Soluble Fibre

​I find that most people have heard of the word fibre, but did you know that there are 2 different types of fibre?
 
The two types of fibre are soluble and insoluble. In this post, I’m going to focus on soluble fibre, even though both are important for your health.
 
Soluble fibre helps us in a few different ways:
 
It helps slow the sugar that you eat entering into your blood by slowing down how fast you digest carbohydrates.
 
This type of fibre also helps when you are dealing with diarrhea or loose stools – maybe you have heard psyllium suggested for this. Psyllium helps by absorbing the extra water that is lower down (in your colon). It also forms a thick gel which is able to help soften your stool.
 
Soluble fibre also is helpful for binding with cholesterol and fat in the food that you eat and taking it out in your stool, helping keep your cholesterol levels low. If this is your focus, try to get 10 grams of soluble fibre a day. To put this in perspective, ¾ cup of black beans or tofu would have from 3- 5.5 grams of soluble fibre and ½ an avocado would have about 2 grams.
 
There is no specific amount of soluble fibre that you need in a day- instead we look at it as overall needs for fibre (both soluble and insoluble fibre). The recommended amounts are 38 grams for men and 25 grams for women. If you are pregnant that changes to 28 grams and if you are breastfeeding it would be 29 grams. For kids 1-3 it’s 19 grams but by age 4-8 that amount increases to 25 grams.
 
Do you want to add some more soluble fibre to what you are eating? Try including these foods:
 

• Legumes- such as: beans, lentils and tofu. Specifically black beans, lima beans and navy beans have from 3-5.5 grams of soluble fibre for a ¾ cup serving, however, you can still find soluble fibre in chickpeas, lentils, sunflower seeds, flax seeds and hazelnuts.

 

• Fruits and Vegetables- avocados, oranges, dried figs, brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes. Some others that have a smaller amount are broccoli, fresh apricots and fresh pears with the skin on them, apples, carrots, okra and eggplant.

 

• Whole Grains- oats, rye bread, whole wheat and barley.

 

• Ground flax seeds and psyllium are also good sources od soluble fibre, and can be added to foods throughout the day.

 
Whenever you are adding more fibre to your diet, it is important that you start to increase it slowly. As you start to add more fibre, you also want to make sure that you are drinking more water to help prevent getting constipated.
 
Fibre is important for our health. Start adding more soluble fibre to your diet today (and don’t forget that water!)
 
Do you need help with ideas for adding more soluble fibre? Contact Jill, Nurture The Future’s Registered Dietitian at [email protected]
 
 
References:
 
1.https://www.unlockfood.ca/en/Articles/Fibre/Facts-on-Soluble-Fibre.aspx#.Vo1pRpMrKRs
2.https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthy-eating-physical-activity/conditions/digestive/fibre-and-your-health
3.https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthy-eating-physical-activity/conditions/digestive/healthy-eating-guidelines-irritable-bowel
4.https://www.unlockfood.ca/en/Articles/Fibre/Focus-on-Fibre.aspx