Kitchen Garden Forum

Due to certain medicines that I am forced to take at present I have been advised to eat a very high fibre diet. When I enquired what should I eat then? The person said do you like Baked Beans I replied that I did but not every day but sadly no further information was available.
I invested in Butter Beans, Haricot Beans, Lentils, Split Peas and Chick Peas.
I have used the Haricot Beans in lamb stew and made a very nice sauce using Butter Beans blended and then worked into a white sauce with a handful of Parsley with Boiled Bacon. I cooked too many so they went into the boiled bacon liquor with carrot, onion, leek and celery to make some rather nice soup. The trouble is that I am at a loss with sufficient ways of cooking and eating these things.
I really could do with some advice as to if I am on the right lines or have I got it all wrong.
By the way I enquired if I could see a dietitian and was told that there is a six week wait.
Any advice would be gratefully accepted.
I am hoping that you brilliant cooks will come to my rescue in my hour of need.
JB.

Blimey JB, I bet no-one is getting to close to YOU at the moment!

You could try mashed butter beans instead of mashed potatoes. I seem to recall Nigella advocating this as a "fast food".

I'll bet Tigger has a million recipes.

Hi Chantal,
Are you trying to say that my friend Tigger is full of wind! Oh how cruel!
Being that there is only me about it doesn't really matter too much. At least it makes me laugh when there is very little humour about.
JB.

Mashed Butter Beans sounds a novel idea - I'll give that a try.

In the meantime John, have you tried Linseeds? I tried these last year (since they're supposed to be high in Omega 3 oils). However I believe they're also good for keeping the digestive tract moving and I certainly noticed this.

See also:
http://www.ino.ie/DesktopModules/Articles/ArticlesView.aspx?TabID=436&ItemID=3246&mid=7579


Colin

There may be some useful information on this site - at least a run down of what can be considered high fibre.

http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/di ... e/food.htm

Hello JB,
You don't have to just eat beans! Fruit (fresh & dried) is full of fibre, as are lots of green things, although you probably already know this, and I'd hate to be teaching you to suck eggs, as it were!
Broccoli, spinach and cabbage/kale are particularly good. And stick to unrefined when it comes to grains too: wholemeal/brown etc. bread/rice/pasta.
There is a very good book that I have just finished reading about diet and food, by Vernon Coleman, although I cannot remember the exact title. I'll try and remember to look it up for you. It has a whole chapter on which foods have a lot of fibre in them. Very interesting.
Good luck!
Emma.

Not quite sure what your problem is but many moons ago whilst I was pregnant with my eldest I was given Iron tablets which caused constipation I found cod liver oil capsules solved the problem.
Potato skins have plenty of fibre so jackets roast boiled or wedges with skin on, add lentils pearl barley (soup mix) to stews but if using a slow cooker use tinned beans, kidney, chick peas etc as they must be boiled
I love brown basmatti rice takes a little longer to cook but lovely flavour, you could do roast veg peppers courgettes aubergine onions mushrooms squash drizzled with olive oil Good Luck

Hi JB

You could try buying some bran from the health food shop. You can just sprinkle this onto anything to add a bit more fibre. Also, try juicing up fruits to make pure fruit juices (you can do this with veg too - carrot is very tasty)

For breakfast try museli. Dorset Organics do a fab one called Very Berry which is the tastiest one i've eaten for ages. Loads and loads of fruit in there and no nuts.

A look at www.uktvfood.co.uk might also give you some more ideas on what to cook. They have a healthy eating section which should help.

Take care my darling

JB, we developed what we called "caravan mince" to use one pan plus a rice pan when caravanning.

Onion, minced lamb or beef, oxo (optional), water, seasoning, tin of baked beans, tin of sweetcorn, tin of kidney beans.

Rice in other pan, in your case, brown rice.

Add whatever tinned beans you wish, Sainsburys do a fair selection, the dried equivalent would do just as well, but rehydrating them in a caravan was not something we wanted to do.

Hi JB - windbag here!

The principle is - you must balance fibre with water. You can eat lots of fibre but it's useless unless you also have sufficient water or juice.

So - chilli contains the usual onions, beef, peppers plus kidney beans, baked beans and tomatoes.

Bean stew has anything in it that remotely resembles a pulse. If it's tinned, you don't have to boil it for hours and it contains no less fibre. Just to make it more interesting, add onions, tinned tomatoes, good sausages and herbs.

Soups balance core veg - carrots, onions, leeks, potatoes, parsnips - with kale, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli.

I can send you some special recipes if you want them that I used to cook for my brother, such as lentil cakes and bean 'beef' burgers, which he loved, if they are of any help.

Hi JB,
as promised here's the name and ISBN for that book:
Food for Thought: Your Guide to Healthy Eating By Vernon Coleman
ISBN 0952149265
it is very interesting, but please note he does bang on about being a vegetarian, which I am already, so it doesn't bother me, but it may annoy some!

Also, bean salad recipe:
1 tin mixed beans, drained and well rinsed
1 clove garlic sliced or crushed
4 spring onions finely chopped
fresh parsley chopped
basic balsamic dressing, which is 1 tbsp olive oil, dash of balsamic vinegar and salt & pepper to taste. Very simple,just dress the beans/onions/garlic with the balsamic dressing, and add the chopped parsley and stir in.
I also always make my own coleslaw, whcih is so easy, but very delicious and full of fibre! I usually just make the basic white cabbage/carrot/red onion version, but you can use red cabbage & celeriac (grated) too, or just do it freestyle, and make it up as you go! Celery, apple etc etc. Sooo much nicer than shop bought stuff

Johnboy, I grew up with pulses of all descriptions and love them to this day! What about split pea and ham soup (I actually use lean smoked bacon rather than ham), lentil and bacon soup, bean and kale stew, vegetable soup with soup mix (from health food stores and supermarkets - just realised Gilly C has already suggested that). You can also buy bean mixtures which are lovely to use for thick stews, both with or without meat. Split peas and lentils don't need to be soaked, but other beans should really be soaked for 24 hours and then cooked slowly and without salt to start with, seasoning must be added towards the end, when the beans are soft.

On the fibre front: dried apricots and prunes contain a lot of fibre and, if you get the soft dried ones, can be eaten straight from the bag. We always use them in our home made muesli.

You could also munch on a seed and dried fruit mix that you can either mix yourself or buy from the supermarket or health food shops.

Usually there are pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pine nuts. You could also have any nuts that you like. Add in some dried apricots, goji berries, cranberries, pineapple, coconut, flame sultanas.....anything that you fancy really.

I prefer a low calorie tomato-based vegetable soup. I use fresh vegetables when in season, frozen or canned. It boils about 30 minutes.