By: Meaghan Orellana, Nutrition & Dietetics Student
Fiber is the portion of food we eat that cannot be digested or absorbed. We find fiber in our plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, peas, lentils, nuts and seeds. Because it is not able to be digested, it is able to enter the colon still intact. It then serves as food for the good bacteria in our gut microbiome and to bulk and soften stool, helping maintain a healthy digestive system.
Benefits of Fiber
Fibrous foods are not calorie dense, meaning you can eat a larger amount of food for less calories. For example, one slice of cheddar cheese is 80 calories, when compared to a fiber containing food such as broccoli, you would need to eat about 1.5 cups to get that same 80 calories. With the same number of calories, the broccoli is going to fill your stomach and make you feel full compared to one slice of cheese. This helps in maintaining a healthy weight as you can eat a larger volume of food to keep you satisfied with out as many calories.
As this fiber moves through the digestive system intact, it softens and adds bulk to the stool. This can help alleviate both constipation and diarrhea by forming larger and softer stools that are easier to pass. This also can prevent hemorrhoids by maintaining regular bowel movements that are soft and easy to pass with out straining. High fiber foods also help lower cholesterol, reduce blood pressure, and stabilize blood sugar levels. This can reduce risk of heart disease and diabetes.
Dietary Recommendations
The current dietary guidelines established by the USDA recommends 28g of fiber for women between the ages of 19-30 and 34g for males. In the United States, 95% of adults are not meeting their fiber intake goals. Here is an example of daily meals that would meet this criteria:
Breakfast: Smoothie with 1 Cup Berries (4g fiber)
Snack: 1oz Pumpkin Seeds (5.5g)
Lunch: Chicken Broccoli Pasta
1 Cup cooked broccoli (5.2g)
1 Cup whole wheat pasta (6g)
Dinner: Black Bean Burrito
1 Cup Black Beans (15g)
This would exceed the daily recommendation for both men and women with 35.7g of fiber!
How to Keep Track?
Keeping track of how much fiber you have eaten in a day can be tricky. However, with food tracking apps such as EatLove used by our Nutritionist Maggie, or MyFitnessPal you can easily keep track of your fiber goals. Nutrition labels are a great way to identify how much fiber is in the foods you are consuming. When you don’t have access to nutrition labels such as when eating at a restaurant, a good guideline to increase your fiber intake would be to choose these food groups – whole grains, whole fruits and vegetables, beans, lentils and nuts.
References:
1. Current dietary guidelines. Food Sources of Dietary Fiber | Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Accessed July 15, 2024. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/resources/2020-2025-dietary-guidelines-online-materials/food-sources-select-nutrients/food-0#.
2. Barber TM, Kabisch S, Pfeiffer AFH, Weickert MO. The Health Benefits of Dietary Fibre. Nutrients. 2020;12(10):3209. Published 2020 Oct 21. doi:10.3390/nu12103209
3. McKeown NM, Fahey GC Jr, Slavin J, van der Kamp JW. Fibre intake for optimal health: how can healthcare professionals support people to reach dietary recommendations?. BMJ. 2022;378:e054370. Published 2022 Jul 20. doi:10.1136/bmj-2020-054370
4. Quagliani D, Felt-Gunderson P. Closing America's Fiber Intake Gap: Communication Strategies From a Food and Fiber Summit. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016;11(1):80-85. Published 2016 Jul 7. doi:10.1177/1559827615588079
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