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Welcome back to the Chasing Eden podcast, where we begin
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to rediscover our body's divine design. I'm your host, Carolyn Thompson,
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and it feels great to be back. There is something
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interesting happening in nutrition right now. For years, the conversation
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seemed to revolve around everything except fiber. We counted calories,
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then we counted carbohydrates, Then fat became the enemy. Then
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carbohydrates became the enemy. Then protein became the nutrient everyone
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wanted more of. Grocery store shelves filled with high-protein yogurt,
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high-protein cereal, protein bars, and protein shakes. Also, protein cookies
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and even products that probably never needed protein added to
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them in the first place. Now, protein is important, especially...
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as we age. But quietly, another nutrient has been making
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its way back into the conversation. Fiber. Something our grandparents
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probably never called a superfood. Something that doesn't come in
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a flashy bottle. Something that is naturally found in beans, lentils, vegetables, berries, apples, oats, barley, nuts, seeds,
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and whole grains. And suddenly, social media has even given
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eating more fiber a name. Fiber maxing. But here's what's fascinating.
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Scientists didn't suddenly discover fiber in 2026. We've known for
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decades that diets containing adequate fiber are associated with better
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digestive health and lower risks of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes,
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and colorectal cancer. What we're beginning to understand much more
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deeply is why. Fiber isn't simply roughage that helps you
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go to the bathroom. Different fibers behave differently. Some absorb water.
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Some create gels. Some slow digestion. Some interact with cholesterol
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and bile acids. Some are fermented by bacteria living inside
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your colon. And then those microbes consume certain fibers. They
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create compounds called short-chain fatty acids, including acetate, propionate, and
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butyrate that may influence the intestinal lining, inflammation, and metabolism.
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In other words, when you eat certain plants, you aren't
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only feeding yourself, you're feeding an ecosystem living inside of you.
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And that changes the entire fiber conversation. Today, we're going
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to investigate why fiber has returned to the center of
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nutritional science. We're going to compare American recommendations with Britain
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and France. We'll talk about soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, fermentable fiber,
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resistant starch, and prebiotic fibers. We're going to look at
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what happens to blood sugar when fiber is present in
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a meal. We'll look at insulin, cholesterol, fat absorption, sachety, constipation,
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the microbiome, and yes, bloating. Because that's where many people
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run into trouble. Someone hears that fiber is healthy, goes
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from barely eating any to loading breakfast with bran, chia,
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and flax, eats a giant bean salad for lunch, takes
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psyllium in the afternoon, and by dinner they're wondering why
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their stomach feels like a balloon. We'll explain why that happens.
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We'll also answer another important question. If fiber is so important,
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why can't I just take psyllium husk every morning and
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call it good? Psyllium can absolutely be useful. But psyllium
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and a fiber-rich diet are not biologically identical. And finally,
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we're going to talk about something astonishingly simple that almost
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nobody discusses when talking about digestion. Chewing your food. And today,
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we're asking whether one of the biggest nutritional breakthroughs of
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the moment isn't actually something new at all, but something
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modern food gradually removed. So let's begin with the simplest question.
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What is dietary fiber? It's not as simple as you think.
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Broadly speaking, dietary fibers are carbohydrates found primarily in plant
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foods that aren't completely digested and absorbed into the small
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intestine the way sugars and many starches are. Instead, much
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of that material continues toward the large intestine. But calling
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all of it simply fiber can be misleading because fibers
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can behave very differently. You've probably heard fiber divided into
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two categories, soluble and insoluble. That's useful, although modern nutritional
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science also classifies fibers according to characteristics such as viscosity
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and fermentability. Let's start with soluble fiber. As the name suggests,
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soluble fiber can interact with water. Some soluble fibers from
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viscous gel-like material inside the digestive tract. Sources include foods
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such as oats, barley, Beans, lentils, peas, apples, citrus fruits, carrots,
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and psyllium. These viscous fibers can slow the movement of
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nutrients through the parts of the digestive process. That's important
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when we get to glucose and cholesterol. Then there's insoluble fiber.
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It doesn't dissolve in water in the same way. It
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adds bulk to stool and helps material move through the
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digestive tract. You'll find it in foods including wheat bran,
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many whole grains, vegetable skins, nuts and seeds. But there's
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another characteristic that's arguably even more fascinating, and that's called fermentability.
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Some fibers can be fermented by microbes living in the colon.
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Those microbes break them down and produce metabolites. including the
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short-chain fatty acids I mentioned earlier. One particularly important one
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is butyrate. Cells lining the colon can use butyrate as
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an energy source. Then there are naturally occurring prebiotic fibers.
