275: The Ultimate Guide To Fibre

Introduction to Fiber

0:00hello how the heck are you welcome to slimming world podcast my name is claire and with me today as always uh is i was trying to think of a word other than delightful because i feel like i've used that a lot the um always enthusiastic spiffingly uh knowledgeable anna mangan

0:36spiffingly really underused word really i think that should be the word of 2026

0:44that's not an official slimming world statement just to clarify yeah it should be no we need things like fabulous and gorgeous for slimming world don't we um okay a subject which maybe you're like what are they on about now fiber maybe you've heard about it maybe you haven't maybe you're in the majority of people who are like i've i've heard there's something about fiber but i don't really understand what it is what type of food it's in and actually why do i even

1:16need it well this is going to be a great episode and maybe you've been doing slimming world for a while or maybe you've never done slimming world at all this is really helpful in kind of showing you beyond the kind of food optimizing plan what's going on behind the scenes in terms of the expertise behind why slimming world has been going for way over 50 years um and actually anna we recapped in the last couple of weeks about some of the um the updates uh some of the changes that similar world has made

1:49i was really intrigued when i opened my brand new member pack to see uh the symbol w this is a very exciting addition but what is it oh it's brilliant it's uh sounds for whole grains and they are really brilliant at filling you up but they have so many like health benefits they're a powerhouse because they are um really full of fiber but also things like vitamin b vitamin e and protein but one of my favorite things is they can help lower your cholesterol levels so get a really good one to look out for

2:22a beautiful new w symbol and you'll find it next to things like whole grain pasta um white brown rice stuff like that loads and loads of them in your free food section love that and also a couple of other updates that you may have noticed uh if you get your slimming world kitchen um box as well it's a recipe box which you can have delivered to your house which pretty much has everything you need for food optimizing you don't have to be a member and check that out that's also included some information

2:52about fiber in it and plant points and also uh on the summer world food range we'll recap a little bit more of that in a moment but just thought we'd kind of keep you in the loop of what's happening and

Understanding Fiber

3:05what's new in the slimming world land um so fiber then whenever we speak about fiber anna there's only one person we hit speed dial on for fiber right yeah mrs fiber she is in my in my phone book now

3:23oh dear right alex clark registered nutrition with the slimming world team it's lovely to have you back alex how are you oh i'm good thank you thank you so much for having me again i mean we joke that you are mrs fiber you have many other strings to your bow um but we've had you on the podcast previously uh talking about gut health um that's an episode that people may want to check out in the back catalog but you've been um kind of de-busting a few myths i suppose around fiber and also just

3:55helping raise the profile i guess of why it's important i mean i guess people are kind of asking the the question of well what what is it and what is fiber actually in is that a good place for us to start that's a great place for us to start but i think you know we hear about fiber quite a lot you know this isn't it's not a new thing it's been around forever we've always known it's really good for us um it's probably had a bit less attention than some of the other nutrients um even though it's so important um so basically fiber it's a type of carbohydrate that's found in plant foods and it's

4:32just it's not digested in the same way that other foods are um but because of that it can sort of um get digested in your gut in a different way and it's really good for gut health it keeps everything moving and it has we're finding out more and more all of the different health benefits it can have and how it can impact um and obviously really you know what we're really excited about is it fills us up so you can have a lovely filling tasty meal um you get plenty of fiber in there and if it fills you up that means it can help support your weight loss as well i suppose the key thing really to say is that

5:08with the food optimizing plan like it already has you covered when it comes to fiber is have i got that right absolutely yeah i think yeah we've had you know talked about the w symbol that's a new thing we've added we've had the f symbol next to all those high fiber foods um for so long now i can't remember when we didn't have it really um because yeah food optimizing just naturally supports a higher fiber diet because we know it's so good for health we know it's so good for weight loss um you know it's in all those foods that are yeah just have so many other health benefits as well so your fruit and vegetables

