Fiber Tracking Made Fun

Despite its grainy past, folks are finally embracing fiber. This magical component of the diet has documented health benefits for the prevention and treatment of heart disease, diabetes, certain types of cancer, weight management, and others.

The Institute of Medicine, in their report on pages 339-422, recommends that men age 50 or younger eat 38 grams per day, and those age 51 or older consume 30 grams. For females, the recommendation is 25 grams per day for those 50 or younger, and 21 grams for 51 or older.

In short: a good rule of thumb is that we all should aim to eat around 30 grams of fiber per day. In comparison, the average American consumes just 15 grams a day.

So, how do you know how much fiber you’re eating? Well, you could painstakingly write down every food and drink you encounter and look it up…or you could use an electronic resource to help you track your fiber.
You can find dietary fiber tracking apps on both Apple and Android devices. Here are a few you may want to check out.

Google Play Store Apps

1. High Fiber Foods

This app lists hundreds of high fiber foods as well as high fiber food recipes to help you get the recommended 28-35 grams of fiber per day. The app sorts food by good groups, food names, and amount of fiber so you can easily find what you’re looking for. Also included is a list of zero and low fiber foods. The app does include ads.

2. Fibre Food

Dietary Fiber Food Sources help heart skin weight. This is a free app about the fruits and vegetables with the high fiber. The app helps you understand what dietary fiber is, the health benefits of fiber, and fiber rich foods. The app does include ads.

3. High Fiber Recipes

Healthy High Fiber Diet Foods – This app allows you to explore varieties of high fiber foods. You will also find quick and easy recipes with instructions.

4. High Fiber Food Diet Recipes

This app lists high fiber foods in different categories to help you find a recipe quickly based on the ‘taste’ you’re looking for, according to the course, or the type of cooking you would like to do.

Apple iTunes Store Apps

1. DailyFiber

This app is for both the iPhone and iPad. Since it is important to know how much fiber you’re getting each day. DailyFiber helps you be more aware of your fiber intake so you can adjust it when you’re not getting enough.

2. High Fiber Diet SMART Recipes

This app is free but does offer in-app purchases. This app lists high fiber foods in different categories to help you find a recipe quickly based on the ‘taste’ you’re looking for, according to the course, or the type of cooking you would like to do.

3. Nutrition Info

This free app works on both iPad and iPhone. It allows you to view the nutritional facts of thousands of food items. It shows a calorie break down chart and has a barcode scanner.
The apps listed above are just a sample of what is available for smartphones today. By spending a little bity of time in the app store for your device, you can find these and other apps to help you learn the fiber content and choose the higher fiber foods.

Now, of course, if you use any other nutrition or diet electronic tracking tool or app, fiber is always listed as one of the trackable dietary components. But it is nice to see several user-friendly tools dedicated to dietary fiber!
If you’re old-school, or do not have a mobile device, you can find books or tracking journals on Amazon that will help you find out the fiber content of foods and keep track of how many you eat each day.

The Complete Book of Food Counts, 9th Edition: The Book That Counts It All

This book by Corinne T. Netzer is a one-volume reference on the nutritional content of food. The book includes calorie count, fiber grams, carbohydrate grams, sodium milligrams, protein grams, fat grams, and cholesterol milligrams. The book has 912 pages.

IBS-IBD Fiber Charts: Soluble & Insoluble Fibre Data for Over 450 Items, Including Links to Internet Resources

Kathy Steinemann’s 70-page book helps reduce the confusion surrounding fiber. It has several charts that will help health-conscious individuals interested in increasing their daily fiber consumption.

The 20/30 Fat & Fiber Diet Plan: The Weight-Reducing, Health-Promoting Nutrition System for Life (Harper Resource Book)

This 304-page book by Gabe Mirkin M.D. and Barry Fox PhD has information to help you lose weight, prevent diseases, and improve overall healthy quickly and easily. There are more than 100 delicious high-fiber, low-fat recipes and includes a plastic counter wheel to help you keep track of your fat and fiber content each day.

The NutriBase Guide to Fat & Fiber in Your Food

The NutriBase book features more than 4,000 entries that help you identify the best foods for weight loss and disease prevention by listing the fat and fiber content of the foods. The book has 704 pages.