Dietary fibre, derived from plants, is divided into two main groups: soluble and insoluble.

Soluble fibre absorbs water as it passes through your digestive tract, softening stool so that it can be passed out more easily, thus easing constipation. Soluble fibre can be found in fruits (oranges, bananas, apples), starchy carbs (sweet potatoes), legumes (beans and peas), barley and oats.

Insoluble fibre, on the other hand, does not absorb water and passes through the digestive system in more or less its original form. However, it increases stool size and bulk, thus promoting regular bowel movement. Insoluble fibre can be found in whole grains such as brown rice, wholemeal bread, cereals, nuts and seeds.

Therefore, whole foods (food that has been processed or refined as little as possible) contain either type of fibre that is necessary to keep things moving smoothly.

What’s great about baby spinach is that its mild flavour makes it easy to add to anything. You can get your daily dose of fibre by adding a cup of spinach to salads, soups, smoothies, sandwiches and pasta.

Try our spinach recipes:
Trio Egg Spinach
Pasta With Spinach, Mushrooms And Almonds
Creamy Spinach Ravioli With Almonds

They might be tasteless seeds but this tiny superfood packs in about 11 grams of fibre per ounce as each seed is 95 per cent soluble fibre, which encourages a healthy digestive system by feeding the good microbes in your gut. Apart from fibre, it’s also packed with protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.

Chia seeds also deliver a good crunch, so you can choose to mix them into your pancakes, smoothies and juices. Other seeds such as sesame and flax also offer similar nutritional benefits and help promote colon health.

Avocados are one of the most nutritious fruits to have. Its creamy flesh is rich in not just monounsaturated omega-3 fatty acids but also fibre. Half an avocado provides five grams of fibre, and one full avocado can offer up to 18 grams.

Apart from using avocado in place of butter on toast, you can add mashed or sliced avocado to your salad, add it to your smoothie, or have it as a dip. However you choose to have it, your digestive tract will thank you for it.

Try our avocado recipes:
Avocado, Mango & Macadamia Salad
Easy Tuna & Avocado Salad (In Avocado Bowls!)

Unlike refined grains such as white rice, pasta, and white bread, whole grains go through minimal processing and remain largely intact. Refined grains are stripped of their vitamin-rich germ and fibre-rich hull, which allows the grain to last longer but also contain much less nutrition. All that remains is a fast-absorbing carbohydrate that can cause drastic fluctuations to your blood sugar levels.

Swap refined grains for whole-grain versions such as brown rice, oatmeal, buckwheat, barley, millet, quinoa, amaranth or bulgur wheat.

READ MORE: Whole Grains Can Reduce Your Risk of Diabetes

Ditch your bag of potato chips for a relatively healthier, yet enjoyable choice – popcorn, which gives you about 12 grams of fibre per cup. A bowl of lightly salted popcorn has fewer calories and saturated fat compared to other savoury snacks.

READ MORE: Keep These Guilt-Free Snacks In The Office For When You Have The Munchies

The skin of fruits also provide insoluble fibre that add bulk to our stool, and the flesh provide soluble fibre, some more so than others. For example, one pear offers five grams of fibre, but a cup of watermelon offers only one gram.

Berries, bananas and apples are other high-fibre fruits to munch on. As a snack, the fibre from fruits, when paired with food that contains protein or fat, such as cheese or nut butters, helps to keep us full.

If fruits are good for me, can I have them as juices? The answer, unfortunately, is that fruits are better than their juices. Sure, cold-pressed juices may still contain micronutrients, but most of the fibre is found in the pulp.

By drinking fruit juices, you’re getting only the sugar and missing out on the fibre. (Even though vegetable juices contain less sugar than fruit juices, they also offer much less fibre than you would get from eating vegetables.)

Plus, fruit juices are usually made with more than one serving of fruit, so you’ll be consuming far more sugar than you would if you ate the fruit.

READ MORE: Top Tips To Selecting And Storing 5 Common Fruits

Nuts are little nutrient powerhouses that provide heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, protein and fibre. One ounce of almonds (about 24 of them, approximately a handful) contains three grams of fibre, on top of essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamin E and magnesium.

You can easily toss them into your salad or yoghurt for extra crunch.

Legumes such as beans, lentils and peas are rich in fibre, as well as carbs, protein, vitamins and minerals. A cup of cooked beans can meet up to 75 per cent of your daily fibre needs.

Instead of having meat, which contains difficult-to-digest saturated fat and protein, have a cup of beans instead. Doing so can help reduce your risk of chronic diseases and increase your lifespan, because of positive impact on microorganisms in the gut.

To increase your intake of legumes, try having bean dips such as hummus during snack time, top your salad with lentils, kidney beans, or chickpeas, or have a cup of cooked beans as a side in your meal.

Try our bean recipes:
Vegetable & Lentil Soup
Chilli Mince With Beans & Rice
Beans, Asparagus and Hazelnuts

Baked goods usually get a bad rep for being too “heaty” and a culprit of constipation. They also contain butter and refined flour that can cause inflammation, adding to intestinal stress. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

When baking, instead of using white flour, use whole-wheat pastry flour that has thrice as much fibre as refined flour. Other options include coconut flour, which has 11 grams of fibre, and soy flour, which has five. Non-wheat options such as buckwheat, barley, almond and hazelnut flours have approximately three grams of fibre per ounce, considerably more than the 0.8 grams per ounce in white flour.

READ MORE: Your Guide To The Best Cooking And Baking Classes In Singapore

Quality breakfast cereals typically contain at least 10 grams of dietary fibre per 100 gram serving. Look for cereals that include “whole grain” or “bran” on the box, and that contain both whole grains and fibre. Balance it out with some slow-digesting protein (eggs) and carbs (fruit), which are digested slowly and maintain consistent blood sugar levels.

Alternatively, you can add a few tablespoons of wheat bran to your regular cereal for extra fibre, or eat your cereal with yoghurt to sneak in some probiotic goodness. Try out simple recipe here!

READ MORE:
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The Best Whole Grains To Eat If You Have A Sensitive Tummy
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