5:44your whole grains and nuts and seeds you know there's so many different foods that contain fiber that as well as the fiber contain loads of other nutrients as well well see i mean the thing is i don't know about you anna but ever since i heard about this fiber thing and i got switched on i'm now when i go shopping i'm like looking at my usual loaf of bread you know when you just always go for the same loaf of bread and you just grab it put it in your shopping basket don't think about it i'm now picking up and like looking on the back like oh i wonder how much fiber is in it back of cereal packets

6:18you know do you keep the skins on your potatoes or do you peel them i mean if for that that for me it feels like just i don't know just a different way of thinking about food do you find that you know for i guess the members who aren't necessarily as sciency or geeky as me maybe that that's that's kind of some of the the light bulb moments that they're having too what i see is that we don't a lot of us have not had education in this way about food and coming to slimming world and learning to food

6:49optimize or educates us doesn't it about why we need these things and what they do and when you know and when you realize that things like fiber you know they're only going to fool you up for long periods of time but they they're such superheroes aren't they i see members like right i've got to get more of this in because actually if i eat more of this i'll be fuller or do you know what i have got a cholesterol that's slightly higher how can i help reduce it knowing and understanding what food does for you then gives you the power doesn't it and that's why i see people like totally rolled over by actually there's so much research done into this and they don't have to do the thinking they just have

7:23to do the eating that's what i love watching people just going all right okay i get it but also if they're like you and me where we like to know why you can then see people going on a mission like i check labels on food in a way i've never used to check them like i just pick it up it looked pretty i liked it but now i want to know what the food's got in it what's it going to do for me and that has come from slimming world it really really has yeah i mean it's just worth talking about health isn't it

Fiber and Health

7:50alex because anna's mentioned there about cholesterol we know that people will come to slimming worlds who may have um heart disease um high blood pressure there could all be all kinds of different health conditions that people are are kind of dealing with at the moment but how does fiber support your health yeah like you say you know you've already touched on a few of some really key ones um in so many ways it's you know and it's it's eating plenty of fiber is associated with a reduced risk of conditions like heart disease type 2 diabetes um bowel cancer and things like that

8:26because it's keeping everything moving through your gut so there's less time for you know some of the bad stuff to sort of interact with your gut everything's moving through as it should um you know and you mentioned there about cholesterol fibers got a really um useful role in sort of capturing any excess cholesterol and again helping to remove it is basically it does a good job of clearing you out i suppose keeping all that good stuff around clearing up what we want less of um from the point of diabetes as well and especially type 2 like preventing type 2 diabetes it can help

8:59keep our blood sugars more steady so because you've got that fiber in the food it makes it harder to break down it takes longer to digest but because of that the carbohydrates are slowly released into the bloodstream so so your blood sugars are kept at a steady rate so again it's looking after um so many different health markers really your blood sugars your blood cholesterol um and there's just you know there's that's just the tip of the iceberg i think i think there's so much more research going on into fiber into gut health it's such a huge topic right now i think we're just finding more and more

9:32things out about how good this is as a nutrient for us and i'm sure there's going to be more on the horizon as well and you know what's really almost as me looking as a member but also as a consultant like it's not we know that food optimizing is such an amazing umbrella for so many of us that have different health conditions like to eat in different ways and there's such a rich abundance of things like free foods with our healthy extras the way i consume my fiber might be totally different to the way claire does but because there's so much choice different eating styles different health

10:05conditions there's something for everyone with fiber isn't there there's there's so many different ways to get it in if you like absolutely yeah and actually that's a really good point there's so many different types of fiber as well um so you might have heard like soluble fiber insoluble fiber um it comes in like you say it comes in such a range of foods and actually enjoying a variety of food means you're getting different types of fibers as well so it's really you know that very diet that you can absolutely get when you're food optimizing that's really helpful to get all those different types of fiber in and i think again that links to health conditions like you

10:36say anna because some of us might tolerate some types of fiber better than others or might just prefer certain foods over others as well but there's so such a broad range of foods that contain it you can absolutely you know make it work for you find the fiber types and foods that work for you love that now with the burning question claire i don't know if you all like thinking it but i know my members think it and i think it so why does it support weight loss is it because it fills you up like what what's the case tell us the the internal it's it's that yes it basically it helps you

