Grain Free Dietary Fibre

A couple weeks ago in my son's grade nine "Healthy Living" class the students were asked to compare their diet to Canada Food Guide, which dictates how many servings of each of the four food groups a person should eat in order to be healthy. 

The four food groups are: 1.grains, 2. veggies and fruit, 3.meat and alternatives, 4. dairy and alternatives. My son has been on a Paleo diet for two years, so he is grain free and the only dairy he eats is butter. He also has IBD and his symptoms improved greatly by following a low FODMAPs diet. 

So when he came home that day he explained that he got a zero in the grain section and scored low on the diary and that when he told the teacher he doesn't eat those things she gave him an assignment - to improve his fibre intake. 

His homework was to document how much fibre he ate for about 10 days. The goal he was given was to eat 19 grams per day, but he didn't change the way he ate, nor did we change what we had available.  (The other kids had to keep food logs as well, but most of them had to increase their fruit and veggie servings.)

So he diligently keep a food log, which you can see below. I was NOT concerned about how much fibre we eat, as I am yet to be convinced humans even need fibre.

But....we were pleased to have proof for those who are concerned that, without effort or intention, he gets more than enough fibre (an average of about 22/day).  
Wonder what his teacher will think?

Note: I realize there are different types of dietary fibre and that he eats too much packaged food and gets lots of fibre from coconut and maybe should eat more veggies (oops one day he had non paleo legumes), no biggie, we are doing the best that we can and this is how he truly eats. My point is that you can eat grain free and get lots of fibre. 

Here is some more info to check out:  

Ditching Grains Without Ditching Fibre
The Paleo Diet and Fiber 
Why Is Fiber Such A Menace To Your Health? 
Also see the chapter on Fiber from the book Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes

 

March 20			March 26
N'oatmeal	8		N'oatmeal and blueberries	9
coco larabar	5		kind bar	3
roast beef and potato	5.5		orange	2.5
2 eggs	0		1.5 macaroon	9
protein salad w/scallops, sausages,	5		meatloaf w/ almond flour	1
carrots, almonds, EVO dressing)			2 gf brownies	4
Total	24		Thai chicken soup	0
			Total	28.5
March 21
N'oatmeal and blueberries	9		March 27
coconut macaroon	11		bacon and 2 eggs	0
larabars, strawberries, carrots, kind bar	9		2 gf brownies	4
pancakes (coconut and almond)	10		pb choc larabar	4
1/2 orange	1		macaroon	6
smothie (ban/straw/coconut/yoke)	1		plantain chips 1	1
Total	41		steak strips	0
			strawberries	2
March 22			1 and 1/2 cp broccoli	6
1/2 cp blueberries	2.5		mini potatoes	3
bacon and eggs	0		Total	26
pb larabar	3
carrots	2.5		March 28
tuna	0		bacon and 2 eggs	0
salad (lettuce, carrots)	2		smoothie	3
pork burger	0		2 gf brownies	4
bana cocoa pudding	4		larabar	3
goats milk	0		macaroon	6
Total	14		pork burger	0
			strawberries	2
March 23			salad	3
N'oatmeal and blueberries	9		goats milk	0
broccoli/butter/parm/bacon bits)	4		Total	21
lettuce	2
carrots	3		March 29
kale chips	1.5		bacon, ham and 2 eggs	0
hard parmesean	0		potatoes	4
sausage	0		lettuce, carrots, ground turkey	2
2.5 macaroons	7.5		spinach	1
goat milk	0		kidney beans	6
Total	27		gf cake	5
			Total	18
March 24
2 macaroons	6		March 30
bacon and 2 eggs	0		sausage and 2 eggs	0
sweet pot	3		kind bar	3
cauliflower	2		larabar	4
salad (lettuce carrots evo)	1.5		goats milk	0
meatloaf w/ almond flour	1		steak	0
Total	14		salad	3
			macaroon	6
March 25			Total	16
eggs and sausages	0
macaroon	6
cashew larabar	3
orange	2.5
kind bar	3
meatloaf w/ almond flour	1
2 cups goat milk	0
Total	16