{"id":50075,"date":"2026-05-06T19:11:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T19:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/a-cardiologist-eats-90-grams-of-fiber-a-day-without-trying-heres-her-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T19:11:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T19:11:19","slug":"a-cardiologist-eats-90-grams-of-fiber-a-day-without-trying-heres-her-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/usa\/a-cardiologist-eats-90-grams-of-fiber-a-day-without-trying-heres-her-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"A cardiologist eats 90 grams of fiber a day without trying. Here&#8217;s her breakfast, lunch, and dinner."},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69f39084ed2d808a706ec446?format=jpeg\" alt=\"danielle belardo\"\/><figcaption>Dr. Danielle Belardo runs a preventive cardiology practice in Los Angeles. She said it&#039;s easier to maintain a high-fiber diet using frozen fruits and vegetables than fresh.<\/p>\n<p>Danielle Belardo\/Precision Preventive Cardiology<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Most Americans eat half the recommended daily amount of fiber.<\/li>\n<li>A vegan cardiologist eats 90 grams of fiber a day thanks to her plant-based diet.<\/li>\n<li>Fiber can lower &quot;bad&quot; cholesterol levels, help you feel full, and reduce the risk of cancer. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most of us don&#039;t eat enough fiber. Not Dr. Danielle Belardo, though. <br \/>She routinely eats a whopping 90 grams a day, more than most Americans get in a working week.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;There&#039;s no guideline that says anyone should reach 90 grams of fiber a day, it just happens to be what I eat,&quot; Belardo, a vegan cardiologist practicing in Los Angeles, told Business Insider.<\/p>\n<p>The general recommendation is for fiber to make up 14 grams of each 1,000 calories we consume. That amounts to at least 25 grams a day or the fiber in two cups of black beans. But only 10% of Americans actually get that much fiber. Most are lucky if they get even half of that.<\/p>\n<p>A high-fiber diet packed with foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, helps the body remove waste products, like bile acid, and effectively sucks &quot;bad&quot; cholesterol out of the bloodstream. Low-fiber diets are linked with poor heart health, higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancers, including colon cancer and breast cancer. <\/p>\n<p>But &quot;fibermaxxing&quot; by suddenly increasing the fiber in your diet if your body isn&#039;t used to it can lead to bloating, gas, and stomach cramps. So, it&#039;s advised to add fiber to your diet slowly and steadily, making sure you&#039;re staying well-hydrated along the way.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#039;s how Dr. Belardo beats out just about everybody else when it comes to packing fiber (<em>and<\/em> protein) into her daily meals.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Breakfast: a smoothie, with berries, protein powder, and frozen spinach<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69f38ec3ed2d808a706ec436?format=jpeg\" alt=\"blender berries for smoothie\"\/><figcaption>Blackberries and raspberries are some of the highest fiber fruits.<\/p>\n<p>Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Belardo&#039;s typical breakfast smoothie:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 cup of frozen raspberries (8 g of fiber)<\/li>\n<li>1 cup of frozen blackberries (8 g)<\/li>\n<li>1 cup of spinach (1 g)<\/li>\n<li>1 scoop of protein powder (4 g)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Fiber from breakfast: <\/strong>21 g<\/p>\n<p>Belardo has nearly hit the daily target for women, which is 25 to 28 g, and she has only just started her day!<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Lunch: avocados, beans, and whole grains<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69f38de3ed2d808a706ec42b?format=jpeg\" alt=\"quinoa bowl with avocado and black beans\"\/><figcaption>Avocados pack a fiber-rich punch, each containing about 10 grams of fiber.<\/p>\n<p>Lemanieh\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At lunchtime, Belardo does some variation on a grain bowl.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A fiber-rich lunch<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 whole avocado (10 g)<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 cup of black beans (7.5 g)<\/li>\n<li>1 cup of quinoa (5 g)<\/li>\n<li>1 cup of Brussels sprouts (4.5 g)<\/li>\n<li>1 Tbsp of chia seeds (5 g)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Fiber from lunch: <\/strong>32 g<\/p>\n<p><strong>Total fiber consumed so far:<\/strong> 53 g<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Dinner: pasta, chickpeas, broccoli, and beans<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69f38d45df248c6fe517211b?format=jpeg\" alt=\"mung bean pasta\"\/><figcaption>Belardo loves edamame and mung bean pasta, which has a greenish hue.<\/p>\n<p>Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&quot;Bean pastas are such a great option to get high fiber in,&quot; she said. She often recommends these to her patients looking to lose weight and improve their heart health.<\/p>\n<p>Fiber fills you up, and fiber-rich foods tend to replace other, less nutrient-dense foods in a person&#039;s diet.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;If you&#039;re eating 30 grams of fiber from fruits and vegetables, that is naturally only going to displace something else that may be less health-promoting,&quot; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Belardo added: &quot;You can do lentil or chickpea, but one that&#039;s got a super high amount of protein and fiber that I love is edamame and mung bean pasta.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><strong>A high-fiber dinner:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 1\/2 cups of cooked edamame and mung bean pasta (24 g)<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 cup of cooked chickpeas (6 g)<\/li>\n<li>1 cup of broccoli (5 g)<\/li>\n<li>1 Tbsp of black beans (1 g) <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Fiber from dinner:<\/strong> 36 g<\/p>\n<p><strong>Total daily fiber: <\/strong>89 g (Her average daily fiber intake, she said, tends to be about 90 grams, give or take).<\/p>\n<h2><strong>It&#039;s better to get fiber from foods than supplements<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/69f38c5997df9f8cd3cd3d08?format=jpeg\" alt=\"fiber supplement with water\"\/><figcaption>Belardo says skip the fiber supplements, and amp up your fiber intake with foods like fruits, vegetables, and beans instead.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Blottman Photography\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Supplements can help level out deficiencies, but Belardo doesn&#039;t typically recommend them, because fiber-rich foods have so many benefits that simply can&#039;t be replicated by a pill or powder.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It&#039;s not just the fiber itself that&#039;s beneficial, it&#039;s the food it comes packaged with,&quot; Belardo said. &quot;It&#039;s also coming with phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and all these other things.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Read the original article on Business Insider<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Danielle Belardo runs a preventive cardiology practice in Los Angeles. She said it&#039;s easier to maintain a high-fiber diet using frozen fruits and vegetables than fresh. Danielle Belardo\/Precision Preventive Cardiology Most Americans eat half the recommended daily amount of fiber. A vegan cardiologist eats 90 grams of fiber a day thanks to her plant-based [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-50075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}