Before you fibermaxx, know these tips

Fiber is a dietary superhero. It lowers cholesterol, helps regulate blood sugar levels and keeps your hunger in check. But chances are, you're not getting enough of it. NPR health correspondent (and fiber fanatic) Maria Godoy shares easy ways to up your fiber intake. Plus, the science of what fiber does in your body and how having more in your diet could help you. This episode was originally published Sept. 19, 2023. Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit https://www.instagram.com/nprlifekit/?hl=en Sign up for our newsletter here. https://www.npr.org/newsletter/life-kit Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at [email protected] mailto:[email protected] Support the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekit http://plus.npr.org/lifekit See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This message comes from Charles Schwab with their original podcast, Choiceology. Choiceology is a show about the psychology and economics behind people's decisions. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com/podcast.

• 0:15Marielle Segarra?

  You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

• 0:22Marielle Segarra?

  Hey, everybody. It's Marielle. When I say the word fiber, what do you think about? Maybe pooping? You were probably taught that fiber keeps you regular, and it does do that, but also so much more. NPR Science correspondent Maria Godoy says fiber is kind of like the Peter Parker of food.

• 0:40Speaker 02

  You think it's kind of this nerdy nutrient, but it's actually really secretly a dietary superhero?

• 0:46Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah, a superhero, because this carbohydrate, which occurs naturally in plants, has a ton of health benefits.

• 0:52Speaker 02

  It lowers cholesterol, it helps regulate blood sugar levels, it keeps your hunger in check, and it is the primary food source for the trillions of microbes that live in our guts. And those microbes play really a critical role in so many aspects of good health.

• 1:10Marielle Segarra?

  The problem is, we often don't get enough fiber in our diet. That's true for an estimated 95% of Americans. So let's change that. On today's episode of Life Kit, Maria and I talk all things fiber: how it works in our bodies, the best ways to get it, whether you should take supplements, and how to avoid some of the uncomfortable side effects that can come with upping your fiber intake.

• 1:35Speaker 03

  Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors. This message comes from Bowlin Branch. Change the way you sleep with soft, 100% organic cotton bedding from Bowlin Branch. Designed to help you fall asleep faster and never sleep hot, while wrapped in luxurious comfort, airy blankets, cloud-like duvets, and breathable sheets. Experience pure comfort and feel your bedding gets softer with every wash. Discover the difference with 15% off your first order at bowlinbranch.com with code NPR. Exclusions apply. See site for This message comes from Charles Schwab with their original podcast, Choiceology. Hosted by Katie Milkman, an award-winning behavioral scientist and author of the bestselling

• 2:20Speaker 03

  book, How to Change. Choiceology is a show about the psychology and economics behind people's decisions. Hear true stories from Nobel laureates, historians, authors, athletes, and more about how to make better decisions to help avoid costly mistakes. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com/podcast or wherever you listen. Support for this podcast and the following message come from the Southern Environmental Law Center. No one voted for a dirty air. No one voted for polluted water. That's why S E L C is fighting back to defend the healthy environment everyone depends on, just as they've done for 40 years. Because clean air, clean water, and a healthy climate

• 3:01Speaker 03

  aren't political, they're fundamental. Learn more at S E L C dot org.

• 3:07Marielle Segarra?

  I feel like for a long time, I just thought fiber was something that was kind of like a broom sweeping your digested food through your intestines. It does play that role, right? But it also does all this other stuff?

• 3:22Speaker 02

  Right. There's actually a huge body of research that shows diets high in fiber boost health in lots of ways. For example, there was this big review of nearly 200 studies and dozens of clinical trials, and it found diets rich in fiber were linked to a lower risk of major health problems like obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, even dying prematurely from any cause.

• 3:49Marielle Segarra?

  Do we know why it's so beneficial? Like, how it's working in our bodies?

