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Last week I was invited to take part in a podcast called More Than a Woman. Hosted by two delightful ladies, we chatted away discussing everything including the merits of HRT to the importance of eating healthily and exercising regularly. Towards the end of the interview, I was asked if my philosophy had changed from when I first started writing diet books? And my answer was an immediate – Yes!
Back in 1972, when I designed my first diet to launch my community ‘Slimming and Good Grooming’ (SAGG) classes it was based on 1400 calories. Whilst healthy in principle, I was focused more on calories rather than nutrients.
The bread I suggested my dieters should eat was either Slimcea or Nimble. It came in small loaves of sliced white bread with only around 60 calories a slice. I remember making my own sandwiches spread with a very low-fat spread (which tasted awful), salad cream, cottage cheese and loads of salad. No wonder I was hungry an hour or so later!
The problem was that these ‘light’ breads had very little fibre, and that was the vital ingredient that was missing to keep me – and everyone else - feeling fuller for longer. Also, for breakfast I ate Rice Krispies because they were low in calories, which also included very little fibre.
Then the benefits of eating fibre hit the headlines when Audrey Eyton wrote her bestselling F-Plan Diet. Audrey was the founder of Slimming Clubs and Slimming Magazine which were at the forefront of their field at the time.
The ‘F’ in F-Plan stood for fibre and there was much humour coming across the airwaves from Terry Wogan each morning on the radio, as he followed this diet plan. He described the side effects of eating so much fibre and made us all smile. But Audrey was right - we did need to eat more fibre.
 So, back to the podcast, I reminisced about my Hip and Thigh Diet with its simple message that eating low fat was the answer to achieving a ‘more slender’ body. And having sold over two million copies across the world, there was no doubt that it worked in its day, but I would write it differently now. I acknowledge that I was so focused on encouraging people to cut down on their fat intake that I didn’t highlight sufficiently the importance of eating less sugar and more fibre in their daily diet.
 When Mary and I wrote The 28-Day Immunity Plan in 2021, (35 years after I wrote my Hip and Thigh Diet) our motivation was to teach others how to boost their immune system under the cloud of the Covid pandemic. The main principles of this Plan were to eat healthily, exercise regularly and very importantly, to eat more fibre, as all of these are vital to boosting our immunity.
Then we discovered through running diet trials with teams of volunteers, that our Plan not only helped our volunteers’ physical health but it also helped them become healthier mentally. By losing weight, getting fitter and eating really healthily (including more fibre), it transformed their sense of well-being. Our first team of volunteers from Leicestershire Police reported their ‘wellness score’ at the beginning of the course was an average of 2/10. But after 28 days on the Plan, it had shot up to 9/10! Not only that, they reported an average weight loss of 10½ lbs and many more benefits. They were buzzing with the difference that eating a healthy fresh-food diet and exercising daily had made to them. They were sleeping the best they ever had and generally feeling more alive and energised! As a result, the Wellness Team at Leicestershire Police asked if we would continue working with them. Next January we will be launching Team 6!
In Mary’s piece below you will read how we can boost our fibre intake without dramatically changing our daily diet. Today, I eat a high-fibre diet without really thinking about it and it isn’t difficult. Here is a typical day for me and my hubby and the foods rich in fibre are highlighted so, as you can see, each of these meals contains plenty of fibre:
- Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk and a small glass of fresh orange juice with bits of orange.
- Lunch: 1 slice wholegrain bread with a large bowl of home-made vegetable soup of some description.
- Evening meal: Meat or fish with lots of fresh vegetables.
- And finally, I will have a dish of raspberries or strawberries with some live yogurt at some point during the day.
Eating more fibre helps us to control our weight as it keeps us feeling fuller for longer and aids our digestion so our gut is healthier.
Eating more fibre is really important in helping our gut to process food more efficiently, keeping things moving through our whole digestive system and finally to the process of eliminating waste through our bowel. We also need to drink plenty of fluids to help move the fibre along.
Finally, a word about Constipation. If you are someone for whom this is a problem, introducing more fibre into your diet will definitely help. For a quick result if you need to ‘get things moving’, try eating two pears, with the skin on, before bedtime. Their skin is full of good fibre and works brilliantly. Then try to keep your fibre levels up going forward. Take your time when you go to the loo and avoid reading or looking at your phone while you sit there as concentration is key. And, if at any time you get ‘the urge’, act upon it. It works every time!
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At one time, Grape-Nuts was the seventh-most popular cold breakfast cereal in America, but sales in the UK have never really hit the heights. Around 2005 the formula was changed; the husks from milled grain were ground into the flour and the cereal was pitched as "whole grain", albeit at the cost of roughening the cereal's texture which many felt detracted significantly from the experience of eating it. 
