Fibre-Rich Food: Turn

Takeaway Meals

Into a High-Fibre Diet

Quick Summary

Guilt is what follows if you indulge in frequent takeaway meals, especially if you are chased by an algorithm on your socials that promotes content that goes against it and the importance of whole foods, or, on the flip side, more spicy noodle mukbangs and fried, fatty foods. You don’t have to eat at either extreme, and your favourite takeaway meals that sustain you through the busiest days can be bulked up with more fibre and easily become part of a high-fibre diet.

Deep Dive

Fibre-rich food doesn't always have to feature seasonal vegetables cooked from the freshest ingredients, which can be nightmare fuel for the busy adult. Takeaway orders can still form the basis of a high-fibre diet with a handful of small, deliberate changes. For example, during order substitutions, you can add a side of roasted chana instead of extra fries, choose a multigrain bread base over a refined one, or add a bowl of raita loaded with cucumber and carrot to a plate of butter chicken or a cheesy pizza. In this way, you can amp up the fibre in outside foods and meet your fibre requirements without giving up the convenience or the cravings that make takeaway appealing in the first place.

What a Typical Indian Takeaway Order Looks Like

Food delivery has become a daily habit rather than an occasional treat in urban India, despite health experts' warnings about eating outside food. Food delivery platforms like Zomato have reported that dishes like chaat, chicken biryani, roti, sandwiches, and dosa are among the most ordered on the platform. Similarly, Swiggy has also disclosed similar high order volumes for biryani, alongside samosas. 

Despite being highly reordered, these dishes rarely add up to much in terms of dietary fibre. They are prepared mostly to appeal to the taste buds, much like fried foods are more appealing than steamed or roasted dishes. For example, most rice consumed is polished and white, with local favourites like naan and bhatura made with maida, and the actual ingredients like vegetables added in negligible amounts, all of which are quite low in fibre.

Taking these into account, the picture looks similar once global fast food, like pizzas and burgers, enters the scene. Pizza, burgers, tacos, mac and cheese and Indo-Chinese noodles are now staples across Indian delivery apps, especially in metro cities. Vegetables, whole grains and legumes, which are the building blocks of high-fibre foods, are rarely present in abundance in these orders, if at all. A regular cheese-burst pizza, a chicken burger, or a plate of hakka noodles, ordered at a restaurant, can easily cross 700 calories while adding only a few grams of fibre to your diet.

How Much Fibre Your Body Needs Daily

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Nutrition's (ICMR-NIN) 2020 dietary guidelines, someone eating roughly 2,000 kilocalories a day should be getting close to 30 grams of dietary fibre. Most Indians don't even come close to meeting this nutritional requirement or are simply unaware of it. More global figures suggest that as many as 90% of adults worldwide fail to meet their daily fibre targets. This is driven by overindulgence in takeaway food, which tends to use more refined grains, and low-fibre carbs pushed through delivery apps that harp on convenience, with incessant notifications that are way too clickbait-ey to miss.

Fibre is an important carbohydrate that the body cannot digest, and it is quite important, and it comes in two forms:

• Soluble fibre slows digestion, which helps regulate blood sugar and lowers LDL cholesterol over time.

• Insoluble fibre adds bulk to meals and keeps the digestion process smoother, as outlined in this clinical review of dietary fibre. 

Diets consistently higher in fibre have also been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and better long-term gut health. The gut microbiome contains trillions of microorganisms, including many beneficial bacteria that promote better gut health and help keep the gut lining and immune system functioning well.

How to Turn Your Takeaway Favourites into Fibre-Rich Foods

Most Indian classics on food delivery apps are consistent, as mentioned above, and you can give them a fibre upgrade without losing what makes these dishes what they are. So here’s how to fibre-maxx some popular takeaway dishes:

• Biryani: Add a side of cucumber-carrot raita or a small salad – try some from this list featuring grains, vegetables and legumes. To add more fibre to this fragrant rice dish, pair the vegetable biryani mix with a side dish to boost the protein, or top the non-vegetarian biryani with roasted peanuts.

