My suggestions are:

Don’t rely on cereals for fibre.. use veg instead.. and make a good proportion of that should be raw…

one of my favourite fast meals is steamed salmon / or baked in lemon juice wrapped in foil (has same effect)

with a big salad of shredded / finely chopped red onion, beetroot, fennel bulb, celery (baby turnip is also good in this with a light dressing of:

walnut oil / sesame seed oil
lemon juice and or white wine vinegar
splash of soy sauce (to taste)
pepper and salt

NB I read that one of the Tour teams had to eat raw beet each day as its high in nitrates

Add as many green leaves and you have a very nourishing high fibre and high protein meal with no empty carbs..

There’s a lot of building evidence that the modern day cereals (particularly wheat) have become quite “anti ntritional” (even whole) as they’re too high in sugars hard to break down compounds.. contributing the rise in celiac disease etc

The raw veg element will really help get your guts in healthy state..

I personally found that cutting things like pasta, potatoe, rice completely from my routine diet (I only eat them when out now and don’t cook them at all at home).. has really improved my guts.. and a year on I don’t miss any of them at all..

You’ll notice I’ve left bread off the above list as I make my own rye / wheat sour dough.. and only really eat that at the weekend.. I feel / suspect that rye is one of the least “modernised” cereals and the process of sour dough means the yeast breaks down the sugars of the wheat as its a relatively slow prove compared that that used in the modern breads you find in the supermarket which are excelerated and I reckon don’t give the yeast enough time to break down the sugars in the cereals.

Starter for Sourdough

You need to use a stoneground flour.. I use rye as it’s what I like.. ( this is a really interesting talk on wheat and how its been engineered http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbBURnqYVzw)

you have to make it up relatively thin like a batter to start with – two tablespoons flour in a jug . Don’t put it in a warm place – room temp is better. (NB in summer I would find a cooler place .. fridge as slower is good.) Never add sugar, all it needs is the flour. (the flour if unbleached and stoneground will have some inherent bacteria / yeasts that will start the process off).

I use a pyrex casserole dish as a I can see through the glass and it has a a lid.. to keep it moist..

When you see the first bubbles, there are yeasts in there – then add some more flour to thicken a little and leave for another couple of days.

It will form a skin on top – this is the bit you throw away if you want to – the underneath should be bubbly/stretchy.

Keep doing this for 3 – 5 days..

It takes 3-5 days to make a good starter – then you can store it in the fridge

this site has some good articles / info too about sourdough http://www.sourdough.co.uk/category/sourdough/

My weekly routine is:

Take my starter out of the fridge (which as about a table spoon full in my pyrex casserole dish

Add rye flour and water to about half way up the casserole dish to make a stiff porridge consistency

Leave on work top to sponge..this time of year it takes about 6 – 8 hours .. winter (I have a cool kitchen) 24 hours – it should double its volumne and you’ll see bubbles through the glass

When read remove all the starter from pyrex bowl to my kneading bowl.. to the scrappings reamining in the pyrex bowl add a table spoon of your starter flour and some more water to make porridge consistency and replace in fridge..

To the kneading bowl add whatever the bread recipe calls for.. my standard is carawy seeds, sunflower and pumkin seeds and molasses. Add in a little water (cold) mix and add white flour to this about the same volume as the sponged starter .. bring together add sunflower oil and knead until you have a glossy ball of dough.. shape place on baking tin and let rise.. (you can do this overnight in the fridge then the loaf is ready for baking in the morning).

NB I only do one rise and don’t knock back.

PS my starter is 2 and half years old now and called Charlie 😉

Liz, I still eat my high fiber cereal most days. Fiber One, available in the US, has just 60 calories per 1/2 cup, and 14 grams of fiber. I eat it with almond milk and a handful of berries for my first meal of the day, usually around 11 am, and it is just over 100 calories. I find a probiotic also helps to stay regular!

Hello,

You should really try Quinoa. It’s got a lot of Amino acids in it, and it really does help clear you out.

I buy is ready prepared in a packet, you can get it from the Co-op or Sainsbury’s. You can heat it up or eat it straight out the packet. It’s a like a nutty Cous -Cous.

Give it a go.

Hope this helps!

I’ve been regulating with flaxseeds/linseeds and almond milk. When I’m in Belgium, I always eat dark bread but I travel a lot and in countries like Spain or France it’s hard to find good whole grain variations.

So I just start my day with 100 ml of almond milk, warmed up in the microwave (about 40/50seconds) and then dunk in 1 or 2 tablespoons of linseeds/flaxseeds. It tallies up to about 60 kcal with 1 tbsp. It takes some getting used to but I enjoy it now and I’ve never been more regular in my life. It’s like a little daily fibre bomb. Just make sure to try and chew the seeds as much as you can and not swallow them whole. It works with water or tea as well. W/e you do, don’t use animal products because it tastes terrible. I started doing it with milk or latte and it was genuinely awful.

I do tend to skip on diet days becasue I eat almost nothing but veg anyway and I like staying calorie free till dinner. But I always start my normal days with it and it cuts down my potential of unhealthier foods as well because it’s surprisingly filling so the rest of my breakfast is considerably smaller.

I don’t know if that helps. Also, lin/flaxseeds are crazy cheap so that’s a plus.

I read some negative things about Senna. Ie ultimately its not a good thing to take daily. It is a laxative and best used only occasionally.

I rely on lentils beans chickpeas and also peanuts are very very effective. All these have higher protein too so you can ditch some of your other protein sources in favour of these and its better all around.

I also have a slow bowel because of medication. Recently i tried increasing my fibre for other reasons by taking psyllium. It just clogged me up. And someone else i know taking a lot of fibre in of this approach has had the same problem. Also my gp mentioned that supplements of this kind – even though generally harmless, do add bulk but don’t necessarily speed things up.

Vegetables don’t need to be raw to give you the best effects. In fact some vegetables are more nutritious for us when cooked e.g. carrots, spinach, i can’t remember the others. And some vegetables that you’d think are high in fibre are not, e.g. carrots and celery. So just keep eating a wide variety of vegetables and fruit. And of whole foods in general.

Yes less food in our gut does slow things down too. And also less fat. Fat and salt do seem to help a bit with bowel action. Salt because it helps keep you hydrated.

If you can’t find the recipe, I can post it.