11:10keep you full keep you satisfied so fiber um rich foods it adds bulk to the foods and it takes more chewing you'll notice that if you're eating you know white bread compared to wholemeal bread takes that little bit of extra chewing which is it can be you know quite pleasant you know it's got some extra bite to it um that extra chewing um helps slow down digestion it helps um trigger all those sort of appetite satisfying hormones as well so that your brain's like okay we're eating here it helps you regulate your appetite better um and it also because it's slowing down digestion

11:44basically as you know as i mentioned your meals stick around that bit longer as well it takes you a bit longer to digest a bit longer for all the you know the carbohydrates to be released into your bloodstream and in that way it helps to satisfy your appetite and naturally reduce your calorie intake because it's filling you up um more so than potentially a lower fiber food would and that's how it helps support weight loss with wow satisfying appetite without going hungry wow gosh spectacular innit i feel like fiber needs a medal like come on mate this is good stuff isn't it like

12:19really the thing is everybody talks about protein right it feels like you cannot go anywhere any kind of shop where it's not like hi and protein and protein had been you know it's kind of talked about that eating more of it helps fill you up for longer which i mean how does that work protein and fiber i mean maybe i'm going down a completely different track here but as an ordinary person i find sometimes the messages around this so confusing yeah i mean protein as well protein is great it absolutely is

12:52great it's definitely everywhere probably in your face a little bit too much but no it is you know a really important nutrient as well and and does satisfy your appetite too and protein foods are very filling as well so the protein and the fiber hand in hand because we don't eat protein we don't eat fiber we eat the foods that contain these i mean beans things like beans lentils courses they're they're incredible because they've got both your protein and your fiber which is why they're so filling so hand in hand you know choosing your pea foods choosing your foods with the f symbol

13:25you've got loads of lovely appetite satisfying foods there that give you also as well all the importance that protein gives you in terms of supporting muscles um and bone health you've got all that extra gut health benefit from fiber as well because yeah we don't eat these things in isolation it's about building your meal um and and yeah giving them equal weight really you know no nutrient is more important than the other in one respect it's i think sometimes the focus just gets so as we've seen with protein it's great but there are other things we need on our plate as well it's about that balance isn't

13:59it and and do you know i've done many many uh styles of eating and trying to lose weight before i found swimming well done the reason i've been hanging around for over half my life is because it is that balance it's that it's got that my body is protected from what i'm eating because i'm eating such variety i've cut out any food groups you know when when people are thinking about fiber though is there like saying you know this is more uh fibrous therefore i should eat larger quantities or is it just saying look food that's got that f symbol next to it as long as you're getting that in you're kind of protected

14:30or is there any things we should be trying to pack it oh i mean like you say you know there's so many foods that that contain it i guess a really nice starting point is fruit and veg fruit and veg is a really great source of fiber as well as all the other incredible vitamins minerals and water content it has um so that's a really nice starting point and we know members do really well with that anyway food optimizing naturally lends itself to that so i think fruit and veg you can never have too much just as long as you've got other foods on your plate as well yeah but i think you know it's about making sometimes it can feel depending on what diet you're coming from this can feel like a really big

15:04step and with fiber i should i should say it's really important to increase your fiber gradually um you'll definitely feel those gut effects from it so you want to increase your intakes gradually so making small swaps and drink plenty of water with it as well because it's that water interacting with the fiber that sort of helps it swell helps it bulk up and that's what makes it do its job but so yeah in increase your intakes gradually drink plenty of water but again that's where those sort of small swaps can come in so you know if if one day you'd have white pasta switch for whole meal one

15:39day you know and a few times a week do that even a half and half you know you might go half white pasta half whole meal pasta and again that can be especially if you've got um you know if you're cooking for your family because they do have different tastes um you know that can be a nice way to just gradually increase your fiber intake as well so i think on that you know looking back to sort of your original question and we're sort of looking for that balanced plate so a nice portion of starchy carbs lots of lovely fruit and vegetables but then also your protein to sort of ground it off and have that balance

