High Fiber Foods For Constipation
Help your nutrition or dietetics clients keep things moving with our High Fiber Foods List for Constipation.
Fact Checked by Nate Lacson.
What is a High Fiber Foods for Constipation List?
A High Fiber Foods Chart is a quick reference guide to foods that can help your clients reach their daily fiber goals and ease symptoms of constipation. As well as remedying constipation in the short term, this handy chart is designed to spark inspiration for shopping lists, meal planning, or snack options that boost fiber.
Fiber can offer significant health benefits such as increasing fullness, lowering blood sugar and cholesterol, and aiding digestion by feeding our helpful gut bacteria. Despite these clear benefits, as many as 95% of us may need to reach our recommended dietary intake (RDI) of fiber (Quagliani & Felt-Gunderson, 2017).
To help your clients reach their fiber intake goals, it’s essential to tailor a nutrition plan to their preferences and lifestyle, and that’s where our High Fiber Foods Chart can help. This chart includes 50 different high-fiber foods alongside a quick reference of how many grams of fiber each contributes per serving size.
Downloadable High Fiber Foods For Constipation List PDF
Check out our free High Fiber Foods For Constipation List for greater health and nutrition maintenance
How Does it Work?
To get your clients struggling with their bowel movements moving again using our High Fiber Foods Chart, follow the simple steps below.
Download the High Fiber Foods for Constipation List
The first step is to download the free, printable High Fiber Foods for Constipation List using the link on this page. If you prefer, you can print out the PDF to complete additional notes by hand.
Assign the List to your Client
Next, share the PDF with your client. You can do this through email, a secure messaging platform, or by providing a link to the template within the Carepatron platform.
Add in any Additional High Fiber Foods
This High Fiber Foods for Constipation List covers a broad spectrum of fiber-rich foods. But if there are specific foods your client enjoys or that align with their dietary preferences, consider adding them to the list.
Add any Extra Notes
Depending on your client's needs or health goals, include additional notes. For example, you could guide their specific recommended daily fiber intake, tips on meal planning, or suggestions for combining different high-fiber foods.
High Fiber Foods for Constipation List Example (Sample)
To see how this High Fiber Foods for Constipation List PDF can be customized to suit your dietary fiber needs, just look at our example High Fiber Foods Chart or download the sample PDF here.
Download our free High Fiber Foods for Constipation List PDF here
When Would You Use This List?
Dietary Fiber, including soluble and insoluble fiber, can have various digestive health benefits. For clients struggling with constipation, fiber can be just what they need to get things moving more regularly.
Health professionals who may benefit from incorporating this High Fiber Foods List for constipation into their practice include:
- Dietitians
- Nutritionists
- Primary Care Providers
- Fitness Coaches
- Personal Trainers
- General Practitioners.
This list is a visual reference for your clients to reinforce positive food choices to help ease their digestive symptoms. However, it is essential to remember that in some cases- excess dietary fiber above and beyond the recommended dietary intake can exacerbate symptoms such as constipation.
As such, encouraging water intake alongside an increased fiber intake is very important, and extra caution should be taken when recommending a dietary fiber intake above the RDI as set by the Institute of Medicine (Institute of Medicine, 2001).
Research & Evidence
Dietary fiber is pivotal in treating constipation by absorbing water in the digestive tract, resulting in softer stools that are easier to pass. Insoluble fiber also contributes to stool bulk, aiding in regular bowel movements (Akbar & Shreenath, 2023).
Denis Parsons Burkitt conducted some of the earliest research into the benefits of dietary fiber in the 1960s and 70s following his return from working as a surgeon in Africa.
Burkitt’s experiments investigated colonic transit time amongst populations with high dietary fiber intake, such as those he encountered during his time in Africa, and populations with low dietary intake, such as those in his home country of England. In collaboration with other researchers throughout the late 20th century.
Although Burkitt was investigating the effects of Dietary Fiber we are now familiar with today, it wasn’t until 1972 that a physician inspired by the work of Burkitt, Hugh Trowell, coined the term “dietary fiber” (Cummings & Engineer, 2018).
The exact definition of this term would remain in some dispute over the years, with varying definitions in certain instances. Despite difficulties in pinning down the precise definition of dietary fiber, the health advantages of dietary fiber are widely acknowledged and endorsed by reputable organizations like the American Heart Association.
While our bodies cannot directly digest fiber, the beneficial bacteria in our gastrointestinal tract can benefit from the fiber we ingest. By fostering the growth of protective bacteria through prebiotic dietary fiber, improvements in digestion, reduced reliance on insulin, and even assistance in weight loss have been observed in both animals and humans (Parnell & Reimer, 2012; Megur et al., 2022).
References
Akbar A, Shreenath AP. High Fiber Diet. [Updated 2023 May 1]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559033/
Cummings, J. H., & Engineer, A. (2018). Denis Burkitt and the origins of the dietary fibre hypothesis. Nutrition Research Reviews, 31(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954422417000117
Megur, A., Daliri, E. B.-M., Baltriukienė, D., & Burokas, A. (2022). Prebiotics as a Tool for the Prevention and Treatment of Obesity and Diabetes: Classification and Ability to Modulate the Gut Microbiota. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(11), 6097. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23116097
Panel on Macronutrients, Panel on the Definition of Dietary Fiber, Subcommittee on Upper Reference Levels of Nutrients, Subcommittee on Interpretation and Uses of Dietary Reference Intakes, Standing Committee on the Scientific Evaluation of Dietary Reference Intakes, Food and Nutrition Board, & Institute of Medicine. (2005). Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids (p. 10490). National Academies Press.
Panel on Macronutrients, Panel on the Definition of Dietary Fiber, Subcommittee on Upper Reference Levels of Nutrients, Subcommittee on Interpretation and Uses of Dietary Reference Intakes, Standing Committee on the Scientific Evaluation of Dietary Reference Intakes, Food and Nutrition Board, & Institute of Medicine. (2005). Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids (p. 10490). National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10490
Parnell, J., & Reimer, R. (2012). Prebiotic fiber modulation of the gut microbiota improves risk factors for obesity and metabolic syndrome. Gut Microbes, 3(1), 29–34. https://doi.org/10.4161/gmic.19246
Quagliani, D., & Felt-Gunderson, P. (2017). Closing America’s Fiber Intake Gap: Communication Strategies From a Food and Fiber Summit. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 11(1).
Commonly asked questions
High Fiber Foods Charts are typically requested by individuals conscious of their dietary choices and health enthusiasts seeking to increase their fiber intake. Health professionals, such as dietitians and nutritionists, may also use these charts for clients who could benefit from increasing their dietary fiber intake.
High Fiber Foods Lists can be used when individuals want to improve their digestive health, manage weight, or address specific health concerns. They are often employed during dietary consultations, wellness programs, or as part of a broader effort to promote a balanced, fiber-rich diet.
Although dietary fiber can aid in constipation through water absorption and bulking of stools, too much fiber can have the opposite effect. As such, if you are already reaching your fiber RDI, excess fiber above this is unlikely beneficial and could worsen your digestive problems. It’s essential to consult with a dietitian or nutritionist in these cases.
