A cardiologist eats 90 grams of fiber a day without trying. Here’s her breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

• Most Americans consume only half the recommended daily amount of fiber.

• A vegetarian cardiologist consumes 90 grams of fiber per day through a plant-based diet.

• Fiber lowers “bad” cholesterol levels, helps you feel full, and reduces the risk of cancer.

Most of us don’t eat enough fiber. But not Dr. Danielle Berardo.
She consumes up to 90 grams per day, more than most Americans consume in a week.

“There are no guidelines that say anyone should eat 90 grams of fiber a day, it’s just what I eat,” Berardo, a vegetarian cardiologist practicing in Los Angeles, told Business Insider.

The general recommendation is 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories of fiber consumed. This equates to at least 25 grams or two cups of fiber per day from black beans. But only 10% of Americans actually eat that much fiber. Most people would be lucky to get even half of that.

A high-fiber diet rich in foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can help the body remove waste products such as bile acids and effectively suck “bad” cholesterol out of the blood. Low-fiber diets are associated with poor heart health, higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer, including colon and breast cancer.

However, “fiber maxing out” by suddenly increasing the fiber content in your diet can cause bloating, gas, and stomach cramps if your body isn’t used to it. Therefore, it is recommended to add fiber to your diet slowly and steadily, making sure you stay well hydrated in the process.

Here’s how Dr. Belardo beats almost everyone else out when it comes to packaging fiber (and protein) into her daily meals.

Breakfast: Smoothie with berries, protein powder and frozen spinach

Belardo’s typical breakfast smoothie:

• 1 cup frozen blackberries (8 g)

• 1 scoop protein powder (4 grams)

Fiber in breakfast: 21 grams

Belardo has almost hit her daily female goal of 25 to 28 grams, and her day has just begun!

Lunch: Avocado, beans and whole grains

At lunchtime, Berardo makes a few variations on the grain bowls.

Fiber-rich lunch:

• 1/2 cup black beans (7.5 g)

• 1 cup Brussels sprouts (4.5 g)

Fiber in your lunch: 32 grams

Total fiber consumed so far: 53 grams

Dinner: Pasta, chickpeas, broccoli and beans

“Bean noodles are a great choice for getting high fiber,” she says. She often recommends these products to patients seeking to lose weight and improve heart health.

Fiber helps you feel full, and fiber-rich foods tend to replace other less nutrient-dense foods in people’s diets.

“If you get 30 grams of fiber from fruits and vegetables, that’s naturally just displacing other foods that may not be as healthy,” she says.

“You can do lentils or chickpeas, but my favorite foods that are super high in protein and fiber are edamame and mung bean pasta,” Berardo adds.

High fiber dinner:

• 1 1/2 cups cooked edamame mung bean pasta (24 g)

• 1 tablespoon black beans (1 g)

Fiber in your dinner: 36 grams

Total daily fiber: 89 grams (she says her average daily fiber intake tends to be about 90 grams).

It’s better to get fiber from food than from supplements

Supplements can help compensate for deficiencies, but Berardo generally doesn’t recommend them because fiber-rich foods have many benefits that pills or powders can’t replicate.

“It’s not just the fiber itself that’s beneficial, but the food it’s packaged in,” Berardo says. “It also has phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and all that other stuff.”

Read the original article on Business Insider