Fiber Rich Foods, Supplements, and All the Above
The year is 2026, and you just got over the protein hump. Now you feel accomplished with your nutrition, you have a steady meal rotation, and hell—you are even hitting your water targets.
Social media then reminds you that you are not doing enough and informs you that fiber must be your new parameter of health. And you think: “Fiber?!”
Yes, fiber. For the woman who isn’t a nutrition scientist (i.e., you), fiber is great for bowel health (think healthy poops), prevents constipation, supports the gut ecosystem, balances blood sugar, helps you feel fuller longer, and can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Fiber comes from plant foods, such as vegetables, grains, and fruits and, ideally, you are having fiber at every meal.
The sad part? According to a 2016 study, about 5% of the United States are meeting the recommended intake of fiber per day (See for yourself). You know what that means in reality? 95% of people are not having at least one cup of raspberries, one medium banana, one medium apple with skin, one cup of cooked broccoli, and one medium carrot per day (makes up 21.5 grams of fiber).
Let’s Talk About How Much Fiber You Need
The Institute of Medicine recommends women from ages 19-50 have 25 grams of fiber per day (See for yourself).
That can sound like a lot and here is another way to look at this: are you having at least two colors included in every meal? If the answer is yes, most likely you are reaching the bare minimum of fiber. If the answer is “I don’t know”, then I would encourage you to audit yourself and check. If the answer is no, then you have work to do.
Let’s Talk About Which Foods Are Rich in Fiber
You think of fiber as an offshoot. Something that isn’t naturally included in your choices of food. Something that needs to be added, rather than what already exists. Alas, I am here typing to prove you wrong and show you that not only are you already having some fiber products but that there are a plethora of additional fiber products that you enjoy.
Let’s talk about the difference in types of fiber first:
1. Soluble: think of this one as the thickener. It slows digestion, helps lower blood glucose (the diabetes), and lower blood cholesterol. This type of fiber is found in oats, beans, and apples.
2. Insoluble: think of this one as the bulker. It helps speed up your digestion and prevent constipation. This type of fiber is mostly in whole grains and vegetables.
At this point in your nutrition deep dive, there is no reason to divide your time between soluble and insoluble fiber solutions (unless recommended by a physician or dietitian who is working directly with you, not social media reels).
With that being said, let’s look at what fruits are highest in fiber:
o Raspberries
o Pear with skin
o Avocado
o Blackberries
o Kiwi
o Apples with skin
o Blueberries
o Orange
o Banana
o Clementines
Am I onto something? Please tell me you enjoy some of these foods…
Which vegetables are highest in fiber:
o Green peas
o Lentils
o Black beans
o Broccoli
o Brussel sprouts
o Sweet potato with skin
o Kale
o Carrots
o Cauliflower
o Asparagus
Then, let’s do the “other” category:
o Cooked brown rice
o Cooked quinoa
o Cooked oatmeal
o Cooked whole wheat bread
o Cooked chick peas
o Cooked pinto beans
o Chia seeds
o Almonds
o Pumpkin seeds
o Flaxseeds
I limited this to 10 items per category, but with your Google skills, I imagine that you can find another dozen plus that interest you and your preferences. Needless to say, this is evidence that fiber does come from foods you enjoy, not necessarily items that you need to go out of your way to purchase.
Let’s Talk About How to Start Having More Fiber
The biggest mistake you can make is doing a full send to add fiber into your diet. If you did that, I bet you immediately regretted that decision. If you haven’t done that, good for you, because I am going to tell you how you should start adding in more fiber.
If you didn’t know, adding in more fiber too quickly can cause gastric upset. Whether that’s bloating, farts, or too much poop is up to your body to decide.
To avoid that…
Step one: I want you to do an audit of your nutrition. This doesn’t mean count calories or download an app. For each meal I want you to ask yourself: “Where are the colors?” Go back over our extensive list of fiber rich foods, look at the variety of colors those items are—black, red, blue, green, orange, red, yellow. Does each meal include at least two of them?
For your purposes, let’s assume no.
Step two: Choose one of your meals that consistently has the least amount of colors. Let’s use lunch for example because you are either too busy for a well-rounded lunch, too busy to have lunch, or simply forget to eat.
