The Surprising Role of Fiber in Cholesterol - Ask a Nutritionist

Transcript:

Amy: Hi everyone, and welcome back to “Ask a Nutritionist” our weekly mini episode of Dishing Up Nutrition. I am Amy Crum, a Registered Dietitian with Nutritional Weight & Wellness, and today we're talking about fiber, specifically how fiber helps lower cholesterol, the different types of fiber and practical ways to increase fiber in your diet, including when supplements might make sense. If you've ever been told to eat more fiber because of cholesterol, heart health, digestion, or blood sugar, and weren’t quite sure what that actually means, this episode is for you.

Why cholesterol matters

So let's start with the big picture, why cholesterol matters. Cholesterol itself isn't the enemy. Your body actually needs cholesterol to make hormones, vitamin D, and parts of your cell membranes. The issue comes when we have too much LDL cholesterol, often referred to as bad cholesterol circulating in the blood, increasing the risk of plaque buildup in the arteries, which can raise the risk for heart disease and stroke.

Fiber lowers LDL cholesterol naturally

Now, here's the good news. Dietary fiber is one of the most effective evidence-based ways to lower LDL cholesterol naturally. So how does fiber actually do this? The key player here is soluble fiber. When soluble fiber mixes with water in your digestive tract, it forms a gel-like substance. This gel binds to cholesterol and helps carry it out of the body through bowel movements. If cholesterol isn't eliminated through bowel movements, it's recycled back up to the liver because the liver needs cholesterol to do its job.

So when extra cholesterol is eliminated regularly through healthy bowel movements, your liver has to pull cholesterol out of the bloodstream to get more, leading to lower LDL cholesterol levels in the blood. This is why fiber works best when it's eaten every day. Essentially, you're taking out the trash daily instead of letting it pile up.

Another benefit is that fiber feeds healthy gut bacteria. Your gut bacteria love fiber. It's their preferred food source. When they eat fiber, they make substances that tell your liver to slow down cholesterol production. So fiber doesn't just remove cholesterol. It also turns down how much your body makes.

Soluble vs. insoluble fiber

Now let's dig deeper into the different types of fiber soluble and insoluble. Most plant foods contain both types of fiber just in different proportions. As I mentioned, soluble fiber dissolves in water and forms that gel-like texture in the gut. Soluble fiber is the type most directly linked to lowering cholesterol and improving blood sugar control.

When you hear about soluble fiber, it's common that oats will be mentioned at the top of the list, but a big bowl of oatmeal is usually just too big of a carbohydrate load for most people. Plus oats are one of the highest sources of glyphosate. So if you do consume oats, we recommend looking for organic glyphosate free, steel cut oats, keeping a serving to about half a cup after it's cooked at a time, balancing it with a healthy fat, like nuts and seeds, plus three to four ounces of protein. Oats should be a supporting roll of a meal to add in fiber and a little carb, not the main part.

The preferred source of soluble fiber is going to be a variety of vegetables and fruits, especially cruciferous vegetables, root vegetables, apples, oranges, pears, berries, and avocados. Nuts and seeds are also great sources of fiber. Ground flax seeds and chia seeds are especially high in soluble fiber. Legumes like beans, lentils, and chickpeas are high in soluble fiber, but again, are a high carb food. So you have to be mindful of the serving size, keeping it about half a cup at a time.

Now let's talk about insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber doesn't dissolve in water like soluble. The highest sources come from vegetables, berries, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Insoluble fiber is essential for healthy digestion, specifically sweeping up the intestines and bulking the stool. So insoluble fiber is best known for supporting regularity and preventing constipation. It doesn't play a direct role in lowering cholesterol like soluble fiber does, but it still plays an indirect role in heart health by improving overall metabolic health.

How much fiber is recommended?

All these things said, how much fiber should we be aiming for? Research consistently shows that eating even as little as five to 10 grams of soluble fiber per day can reduce LDL cholesterol by around five to 10%. And ideally, we want to be aiming for 25 to 30 grams of fiber minimum per day. But here's the reality. The average person gets about half of that at best.

So what about fiber supplements? First, food always comes first. Whole foods provide fiber along with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytonutrients that supplements can't fully replicate. That said, fiber supplements can be helpful in certain situations, especially for cholesterol management. Fiber supplements work as a good backup plan.

They could be good if you're not getting enough fiber from food, which most people aren't, or if cholesterol is still high despite trying your best at healthy habits, we recommend a fiber supplement called Sun Fiber, which is soluble fiber from the guar bean. It tends to be more gentle on the digestive tract than other fiber sources;

Less likely to cause uncomfortable gas and bloating. One scoop gives you seven grams of soluble fiber, so it's a great boost in addition to including fiber rich foods throughout your day. Sun Fiber mixes easily into water without any taste, so it's a very easy way to get extra fiber in.

