Speaker 1: Oh hello, welcome to healthy Ish, your daily podcast from
Speaker 1: Body and Soul. I hope you are feeling healthy and well.
Speaker 1: I am Felicity Harley. Now, folks, we have some new
Speaker 1: research about fiber and we thought you might be interested
Speaker 1: in it. To share more, I'm joined in the studio
Speaker 1: by clinical nutritionist and best selling author Lee Holmes. She's
Speaker 1: going to fill us in on the research and tell
Speaker 1: us exactly how much fiber we should be eating every
Speaker 1: day and where to get it from. Yes, it's the
Speaker 1: basics today. If you do like what you hear from Lee,
Speaker 1: I know you will listening to Extra Healthy ISHU, where
Speaker 1: she shares her story of overcoming long COVID. You can
Speaker 1: search for that wherever we get podcasts. We welcome to
Speaker 1: healthy Ish.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. It's really exciting to be here. Yeah,
Speaker 2: nice to meet you.
Speaker 1: I've followed you for many years and watched all your
Speaker 1: books pop up.
Speaker 2: How many now eleven?
Speaker 1: Well done, and so it's nice to have you in
Speaker 1: the studio.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: Talking about what might seem a boring topic, but a
Speaker 1: very interesting topic. Well, apparently nearly half of Australians still
Speaker 1: admit to not knowing how much fiber they should be
Speaker 1: eating daily. I am one of those, are you yes,
Speaker 1: tell us about this?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So there was new research conducted by my Fitness Pal
Speaker 3: into fiber and nearly half of Australians do not know
Speaker 3: how much fiber they're eating at all, which kind of
Speaker 3: indicates to us that fiber. We need more nutrition education
Speaker 3: and awareness around fiber. And they don't know, you know,
Speaker 3: what foods have fiber in them and how much fiber
Speaker 3: to have a day.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's a really big thing.
Speaker 1: I have to say. I do know that I'm eating
Speaker 1: enough because I'm obviously regular. That's the sign you're eating enough.
Speaker 2: That is why I signed one of the sub absolutely. Okay,
Speaker 2: so how much should we be eating?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so for an adult in Australia, for women, it's
Speaker 3: about twenty five grams of fiber and for men it's
Speaker 3: about thirty grams of fiber a day. So I think that,
Speaker 3: you know, one of the ways to really ensure that
Speaker 3: you're getting that amount of fiber is looking at nutrition labels,
Speaker 3: you know, reading the pack, checking the fiber contents, looking
Speaker 3: at maybe downloading my fitness Power, which is a great
Speaker 3: nutrition app where you can actually track your macros, you
Speaker 3: can track your nutrition, which is really good.
Speaker 2: Actually, they've got a new gut health.
Speaker 3: Plan on there as well, which is interesting with recipes
Speaker 3: and things like that. Also, maybe it's a bit laborious,
Speaker 3: but keeping a food diary, if you're really into it
Speaker 3: and you really want to know how much fiber you're eating,
Speaker 3: you can do that.
Speaker 1: It's good to keep a diary because even for a week,
Speaker 1: just to give you some idea of well, not just fiber,
Speaker 1: but how much content you're eating or I agree, how
Speaker 1: much fats and.
Speaker 2: Yeah that I totally agree.
Speaker 3: And also on a daily basis, things change so much,
Speaker 3: so looking at it over a week is a really
Speaker 3: good way to look at it, I think, rather than
Speaker 3: just going oh, one day on its own singularly, over
Speaker 3: a week, things spread out and then you can go, okay,
Speaker 3: so I ate more fiber on Tuesday, and I didn't
Speaker 3: do much on Wednesdays, so maybe I'll have a bit
Speaker 3: more on Thursday sort of thing.
Speaker 1: You know, what is other signs that we perhaps aren't
Speaker 1: getting enough that we need more.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so fiber is really linked to gut health, so
Speaker 3: it really really helps you become regular. So if you're
Speaker 3: constipated and things like that. It may mean that you're
Speaker 3: not eating enough fiber. If you're tired after eating, if
Speaker 3: you get bloated, if you get gas, that's a sign
Speaker 3: of a sort of imbalance in your microbiome, so that
Speaker 3: can be from fiber as well.
Speaker 2: Definitely feeling tired as well.
Speaker 3: Fiber is so important for so many things, not just
Speaker 3: gut health, but also weight management because when you're eating fiber,
Speaker 3: you're feeling full and you're not eating as much because
Speaker 3: you're feeling that feeling of fullness, which is good blood
Speaker 3: sugar regulation as well.
Speaker 2: It's really good for that and cholesterol.
Speaker 3: So there are many many things that fiber really helps
Speaker 3: out with.
Speaker 2: Do you how do you keep a track?
Speaker 1: I mean you're a pro of this, I mean, is
Speaker 1: it and perhaps not just fiber but other like protein
Speaker 1: and carbs, And I mean do you I actually innately
Speaker 1: know this?
Speaker 3: No, not really, but I use my fitness power personally.
Speaker 3: I do that every year, and I do check it
Speaker 3: and I do put in my food every day. I'm
Speaker 3: turning fifty seven next month and I hit menopause.
Speaker 2: What and I started to thank you.
Speaker 3: I started to put on a bit of weight and
Speaker 3: it was just menopause weight. And so that's why I
Speaker 3: went to the app to try and put in these
Speaker 3: amount of calories I was eating and just really track
Speaker 3: my macros and eat a little bit more protein because
Speaker 3: that was that actually really helped me as well to
Speaker 3: lose the kind of excess weight that I put on
Speaker 3: during menopause. Yeah, so I find that really helpful. That's
Speaker 3: kind of how I do it.
