Fibre comes in two forms soluble and insoluble. Soluble fibre dissolves in water to form a gel-like material. Soluble fibre may help lower your low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad,” cholesterol and blood sugar, and may help protect against heart attack and stroke.
You can boost your soluble fibre intake with a fibre supplement which typically has 2 to 3 grams per dose, or with:
• A half-cup of cooked beans — chole, moong, urad, cowpea or ra/ma — will give you about 1 gram of soluble fibre.
• A pear, peach, plum or an orange contains about 1 gram of soluble fibre. An apple, mango, half-grapefruit or half-cup of berries each has about ½ gram of soluble fibre.
• Certain vegetables, such as a medium carrot, a half-cup of cooked peas, cauliflower or a medium cooked potato with its skin each has about 1 gram of soluble fibre.
• A half-cup of oatmeal is good for about 1 gram of soluble fibre.
• And don’t forget a cup of brewed coffee. which in a recent analysis surprisingly was shown to contain about 1 gram of soluble fibre.