We also offer a fiber supplement called Fiber MGP from the brand Ortho Molecular, which gives you 11 grams per scoop of a variety of different fibers, including the Sun Fiber I just mentioned. This fiber supplement also works to increase your GLP-one hormone naturally and increase satiety and reduced cravings and overeating. So it has benefits beyond a typical fiber supplement. This one has a tropical golden kiwi flavor, and I think it's best mixed with cold water. I put it in Mason Jar and take it and drink it right away.

Psyllium husk is probably the most commonly used soluble fiber supplement. You'll often see it in powdered fiber supplements, capsules, or even gummies. We always recommend products without added sugars or artificial colors. Simple, pure psyllium husk is preferred if you're going that route. The problem with psyllium is that for many, it causes uncomfortable gas and bloating, so just keep that in mind.

Factors to consider when adding in a fiber supplement

That being said, if you're adding in a fiber supplement to your daily routine, there are some important factors to consider. First, start with a small dose, maybe a fourth to half of the serving size that's recommended, and then gradually increase it. And don't forget to drink plenty of water with it.

Taking too much to start can cause uncomfortable gas and bloating. Most fiber supplements will have five to 10 grams of soluble fiber per serving. So it's not a fix all solution to skip out on eating fiber rich foods. It's supplemental in addition to getting in your fiber from a variety of real plant foods.

Practical strategies of how to increase fiber through food

Now let's talk about practical strategies of how to increase fiber through food. If you're increasing fiber rich foods in your diet, just like with adding a fiber supplement, it's important to start slowly. Rapid increases can lead to that excess of bloating or gas. You may be able to relate to an experience where you ate a large serving of a high fiber food like beans or a big salad with lots of raw vegetables, and then we're left feeling miserable with gas and bloating.

This is why we want to start small if your gut isn't used to a lot of fiber. Here are some realistic ways to increase fiber throughout the day. For breakfast, try adding berries, ground flax seed or nuts and seeds to your yogurt. You can try making a chia pudding by soaking chia seeds in water or coconut milk overnight, and then mixing in a scoop of protein powder and topping it with berries.

Another option is add vegetables to your eggs in a scramble or an omelet. And eat whole fruits instead of drinking fruit juice. Just adding even one serving of fruit or vegetable with each meal can add several grams of fiber per day.

Here are some lunch and dinner ideas. Try filling half your plate with vegetables. You can use frozen vegetables generously in soups, stews, stir fries, and skillet meals. Add half a cup of serving of brown rice or quinoa to a meat and veggie stir fry in the place of white rice or try topping your salad with pomegranate seeds or sunflower seeds.

You can also add riced cauliflower if you're making mashed potatoes, and we've got a great recipe for that on weightandwellness.com. You can also include a variety of colors to your meal. Different plants are going to provide different fibers.

Even snacks are a great way to get more daily fiber in. Fiber rich snacks help keep cholesterol and blood sugar steady between meals. Some snack options that are high in fiber are apple slices with nut butter, mashed avocados with cut up vegetables, trail mix with nuts and seeds and berries with yogurt or cottage cheese. When you're looking at your snack, you want to aim for three to five grams of fiber per snack.

Consider measuring/journaling fiber amounts to reach fiber goals

When first starting to reach your fiber goals, it might help to measure out and journal how much you're eating in a day, but you don't have to count exact grams long term if it's not sustainable to keep track of. A good beginning goal that's easier to measure is to aim for three to four plant foods per day, one with each meal and snack.

Each serving could be a fruit, vegetable, legume, nut or seed. Ideally, vegetables would be the highest source. Then once that's easy enough to achieve, add on more to get to that 25 to 30 grams of fiber minimum per day. Remember, fiber works best daily, not as a short-term fix. So prioritizing fiber should be an ongoing daily practice.

Recap

Now let's recap the big takeaway from today's message. Fiber, especially soluble fiber, is one of the most powerful tools we have for lowering LDL cholesterol naturally. It's gentle, natural, and powerful when done consistently. Fiber helps lower cholesterol by grabbing onto it and escorting it out of your body, so your liver has to pull cholesterol out of your blood to replace it.

You can do this by eating more whole plant foods and less ultra processed foods. This means prioritizing lots of fruits and vegetables and in smaller amounts, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains. Remember to increase fiber gradually and use fiber supplements strategically when needed. Thank you so much for listening today. If you found this episode helpful, feel free to share it with someone who's working on their cholesterol or heart health. We'll talk to you next time.