• Chaat: Choose ragda pattice or chana chaat over the all-fried papdi chaat, and add extra sprouts or boiled chana as a topping.

• Rolls, wraps and parathas: Choose a multigrain or atta roti or paratha instead of a maida one, and pack in extra onion, cabbage and carrot, or other vegetables. A rajma or chole filling adds legumes, which are rich in fibre.

• Dal-rice combinations: The favourite dal-chawal might be a common mixture if you are eating out quite frequently and barely have the time to cook. In such cases, ask for a larger portion of dal than rice, or pick any millet roti – bajra, jowar, or ragi – if it's on the menu. A salad is also a good addition here.

Fibre Hacks For Pizza, Burgers, Tacos and Mac And Cheese

Continental and Indo-Chinese orders take a little more creativity, especially when trying to sneak in fibre-rich food items to delicious takeaway meals of this kind; here are some tips:

• Pizza: Pick a whole-wheat or multigrain base, preferably a thin crust, wherever it's on the menu, and load up on vegetable toppings. You could load up on spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers, corn, and olives, rather than adding an extra layer of cheese or processed meat high in sodium.

• Burgers: Swap the regular maida bun for a multigrain one; if they keep khapli atta brioche buns, that’s even better! For the burgers, ask for extra lettuce and tomato, and choose a side salad or sweet potato fries instead of regular fries. A bean-based patty works better for a vegetarian version than a potato one.

• Tacos: Whole-wheat tortillas are as good as refined ones, but the former has noticeably more fibre. Pile on black beans, corn, salsa and guacamole (avocado is one of the more underrated fibre-rich fruits), right alongside more familiar fruit picks like mango, tomato, pineapple and pomegranate.

• Mac and cheese: Some kitchens are accommodating; at such places, ask the kitchen to add steamed broccoli or green peas if that's an option, or simply order a side salad, or fix it yourself, to eat alongside this indulgent pasta dish to balance out the plate.

Quick Fibre Boosters That Work With Any Takeaway Order

The above were some specific dishes that Indians tend to order more than anything else, and if your favourite takeout dish did not make the list, fret not; the addition of fibre-rich foods is a tad universal, and here’s a mix of what you could try:

• Add a side salad, sprouts, or a bowl of vegetable soup for rice- or roti-based sets.

• Choose brown rice or a multigrain base for any bowls or junk food.

• Ask for beans, chickpeas or rajma as an add-on or side.

• Request extra vegetables in any stir-fry, wrap, curry or bowl.

• Swap a fried dessert for fibre-rich fruits like bananas, apples, or pears, with some honey or peanut butter (from your pantry).

• Pick whole wheat or millet-based breads over naan or maida rotis.

• Sprinkle roasted peanuts, chia or flaxseed over salads and bowls. These small, concentrated, fibre-rich food items need no cooking at all

Typical Order vs Fibre-Boosted Swap

*Estimates are approximate, based on typical fibre content of legumes, whole grains and vegetables as mentioned by Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic.

Give Your Gut a Break

You can still have your junk food, but with some tweaks. This will add fibre you might be missing in takeout meals, which, if they were homemade meals, would have plenty of fibre. So whatever food comes from the outside still retains its charm but gets an upgrade so you don’t keep fretting constantly about not eating the typical meal of dal, sabzi, a whole-grain roti and a bowl of curd, which is the perfect balanced diet. Reworking a takeaway order into fibre-rich food is really just applying that same logic to a menu that wasn't originally designed with fibre in mind, and over weeks and months, the cumulative effect on digestion, blood sugar and how full a meal actually leaves you feeling adds up. Tip: Increasing your fibre intake works best when paired with adequate water throughout the day, since fibre needs fluid to move through the digestive system efficiently.