I Added This One Snack to My Nightly Routine—and Now I Easily Hit My Daily Fiber Goals

Next to protein, fiber is the macronutrient that everyone is obsessed with getting more of these days—and for good reason. Fiber keeps you feeling balanced, promotes gut health, and encourages a feeling of fullness, which can lower your risk of chronic disease and boost your overall health. As a registered dietitian nutritionist, I find myself talking about fiber literally every day. 

But even pros need a little helpful hack now and again. I recently welcomed my fourth child and am finding that my days are loaded to the max, pushing mindfulness about snacking to the wayside. I sometimes do a mental fiber tally at the end of the day and realize that I have fallen far short of my 25 to 30 gram daily goal. Thankfully, I’ve found a foolproof hack that’s got me back on track.

The Nighttime Habit I’ve Started to Swear By

Since I know I feel better when I’m getting enough fiber—and since it’s best to get your fiber from food—I decided to incorporate a high-fiber snack into my nightly routine. While I love veggies, they don’t necessarily feel like a treat before bed. (Cereal or oatmeal could provide the necessary fiber boost, but I prefer to enjoy those at breakfast.) Nuts are a good source of fiber, but I already eat plenty of nut butter and handfuls of nuts throughout the day. Instead, my nighttime fiber friend would be fruit. 

I really look forward to my fruit snack every night. Sometimes it’s an apple (four to five grams of fiber), sometimes I reach for an orange (three grams), and often it’s a bowl of berries (three to eight grams) or a seasonal piece of fruit like a nectarine (two grams). Even when I have another type of snack at night, like ice cream or a wedge of cheese, I pair it with fruit. And I don’t walk around the house eating the fruit—even if it’s an apple. For some extra self-care, it needs to be sliced up into pieces and placed in a bowl or on a plate.

Why Fruits Are the Perfect Nighttime Snack

Whether I’m enjoying an orange or a nectarine, the fruit is clearly a healthy snack, but it’s also serving another purpose: It’s helping to keep me hydrated, which is extra important right now because I’m breastfeeding. It provides fiber, which I need to feel balanced. And possibly most importantly, it slows me down and signifies the end of the day. My days are full of work, childcare, and the other constant labor that mothers are prone to. So making time and space for a snack that’s just for me is a true act of self-care that provides so many positive benefits—beyond simply helping me hit five servings of produce a day. 

I’m a seasoned nutrition expert, but I wanted to check in with a colleague to make sure my new “night fruit” habit was actually worth bragging about. And according to Dawn Jackson Blatner, RDN, and author of The Superfood Swap, it’s well worth adding to your routine. “Fruit is naturally rich in fiber and water, so it helps support digestion and keep things moving, especially overnight when your body does its behind-the-scenes housekeeping,” she says. “Think of it as a naturally sweet way to help your gut reset while you rest.” Blatner also reinforced my suspicion that I was practicing self-care while I snacked, stating that slowing down at the end of a busy day allows you to check in with yourself, noting that the moment is truly an act of “powerful self-care.” I highly recommend you join me in my nightly habit. To get you started and inspired, peaches, plums, and nectarines are particularly delicious right now.