Dietary fiber is a complex carbohydrate that comes from the parts of grains, fruits and vegetables your body can't digest or absorb. Both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber play important roles in maintaining normal bowel function, preventing chronic intestinal diseases and improving your heart health. Select foods that are as close as possible to their natural state to boost your fiber intake.
Functions
Insoluble fiber, also known as roughage, contributes bulk and softness to your stools and reduces the amount of time food takes to travel through your intestines. Those effects produce regular bowel movements that prevent chronic constipation and digestive disorders such as diverticulosis. Soluble fiber, on the other hand, combines with bile acids from your liver to produce a gel that's excreted as waste. Your liver uses stored cholesterol to create bile acids and then pulls more cholesterol from your blood to replace it. This effect lowers the level of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein, or "bad" cholesterol in your blood and improves your heart health.
Sources
Boost your intake of insoluble fiber by eating plenty of wheat bran and whole-grain products, such as cereal, breads and pastas. Vegetables and nuts are also high in insoluble fiber. Natural foods high in soluble fiber include oats, apples, citrus fruits, carrots and barley. Legumes such as peas, beans and lentils are also great natural sources of soluble fiber, says MayoClinic.com. Continuum Health Partners publishes a more specific list of the top 20 high-fiber foods, including legumes, bran cereals, dried fruits, berries, baked potatoes, greens and gas-producing vegetables, such as brussels sprouts and broccoli.
Recommendations
While you should eat at least 25g of fiber daily, the average person takes in only about 14g, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Rather than doubling your average fiber intake abruptly, start adding natural high-fiber foods to your menu gradually so you can sustain the improvement over time. Remember that processed foods are generally lower in fiber than more natural forms of the same food. When whole grains are processed to make refined flour for white bread or pasta, a lot of the fiber is lost along with the bran, or outer coat of the grain. Likewise, soft skinless canned fruits have less fiber than fresh fruit with the skin intact.
Tips
The next time you go to the grocery store, watch for nutritional labels that allow you to easily identify high-fiber foods. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration bestows two types of qualified health claims related to fiber. The first says, "Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol and rich in fruits, vegetables, and grain products that contain some types of dietary fiber, particularly soluble fiber, may reduce the risk of heart disease." The second health claim states, "Soluble fiber from foods such as [name of soluble fiber source and/or food product] as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease."
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