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You've probably heard the word probiotic. A probiotic is generally
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a beneficial live microorganism. A prebiotic, on the other hand,
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is a substrate selectively used by microorganisms that can confer
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a health benefit. Foods containing prebiotic compounds include onions, garlic, leeks, asparagus, chicory,
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Jerusalem artichokes, legumes, and certain whole grains. And then we
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have resistant starch. This starch that resists digestion in the
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small intestine and reaches the large intestine where microbes can
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ferment it. You can find resistant starch in foods such
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as legumes and green bananas, and the amount can also change,
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depending on how certain starchy foods are cooked and cooled.
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So already we have a problem with saying, I got
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my fiber. Which fiber? From what food? Was it viscous?
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Was it fermentable? Did it come packaged inside a bean
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containing resistant starch, polyphenols, minerals, and protein? Did it come
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from oats containing beta-glucon? Did it come from an apple
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containing pectin? Or did it come from a scoop of
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isolated fiber? Those things aren't necessarily interchangeable. And this leads
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us to one of the most important lessons of today's episode.
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Fiber isn't one nutrient doing one job. It is a
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family of compounds performing different jobs throughout the digestive system.
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Now let's compare recommendations. American dietary guidance has traditionally expressed
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fiber needs as approximately 14 grams for every 1,000 calories consumed.
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For many adults, that works out somewhere in the neighborhood
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of the mid-20s to upper 30s, depending upon age, sex,
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and calorie needs. Britain took a very clear approach. Adults
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are advised to consume 30 grams of fiber per day.
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France also lands around that neighborhood. French guidance commonly recommends
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approximately 30 grams per day with current French public health
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information describing a range of about 25 to 40 grams,
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including soluble fiber. So you might expect Europeans to be
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eating mountains of fiber while Americans live on cheeseburgers. Not exactly.
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This is where the story gets more interesting. Britain's latest
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National Diet and Nutrition Survey found adults averaging only about
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16 to 17 grams per day Only around 4% of
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adults in that survey met the 30-gram recommendation. France has
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also struggled to meet its target, with national intake data
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placing average adult consumption around 20 grams per day in
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previous surveys. So this isn't America is bad and Europe
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is perfect. It is something much larger. Modern industrialized societies
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appear to have developed a fiber problem. But there are
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still cultural differences worth examining. Traditional Mediterranean eating patterns naturally
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include foods such as beans and lentils, chickpeas and vegetables, fruits,
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nuts and seeds, as well as whole grains and minimally
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processed plant foods. Traditional British diets also contain fiber-rich foods too,
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like oats, barley, peas, beans, root vegetables, and whole grain breads.
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Traditional French food culture contains lentils, beans, vegetables, fruit, and
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whole grains alongside animal proteins. Compare that with the modern
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American food environment. White bread, refined breakfast cereal, pastries, french fries, chips,
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and sugary drinks. Also, refined snack foods, fast food buns,
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and pizza made from refined flour, as well as desserts,
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and ultra-processed convenience foods. We're eating plenty of carbohydrate. But
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carbohydrates and fiber are not synonymous. You can eat a
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very high-carbohydrate diet that's surprisingly low in fiber. Take wheat.
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The intact grain contains multiple structures and nutrients. Refining it
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into white flour removes much of the bran and germs.
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The resulting product can still provide carbohydrate calories, but it
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is not nutritionally identical to the original grain. I recommend
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milling your own wheat berries. In that way, you are
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keeping the bran and germ intact, and also the nutrition
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is going to be higher because wheat loses nutrition once
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it has been milled. The same principle applies throughout our
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food system. Processing isn't automatically bad, but cooking is processing
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and freezing is processing as well as pre-milling your wheat.
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Fermentation is also processing. Canning is processing. The issue is
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what happens when our dietary pattern becomes dominated by highly
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refined foods that have had much of their original structure
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and fiber removed. We didn't necessarily stop eating carbohydrates. We
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changed the kind of carbohydrate we were eating. and the
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consequences may reach far beyond constipation. So now let's talk
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about the forgotten organ, your microbiome. Imagine hosting trillions of
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microorganisms and never feeding them. That's essentially part of the
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modern fiber problem. The large intestine contains a complex ecosystem
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of bacteria and other microorganisms. They don't all eat the
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same things. different dietary substrates can favor different organisms and
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metabolic pathways. When fermentable fibers reach the colon, microbes can
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metabolize them. The result can include gases, which we'll come
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back to in short-chain fatty acids. One of those is butyrate.
