Easy Ways to Boost Fiber in Your Daily Diet

Dietary fiber is a necessary component to anyone’s diet, but many people fall short of meeting their daily intake goals. Fiber serves many purposes such as helping lower cholesterol, keeping you feeling full, maintaining blood sugar levels, and preventing constipation and diverticulitis. Finding good sources of dietary fiber foods is not difficult. There are many foods high in fiber, like fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, and nuts. Some examples of foods high in fiber are almonds, pears, black beans, avocado, raspberries, popcorn, and barley. There are also some additional steps you can take in order to increase your fiber intake, like choosing steel cut oats over refined cereals, having sandwiches on wraps instead of bread and putting fresh vegetables like tomato and lettuce on it, eating the skins of fruits, and choosing whole grain noodles or brown rice. Also, try to get your fiber from natural sources instead of supplements. The benefits you reap from the natural forms of fiber, like feeling full, may not be obtained from unnatural fiber sources.

When increasing your fiber intake, always be sure to do it in a slow pace. Increasing fiber too quickly can cause constipation and nausea. Also always be sure to drink plenty of fluids when consuming more fiber, otherwise the fiber may have trouble traveling the digestive system.