What Foods Are Considered Fibrous?

Most likely you've heard that eating fiber can greatly improve your health. According to the American Heart Association, eating fiber can reduce your blood cholesterol levels and may lower your risk for heart disease. If you want to include healthy, fiber-rich foods in your diet, you will need to know what foods contain fiber when you are shopping at the grocery store.

Foods That Contain Fiber

Fiber is found in foods throughout the food pyramid, but a good place to start is with grains because they provide many options. Whole-wheat bread, wheat tortillas and oatmeal contain 2 grams of fiber per serving, while whole-wheat pasta and wheat flakes contain over 3 grams per serving. Bran muffins contain 2.5 grams of fiber per serving and a serving of barley has 3 grams, making all of these foods a good source of fiber according to the Wheat Foods Council.

For fruits that contain fiber, the Wheat Foods Council suggests stewed prunes, oranges, apples, peaches and strawberries. Apples and peaches contain nearly a gram more fiber per serving if they're eaten with the skin on, which jumps the total grams of fiber from 1.7 grams peeled for both fruits, to 2.3 for peaches and 3.1 for apples.

The highest fiber-containing vegetables according to the Wheat Foods Council are broccoli, raw carrots and tomatoes. However, the American Heart Association also suggests cabbage, beets, brussels sprouts, turnips and cauliflower as solid sources of fiber.

While certain breads, fruits and vegetables are all good sources of fiber, legumes are the highest source, with kidney beans having 8.2 grams of fiber per serving, lentils having 5 grams and split peas containing 4.4 grams per serving.

Different Types of Fiber

According to The American Heart Association, fiber is either classified as soluble or insoluble. Soluble fiber is associated with decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and lowering blood cholesterol levels when eaten consistently with a diet low in cholesterol, saturated fat and trans fat. Oats have the highest amount of soluble fiber per serving, but other foods containing soluble fiber include oat bran, beans, peas, rice bran, barley and citrus fruits.

Insoluble fiber is associated with decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, especially in high-risk individuals, according to the American Heart Association. Insoluble fiber can also make a person feel more full, which can lead to consuming fewer calories. Foods containing insoluble fiber are whole-wheat bread, wheat cereals, wheat bran, rye, rice, barley, cabbage, beets, carrots, brussels sprouts, turnips, cauliflower and apples.

What to Look For?

Some fiber sources like fruits, vegetables and beans can be easily found at the grocery store. However, whole grains, which are a good source of fiber, may not be as easy to identify. Just because bread is brown does not mean it is whole-grain; it may be brown because it contains molasses. Read labels to find out if an item contains whole grains; it should be the first ingredient on the label, and is usually printed as whole wheat, whole oats, brown rice, wild rice, whole-grain corn, whole-grain barley, whole-wheat bulgar or whole rye.

The easiest way to spot whole grains at the grocery store according to the American Heart Association is to simply look for the American Heart Association whole-grain heart check mark on food labels, which means the product contains 51 percent or more whole grains by weight, and that it is low in saturated fat and cholesterol.