half high fibre gluten free flour of your choice. Each gluten free flour has different properties when it comes to cooking, so you may need to play around with the ratios to get your textures right. Alternatively, you could give our low FODMAP gluten free flour mix a try!
2. Eat lots of whole fruit and veggies
Fruit and vegetables are a great source of fibre and are naturally gluten free. An easy way to increase your fibre intake on a gluten free diet is to make sure you’re eating lots of whole fruit and vegetables with your meals. Fruit and vegetable juices tend to have most of the fibre removed so try to drink these only sometimes. Check out our top 5 ways to eat low FODMAP fruit for some ideas to mix up your fruit intake.
3. Choose high fibre snacks
A great way to increase your fibre intake is to consume high fibre snacks, as well as fibre in your meals. Some of our favourite high fibre gluten free snacks include:
- A handful of nuts and seeds
- Fruit (you could even try topping it with some peanut butter)
- Veggie sticks with dip
- Popcorn
4. Choose high fibre gluten free grains where possible
Our last tip for getting enough fibre on a gluten free diet is to choose high fibre gluten free grains where possible. This includes simple swaps such as choosing brown rice, quinoa or buckwheat instead of white rice. When choosing a gluten free pasta, opt for those made from legumes or grains such as buckwheat over those made from plain corn or rice. This means you can increase your fibre intake with little variation to the foods you would normally eat.
Remember to increase your fibre intake gradually and drink plenty of water to avoid unpleasant gut symptoms.