Speaker 2: That's refreshing to hear.
Speaker 1: Then you know that even someone who is an expert
Speaker 1: in this field and nutrition and knows what they should
Speaker 1: be eating, still you know we still need got it.
Speaker 2: We definitely do. We one hundred percent for sure.
Speaker 1: So talk to us about some of the foods we
Speaker 1: should be eating.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so some of the foods that we should be
Speaker 3: eating are things like fruits with the peel on, so apples,
Speaker 3: berries are really good things like that. Veggies we all
Speaker 3: know veggies are really important for five but keeping that
Speaker 3: skin on as well is really helpful.
Speaker 2: But other things like.
Speaker 3: Lentils and dull and beans and good good sort of
Speaker 3: grains as well.
Speaker 2: Brown rice is really good those kinds of things.
Speaker 3: Cooked and cooled rice is a good predigested sort of
Speaker 3: fiber which is really good for you as well, nuts
Speaker 3: and seeds. So in the morning, so it's winter in Australia,
Speaker 3: now you're having a bowl of porridge with oats and
Speaker 3: then you put some cheer seeds on top.
Speaker 2: That's a really good source of fiber.
Speaker 1: Actually, I have to say I started adding a teaspoon
Speaker 1: of cheese seeds to my breakfast probably about a year ago. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I really noticed the difference in how regular I
Speaker 1: became like it was just such an easy thing to do.
Speaker 1: And now I sneak it onto my kid's breakfast when
Speaker 1: they're not looking.
Speaker 2: I just call it the magic dust, the magic dust.
Speaker 1: And then but now one of my kids is too
Speaker 1: smart for you say, oh, my magic dust makes it
Speaker 1: taste terrible.
Speaker 2: Oh really.
Speaker 3: There's black seeds as well, which I really like in
Speaker 3: the hot seed meal that you can put on and
Speaker 3: into smoothies as well. And black seeds are really iron fiber,
Speaker 3: So that's another thing you could do.
Speaker 1: It's just went back to the veggies and keeping the
Speaker 1: skin on. Do you keep the skin on carrots? Like,
Speaker 1: how do you do that?
Speaker 3: I actually do when I have a smoothie, so I
Speaker 3: just throw the whole thing in.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm lazy, but I do just kind of.
Speaker 1: Throw it because the nutrients are in the skin.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of.
Speaker 3: Them are in the fiber. The fu content is also
Speaker 3: in the skin.
Speaker 2: So that's what I do.
Speaker 3: And when you're doing say a stir fry, if you're
Speaker 3: doing zacchini and things like that, you can just leave
Speaker 3: that on. And then with broccoli you can use the
Speaker 3: stalks in a stir fry as well. If you're doing
Speaker 3: something like that, Yes, low cooking, I generally pile in
Speaker 3: some sweet potato.
Speaker 2: I usually can d and keep the skin on, you know. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's how I do it.
Speaker 1: Why do we struggle so much with getting fiber into
Speaker 1: our diet.
Speaker 3: I think it's something that we don't really think about it, Like,
Speaker 3: it's not really a macro macro Like it's not like
Speaker 3: carbs or fats that we think about or protein. It's
Speaker 3: just one of those things that we don't really talk about.
Speaker 3: We don't really talk about gut health, do we your
Speaker 3: bowel movement so much. It is still a little bit
Speaker 3: of one of the things that we don't really talk
Speaker 3: about much. So I think maybe, but there's so much
Speaker 3: new research now around fiber and how important it is
Speaker 3: for overall health. And the gut is the engine room,
Speaker 3: So if you start there, you're going to feel a
Speaker 3: lot better if you're making changes there.
Speaker 1: I think, how do you know if you're eating too much?
Speaker 3: I think if you're eating too much, you could get
Speaker 3: a bit of bloating. With too much you know, cruciferous
Speaker 3: vege and things like that, and lots of veg, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, and lots of dial you can
Speaker 3: get a bit bloated. So I think balance is key
Speaker 3: with everything, you know.
Speaker 1: I went to a funeral on Monday. It was my
Speaker 1: Auntie's mother, so my AUNTI my marriage and gladys Inn
Speaker 1: was was one hundred and four point eight. Wow, yes,
Speaker 1: wow her and she was very health conscious and I
Speaker 1: probably didn't appreciate that till to the funeral and all
Speaker 1: the grandkids and great grandkids got up and spoke. But
Speaker 1: her biggest health edit was just simplicity. Yes, yeah, just
Speaker 1: simple eating.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I suppose often that's lost in our wellness obsessed society. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's coming back to simplicity, I agree.
Speaker 3: And with wellness, do you notice this that it's all
Speaker 3: about the new and the words you can't pronounce and
Speaker 3: the ingredients from the congo and all of that, you know,
Speaker 3: that sort of stuff. And I think going back to
Speaker 3: real food and traditional sort of cooking methods and simple
Speaker 3: things is really good. My grandmother was also well actually
Speaker 3: one hundred and three when she would it, and her
Speaker 3: whole thing was about humor. She's like, just enjoy yourself
Speaker 3: and have a bit of humor, and you know, balance
Speaker 3: is key and that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: she was also in balance all the way. And five
Speaker 3: might be boring, but yeah, it's a necessity. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on healthy Ish, Thank you for
Speaker 1: having me well, my friends, no excuses get into more
Speaker 1: fiber today. And by the way, Lee does have a
Speaker 1: new book out. It is called Nature's Way Too Healing.
Speaker 1: It is all about her dare I say, Journey of
Speaker 1: healing from suffering from long COVID. If you do enjoy
Speaker 1: this chat with Lee, jump on tell us rate and
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