What Is Fiber? High-fiber Foods You Should Eat, Dietary Fiber Benefits for Health and Weight Loss
What Is Fiber?
What exactly is dietary fiber? Dietary advantages for health and weight loss, high-fiber foods to consume.
What Is It?
What Is Dietary Fiber?
Dietary fiber (also known as roughage or bulk) is important for many reasons and has been proven to be a good ally in the fight against illness and disease.
♥ Unlike fats, proteins and carbohydrates, fiber is the part in plant foods that our bodies can’t digest or absorb. In other words, fiber passes through our stomachs, small intestines, and colon, and out the other end more or less intact.
So, what good does a high fiber diet do, you may wonder?
Well, mainly fiber provides the body with the ability to get rid of waste products once we have digested other forms of food.
The Role
What Is Dietary Fiber's Role in Your Diet?
It is fiber that makes passing this waste, known as stool in the medical profession (or poop for the less academically minded) a whole lot easier than it might otherwise be. That is the number one (or should that be number 2?) role of fiber, which obviously is beneficial to all of us.
♥ Effective removal of food waste from our bodies is vital for health.
And if you are wondering why you are constipated, then the answer is simple, you’re not eating enough fiber.
Weight Loss
What Is Dietary Fiber's Role in Losing Weight?
Regarding attempts to achieve weight loss, it is high-fiber foods that are often mentioned in diets because foods with high-fiber content help to stave off hunger.
High-fiber foods are also generally low in calories, and because they are also not being digested, none of it is being stored as fat.
♥ Once again, it will come as no surprise to followers of diet and nutrition that the foods that contain the most fiber are vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and most beans (legumes) – all the foods that are generally promoted as the best foods for us to eat. They are promoted as the best foods for us to eat because they contain so many of the vital minerals, vitamins, and other nutritious elements that are bodies need to function efficiently.
Best Foods
High-fiber Foods
Here’s a few of the best high-fiber foods you can eat as part of a high-fiber diet:
Foods High in Fiber | Fiber Grams | % Of Recommended Daily Allowance |
Whole wheat bread – one slice. | 1.93g | 7.73 % |
Bran flakes – 1 cup. | 7.73g | 30.92 % |
Brown rice – 1 cup. | 3.51g | 14.04 % |
Whole wheat spaghetti – 1 cup. | 6.3g | 25.20 % |
Red kidney beans – 100g. | 6.4g | 25.60 % |
Canned baked beans – 1 cup. | 13.92g | 55.66 % |
Almonds – 1oz, raw. | 3.35g | 13.38 % |
Broccoli – 1 medium stalk, cooked. | 5.94g | 23.76 % |
Savoy cabbage – 1 cup, cooked. | 4.06g | 16.24 % |
Spinach – 1 cup, cooked. | 4.32g | 17.28 % |
Potato – large, baked, flesh & skin. | 6.28g | 25.12 % |
Sweet potato – 1 cup, baked, flesh & skin. | 6.60g | 26.40 % |
Peas – 1 cup, frozen. | 4.96g | 19.84 % |
Apple – small (4 per lb.). | 2.54g | 10.18 % |
Banana – medium, raw. | 3.07g | 12.27 % |
Pear – medium, raw. | 5.15g | 20.58 % |
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