Eating enough fiber is one of the best – and easiest – things you can do for your health. A diet that is high in fiber:

  1. Aids digestion and helps prevent constipation.
  2. Helps you maintain a healthy weight. High fiber foods tend to be lower in fat. They also fill you up more.
  3. Helps keep blood cholesterol low.
  4. Helps keep blood sugar within a normal range.
  5. Can prevent or reduce the symptoms of bowel disease and decrease the risk of colon cancer.

A healthy diet includes 20-35 grams of fiber a day. This may sound like a lot. But you can meet the goal by eating a variety of foods each day. These foods are the best sources of fiber:

Fruits, Vegetables, Whole grain breads and cereals, nuts and seeds. 

The key is that these foods are unprocessed. This means that cooking with whole beans and legumes, brown rice and a variety of grains with plenty of vegetables and some meat, olive oil and occasional fresh fruit is going to be the diet richest in fiber and nutrients. Avoiding processed snack foods and products with enriched white flour, corn syrup and refined sugars will go far to improving your health.