Fibre may be the part of plants that people don’t break down or digest, but it does have a big impact on our health, says Heidi Bates, a registered dietitian with Tri-Nutrition Consulting in Sherwood Park, Alta. “In our bodies, fibre acts a bit like a sponge—it can grab things that are passing through our digestive tract and help to whisk them away,” she says. That’s why you hear about fibre lowering bad cholesterol levels. It latches on to some of the building blocks of cholesterol, ultimately helping to reduce its levels.

Because fibre is only found in plant-based foods, a rich-in-fibre diet is generally also high in vitamins and minerals and low in calories, fat, sugar and salt—exactly the type of eating plan registered dietitians recommend, Bates says. (Health Canada recommends 25-30 grams of fibre a day.) Here is a breakdown of some the highest-in-fibre veggies.