• 3:54Speaker 02

  One of the big things that scientists have learned over the last two decades is that one of the reasons it's so important to health is that fiber is the primary food source for those microbes in our gut. And those microbes, we've learned, play a critical role in regulating health, not just in our guts, but throughout our whole bodies. I mean, They influence health in everything from immunity, really important to immunity, you know, allergies, to heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, even mental health. And scientists are still untangling those mechanisms, but it's pretty clear that they play a critical role and fiber is the primary food source for these microbes, especially a type of fiber called prebiotic fiber, which is the kind of fiber that these microbes

• 4:39Speaker 02

  can ferment.

• 4:40Marielle Segarra?

  Let's linger here for a second on the gut microbiome because this is so fascinating. Could you explain what the gut microbiome actually is? What is the gut and what are these microbes?

• 4:53Speaker 02

  Okay, so your gut is your gastrointestinal system, you know, so includes your stomach and your small and large intestines, which, you know, the large intestine or colon. And it is home, especially your large intestine, is home to this community of very diverse trillions, trillions of very diverse microbes. And those microbes play a critical role in influencing health throughout your body. And those microbes are adapted to work with different fibers. So that's one reason why you want to eat a diversity of fiber in your diet because I like to think of them kind of like a team of builders building a house, right? Like you want to have your gut as the house.

• 5:37Speaker 02

  And so some microbes are like plumbers and some are electricians and some of them are, you know, masonry experts. And so they all need different tools and the fibers are those different tools to build different things. So you don't want to rely on one kind of fiber. You want to eat lots of different fiber from foods. But what we do know from research is more diverse types of microbes living in your gut equals better health.

• 5:59Marielle Segarra?

  I feel like a lot of people have heard of taking probiotics, either in a pill or through what they eat, kombucha or kimchi, something like that, yogurt, in order to help their gut microbiome. But fiber is the other element here, right? Like fiber is called a prebiotic.

• 6:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, so both prebiotics and probiotics are great for the health of your gut microbiome. Probiotics are foods or supplements that contain live microorganisms that have a proven health benefit. So think foods like kombucha or yogurt. Prebiotics are the food or fuel for those good microbes in your gut. All known prebiotics are fiber, but not all fibers are prebiotic. So prebiotic fibers are those that gut microbes ferment to produce chemical messengers that go throughout your body, but not all fibers are easily fermentable by microbes. But you know, just because microbes can't break them down, doesn't mean that they're

• 7:08Speaker 02

  not beneficial. For example, cellulose is a type of fiber found in foods like celery and gut microbes don't do a great job of breaking it down. But we have lots of research that shows that cellulose can help keep you regular, which I think we can all agree is pretty important.

• 7:28Marielle Segarra?

  The human body is amazing.

• 7:30Speaker 02

  I know, right?

• 7:31Marielle Segarra?

  It's so amazing.

• 7:32Speaker 02

  It really, really is. It's fascinating. And I'll tell you, the reason I got interested in fiber years ago was I thought I was eating super healthy. I was having salads every day and whatnot. And I read an article about the benefits of fiber and I got curious like, hmm, I wonder how much fiber I eat in a day? And I started tracking it and it actually wasn't that much because, um, you know, so fiber is found in plant-based foods and I was eating a lot of salads, but the thing is like iceberg lettuce doesn't really have a lot of fiber in it. So I started sort of targeting high fiber foods in my diet. And so one thing I'll do nowadays is like, I'll sprinkle a tablespoon of chia seeds on my yogurt and that one tablespoon of chia seeds has four grams of fiber.

• 8:15Speaker 02

  Um, and I think you'd have to eat like a truckload of iceberg lettuce to even get anywhere near that.

• 8:20Marielle Segarra?

  Wow.

• 8:21Speaker 02

  But I know, or, um, a cup of raspberries or blackberries have eight grams of fiber, which is a lot and those can be expensive.

• 8:29Marielle Segarra?

  I was gonna say, maybe that's why they're so expensive.

• 8:33Speaker 02

  Right, but but actually you could just buy them frozen, right? And like throw them in a smoothie and they're a lot cheaper when they're frozen.

• 8:39Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, the main issue I have with raspberries and blackberries, which also have a lot of fiber is like they get moldy before I can even look at them.

