Fiber
Fiber can come in two forms: soluble or insoluble.
Soluble fiber
Fiber that dissolves in water is called soluble fiber. It’s good because reduces your blood’s total cholesterol and LDL.
Here’s how it accomplishes that:
When the soluble fiber you eat reaches your intestines, it binds with bile acids (which were produced by the liver) and makes you shit the bile acids out. Then the liver replenishes those bile acids by stealing cholesterol from the blood (and mainly from LDL) and converting all that cholesterol to bile.
So soluble fiber helps prevent heart disease. It also helps control blood sugar and diabetes.
Soluble fiber is in beans, chick-peas, lentils, oats, barley, brown rice, psyllium, apples, citrus fruits (especially grapefruit), berries (especially raspberries and blueberries), apricots, prunes, carrots, cabbage, potato skins, sweet potatoes, and Brussels sprouts. Though fiber’s in the fruits I mentioned, it’s not in their juices, so make sure you eat the whole fruits.
Insoluble fiber
Fiber that does not dissolve in water is called insoluble fiber. This kind of fiber is good because it helps prevent constipation and might also reduce colorectal cancer (cancer of the colon or rectum), though the connection to colorectal cancer hasn’t been adequately proved yet.
Insoluble fiber is in wheat bran. It’s also in “whole wheat,” since whole wheat includes the bran. It’s also in other whole grains.
Warning:
Though whole wheat looks brown, some brown wheat breads contain little or no whole wheat. Make sure the bread’s nutrition label lists the first, main ingredient as being whole wheat (or wheat bran).
Feel full
Both types of fiber help make you “feel full,” so you eat less food and consume fewer calories and fats. They help you lose weight.