How to Eat a Healthy Low-Fiber Diet

With some health conditions, such as digestive surgeries or inflammatory bowel diseases, you are required to eat a low-fiber, low-residue diet at times. This type of diet lowers the amount of undigested material that passes through your intestines, helping control inflammation. It also lessens the size of the stool, helping control diarrhea. However, this type of diet removes most of the nutrients from your diet, such as fruits and vegetables, and leaves you with white flour. Finding ways to add nutrients to a low-fiber diet is important.

Instructions

1

Remove the skins and seeds found in fruits and vegetables, and cook them. The skin is where most of the fiber is stored, and the seeds are harder to digest. For example, dig the seeds out of tomatoes and cook them into a tomato paste or puree. Or, cut off an apple skin and cook it into applesauce.

2

Eat canned fruits and vegetables, which already have the skins and seeds removed, or drink strained fruit or vegetable juices without pulp. Choose canned options stored in water and not syrup or oil, and choose fruit juices that are 100 percent juice and low in sugar.

3

Eat hot cereals, such as cream of rice or cream of wheat, which both contain low-fiber content. These foods go down smoothly and offer a lot of iron, folic acid and other nutrients to keep your body healthy. Low-fiber dry cereals are nutritional options, too.

4

Add protein to the diet with scrambled eggs, creamy peanut butter and tender poultry. These are all options that are low in fiber, high in protein and contain healthy fats. The protein will help keep you full and prevent you from reaching for an unhealthy snack.

5

Eat foods with Omega-3 fatty acids, especially if you are recovering from an inflammatory issue. These foods help control inflammation, are easy to digest and provide lots of nutritional benefits. Options include salmon, tuna, herring and sardines.

6

Read the nutrition labels on white bread, pasta, crackers and rice. Choose all-natural options that don't contain any artificial preservatives or partially hydrogenated oils. These ingredients add no nutritional value and could add to your digestive problems.