• 8:46Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, yeah. No, I eat them up first because if I'm paying like six bucks for a little pint or whatever, I'm gonna eat them right away.

• 8:54Marielle Segarra?

  Well, how much, how much fiber should we be getting a day?

• 8:57Speaker 02

  So the formula is basically 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories you eat. And that translates usually for women, something around 25 grams of fiber. And for men, it's something like 38 grams of fiber. But it's in a way it's moot because the vast majority of Americans get nowhere near that. Less than 10% of Americans eat the daily amount of fiber they're supposed to. Most, the average, I think, is something like 16 grams a day. So that's where like, you know, maybe being a little more conscious about what you eat can help without being obsessive. But really what you want to think about doing is eating the rainbow, which is something you've probably heard a million times from like registered dietitians say it all the time. And that just means eating a variety of plant-based foods that are rich in fiber.

• 9:40Speaker 02

  So like sweet potatoes or avocados, very rich in fiber. Asparagus and artichoke, you know, brown rice can help. Lentils and other beans, navy beans, black beans, et cetera. Very high in fiber and not expensive at all. I mean, I eat lentil soup, you know, at least half of the week.

• 10:00Marielle Segarra?

  Do you count your fiber every day or periodically?

• 10:05Speaker 02

  I do, but that's because I'm a little bit obsessed with fiber. But I don't think the average person needs to at all. Really, if you're just sort of trying to eat a variety of plant-based foods, you know, like fruits, vegetables, and obviously whole grains, legumes, like all of that can just help you get closer to your goal.

• 10:23Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah. What is the difference between soluble and insoluble fiber? Because I feel like those terms are a little confusing and I'm not sure whether I need to be keeping track.

• 10:35Speaker 02

  Um, no, I don't really think you do for the average person who's got a million things going on and isn't kind of a fanatic like I am. I don't think so. It's really easy to get really in the weeds pretty fast when it comes to fiber. But basically soluble fiber means it can dissolve in water. Soluble fibers bind with water and kind of turn into this gel-like consistency that slows digestion and that can be helpful, can lower glucose levels and blood cholesterol levels. Again, like chia seeds, oat bran, lentils, nuts and seeds, apples and pears have soluble fiber. Insoluble fiber means it doesn't dissolve in water. And that's helpful because it can help food move through your digestive system

• 11:18Speaker 02

  and add bulk to your stool and help keep you regular and prevent constipation. So you can think of foods like quinoa or brown rice, kale, walnuts, that falls into that category. And the thing that's important to remember is that different kinds of plant foods have different kinds of fiber in them, and they're all important to health in different ways. So again, that's why you want to eat the rainbow, you know, eat lots of different fruits and vegetables and whole grains, nuts and seeds and beans, just to make sure you're getting, you know, a variety of fibers in your diet.

• 11:51Marielle Segarra?

  Right. So is it ever a good idea to get fiber from a supplement or a pill?

• 11:57Speaker 02

  Very good question. Every researcher I've spoken to told me your best bet is to get fiber from a variety of plant-based foods, la, la, la. I've said it a million times now. And but that's really for a couple of reasons. One is, you know, when you eat fiber-rich berries or sweet potatoes, you're also getting all the vitamins and minerals and phytonutrients in those foods. So not just the fiber. So they're good for you in multiple ways. But another reason is the fiber used in supplements, it's been highly purified to simpler structure than the fiber that's sort of bound up in complex structures naturally inside of plant foods. And so these simpler fibers tend to get fermented faster by gut microbes. But that means they might not travel all the way down the full length of your large intestine

• 12:41Speaker 02

  and feed the microbes there too. So basically, they might not reach all the microbes that need it throughout your gut. That said, if you don't get enough fiber, supplements are probably helpful. They just don't seem to be as helpful as getting your fiber through plant-based foods.

• 12:59Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah, I I noticed too that like I was taking fiber supplements for a while. And then, once I realized how much fiber we need a day, I looked at the label and it was like, I had to take five capsules to get two grams of fiber.

