Healthy ways of including fibre-rich food in your summer diet

With the arrival of the summer season, it’s essential to focus on maintaining the food diet to keep your body hydrated for overall well-being. Fibrous food aids in digestion, regulating blood sugar levels, improving heart health and help in managing weight. With the seasonal produce during the summer, it helps to include enough fibre in your diet.  

One easy way of including fibre in your food diet during summer is by adding seasonal fruits or refreshing salads. We can add carbohydrate-rich unprocessed foods like rolled oats instead of regular oats, whole wheat bread instead of white bread and brown rice instead of white rice.  

Fibrous food remains in the body for a longer time by adding a bulk of nutrients to the diet. It helps to maintain a healthy weight and controls the blood sugar level, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Foods like vegetables, legumes, lentils, beans, whole grains, millets, nuts and seeds are a rich source of fibre.

Fruits like apples, pears, berries, bananas and guava are high in fibre and can be easily be consumed in the fruit salad or making a smoothie out of it. The best time to consume fruits is either in-between your main meals, mid-morning or on an empty stomach.  One such fibrous fruit is the avocado which contains 6.69 grams in 100 grams of avocado. One can make avocados delicious and colourful by making avocado spreads and having them with sandwiches or using avocado in smoothies and salads.

Include salads in your everyday diet before eating lunch. Non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, celery, cucumber, tomato, cauliflower and mushrooms are relatively lower in calories and is a source of fibre. Chia seeds are packed with healthy fats and protein and are high in fibre. Chia pudding can be made out of it, chia-infused water, for making overnight oats and homemade protein bars or the seeds can be sprinkled over salads or smoothies.

Involving legumes, lentils and peas can meet the requirement of the body’s fibre. Consuming a cup of cooked beans can meet nearly 50% of our daily fibre requirements. White chana or chickpeas can be used to prepare hummus at home. Cucumbers, carrot or beetroot can be added to your toast, wraps and sandwiches.