Fiber in the winter diet?

VermontCathy

I am curious as to how you keep enough healthy fiber in your diet during the cold months when the garden is not producing.

In warm weather, I eat a lot of salads, using lettuce, spinach, and mustard. I also put quantities of these green leafy plants on my sandwiches. Green onions or scallions are also a common addition.

But in winter, I am eating the food that I canned, froze, or otherwise put by. And I don't think any of the foods that I preserve (tomatoes, pickles, peas, green beans) is a great source of fiber, though there is certainly some there, especially in the green beans.

I'm growing more dry or shelly beans this year, which may help.

I occasionally buy lettuce from the grocery store in winter, but I'm never that enthused about it. And it goes bad quickly in the refrigerator, unless garden lettuce, which holds in the garden until I eat it.

annbeck62

Quite a few years ago, I took a course and I remember them saying lettuce is not a good source of fiber. So maybe it seems like it is because you add other vegetables to your salads? Or maybe I got bad information. I started taking organic psyllium powder ( I never used to worry about it being organic then I found out how many pesticides etc are in non-organic) While it's a great source of fiber, I take it because I recently learned it removes mucus from the colon so helps keep the colon healthy.

Torey

@VermontCathy Dried beans are certainly one of the best sources of fibre. They could be sprouted to add to your salads as well as cooking them. Even garden peas and green beans are good sources. Frozen berries are a good source of winter fibre (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries). Pears are a good source along with apples so you could look for winter storage varieties or you could can or freeze them.

Chia seeds are certainly very high in fibre. I add them to quite a few things.

I'm a big fan of sauerkraut. Probiotics along with fibre.

@annbeck62 You can easily harvest your own "psyllium" fibre and dry to have throughout the winter. Common plantain (Plantago major) is a close cousin to psyllium (Plantago psyllium). Harvest the seeds, let dry and then use as is or grind them to a powder.

I harvested quite a lot of dock seed last year. If you use it with the hulls (which is the easiest way by far), it has quite a bit of fibre content.

dipat2005

@VermontCathy I eat Broccoli which you could freeze or purchase in the winter. I also freeze strawberries and blueberries in the summer when they are in season.

VermontCathy

Sprouting beans is one of those ideas that sounds good, but requires too much pre-planning for me. You have to start the sprouting days before the meal in which you use them, and they quickly go past the sprouting stage to a less edible state.

We enjoy broccoli, but it is a pain to grow it properly. We just buy it at the store when we want it.

We absolutely freeze strawberries and blueberries, but that is getting away from fiber-centric to a higher-calorie fruit.

I agree that dried or shelly beans are a good source, and I am trying to plan more of them this year. (Shelly beans are less work and can be harvested earlier, and you can store them frozen.) Either one is great for refried beans, but we can't really eat them everyday.

Linda Bittle

Apples, beans, chia seeds, flax seed, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes are the ones that come to mind.

JodieDownUnder

@VermontCathy in my area, leafy greens do best in winter, lettuce, Asian greens, cabbage, spinach, kale etc. so I have a huge supply at the moment & with regular plantings throughout winter, I will enjoy the abundance. We do porridge(oatmeal) in winter & I add to that, chia seeds & herbal powders like turmeric & cinnamon, frozen blueberries, sprinkle psyllium husks over the top. Wild rice, chick peas, kidney beans etc. Even oats in smoothies is a good idea.

Lisa K

What I try to eat during the winter is Kale, cabbages, steel cut oats, chia seeds, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.

VermontCathy

@Lisa K How do you store them? I can't grow any of those things in the winter. Canning, freezing, drying, etc.?

Torey

Dried kale is awesome; on its own as a snack or powdered and added to other foods. 1 oz. of dried kale (standard serving size) has 3 grams of fibre. Kale retains its mineral content when dried, along with most of the vitamins. I'm going to be dehydrating a lot more of my kale harvest this year.

Lisa K

@VermontCathy where I am I can grow through the winter; however, if I have more or need something for a recipe, right now I use frozen vegetables. I am hoping in a while to have room for a Freeze Dryer.

The Steel oats, chia seeds and I forgot flaxseeds I store in air-proof containers.

VermontCathy

@Lisa K You are fortunate you can grow through the winter, though that can create other problems. You may need to relocate your beds every few years as creatures build up in the soil.

I am increasing the amount of space devoted to peas this year. We never have enough to freeze to eat as often as we would like in the winter months. There will be plenty of beans too, and hopefully a lot of tomato sauce.

Lisa K

@VermontCathy agreed which is why I do rotate and every year or two I replenish the soil and add fresh compost (every year for buckets and every two years for raised-beds).