A List Of 10 Best Foods High In Fiber

Update: 7/30/2019

Dietary fiber encompasses insoluble fiber and soluble fiber, and they play an important role in your healthy diet. People need to consume enough fiber to avoid many ailments and problems, including hypertension, stroke, and heart disease. Unfortunately, most of the people have low fiber consumption. It is reported that about three percent of Americans eat enough fiber. There are many benefits if you follow a high-fiber diet. For example, eating fiber will help to maintain bowel health and lower cholesterol levels and blood sugar levels ^[1], ^[2]. Moreover, it will help you to achieve a healthy weight ^[3]. Lack of fiber will increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes. However, finding the superfoods which are high in fiber is not difficult. Soluble fiber is found in varying amounts in all plant foods such as oats, chia, barley, rye, avocados, plums, berries, carrots, etc. Sources of insoluble fiber are nuts and seeds, whole grain foods, green beans, kiwifruits, celery, and cauliflowers, etc. In this article, we will help you to know a list of the best foods high in fiber and the way on how to add high-fiber foods in your daily diet. Let’s get started!

A List Of Best Foods High In Fiber

1. Lentils

If you want to find the foods which are high in fiber, you should not ignore lentils ^[4], ^[5]. Lentil is also one of the best natural remedies for lots of health issues. Consuming 13 grams of plant-based protein in each meal can be beneficial for your muscles. Dried lentils are not expensive and are also easy for you to cook them. You only need about 30 minutes to cook the dried lentils in a pot of simmering water. Cooking dried lentils is quicker than cooking dried beans. It is said that brown and green lentils have a greater source of fiber than red ones.

All the things you need to do are cooking dried lentils and adding them to your chili, soups, or salads. You can prepare a fiber-packed lunch when you work by mixing all ingredients including lentils, diced bell peppers, baby spinach, halved cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and dressing. You can also cook lentils with veggie burgers if you want, or you may serve them with salmon.

2. Dark Rye Flour

It is said that dark rye flour is much better than whole white flour. Dark rye flour is the best choice for you to get more fiber ^{[6] [7]}. You can make dark rye flour by grinding the whole rye kernels until it becomes a fine powder. Although dark rye flour is not used in U.S kitchens, people in Scandinavia often use this flour to make crackers and bread. Moreover, this flour can provide you the necessary nutrients such as selenium, phosphorous, iron, and magnesium. You can use rye flour to make homemade pancakes, cookies, waffles, crackers, bread, and even pizza crust.

3. Barley

Most of the fiber present in barley is the insoluble type that may aid in healthy digestion, heart health, weight loss, and glucose metabolism ^[8], ^[9]. A pot of hulled barley is an effective way to get more fiber ^[10]. Hulled barley comes from whole grain form of barley and they remove the outermost hull. However, it takes more than one hour to cook the hulled barley. Therefore, you should cook big batches of hulled barley at once for multiple uses. Frozen cooked barley can be stored for a few days. You can pack a lunch with the cooked hulled barley by mixing it with bell peppers, carrots, cooked chicken, parsley, lemon vinaigrette, and feta cheese. Moreover, you can cook fried rice with barley for healthier effects.

4. Popcorn

Popcorn is often forgotten in the list of healthy snack. However, popcorn is a great source of fiber and it had only 130 calories per cup ^[11]. Popcorn is also full of antioxidants that can help to boost the immune system. Therefore, if you want to look for a healthy snack to maintain a healthy weight, you should consider popcorn. You can pop your own or buy the bagged version with healthy ingredients and without added fat, salt or sugar. Popcorn can be combined with dried fruits, seeds, and roasted nuts to enhance effectiveness and taste.

5. Raspberries

We all know that berries are a great source of fiber. It is proven that each cup of raspberries can provide you twice the amount of fiber that is found in blueberries ^[12]. Raspberries also contain vitamin C and A, all of which play an important role in enhancing your immune system and boosting your metabolism ^[13], ^[14], ^[15][16]. People who lack vitamin C might have worse exercise performance than people who consume the RDA for vitamin C. Moreover, vitamin C contains antioxidant properties. Eating a diet high in vitamin C will help you to reduce stress and depression caused by the high-intensity workout.

The easy way to increase the fiber and vitamin C intake is tossing raspberries onto your oatmeal and yogurt. Moreover, you can store a bag of raspberries in the refrigerator and whenever you want, you can add them to your protein shakes to enhance effectiveness. Alternatively, you can use raspberries as a salad dressing by blending fresh raspberries with olive oil and red wine vinegar. For better taste, you should add a garlic clove, mustard, pepper, and salt to it.

6. Avocado

People often think that avocado is the fruit high in monounsaturated fat; however, it has a rich source of fiber. This fruit should be added into a list of the best food high in fiber. Eating avocado is a great way to increase fiber intake ^[17]. This fruit also contains many nutrients such as folate, vitamin K, and vitamin B-6 that body needs to strengthen your immune system and make all the parts of the body function well ^[18]. Avocado can be added into salad and sandwich. You can also make a good shake of fiber by blending avocado with milk, cocoa powder, protein powder, frozen banana, and cinnamon.

7. Dates

If you do not suffer from high blood sugar and want to eat something sweet, you should find dates as foods high in fiber ^[19]. Moreover, because of potassium in dates, this food will help you to keep your blood pressure under control. A diet rich in dates may help improve memory and learning ^[20]. Dates also work as constipation relief and aid in losing weight. To prepare the energy meal with dates, you should blend 1 ½ cups pitted dates and sufficient almond into small pieces with the help of a food processor. After that, add ¼ cup ground flax, 1/3 cup coconut, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ cup cacao powder, little orange juice, and sufficient salt to the mixture. Blend the mixture well.

8. Kumquats

Kumquats have the size of a large grape. You can pop them into your mouth without peeling. In fact, the edible rind is sweet while the flesh of kumquat is sour. The skin of kumquats is high in fiber ^[21]. They also have a wide variety of essential oils such as limonene, monoterpenes, alpha-pinene, and many others ^[23]. You can eat kumquats directly as the out-of-hand snack or add them to oatmeal, yogurt, and salad. Eating kumquats is good for your overall health and healthy weight.

9. Frozen Cherries

Another good source of fiber to keep in mind is cherries ^[24]. The rich source of fiber in cherries may help fuel beneficial gut bacteria and promote bowel regularity, thus keeping your digestive system healthy ^[25], ^[26]. Eating delicious and sweet cherries is a convenient way to increase the fiber intake that your body needs. Moreover, you should eat cherries because they contain potassium, which helps promote healthy blood pressure, bone and muscle strength and overall cardiovascular health. Beyond eating cherries directly as the healthy snack, you can add them to smoothies or cook them into a sauce to be added to cottage cheese, yogurt, oatmeal or pancake.

10. Ground Flaxseed

Flaxseed is a great source of fiber ^[28] (over 5g of fiber per 2 tablespoons). Fiber makes you feel full longer, helping you consume smaller portions of food. Moreover, a study showed that including ground flaxseed in your diet may help to keep  blood pressure under control ^[29]. Like chia, ground flaxseed also has a source of omega fats and lignans, all of which can lower cholesterol levels ^[30].

You may add flaxseed to your pancakes, smoothies, and morning cereal. You may also serve your own nut butter spread by mixing 1 cup of unsalted almonds, ¼ cup ground flaxseed, 1 cup pecan halves, and 1 tablespoon of almond oil or coconut oil and place this mixture into a food processor. Blend it until it becomes creamy.

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