Fiber is a secret weapon for fighting cancer. But most people don’t eat nearly enough of it. So in this guide, we are going over how high fiber foods will help you fight cancer, the top most important fiber rich foods for cancer survivors, and most importantly, common mistakes that can sabotage your fiber intake.
You might never pay attention to how much fiber you are eating, but once you learn about its crucial role in preventing cancer or keeping it from coming back, you might want to make it a priority.
A lot of people think of fiber as being good for preventing colorectal cancer, which is true, but it also helps to prevent several other types of cancer too. Studies have even shown that cancer survivors who have high fiber diets have better survival rates overall, especially for those with hormone-driven cancers like breast or prostate cancer.
How Fiber Helps Fight Cancer
We are going to go through four main ways that fiber helps you fight cancer because once you learnt these, you’ll be ready to start prioritizing it more.
- Fiber feeds the good bacteria in your gut. Why is this important? Well, a healthy gut means a stronger immune system and lower inflammation, two of the most important factors for fighting cancer.
- Fiber regulates your blood sugar levels and lowers insulin resistance. If you have high insulin levels or diabetes, it can significantly increase your cancer risk by like 40%. But eating fiber slows down the amount of sugar you absorb from the food you eat, preventing your blood sugar from spiking and keeping your insulin levels in check.
- Fiber helps to remove excess estrogen from your body by binding to it and carrying it out when you go to the washroom. So this is why it can lower your risk of hormone-driven cancers.
- Fiber helps to detoxify your body. This is really important for cancer survivors, especially if you’ve had chemo or taking other toxic medications. Fiber helps your digestive system and liver flush out toxins from your body. This also includes any of the chemicals or carcinogens from the food we eat or that we’re exposed to in the environment.
Now, despite all these benefits, over 90% of cancer survivors don’t eat enough fiber every day. Not good. So we going to help you make sure that you’re not one of them. Especially if you’ve felt like your digestion has been off since cancer treatment with bloating, constipation, or even a sluggish metabolism.
You’re certainly not alone. But the good news is that getting around 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day can make a huge difference in your digestion and how you feel.
So how do we do that? How do we get that much fiber a day without overthinking it and tracking every gram of fiber in the food we eat?
10 Cancer Fighting High Fiber Foods
So to make it easy, we are going to give you 10 simple, high fiber foods that will not only help you reach your daily fiber goals, they also have other anti-cancer properties too.
They help to lower inflammation and strengthen your immune system.
Berries
If you only remember one thing from this high fiber foods guide, let it be this. Eat more berries. They have 5 to 8 grams of fiber per cup, plus really important antioxidants that can help prevent cancer recurrence
Berries are one of the top cancer fighting foods on the planet, so they’re a must have. You can always keep a bowl of washed berries in your fridge as a reminder to just go in and grab a handful of them every day. And you can keep a big bag of frozen berries in your freezer so that you can use them when you want to add some natural sweetness to something like yogurt or chia seed pudding.
Chia Seeds
Chia seeds are the second high fiber food for your grocery list. Only one tablespoon of chia seeds has 5 grams of fiber. You can add them to yogurt, a smoothie, or at least 3 days a week, you can make chia seed pudding.
You can Google a recipe, it’s easy, and it’s like you’re having dessert for breakfast. It’s delicious. Especially if you’re tired of eating oatmeal or cereal for breakfast, chia seed pudding is a much better alternative, and your gut will thank you.
Lentils
Lentils is another high fiber cancer-fighting food. You can sneak them into your sauces or burgers or even a salad.
Lentils are cheap and have a ton of fiber and protein. One cup of cooked lentils has 16 grams of fiber. That’s half your daily goal right there.
You’d have to eat 5 apples to get that much fiber. Now if you really don’t like lentils, it is obvious that can be hard to get used to, beans are another great way to get your fiber in. Black beans have around 15 grams of fiber per cup, and kidney beans have around 11 grams.
You can be making a vegetarian chili, like once a week, because tomatoes are another top cancer fighting food. Especially when they’re cooked, your body absorbs more lycopene from them when they’re cooked. But you can include 8 cancer fighting ingredients in your chili.
