A high-fibre diet reduces your chances of suffering constipation, irritable bowel syndrome and haemorrhoids. It’s also believed to help combat bowel cancer

Fibre – found naturally in plants – is indigestible, so when we eat high-fibre foods, they pass easily through the digestive system. Dietary fibre also retains water and makes us feel full, so by sticking to foods such as raw vegetables and fruit, and wholegrain products, we tend to eat less fattening foods.

Here’s an eight-point plan for including more fibre in your diet. Start slowly, add a little each day and build up to the recommended level. Simultaneously, add more water to your diet.

1. Eat vegetables and fruit raw whenever possible. Boiling them too long, for example, can cause up to one half of the fibre to be lost in the water. Steam or stir-fry them if you have to cook.
2. Puréeing doesn’t destroy fibre, but juice does not have the fibre of the whole fruit if the pulp has been strained away.
3. Always start your day with a bowl of high-fibre cereal – one that has five or more grams per serving.
4. Put fresh fruit on top of your high-fibre cereal to add another one or two grams of fibre.
5. Buy and eat only whole grains. The operative word is ‘whole’. Look for it on the ingredient panel. Wheat bread doesn’t mean whole-wheat bread. On average, a slice of whole-wheat bread has two to three grams of fibre. Choose whole-wheat pasta instead of white.
6. Add beans to salads, soups and stews.
7. Add bran cereal to muffins, breads and casseroles. Substitute oat bran for one third of the all-purpose flour in baking.
8. When you eat out, ask for fresh fruit instead of dessert. Have fruit or fresh vegetables for between-meal snacks.