Dietary fiber is a type of carbohydrate that helps support digestive health. It’s found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. Most adults in the United States don’t get enough fiber daily.
Fiber adds bulk to stool and feeds beneficial bacteria in the gut. Fiber can help keep bowel movements regular, support weight management, and protect against chronic health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and colon cancer.
Fiber is key to keeping your digestive system and bowel movements running smoothly. It helps maintain a healthy consistency in stool and keeps bowel movements regular.
Getting enough fiber in your diet can help prevent bowel movement issues like constipation or diarrhea. The body doesn’t fully digest fiber. In your gastrointestinal (GI) tract, fiber absorbs water, making your stool bigger, bulkier, and softer. This allows you to pass a bowel movement easily and without pain.
Fiber also helps keep waste moving fluidly through the GI tract. This is important for ensuring you have bowel movements frequently enough (generally more than three per week, depending on various factors).
Increasing your fiber intake has multiple benefits on your digestive and overall health, including:
- Prevents constipation and diarrhea: Fiber helps promote regular bowel movements, which can be helpful when you haven’t been able to go to the bathroom enough or your stool is too loose.
- Improves digestive disorders: Data suggests that, in some cases, eating enough fiber can help control symptoms related to digestive conditions like chronic constipation, hemorrhoids, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
- Supports a healthy digestive tract: Fiber helps remove unnecessary buildup in the GI tract, improving gut health and potentially lowering the risk of developing colorectal cancer.
- Promotes an optimal gut bacteria environment: Fiber helps encourage the growth of beneficial gut bacteria, which produce compounds known as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). By lining the intestinal tract, SCFAs help lower inflammation and strengthen the gut barrier, leading to a healthier gut.
- Maintains satiety and weight management: Because fiber isn’t fully digested, it moves through the digestive tract fairly slowly. This can help you feel fuller for longer, which may support weight management efforts.
Beyond its digestion-related benefits, a high-fiber diet has been shown to protect against chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and colon cancer.
For example, eating enough fiber may help lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad”) cholesterol and support blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes.
Data suggests that more than 90% of women and 97% of men in the U.S. aren’t meeting the recommended daily fiber intake. It’s estimated that the average adult in the U.S. eats around 16 grams of fiber per day—only half of the daily recommended amount.
The standard recommended intake is 22-28 grams of fiber per day for adult females and 28-34 grams of fiber per day for adult males. Your fiber needs may vary slightly depending on your age and health status.
As a general guide, experts recommend that people get 14 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories of food eaten. Someone eating roughly 2,000 calories per day should aim to get about 28 grams of fiber daily.
Increasing fiber intake is generally safe for most people. However, if you aren’t used to high-fiber foods, you may experience digestive side effects such as gas, stomach pain, or bloating.
These side effects will typically lessen as your body adjusts to the higher amount of fiber in the digestive system. To help make this transition easier, try gradually increasing your fiber intake over some time—rather than all at once.
It’s important to drink plenty of water and other fluids (such as broth, soup, or juices). This advice also applies to fiber supplements, which can trigger side effects like nausea or bowel obstructions.
People with a digestive disorder should check with a healthcare provider before starting a high-fiber diet to avoid potentially worsening symptoms.
Adding more fiber to your diet doesn’t have to be difficult. Here are a few practical tips to incorporate fiber into your daily eating routine:
- Eat a fiber-friendly breakfast: Start your day with fiber to help you reach the recommended daily goal. For a savory breakfast, try avocado toast topped with garbanzo beans. For a sweeter option, opt for oatmeal with nuts and berries.
- Select whole grains: Foods like brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, quinoa, and whole-grain bread offer much more fiber than other varieties.
- Add plenty of fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts: Between meals, satisfy your hunger with nutritious high-fiber snacks, such as avocados, apples, pears, baby carrots, sunflower seeds, and almonds.
- Choose non-starchy vegetables: For added fiber, add a side salad to your lunch or a serving of spinach or broccoli to your dinner.
- Focus on beans and legumes: Beans, lentils, and peas are high-fiber foods that can easily be incorporated into soups, stews, casseroles, salads, or homemade dips.
- Select fiber from a variety of sources: Try to include both insoluble fiber (e.g., cereals, whole grains, wheat) and soluble fiber (e.g., fruit, oatmeal, bran, vegetables) into your diet. A more diversified fiber intake helps support your digestive and overall health.
Try to maintain a consistent daily fiber intake. If you travel frequently, eat out often, or have difficulty getting enough fiber through your diet alone, consider talking to a healthcare provider about taking a fiber supplement.
It’s possible to consume too much fiber while trying to improve your fiber intake, especially if you add fiber too quickly.
Side effects like temporary bloating, gas, stomach cramping, constipation, or diarrhea are common when increasing fiber intake. Talk to your healthcare provider if these side effects last more than a week or if you have symptoms like:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Fever
- Inability to pass gas or stool
- Severe stomach pain or bloating
Eating too much fiber can sometimes lead to nutrient deficiencies, as it interferes with the body’s ability to absorb nutrients. In rare cases, these symptoms could indicate a more serious issue, like a bowel obstruction.
Getting enough fiber in your diet is key to maintaining regular bowel movements. Fiber can also improve digestive health and protect against chronic disease.
While the average U.S. adult isn’t getting enough fiber regularly, you can add more fiber to your daily diet by eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, and seeds.
Increase your fiber intake gradually, and drink plenty of water to avoid unwanted digestive side effects. If you have a digestive disorder or think you need a fiber supplement to reach the recommended amount, check with a healthcare provider.
