Give Your Family More Fiber

Like most Americans, kids don’t get enough either, so the general healthful guidelines say that children need 19 grams of fiber between the ages of 1 and 3. Between ages 4 and 8, they need 24 grams of fiber, and it goes up from there as they get older.

Girls ages 9-18 need 26 grams of fiber, and boys in that same age range need 31 grams of fiber. We’re going to find the best sources of fiber from plant foods, so that would be things like whole-grain bread products, pastas, brown rice, fruits, vegetables, both starchy and non-starchy vegetables.

Beans, peas, and lentils are actually one of my favorite sources of high-fiber foods, as well as high protein foods. The best way to know if a food has fiber is to check the Nutrition Facts label. One of the best ways to get kids excited about fiber, fruits, and vegetables is to engage them in their eating experience, so take them to the grocery store.

Have them pick out a new fruit or a vegetable to try each week, have them help prepare it in the kitchen. If they’re engaged, they’re a lot more likely to try it. Another way is to help sneak in higher-fiber foods into their meals. For example, add just a little bit of brown rice to their rice dish,

or a little bit of whole-grain pasta in to their pasta or spaghetti so that that way they’ll get used to it over time. Another great way to engage children into their food is try growing a garden. Plants such as herbs or tomatoes are really easy to grow. I have a 4-year-old niece who loves vegetables because she grows them.

Kids are more likely to eat foods when they see their parents eating it, so the parents should be trying these foods as well. If the parent eats it, the kid’s more likely to eat it too.