3 Fiber-Rich Meal Plans to Support Your Health

The following article was written by Heinen’s Chief Dietitian, Melanie Jatsek RD, LD.

In my post titled Nature’s Blueprint for Healthy Weight Loss, I highlighted many of the benefits of dietary fiber, including weight loss, blood sugar regulation, lowering inflammation, promoting healthy blood vessels, and controlling cholesterol.

If these benefits aren’t enough to make you hop aboard the fiber train, maybe this next piece of evidence will change your mind. Get ready, because it’s a game-changer for weight control.

A 2017 Tufts University study showed that high-fiber foods collect and trap calories that aren’t yet absorbed by the body and carry them out with the body’s waste. In other words, you literally flush them down the toilet! Not only that, but fiber also has appetite-taming and metabolism-boosting effects, making it a double whammy for weight loss!

It’s a good idea to take a personalized approach with your fiber. The amount you start with should be based on how much fiber you eat today. If it’s less than the daily minimum recommendation of 30 grams, the goal is to slowly increase your fiber by 5-gram increments (from whole plant foods) until you hit the target.

Hopefully you took my advice and logged your meals in Cronometer to discover your fiber baseline. If not, I strongly encourage this exercise before choosing one of the plans below to avoid excess gas and bloating.

A few key points before you get started:

1. Each plan has plant-based swaps for those who may be avoiding animal products. This adds a couple more grams of fiber compared to the other option because it substitutes with more plant-based ingredients. Plants = fiber.
2. This is a fiber-focused plan, not a calorie-counting one. Pay attention to your body, and if you feel hungry, adjust your portions to reach a comfortable level of satiety/fullness. Check out the hunger scale in this post to help you rate your level of hunger and fullness during meals.
3. Be sure to drink enough water to help the fiber move along nicely in your digestive tract. This means you may have to drink more water than you do now. Check out this post to learn how much water you should drink each day.

Here are three 3-day fiber-focused meal plans, each designed to help you gradually increase your daily fiber intake.

20-25 Grams of Fiber
– For those currently eating 15 grams or less of fiber daily.

25-30 Grams of Fiber
– For those currently eating 20-25 grams of fiber daily.

30-35 Grams of Fiber
– For those currently eating 25-30 grams of fiber daily.

By Melanie Jatsek RD, LD

Heinen's Chief Dietitian, Melanie Jatsek, RD, LD believes that the answer to a strong, healthy and vibrant body lies within. As a published author with over 26 years of experience in wellness program development, health coaching and professional speaking, Melanie offers expert guidance through Heinen's Club Fx™ program to help customers take inspired action to build the healthy body they were meant to live in without giving up their favorite foods.