16:11plate so you know and just making sure you're feeling full and satisfied and i'm sure with a plate like that you will be do you know it's a really good tip you were saying about the whole meal pasta so i decided when the w symbol came out i was putting it everywhere my little girl loves pasta so i just started by adding like a bit at a time and now she's fully on whole meal pasta doesn't know the difference but just says mommy i think your pasta cooking has got better she doesn't know that she's actually liking the taste of it because if you haven't tried things like whole meal pasta or brown rice they've got a different kind of taste haven't they quite nutty and actually it can be a really nice

16:44case experience if you haven't tried it and when you look at the fiber content in it it's like wow what a change i could make but thank you for that warning because i'm the woman who went in at 100 miles an hour and had to pay the price for eating too much fiber too quick it's a good spot thank you for sharing that there is an excellent article which alex has helped produce for members and um it does tap

Fiber Intake and Benefits

17:10into some of these things that anna and alex were just talking about uh an understanding okay so how much fiber is in 75 grams of dried wholemeal pasta how does that compare to say 40 grams of porridge oats um and it's absolutely amazing just to kind of see the difference i suppose um between those so definitely check that out the uh handily the uh article is called the same as this episode title so you see what we did there the ultimate guide to fiber it's really excellent but it has some of

17:44these key themes that we're talking about today written especially for members to kind of lean upon um um one of the things i wanted to kind of tap into was how much fiber should we be eating because i did that thing over the new year where i watched a few programs on telly i'll be honest alex um always curious to up my learning shall we say but um i i there was one program and i i cannot give the source

18:17reference but it talks about in the uk something like nine out of ten people are not getting enough fiber every day and i was shocked by that i mean why how yeah you're absolutely right and i think that's the thing you know back to there's been so much focus on protein protein is great but we're not actually struggling for protein whereas fiber we are quite low in it as a population and yeah as you say you know nine out of ten people struggle to get enough the sort of average um of the population

18:49is 16 grams we should be aiming for 30 grams a day so we're only just scraping half of it really um but you know we know we've looked at sort of our swimming world member data members are doing so much better and like you know as we've talked about food optimizing naturally lends itself having plenty of fiber so compared to the population averaging 16 grams members are having an average intake of 26 grams um which is brilliant is such a such an increase really um though still you know

19:21we're still not quite there at that 30 grams there's absolutely still room to get in a bit more fiber sneaking some more do your half and half pastas and things like that to get even more benefits um yeah i think just the nature of our diets at the minute it's it's tricky to aim for those whole grains and i think um we've lost sight of that a little bit but they're actually i think i think this is going to be the next protein in terms of how popular it gets that's what we're all hoping because that's what that's what we all need definitely i think when you do you know what's really motivated me when you look at what good it can do for your body and for your weight loss it's like

19:55something that if we pay attention to could have such profound benefits both ways because it weight loss wise and health wise and actually just some simple changes and swaps that you could make could really increase your your amount couldn't it quite easily can i ask you a question i suffer from

Fiber for Specific Health Conditions

20:11osteocolitis i've also got ibs and there are a lot of people that we meet who are worried about fiber because they can't have huge quantities and that's something i've had to work on find out the fiber that's right for me what if you can't eat much fiber what would your recommendations be

20:28yeah i mean you know that's absolutely the case we see it with a lot of members who also have these conditions who yeah you know might want you know start re-optimizing they're like yes some of these foods just don't agree with me um we know yeah they can trigger trigger symptoms you know such as bloating or just yeah other symptoms of your condition so it could be that that standard population advice of eat more fiber just isn't for them um and that's okay i guess we'd always say as with any health condition be led by your health care team have a chat with them um you know and they might because they might have some suggestions they might be able to help you work out which particular

21:02foods trigger you as well because every condition is so different and as we've talked about there's so many different types of fiber so hopefully not all fiber containing foods are off the table it's just finding those ones which sit better with you um so yeah it's really individual so i'd say definitely work with your health care team to find out what works for you a food and symptom diary can be really useful as well to get a feel for that you know what is triggering your symptoms um you know and if you you know we we do see members they have been recommended a low fiber diet

