New to Keto Diet - Question About Increasing Fiber

misssararae
misssararae Posts: 23 Member
edited November 24 in Food and Nutrition
Hello!

It's day 2 on the Keto Diet for me (hence, why I still have sugar in my coffee this morning... baby steps are needed people) and I see that I'm struggling to fit fiber in. How do you handle getting enough fiber without going overboard on the carbs?

I'm still in the research and development phase for my daily diet. I decided to go with 10% carb, 65% fat & 25% protein to get started and plan to go down to 5% carb, 70% fat & 25% protein. Yes, I did the calculators and I should be at the latter but again, I'm into baby steps, I guess. I don't know if that's the "right" way to do it but like I said I'm still getting the hang of this thing.

Now, I know I'll get asked why I've decided on a Ketogentic diet. This is because I've done low carb with much success (I lost 58lbs and was feeling the best I've felt in my life) but I really want to go Keto to help with my endometriosis. I started eating a low carb diet back in March 2016 and I feel off of this lifestyle back in May 2017 when I had a pregnancy loss from an ectopic pregnancy caused by endometriosis. The endo was found and removed during my lap surgery for my ectopic pregnancy. I'm looking to see how Keto will make me feel with my endo now that I know that's what's been going on with me all these years.

Ok, back to my original question. So what should I do add in some chia seeds? Swap something out for the full avocado? I only have planned out 12g of fiber today and from what I've read I need to get closer to the 25g mark. That seems sooooo far away.

Thanks for any input!

Replies

  • JessiBelleW
    JessiBelleW Posts: 831 Member
    I’m pretty low carb, sometimes probably keto but not purposely. I use flax and chia seeds to keep my fiber up. Also I try to get both a meals worth of leafy greens and one of brassicas (cabbage, caulk, broccoli) each day
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited January 2018
    Psyllium husk powder
    chia seeds
    Flaxseed meal
    Cauliflower rice

    I make a chia pudding for dessert which has 10g fibre and 4g carbs.

    ETA: I know these aren't keto level carbs, but today I will finish the day with 95g carbs and 48g fibre.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    I think many keto'ers just use low carb veggies and nuts as their carbs, and both sources have a lot of fibre. It is less fibre than one who eats a lot of veggies and fruits on a higher carb diet, but it does not seem to be inadequate.

    TBH, I think fibre is mainly a digestive aid for those who eat a lot of carbs. When your carbs are limited and you are eating higher fat, it seems that BMs tend to be quite regular. Frequently the bulk of BMs is less but that is due to less fibre and plant bulk, which are less thoroughly digested compared to meat, seafood, and (for some) dairy. KWIM?
  • tumblyweed
    tumblyweed Posts: 416 Member
    Veggies. Kale is good. Salads are great. Sometimes I do a fiber supplement.
  • fifiman
    fifiman Posts: 34 Member
    1 avocado (~150g) has 10g of fiber.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited January 2018
    It's pretty hard to get to 25 g of fiber on keto without supplementing (which I'm not really a fan of but some are). Focus on getting your carbs from non starchy veg and nuts/seeds (which is a good idea anyway) and see if you enjoy black soy beans, which are high fiber, low net carb, and taste good on a salad, IMO. (Avocado is also great, but has lots of calories, so I typically would eat only half of one but keto is one diet where a whole one works easily -- for some reason I always forget it's a fruit, not a veg.)

    I seriously doubt you need to go down to 5% carbs to be in keto (percentages are irrelevant, especially if you are at a deficit, total grams are more helpful IMO), and I also don't understand why switch if low carbing at a slightly higher level was going well, but that is your business and no harm in trying keto.
  • daraalt
    daraalt Posts: 30 Member
    it is not hard to get to 25 g of fiber on keto! i do it. and you don't need to add fiber supplements to do it. i've been keto since July and i've lost 47 lbs. you have to research the right foods.

    also, to start you need to cut your carbs significantly and NO SUGAR from the start! baby steps will not help you achieve ketosis. stay under 25 net grams, keep your protein lower too and eat those fats. do you have the keto urine strips to test if you are in ketosis? or even better is a blood glucose/keto monitor. it will take about a week or so to get into nutritional ketosis but you need to work at it to stay there and then eventually adapt.

    if you need help on foods to eat, add me as a friend and i'll help you.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I found it quite difficult even when getting all my carbs from non starchy veg, avocado, and nuts (to be fair I think it's important to eat a variety of veg and was not choosing my non starchy veg to be only leafy greens and I don't think it's a good idea to cut out other veg), and eating far more veg than most on keto seemed to.

    I mean think about it -- under 25 g net carbs and 25 g of fiber means everything needs to have less than a 2:1 ratio of carbs to fiber, and that would put broccoli off limits -- it's 6:2.5. Brussels sprouts are 9:3.8, cauliflower 5:2 -- so those would all be on the no list.
  • misssararae
    misssararae Posts: 23 Member
    Thanks for the input everyone!

    Today I grabbed some flax meal to add in on days I'm a little low on fiber from veggies if I feel like I need it for my BM.

    I did have spinach, brussels sprouts, half an avocado and half a cup of cherry tomatoes plus walnuts yesterday and came in at 12g of fiber. That's why it's seemingly hard to me to stay in the right carb range while upping fiber. Great point on the ratios, lemurcat12!

    Daraalt thanks for your input and I'm completely aware that I need to cut carbs significantly and have no sugar. I didn't have a sugar sub yesterday for my coffee so I used a tsp of sugar. I'm over it that I wasn't "perfect" on day one, haha. If you see my dairy from yesterday and today I should be well within the range to go into Ketosis but yes I did have a tsp of sugar yesterday. I'm fine with baby steps if that works for people, IMO. No one is perfect.

    The urine strips are junk from all the research I've done. I'm not that concerned about testing at this point, though. I might consider getting a monitor down the road.
  • catluvgal
    catluvgal Posts: 41 Member
    Greens, greens, greens! When it's too cold for salads, like now, I like to wilt mine up in EVOO and lots of spices and herbs. And I mean hearty deep greens - kale, collards, turnips, mustard! Not romaine. :-)
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