• 13:14Marielle Segarra?

  I was like, this is wild. Like, what is even in these? It was like caramel, mostly caramel coloring.

• 13:21Speaker 02

  My advice is like, eat a bowl of black bean soup.

• 13:25Marielle Segarra?

  Right.

• 13:25Speaker 02

  Lentil soup, right? It's gonna be tastier, hopefully.

• 13:31Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, so if you're someone who does not eat a lot of fiber right now, where do you start? Because if you if you start really abruptly and like crank it up, you could get gas and bloating and just like gastrointestinal distress, right?

• 13:46Speaker 02

  Right, right. And I think that's a really important point. Like, if you don't eat a lot of fiber, I would definitely say the key is to start slowly. Just be very gradual about increasing your fiber intake. So, for instance, if you like to eat white bread, maybe, you know, the first week you're trying to increase your intake, switch out one serving with whole grain bread. And the second, you know, second week, do two servings, until you've done all your servings of whole grain instead of white bread. The other thing is drink lots of water, because this can help the fiber bind. It prevents it from hardening. And you can try cooking vegetables or eating fruits without the skins or seeds that, you know, can help make foods a little less likely to cause gas. One thing you might want to do is if you're eating more foods with fiber and noticing gas,

• 14:31Speaker 02

  maybe take note of which foods cause symptoms. You might want to adjust your diet. If you're particularly sensitive to something, like, for instance, I've said I'm a fiber fanatic, but I've realized I gotta moderate my chia seed intake. Like, one tablespoon with my yogurt is fine, two tablespoons and I'm in trouble later.

• 14:48Speaker 02

  That's just me personally, you know?

• 14:50Marielle Segarra?

  Totally.

• 14:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, and the other thing, you know, I find that taking a walk after meals can also be helpful with gas and bloating discomfort. And so, yeah, just moving a little bit afterward. And it's gonna help with digestion and help release some of that gas.

• 15:05Marielle Segarra?

  All right, well, I'm I'm like, kind of pumped now to go eat fiber all day.

• 15:12Speaker 02

  Yay.

• 15:15Speaker 02

  But like, do it in moderation.

• 15:18Marielle Segarra?

  All right, well, thank you so much. This has been great.

• 15:20Speaker 02

  It has been my pleasure as your official NPR fiber fanatic.

• 15:29Marielle Segarra?

  One last thing, would you consider rating and reviewing us? It helps us grow the show and we'd love to know what you think. Here's a review that I liked from listener F Walter 819. Having learned many of these lessons the hard way, I recommend Life Kit instead. And for all the lessons they cover that I never learned, thanks. Better late than never. Too true, F Walter. Leave us a review in your podcast app right now. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Claire Marie Schneider and edited by Sylvie Douglas. Malika Gharib is our digital editor and our visuals editor is CJ Riekele. Megan Kane is our senior supervising editor and Lauren Gonzalez is our executive producer.

• 16:11Marielle Segarra?

  Our production team also includes Andy Tagel and Margaret Serino. Engineering support comes from Jimmy Keely and Sina LaFredo. I'm Marielle Segarra. Thanks for listening.

• 16:28Speaker 03

  Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors. This message comes from Bowlin Branch. Change the way you sleep with soft 100% organic cotton bedding from Bowlin Branch. Designed to help you fall asleep faster and never sleep hot while wrapped in luxurious comfort, airy blankets, cloud-like duvets, and breathable sheets. Experience pure comfort and feel your bedding get softer with every wash. Discover the difference with 15% off your first order at bowlinbranch.com with code NPR. Exclusions apply. See site for details. This message comes from Charles Schwab with their original podcast, Choiceology. Hosted by Katie Milkman, an award-winning behavioral scientist and author of the bestselling book, How to Change.

• 17:13Speaker 03

  Choiceology is a show about the psychology and economics behind people's decisions. Hear true stories from Nobel laureates, historians, authors, athletes, and more about how to make better decisions to help avoid costly mistakes. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com/podcast or wherever you listen.