21:34potentially just for a short term sometimes for longer term um we do have some extra advice we can share with food optimizing and but it is very specific um to just those members who need it the most of us do need extra fiber and but yeah we can absolutely there is support we can offer if you you know want to incorporate that into your plan a bit but yeah always talk to your health care team and they can guide you with that too and i think it's you know you said something so key which is what i had to learn is the fiber that kind of worked for me and by keeping that kind of food and symptom diary i worked out the fruits and

22:08the veggies and the bits that i just set to one side and others i can enjoy in lovely amounts that don't have any effect so it is about getting to know and personalizing it to you isn't it definitely yeah and like i said hopefully like there's so many foods that contain it so many different fruit and veg especially some can be really triggering some you can absolutely find with sometimes it's portion sizes of those as well so you might be able to have a smaller amount of those um so yeah a bit of trial and error sometimes but there's absolutely ways you can manage it and find what works for you and i suppose when with the swimming world app it's really helpful having a barcode scanner

22:46um which if people are new to following um similar world that just scanning the back of a packet and working out okay is that a healthy extra choice um has it got a symbol that kind of that thinking behind all of that that you don't have to be there getting your microscope out reading the back of a packet do you know what i mean actually scan it and the app of what you and your team alex have done um it's really helpful for people who just need a quick answer of am i on the right lines with this

23:18uh nutritionally i suppose yes definitely so the barcode scanner you know it's gone down so well with members and such useful tool and i guess you know i i sit with the team who you know work on that scanner as well and see all the effort they put into you know scanning products checking all the labels you know making sure we've got the latest information on products so we know how they fit into food optimizing um so that members don't have to so that they can just get the barcode scanner out in the shop out at home and know exactly where a product fits in as well and so they can choose

23:53the foods that work for them and work for their weight loss and also you know i always say to my members as well keep looking at that book because all those free foods with the f symbols the w symbols getting that knowledge from your book and all that information is a really good start there's also like understanding the health parts of the book like it's so reassuring to know all the science and all the evidence behind the plan because it's been 55 years in the making and you know it's really reassuring to know that that's all covered so if you want more knowledge want to do a claire and an anna and go

24:26deeper there is lots more knowledge around yeah yep for sure alex thank you so much for your time and giving us an insight into the world of fiber um i feel like this is like a very important message to share we've done our duty today haven't we in a raising awareness i suppose of a really important um health issue you know in the uk at the moment um best of luck with continuing your campaigning

24:57if that's the right word like we need matching t-shirts like fiber fighters or something like that don't we know from the crusade what i mean would the logo just be a poo what would it i was just thinking an f because then you could just do whatever you wanted with it but you know a poo could always work what a way to end such a a fountain of knowledge podcast with a poo claire yeah well that's how food ends isn't it so the circle of life as they say the circle of life

25:28alex thank you so much i look forward to catching up with you very soon

25:33oh thank you so much for having me anna we're back next week aren't we what on earth are we doing next week have we decided yet is it a secret i know what it is oh go on it's life proof your weight loss a special members episode where we're going to talk about how nothing is off limit and a bit about socializing you've got some ideas for this haven't you i have i i've learned a few things over the last 25 nearly 30 years so yes life proof with us we've got you covered if you've been a hermit

26:04over january and you're now ready to leave your house step back out into the world of pubs and clubs and all that kind of stuff then uh we'll help you out with some tips and tricks of how to protect your weight loss and really practice your new habits that's going to be exciting stuff

26:24right uh have a great week whatever you get up to go eat some fiber anna's off to uh get the whole meal pasta in i guess i am oh do you know what my little girl has requested potato skins for dinner tonight which is the powerhouse of fiber as well so might have been a whole meal pasta in there too but don't worry pasta and potato skins double carb i mean seriously treble carbs on nights better be done with that note we'll see you very soon bye for now

27:06so you you you you you you you you