You can include, tomatoes, onions, garlic, bell peppers, carrots, beans, oregano, and basil. It’s the ultimate meal to lower inflammation and get a bunch of cancer fighting antioxidants in.
Avocado
Avocado is another high fiber food that may be surprising, but most people don’t realize that one avocado has around 10 grams of fiber.
It’s another really important food after cancer because it also contains omega-3 fatty acids, which again lowers inflammation, but omega-3s are also important for your heart health. If you have avocado on some multigrain toast for breakfast, that’s around 15 grams of fiber right there.
Cruciferous Vegetables
Another really important high fiber food for cancer survivors, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, or cabbage. Not only are they super high in fiber, they’re also a great source of sulforaphane, a very powerful anti-cancer compound.
Now you may have heard that it’s best to eat these vegetables raw or lightly steamed, rather than boiling them to preserve some of their nutrients.
But honestly, it doesn’t matter if you roast, stir-fry, or drench them in cheese, as long as you’re eating them.
Quinoa
If you’re a fan of white rice, and a lot of people can’t go without their white rice, but quinoa has 8 times more fiber, so it’s a great substitute.
Plus, quinoa is also a great source of vegetarian protein with around 8 grams of protein per cup.
Dark Leafy Greens
Dark leafy greens like spinach or kale. Even if you don’t like them, try to sneak them into different things as often as possible, because they’re another one of the top cancer fighting foods, bringing you a ton of fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins.
Apples and Pears with the Skin
Apples and pears with the skin on are high in soluble fiber. Let’s go over what the difference between soluble and insoluble fiber.
Soluble fiber in apples and pears helps to regulate your blood sugar levels and keep your digestion moving along.
Nuts
Nuts are ultimate cancer-fighting snack, especially almonds, walnuts, and Brazil nuts, because they’re super high in fiber and protein and antioxidants and healthy fats.
Flaxseed
These tiny seeds are rich in lignans, which are widely known to lower your cancer risk. And you can add flaxseeds to anything, like Smoothies, oatmeal, salads, or anything that you bake. It’s a quick and easy way to get more fiber in.
Common Cancer Fighting Mistakes
Okay, so now let’s say after reading this guide, you start adding more of these high fiber foods to your diet.
We will let you know about some common mistakes to avoid that can keep you from reaping all the cancer fighting benefits from fiber.
Not Drinking Enough Water
One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they don’t drink enough water. Fiber needs water to move through your system. So if you’re not drinking enough, it can make you constipated rather than helping your digestion.
Eating Processed Fiber
Another common mistake is eating processed fiber. Fiber bars or cereal might sound ideal for getting more fiber in, but most of them are full of refined sugar and synthetic fiber. Synthetic fiber does not have the same benefits as the natural fiber you would get from eating whole foods.
Not Eating Enough Variety of Fiber Rich Foods
Another mistake is not eating enough variety of fiber-rich foods because they do have different benefits, so mixing it up ensures that you’re getting a good balance of both insoluble and soluble fiber.
Insoluble and Soluble Fiber
Now in case you’re wondering what the heck the difference is between soluble and insoluble, well basically, soluble fiber dissolves in water so it slows down your digestion, so it’s great for regulating your blood sugar levels, lowering cholesterol, and it feeds the good bacteria in your gut. You’ll find soluble fiber in things like oats, chia seeds, flax seeds, or legumes like beans or lentils.
Now insoluble fiber doesn’t dissolve in water, it stays intact as it moves through your digestive system, so it can help with constipation. You’ll find it in whole grains like whole grain bread or quinoa, and the skin of fruits and vegetables. Peeling your fruits and veggies just robs you of fiber, don’t do it.
So ideally you want to get a mix of both soluble and insoluble fiber to keep your gut healthy.
Adding Too Much Fiber to your Diet
The last mistake you want to avoid making is adding too much fiber to your diet too quickly. If you’re not used to eating a lot of fiber, increasing it too fast can be very uncomfortable.
Ease into it gradually and make sure you’re drinking at least 8-10 glasses of water a day to help your body adjust.
Conclusion
So with all that being said, hope that you now think of fiber as a key player in preventing cancer or keeping it from coming back. By eating more of these cancer fighting high fiber foods, you’ll honestly be giving your body a better chance at staying cancer-free.
