Bloated, Sluggish and Uncomfortable? You Might Just Need More Fibre
Hardly anyone comes to me saying they think they need more fibre.
What they tell me is that they feel bloated, heavy after meals, or sluggish in a way they can't quite put their finger on. Uncomfortable, but not sure why.
Usually it gets put down to stress, poor sleep or getting older, and sometimes that's right. But quite often there's a simpler explanation underneath, and it's one of the easier ones to do something about.
It's not how much fibre. It's how many kinds.
The NHMRC recommends 25 grams of fibre a day for women and 30 grams for men. To help reduce chronic disease risk, the suggested target is higher again, at 28 and 38 grams.
On average, Australian women eat around 21 grams a day and men around 25. So most of us are only a few grams short.
But the total is only part of the picture. The variety of fibre you eat matters too.
Different fibres do different jobs, and they work better together than any one does on its own. So you can reach a decent total and still be missing something.
And for one type of fibre in particular, the shortfall is much bigger.
The three kinds, and what each one does
Fibre isn't a single substance. It's a group of different compounds, and they behave quite differently once they reach your gut.
Soluble fibre dissolves in water and forms a gel. That gel slows digestion, so sugar is released into your blood more steadily rather than all at once. It also binds to cholesterol in the gut and helps carry it out of the body. You'll find it in oats, barley, beans and lentils, psyllium husk, and some fruits like apples and berries.
Insoluble fibre doesn't dissolve. It passes through mostly intact, adding bulk and drawing in water, which helps keep things moving. Good sources include wholewheat products, wheat bran, nuts, seeds, brown rice and the skins of fruit and vegetables. It's what people usually mean by roughage.
Resistant starch is the one most people haven't heard of. It's a starch your enzymes can't break down in the small intestine, so it travels on to the colon intact. Your colon, or large intestine, is home to trillions of bacteria that feed on what you can't digest. So resistant starch isn't so much feeding you as feeding them.
When resistant starch and some soluble fibres reach those bacteria, they ferment them and produce short-chain fatty acids, which nourish the cells lining your colon. This is what sits behind most of what you hear about gut health.
Resistant starch also isn't fixed. Cooking a starchy food and then letting it cool increases the amount, because as the starch cools its molecules rearrange into a structure your digestive enzymes find hard to break down. That's why cooled rice and potatoes behave differently from hot ones.
This is the type of fibre Australians are really short on. CSIRO research puts average intake at around 3 to 9 grams a day, against a recommended 15 to 20 grams. That's roughly a quarter of what we need, and women tend to eat less than men. Compare that with being a few grams short on total fibre and you can see where the real gap is.
Those two figures can look contradictory until you consider where most of our fibre comes from. It's mainly wheat and wholegrains, which are largely insoluble. So we're close on the total but a long way off on the mix.
That's why cooking and cooling our sprouted legumes works so well. You get easier digestion, better nutrient absorption and a good dose of prebiotic resistant starch to feed your gut microbiome.
Three types of fibre, each with its own job. That's why simply eating more fibre isn't always enough on its own. The kind matters too.
Can you just take a supplement?
There are plenty of fibre supplements around, and they do have some value. But it's worth looking at the numbers before you buy one.
A typical fibre gummy gives you around 4 grams per serve. Against a daily target of 25 grams, that doesn't go very far.
It's also worth thinking about what you're getting. Psyllium husk, for example, is a good source of soluble fibre, but on its own it gives you just one type. Whole foods give you a mix, in their natural proportions, along with the protein and minerals that come with them. Our gut bacteria evolved on food, not extracts.
Supplements can be useful for people who really can't get enough fibre from food. For most of us, though, eating more fibre-rich food is the simpler answer.
What closing the gap actually looks like
Fibre shouldn't be something you have to brace yourself for, which is why every legume we use is activated and sprouted before it's cooked.
Most people need around four to seven grams more fibre a day than they're getting, and a lot more resistant starch. One good addition to your day can make a real difference, without having to change everything.
Legumes are one of the most efficient ways to do it. Here's how much fibre a serve of each of our meals contains:
Kala Channa — 15.8g of fibre per 350mL serve
Bean Curry — 13.6g
Masoor Dhal — 10.4g
Moong Dhal — 9.0g
Tofu Stew — 8.0g
Palak Tofu — 6.0g
So one meal gives you somewhere between a quarter and two thirds of a woman's daily adequate intake, which is far more than a supplement.
One word of caution: if you haven't been eating much fibre, increase it gradually and drink plenty of water. Going too fast can cause the very bloating you're trying to fix. Your gut bacteria need a few weeks to adjust.
How long until you notice?
Digestive changes usually show up within a few days to a week. The shift in your microbiome takes longer, a few weeks of eating differently before things settle.
It helps to know that going in, because a lot of people try something for four days and decide it hasn't worked.
Feeling bloated, sluggish or uncomfortable rarely comes down to one thing. But if you've been putting it down to stress, sleep or age, fibre is a good place to start looking.