If you've given up on your New Year's resolution to eat healthier and perhaps drop a pound or two, here's a simple way to get back on track: Eat more fiber.

The average person eats as little as 13 grams of fiber per day — half the recommended amount. That's the result of too many processed foods and not enough fruits and vegetables.

The benefits of fiber are amazing: it's powerful in disease prevention and helps keep the digestive system and entire body functioning properly. Our blood sugar, heart health, weight and skin are affected by how much fiber we eat.

There are two types of fiber — soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber helps slow digestion and is found in oat bran, barley, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, peas and some fruits and vegetables. Insoluble fiber helps add bulk to stool and helps food pass more quickly through the stomach and intestines. It's found in wheat bran, vegetables and whole grains. We need both types of fiber.

Soluble fiber helps in blood sugar control by slowing the absorption of sugar and supporting healthy blood sugar levels. A diet high in fiber may also reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to the Mayo Clinic.

When it comes to heart health, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that eating a high-fiber diet could help prevent heart disease due to fiber's role in binding to cholesterol. In addition, studies have shown that fiber may reduce blood pressure and inflammation.

A study in Stroke, the journal of the American Heart Association, found that dietary fiber may reduce the risk of a first stroke by 7 percent.

If you want to add more fiber — and get back on track for that New Year's resolution — here are seven high-fiber foods to try: Chia seeds, berries almonds, beans, sweet potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower.

Q and A

Q: I've been seeing news that "sedentary behavior" is bad for your health. Is being sedentary the same as not getting enough exercise, or is this something different?

A: You can think of sedentary behavior and the amount of physical activity you get as two sides of the same coin — and both affect your health. Most studies on the health benefits of physical activity have traditionally looked at how often people spend at least 10 minutes doing moderate and vigorous physical activities, such as brisk walking, jogging, gardening, dancing, biking and other sports. Although any physical activity is better than none, the recommendation is to accumulate at least 30 minutes of moderate activity daily for cancer prevention, and accumulating 60 minutes a day seems to provide even more protection.

Sedentary behavior refers to what you do the rest of the day. Even people who get 30 to 60 minutes of moderate physical activity daily may spend large amounts of time sitting at work, at home and while traveling from one place to another. Emerging research links more time spent sitting to increased weight, waist size, fasting blood sugar, blood triglycerides and insulin levels. All of these are markers for greater risk of heart disease and create a metabolic environment that seems to pave the way for some types of cancer.

Especially for people whose days involve a lot of sitting, including some standing or brief walking every hour or so throughout the day links to healthier waist size and less chronic inflammation. Excess abdominal fat and chronic inflammation are both linked to increased risk of several types of cancer, as well as heart disease and diabetes. So small amounts of movement — taking stairs rather than an elevator, walking down the hall, standing to talk on the phone — may bring important benefits even if they don't count toward "moderate" physical activity. We may really be looking at two separate aspects of lifestyle that are both important for health: spending less time sitting and accumulating 30 minutes or more of moderate activity each day.

Information courtesy of the American Institute for Cancer Research.

Recipe

Need a respite from the bitter cold? Try this Three-Bean Soup for a perfect winter warm-up. It's from Today's Dietitian magazine.

THREE-BEAN SOUP

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium green pepper, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground chipotle chile

4 cups fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (15 ounce) can white beans, rinsed and drained

1 (15 ounce) can red beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves, chopped and divided

1 tablespoon dried oregano

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

30 baked whole grain corn chips

1-2 limes, cut into wedges

In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Saute onion and green pepper for 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until vegetables are tender-crisp, 2 minutes. Stir in cumin and chipotle and cook 1 minute, stirring. Add broth, diced tomatoes with their liquid, beans, 1/2 cup cilantro and dried oregano. Bring liquid to boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes. Let soup cool for at least 30 minutes to increase flavor, then reheat before serving. To serve, season to taste with salt and pepper. Crumble corn chips into the bottom of eight bowls. Ladle soup over chips. Garnish bowls with remaining chopped cilantro and lime wedge. Makes 8 servings.

Per serving: 230 calories, 10 g protein, 32 g carbohydrate, 7 g fat, 8 g fiber, 480 mg sodium

Charlyn Fargo is a registered dietitian with Hy-Vee in Springfield, Ill. For comments or questions, contact her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @NutritionRD. To find out more about Charlyn Fargo and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.