Most American diets may not include enough fiber, the plant material in foods that aids in cardiovascular and digestive system health, according to the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Your body needs dietary fiber to keep the digestive process running smoothly and to help control blood cholesterol levels. To enable these functions, the FDA recommends getting 25 g of fiber daily. Food servings with 1 to 5 g of fiber are considered moderate in content, and servings with 5 g or more are considered high in fiber.
Starchy Vegetables
Legumes are often included among starchy vegetables rather than classed separately, and doing so makes them the highest-fiber vegetables. Black-eyed peas offer 8g of fiber per cup, while split peas offer 16 g. Chickpeas, lima, kidney, black and pinto beans, and lentils range in between 8 g and 16 g of fiber, according to the USDA Nutrient Database.
Other starchy vegetables include sweet corn, 3 g of fiber; plantains, 4 g; boiled sweet potatoes, 5 g; and parsnips, 6 g, all per 1 cup. Eating a whole baked potato with the skin, 5 g, provides more than twice the fiber of the flesh alone.
Nonstarchy Vegetables
Fresh artichokes top the list of fiber-rich, non-starchy veggies, with 14 g in 1 cup of flesh, or hearts. Green veggies by the cupful include broccoli, with 2 g of fiber; asparagus and Brussels sprouts, with 3 g; and green beans and cooked spinach, with 4 g. Choose 1-cup servings of summer squash and orange or red peppers, with 3 g of fiber, and carrots, with 5 g among orange vegetables, according to the USDA. Most heat-processed frozen vegetable varieties have greater fiber content due to nutrient concentration.
Fruits
Nutrient concentration raises the fiber content of dried and frozen fruits over fresh as well. Because the natural sugar becomes concentrated too, however, smaller servings of dried fruits are recommended, such as 1/2-oz. of raisins or 2 dates, which each contain about 1 g of fiber.
Like potatoes, the edible skins of whole, fresh fruits add to the fiber content of their flesh, such as plums, 1 g total fiber per fruit with skin; apples, 3 g; and pears, 5 g. The USDA reports that additional fiber-rich fruits include oranges, with 3 g per fruit, and fresh and frozen blackberries and raspberries, 8 to 11 g per 1 cup.
Juices
Fruit and vegetable juices, in general, provide less than half of the dietary fiber of whole fruits and vegetables. One cup of carrot juice, for instance, has 2 g of fiber, compared with 5 g of fiber in 1 cup of cooked carrots. Tomato juice contains 1 g of fiber, and apple, orange, grape and grapefruit juice all have less than 1 g of fiber per cup, according to the USDA.
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