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Butyrate has attracted enormous scientific attention because colon cells use
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it as an important energy. You can purchase butyrate in
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capsule form, very inexpensively. There is also a relationship between
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the intestinal barrier function and immune signaling as far as
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butyrate is concerned. Another one is called propionate, and another
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one is acetate. This is one reason why fiber diversity matters.
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Eating oats isn't exactly the same as eating lentils, and
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eating lentils isn't the same as eating onions. Eating onions
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isn't the same as eating berries. Eating berries isn't the
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same as eating flaxseed. Different plants contain different combinations of fibers,
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resistant starches, and polyphenols. And they encounter different microbial populations.
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Think of your garden. You planted one crop in every
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square inch of soil year after year, and you wouldn't
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call that ecological diversity. Yet sometimes that's how we approach
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fiber consumption. we find one fiber supplement and we assume
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we're done. But the gut microbiome isn't a drainpipe, it's
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an ecosystem. And ecosystems generally thrive on diversity. This is
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why the resurgence of fiber may ultimately become less about
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hitting one magic number and about restoring a broad range
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of plant foods to the diet. When we come back,
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We're going to follow fiber through an actual meal. What
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happens when you eat carbohydrates with fiber? What happens to glucose?
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What happens to insulin? And what happens to dietary fat
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and cholesterol? Then we'll tackle a question millions of Americans have.
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If psyllium works, why isn't a scoop of psyllium enough?
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Stay with me. Let's talk about what fiber actually does
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inside of you. Let's imagine two meals. Meal number one
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contains refined carbohydrate that is digested relatively quickly. Meal number
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two contains carbohydrate inside an intact or minimally processed food
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matrix with viscous fiber. These foods can behave differently during digestion.
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Certain soluble viscous fibers absorb water and create a thicker
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environment inside the digestive tract. That increased viscosity can slow
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gastric emptying and slow the rate at which digestive enzymes
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and nutrients interact. As a result, glucose may enter the
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bloodstream more gradually. That can reduce the size of speed
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of the most meal glucose rise in certain contexts. And
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if glucose enters the bloodstream differently, the insulin response can
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also change. So we're talking about the speed of the
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post-meal glucose rise in certain contexts. If the glucose enters
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the bloodstream differently, the insulin response can change. So insulin
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is not really, it's not the enemy. And let me
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say again that because the internet has done terrible things
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to this conversation, insulin is not a toxin. It's an
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essential hormone. Without insulin, we cannot properly regulate our blood
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glucose levels. The issue is chronically impaired insulin sensitivity and
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metabolic dysfunction and not the existence of insulin. Research on
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viscous soluble fibers is particularly interesting here A meta-analysis of
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28 controlled trial comparisons involving nearly 1,400 people with type
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2 diabetes found that viscous fiber supplementation improved several measures
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of glycemic control. Average HbA1c fell by roughly 0.58 percentage
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points compared with control conditions along with improvements in fasting
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glucose and insulin-resistant measures. That doesn't mean fiber replaces diabetes medication.
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It doesn't mean everyone gets that exact result either. And
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it certainly doesn't mean someone with diabetes should change treatment
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without their clinician. But it does demonstrate something important. Food
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structure and fiber can meaningfully influence metabolic physiology. And that's
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one reason the question shouldn't simply be, how many carbohydrates
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did I eat? A cup of lentils and a cup
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of candy aren't metabolically interchangeable simply because both contain carbohydrates.
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One comes packaged with fiber, protein, minerals, and a complex
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food structure. The other doesn't. Context matters. Dr. Rhonda Patrick
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points out that fiber, she says, quote, unquote, Fiber is
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our best bet against microplastics, unquote. The best way to
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excrete plastics is to poop it out. So now let's
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talk about fat. Certain soluble viscous fibers can interact with
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bile acids. Your liver uses cholesterol to produce bile acids
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which help digest fats. Normally some bile acids are reabsorbed
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and recycled, but viscous fibers can increase the amount that
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leaves the body in stool. The liver is then needs
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to make more bile acids. That process and one mechanism
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by which certain fibers can help lower LDL cholesterol. Beta-glucon
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from oats and barley has been studied for this. So
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has psyllium. And if you're looking for a great website
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that will help you get started in your fiber journey,
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I highly recommend The Doctor's Kitchen with Dr. Rupi Hajula.
