Having high fiber in your diet is important because it helps keep your body working correctly. For starters, it helps regulate your blood sugar levels. This is especially important for people who have diabetes. In addition, it can help things like heart health and stop weight gain. The biggest thing that high fiber helps with is digestive health. It really helps keep everything regular and moving. With that being said, the majority of people don’t get enough fiber in their diet and sometimes have to take supplements. So what foods are high in fiber?
Thankfully, there are many foods that are high in fiber and here are 50 different foods across all food groups that can be made a variety of different ways so it doesn’t get boring or predictable.
Many of them are also healthy low calorie snacks which you can snack on during the day! And don’t worry they would help in maintaining your flat stomach.
Fruits
The great thing about fruits is that you can do so many different things with them. For starters, you could just eat them plain as a snack. You could also add them to your cereal or yogurt for a deliciously sweet treat.
If you aren’t big on actually eating them, you could blend them up into a smoothie. Since smoothies are just a mixture of multiple different fruits, you can pretty much come up with any creation you want.
On the other hand, if you aren’t very big on smoothies, you could try to juice them. This wouldn’t have as much of the fiber since you aren’t eating the whole thing, but you’ll still get a good amount. You could even put them in the oven and dry them out. This will make them like little pieces of fruit jerky that you can take pretty much anywhere. This is great for those that are always on the go and don’t necessarily have time to grab a snack. They make a great alternative to getting something unhealthy out of the vending machine.
If you do like to eat them plain, you could combine several types and make a fruit salad. This could go along with a meal you’re already having or it can be a meal of its own. If you don’t want a salad, you could cut up the fruit and make a fruit pizza. It could also just be eaten as a snack if you need a little pick me up. Below are 10 fruits that have high fiber and, as you can see, many of them would go great together.
- Oranges
- Bananas
- Apples
- Pears
- Blackberries
- Raspberries
- Dried Figs
- Raisins
- Coconuts
- Mangoes
Vegetables
Vegetables are so versatile and you can do so many different things with them. For starters, you could eat them raw. This would work even if you dipped them in something like ranch or veggie dip. You could always go traditional and eat them as a side with your meal, such as pork or chicken.
On the other hand, you could make them as the main entree instead of just a side. A good example of a meal that uses vegetables as the main entree would be stirfry. These can be made with literally any vegetables you like and can be made customized to your tastes. Instead of using them as a main dish or side dish, you could cook them into the meal. Vegetables are great for making things such as soups. There are literally thousands of different types of soups and you can do anything you want with them to make them your own.
One other thing you could do is make your own homemade creations, such as avocado dip or salsa. There are also tons of recipes out there that will let you put your own spin on them. For instance, you could use avocado in the place of mayonnaise or using sweet potatoes in place of mashed potatoes.
Keep in mind, while canned or frozen vegetables will work, in order to get the total amount of fiber, you should go with fresh vegetables. Using fresh also tastes much better and seems to hold up better when cooking them than canned and frozen veggies.
Some vegetables like broccoli are not only high in fiber, but they have many amazing health benefits.
- Avocados
- Carrots
- Sweet Potatoes
- Broccoli
- Parsnips
- Collard Greens
- Brussells Sprouts
- Sweet Corn
- Peas
- Russet Potatoes
Grains
There are quite a few things you can do with grains. Most of them are high in fiber. If you wanted to just enjoy a snack, you could pop some popcorn. As you probably know, there are many things you can add to popcorn to make the taste different. Whether that be salt and butter or flavored powders.
Another type of meal that whole grains are great for is for breakfast. You could have oatmeal or whole wheat toast. As with everything, you can always add something to give it a little more flavor. The fact that pasta comes in whole wheat is great because there are countless pasta dishes that could be made. You could go with spaghetti, lasagna, or even homemade macaroni and cheese. These dishes can be made however you want.
You could also make dishes with different kinds of rice or quinoa. These can be either made as a side or made in the dish that would be the main course. To get an even higher fiber intake, you can add some veggies to the rice and have a delicious meal. When using something like barley or rice, you could make some kind of soup and add some veggies with it. Finally, if you wanted to use whole-wheat or rye bread, you could have a yummy sandwich with all your favorite toppings!
- Rolled Oats
- Whole Wheat Pasta
- Bran Flakes
- Barley
- Brown Rice
- Rye Bread
- Quinoa
- Wild Rice
- Popcorn
- Oatmeal
Though if you have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity you will be limited with some of the options here.
Nuts/Seeds
The biggest thing that nuts and seeds are great for is snacking. Besides being high in fiber, they are much healthier than snacking on traditional snacks like sweets and chips. You could also chop up the nuts and add them into meals. If you wanted something sweet you could add them to some cake and if you wanted something healthy, you could add them to a salad. A great salad idea that would give you a double dose of fiber would be a apple walnut salad.
One thing to keep in mind is that there are quite a few ways you could prepare seeds. Besides eating them raw, you could try baking or roasting them. Before doing so, you could try adding something to it such as cinnamon. The great thing is that most of these can easily be eaten without doing anything to them. This means that you can have a quick snack without having to put too much effort in and without having to do all kinds of prep. This is especially great if you need to take them with you while you’re on the go because you aren’t going to have time to do any cooking and you might not have the resources to keep them warm or cold if you needed.
- Pistachios
- Almonds
- Flax Seeds
- Chia Seeds
- Pecans
- Pumpkin Seeds
- Hazelnuts
- Sunflower Seeds
- Peanuts
- Sesame Seeds
Some of the nuts are also great for a keto diet.
Beans
With so many types of beans that are high in fiber, the possibilities are endless. Since it’s food, remember you can make the recipe however you want and have them with whatever meal you choose. Not only can you put them in soups, but you can also include them in other dishes.
If you really wanted, you could even have them as a main meal. If you wanted to go that route, you could make something like a bean salad or soup beans. Both of these use beans as the main ingredient and can be made anyway you want.
If you want to use the beans in meals that don’t use them as the main ingredient, you could try making something such as chili or red beans and rice. When thinking about something like baked beans, these would go great with something like steak, while something like refried beans would go great with tacos or burritos. Of course, you can use any beans you want for any meal you choose. There isn’t any right or wrong way to eat them. Fresh beans would obviously be the best choice, but if you can’t get them you could always go with canned beans. The 10 beans listed below all have a high fiber content and they all can be used differently.
- Refried Beans
- Kidney Beans
- Lentils
- Chickpeas
- Black Beans
- Navy Beans
- Lima Beans
- Baked Beans
- Soy Beans
- Split Peas
As you can see, there are several different foods that you can eat to increase your fiber intake. You can also see that there are many ways that you can prepare the foods so it doesn’t have to get boring and predictable. You can even try some of your own recipes!
Conclusion
This is a list of 50 different foods, across all food groups, that are high in fiber. There are countless ways to create meals with each of these and the dishes listed are only a few. To keep your health in tip top shape, make sure you’re getting a high fiber intake.
