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Tips on adding more fiber to your diet

• Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Include skins and peels when you can because they contain a lot of fiber.
• Eat beans, peas, lentils, and bran cereals daily.
• Eat breads, cereals, tortillas, and crackers that list whole wheat, whole oat flour, whole rye, or whole cornmeal as the first ingredient on the label.
• Add fiber to your diet slowly. If you add it too fast, you may feel bloated and have gas pains.
• Unless your doctor has told you not to, drink 6–8 cups of water and other fluids daily to keep things moving smoothly through your intestines.
• If you eat wheat bran to keep your bowels moving, start with 1 teaspoon per meal. Slowly increase to 2–4 tablespoons per day.
• Select unprocessed foods more often. Frequently, food processing decreases the fiber content of foods.

Read food labels

Read food labels to find the "Dietary Fiber" content of the foods you eat. Good sources of fiber have at least 10% of the Percent Daily Value for fiber.

When looking for whole grain products, read the ingredient list. For example, on the ingredient list shown below for whole wheat cereal, the first ingredient is "whole grain wheat."

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