by Nancy Quinn

Created on: December 20, 2009   Last Updated: January 08, 2010

Many health experts have recommended a high fiber diet  for maintaining one's overall health for many years. But It not only plays an important role in maintaining a healthy digestive system, but has been discovered as an equally intricate component in helping with weight loss as well.

While exercise is an important component in losing weight, a person's diet is the cornerstone for successful weight loss. By incorporating a diet rich in fiber will help ensure your weight loss goals are successfully achieved, as well as improving your overall health. Since fiber includes all the parts of plant foods that your body can't digest and simply passes through your body relatively intact, it may seem like fiber doesn't have a high priority in one's diet. But fiber serves as a critical role to one's diet and health for many reasons.

Fiber’s benefits:

Fiber provides the necessary bulk to your diet to keep your system functioning properly. There are two types of fiber: water-insoluble and water-soluble. Foods such as vegetables and whole grains are considered water-insoluble. These types of foods help your digestive system and increases stool bulk.

Food items such as fruits, seeds, carrots, and oat products are considered water-soluble. This type of fiber helps lower blood cholesterol and glucose levels and dissolves in the water to form a gel-like material as it moves through your system.

The soluble fiber helps slow down the digestion of food in the digestive tract. Depending on the type of food we consume, the blood-sugar levels can spike which lead to feeling hungry again only after a short time after we eat. Fiber helps keep glucose levels more constant and helps us to resist snacking.

How to add more fiber to your diet:

The National Cancer Institute recommends a daily intake of 20 to 35 grams of fiber each day. While getting this amount of fiber daily may seem difficult for many people, there are other ways besides food that can increase your levels of daily fiber. From caplets to powders, you can easily add extra fiber in your diet each day to achieve the recommended levels. Benefiber has become a popular source of fiber for many as they easily add this tasteless powder to juice or coffee each day.

Experts say that many vegetables lose their nutrients during prolonged refrigeration, so they suggest purchasing fruits and vegetables twice a week to ensure you are eating them at their freshest. While orange juice or apple juice are packed full of nutritional value, it is better to eat the fruit to help you feel full as well as getting an excellent source of fiber.

Include whole grain products on your weekly grocery list plans as well. Oatmeal is an excellent source of fiber and a great way to start your morning each day. Avoid enriched products and instead choose products that advertise that they contain "whole grains".

Fiber is a critical component to maintaining a healthy diet. And an added benefit to incorporating more fiber in your diet each is that it can assist you achieve your weight loss goals as well.

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