Step three: Choose one of the items above to add to your lunch meal for one week. For example, that could be a handful of berries, one banana, one apple. One.
Step four: Once you have consistently added a fiber rich product to one of your meals, add another fiber rich product to another meal every day of the week.
Step five: Continue the add and wait process until each meal has at least two colors added.
If you’re curious what this looks like in reality:
Take my client Kaytlin for an example. She is the owner of a busy massage therapy practice and doula services. On massage client days, she makes a shake before her first client that has blueberries and spinach (two colors). Lunch looks like an adult Lunchables, so she can grab and go between massage sessions, but includes apples, peppers, cucumbers, and hummus (four colors). Then, her dinner is more well-rounded with chickpeas, spinach, peppers (three colors). Lastly, a night treat with banana bread (grains and banana and two colors).
Let’s Talk About Fiber Supplements
To be honest, I am not a fan of supplements for fiber. Especially considering how easy it is to add colors to each meal and the unnecessary cost of the supplemental products. To put this in dollars, the average cost of psyllium husk powder for an 8-oz. to 16-oz. jar is $10 to $20. Benefiber, another powder option, is $8 to $15 for an 8 to 12 oz. tub.
I understand adding the scoop of fiber into your water is simple. So is taking a handful of blueberries straight into your mouth, which is approximately $5.13 for fresh or $4.20 for frozen for one pound (thank you US government). Do you know how many blueberries are in a pound?! Neither do I, but it sure is longer lasting than your powder product.
As usual with any product marketed to women, save your money. And no, frozen versus fresh doesn’t make a difference. Here’s how I would recommend choosing fresh or frozen:
o Fresh: enjoys preparing foods, has time before the meal to season and cook, wants to shop seasonally, able to maintain food and consume it before it goes bad
o Frozen: often forgets the food in the fridge, needs something quick to heat up, easy to add in to meals, doesn’t mind the weather season, likes to have items already seasoned and cut
Take my client Alexis for this example. With three kids who all have their own preferences, vegetables are not on their top priority list. When she cooks dinner for her family, such as pasta with a meat sauce, she will also cook frozen vegetables for herself. Alexis simply pulls the bag out of her freezer, slices some butter into her pan, and heats the vegetables. She then adds them to her pasta dinner so that she meets her goals of fiber.
Another example? Jen. Jen works from home and had the brilliant realization that she loves raspberries and raspberries have fiber. She adds these into her morning yogurt bowl and will often eat berries throughout the day as a snack.
How about my client Karla? Karla is a recently divorced, single mom of two young girls. Between hairdos, waffles, and packing lunches for school, there wasn’t time for her to have her breakfast. Instead of expecting a grand meal, she decided having an apple on her way to work each day sufficed for her morning goals.
Let’s Talk About Making This Simple
My favorite recommendation for supporting busy families is to have the same meals each day of the week. For example, you would have the following every week:
o Monday: protein option with vegetables
o Tuesday: tacos
o Wednesday: stir fry
o Thursday: burgers
o Friday: leftovers
o Saturday: crock pot roast
o Sunday: pizza
Now, to add more fiber for yourself with these meals, here are some add-in options:
o Monday: frozen zucchini and green beans with olive oil, salt, pepper
o Tuesday: black beans, cabbage, avocado, and tomatoes
o Wednesday: frozen peas, carrots, and corn
o Thursday: baked potato or frozen fry option
o Friday: frozen vegetable reheat
o Saturday: potatoes and carrots
o Sunday: side salad with tomato and cucumber
If you don’t necessarily like those options, that’s okay. This is just to detail how you can add in things without adding more to your mental load, spending money on supplements, or fear of food going to waste.
Again, start with one item to one meal. Do that consistently. Monitor your bowel movements, fullness cues, and how you feel. Continue to repeat the process until you have at least two colors with every meal and/or consistently reach 25+ grams of fiber per day in your calorie tracking app.
If you continue to struggle, please know that there is no perfection with changes in your diet. It is ever evolving, and there is always another opportunity to make adjustments and enhancements.
