Let’s Dive In: Fiber 101
Fiber is considered a carbohydrate. Fiber comes from the indigestible portions of plants (ex: cellulose). They are indigestible because the cell structure of fiber has no open ends. It literally looks like a closed box.
Indigestible means that our body can’t break down the food to its nutrient component that is to be absorbed (ex: a macronutrient or micronutrient) by the body for a function.
Fiber is, however, digested by the healthy bacteria in our gut and promotes the growth and health of healthy bacteria in our gut (which we want!). Prebiotics are a special type of fiber that our body cannot digest/absorb, but that feed our healthy gut bacteria which helps the healthy gut bacteria to flourish.
There are two types and they are extremely crucial to our health and wellness!
Soluble Fiber
What Is Soluble Fiber?
This type of dietary fiber is dissolvable in water and fermentable. Most soluble fiber can be digested by the bacteria in our large intestines.
What Does Soluble Fiber Help With?
Soluble fiber is mainly known for helping with heart health and glucose (blood sugar) control, but can also help with:
★ Reduce risk cardiovascular disease risk (heart disease) by removing cholesterol – soluble fiber binds to cholesterol particles which can help prevent absorption and helps with eliminating cholesterol from the body
★ Helps protect against diabetes – fiber is a carb that cannot be absorbed by the body which helps with decreasing potential blood sugar spikes
★ Enhances nutrient absorption – slows movement through small intestine because fiber cannot be digested by the body, therefore giving the nutrients from food that is digestible more time in the small intestine allowing more time for the food to absorb
What Foods Have Soluble Fiber?
We find soluble fiber in oat bran, oatmeal, beans, fruits (like apples and pairs), vegetables (like artichoke, leeks, sweet potatoes), and you can event ind it in commercial products (like salad dressing and jam).
Insoluble Fiber
What Is Insoluble Fiber?
This type of dietary fiber is not dissolvable in water and is not fermentable. Insoluble fiber is not easily digested by the bacteria in our large intestines.
This is the fiber on the outermost portion of grains, vegetables, fruits, seeds, etc. When we consume processed starches like “white bread” or “white rice”, that means the outermost layer (called the bran on a grain which has B vitamins, antioxidants, and the fiber) is removed. Another example is, the apple peel. The apple peel is also made of insoluble fiber and is why you’re supposed to eat the peel!
What Does Insoluble Fiber Help With?
Soluble fiber is mainly known for helping with heart health and glucose (blood sugar) control, but can also help with:
★ Reduce risk of cancer – because insoluble fiber helps draw water into our GI tract, this helps to improve movement of everything sitting in our GI tract. All of which helps to bulk our stool thereby helping clear out any build up in our large intestine. This helps reduce the risk of colon cancer and other diseases like diverticulosis which occurs when stool is not properly eliminated from our colon. That stuck stool holds toxins that need to be eliminated from our body and if they get stuck in our gut then disease will begin to ensue.
What Foods Have Insoluble Fiber?
We find insoluble fiber in whole grains, wheat, celery, brown rice, quinoa, apple peels, broccoli.
We want both!
When you see “Good Source of Fiber” on food labels and packages that means there’s either insoluble, soluble, or both fibers!
Fiber, Weight Loss, & Constipation
Either or both soluble/insoluble fiber is believed to help with weight loss because they both promote feelings of fullness by delaying gastric emptying (aka taking longer for food to leave your digestive system because fiber is difficult for our digestive system to break down). When we feel full, we typically eat less ergo this helps reduce our calorie intake.
Both types of fiber also help with our intestinal health and constipation by attracting water and both soluble and insoluble fiber draw water into our GI tract which helps to make us feel fuller, but also helps to bulk our stool. Again feeling fuller and having water drawn into our GI tract helps us consume less calories ergo weight loss.
Foods High in Fiber
*All values are estimates per ½ cup serving
★ Bran/Wheat Bran Cereal ~ 9 g
★ Navy beans ~ 9 g
★ Split peas ~ 8 g
★ Lentils ~ 7 g
★ Pinto beans ~ 7 g
★ Baked beans ~ 5 g
★ Pears ~ 5 g
★ Avocado ~ 5 g
★ Apple (with the peel!) ~ 4 g
★ Raspberry ~ 4 g
★ Blackberry ~ 4 g
★ Almonds ~ 3 g
★ Banana ~ 3 g
★ Peanuts ~ 2 g
★ Quinoa ~ 2 g
(beans/legumes values are for when they are cooked)
How Much Fiber You Should Be Having
Most Americans are not getting their recommended fiber intake every day! Most of us probably fall around 15 grams or less of fiber consumption each day.
The daily recommended amount of fiber is 38 grams/day for men and 25 grams/day for women.
Generally though, a rule of thumb for all is to begin aiming for 25 grams of fiber daily!
3 Main Takeaways for Why You Should Prioritize Fiber
Helps reduce our risk of disease by drawing water into our GI tract which helps to move particles out and bulk our stool which allows for elimination of toxins so they don’t fester and breed disease. (Helps with constipation too! Just don’t overload your body with fiber all at once, that will shock the body and can cause constipation as well if you aren’t consistent with your fiber)
Binds to cholesterol! If you’re looking to lower cholesterol, fiber latches on to help eliminate cholesterol from building up in our body
Helps us feel fuller longer and helps enhance nutrient absorption because gastric emptying (digesting) is slowed down because our body cannot digest fiber but it will still try to process fiber as if it can. All of this helps with weight loss and our health allowing us to get those nutrients!