Eat These 9 Foods If You Want To Boost Your Fiber

Hey guys!

When it comes to food, it feels like all of the attention revolves around what we’re eating “too much of,” or what we “need to cut back on.” Buuut what about the good stuff that we probably need MORE of?!

Fiber is the big one that comes to mind. Did you know that only FIVE PERCENT of Americans eat the recommended amount of fiber?! (Which, by the way, is 25 grams per day for women and 38 grams per day for men).

It kinda seems like the most common advice for getting more fiber is just to eat more fruits and veggies. This is IS important but to be honest, “more fruits and veggies” is pretty vague.

If you’re thinking your diet could use a fiber boost, here are some more specific foods that are PACKED with fiber and super easy to add to your meals!

high fiber oatmeal fruit berries in white bowl

But first…what’s the big deal about fiber?

Fiber is kind of a super nutrient. It does so many good things in the body! There are two main types:

Soluble fiber dissolves as it digests, and is especially good for the good bacteria in your gut.

Insoluble fiber doesn’t dissolve, and helps get things moving in your intestines. In other words, it bulks up your poop and keeps you from getting constipated.

Eating plenty of both types has TONS of benefits like:

A normal “schedule”
^this helps to prevent disease in the colon, including cancer
Blood sugar control
Lower cholesterol
Increased satiety

And all of these things snowball in a lot of ways to majorly impact your health.

So… onto those fiber-rich foods.

Avocado

Like we really need ANOTHER reason to love avocado, right?!

Avocado is most commonly known for being a delicious source of healthy fats. But it’s also an amazing source of fiber!

Eating a cup of avocado gives you about 10 grams of fiber! So umm… pass the guac!

Berries

All berries are pretty amazing sources of fiber, but raspberries are especially packed. If you snack on a cup of raspberries, you’ll get ~8 grams of fiber.

I love using berries in smoothies or on top of yogurt, oatmeal, or pancakes for an easy boost too!

All the legumes

When all else fails, add some legumes to your meals. They’re a great source of protein AND fiber, and they require almost no effort to make/add to a meal. They seriously cover all of the bases when it comes to being easy and healthy. Some of my faves are:

Lentils – 15 grams of fiber per cup
Peas – 9 grams per cup
Chickpeas – 12.5 grams per cup
Black beans – 15 grams per cup
Edamame – 10 grams per cup
Kidney beans – 11 grams per cup

Oats

You can put a serious dent in your fiber intake first thing in the morning with oatmeal! The less processed the better. So if you can, pass on the quick cook oats and go for rolled or steel cut oats.

A cup of raw oats will give you about 16 grams of fiber! Use some high-fiber toppings from this list on your oatmeal and you’ve pretty much taken care of your whole day.

You can also blend oats into your smoothies, use them in baked goods, or make some yummy no-bake energy balls!

Quinoa

If you’ve never tried it, I know it can seem a little intimidating. But I promise it’s really easy to make!

Sub a cup of rice for quinoa instead and you’ll get 5 grams of fiber (brown rice only has 3.5 grams, and white rice <1 gram!)

Popcorn

Did you know that popcorn is technically a whole grain?

If you leave out all the butter and salt, it’s actually a really healthy snack.

You get about a gram per cup – I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but who only eats a cup of popcorn?!

Almonds

Almonds is one of the best snacks ever! So yummy and filling, and eating an ounce of them gives you about 3.5 grams of fiber!

Snack on ’em plain, or chop them up and throw some in your salad, oatmeal. You can even crush almonds in a food processor and use them as a delicious coating on chicken. Yummm.