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This website allows you to easily plan for eating a
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diverse group of fibers in your meals, and it makes
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it easy and delicious. My husband Eric and I have
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really enjoyed these last few weeks eating Dr. Rupi's recipes.
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A major meta-analysis found that soluble fibers, including oat, psyllium,
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and pectin, produced modest but significant reductions in LDL cholesterol.
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And on Dr. Rupi's website, The Doctor's Kitchen, he has
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an app. And it really does help you include all
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of these wonderful different types of fibers into your meals
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without really having to think about it too much on
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your own. So notice that in the meta analysis, the
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soluble fibers, which included oats, psyllium, and pectin produced modest
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but significant reductions in LDL cholesterol. Notice the word modest.
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This is where responsible natural health conversations matter because Diet
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can influence risk factors, and dietary patterns accumulate effects over decades.
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The more interesting question isn't, can one bowl of oatmeal
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lower my cholesterol? Give the body what it needs to
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function optimally, and it will obey. What happens when someone's
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daily diet repeatedly contains beans, oats, vegetables, fruit, and nuts, seeds,
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and intact grains, instead of primarily refined foods? And that
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is a different question. So let's give psyllium the credit
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it deserves. Psyllium husk is a legitimate source of soluble
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viscous fiber. It absorbs water. It forms a gel. It
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can help normalize stool consistency. It can also help with constipation.
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There is evidence supporting beneficial effects on LDL cholesterol, and
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viscous fibers can help moderate post-meal glucose responses. So this
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isn't a section where I tell you psyllium is useless.
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Quite the opposite. It's important to address the issue of
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diverse microbectory in the gut and make sure that we
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are eating a diet that allows the gut to get
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the different microbes it needs to function properly. So just
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for a second, I want to talk about poop implants
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in mice and the microbes. They actually did a study
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and they took the microbes from a skinny mouse and
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put it into a fat mouse and watched as the
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fat mouse got skinny. Then they turned around and put
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the microbes from a fat mouse into a skinny mouse
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and watched the skinny mouse get fat. So microbes in
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the gut are so complex and so important, not just
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for our health but they also help regulate our weight
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in ways that is still a mystery. Psyllium is an
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excellent tool for this, but it's a tool, not a diet.
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Suppose someone eats white toast for breakfast, a fast food
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hamburger for lunch, chips in the afternoon, pizza for dinner,
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and then takes 10 grams of psyllium, which a lot
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of people do. Have they suddenly recreated the physiological environment
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of someone eating 30 different plant foods? No. Psyllium provides
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a particularly type of fiber with particularly physical properties, and
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A bowl of lentils provides fiber plus resistant starch, protein, minerals,
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and phytochemicals. Oats provide beta-glucan plus other components. Berries provide
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fibers plus polyphenols. And flax provides fiber plus lignans and fats.
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Beans contain multiple fermentable substrates. Vegetables provide different fibers and phytochemicals.
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The issue isn't merely quantity. its variety. This is also
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where microbiome research becomes interesting. Different fibers produce different microbial responses.
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Studies comparing fiber supplements have demonstrated that psyllium, wheat dextrin,
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and more complex fiber preparations don't affect microbial communities identically.
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And research on psyllium in people with constipation has found
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microbiome changes that depend partly on the person's starting microbial community.
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So depending on what your microbial community already is, is
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going to have an effect on how your body reacts
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with the psyllium supplementation. Your gut bacteria aren't simply asking
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for fiber. They're asking for different microbes and glycogen. because
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different microbes can use different substrates. So taking psyllium can,
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it may help you reach a fiber target and provide
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real health benefits, but it shouldn't become nutritional absolution. Like,
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I took my fiber and now I can eat whatever
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I want. Think of psyllium as one instrument in the orchestra.
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A healthy plant-rich diet is the orchestra. So I've been
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listening to some fascinating conversations from Dr. Rupi Ajala from
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the Doctor's Kitchen podcast, and they raise an important point
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about where nutrition culture is right now. We've become protein obsessed. Dr.
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Rupi recently spoke with nutritionist Dominic Ludwig about building meals
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with both adequate protein and fiber. The conversation described them
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as a dynamic, And I love that phrase because it
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corrects the false choice. We don't have to choose protein
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or plants. Protein supports muscle maintenance, recovery, sachety, and healthy aging.
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Fiber supports digestive health, microbial metabolism, bowel function, and cardiometabolic health.
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Especially after midlife, why would we want to sacrifice either
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of them? Dominic's practical framework emphasizes meals that can deliver
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meaningful amounts of both, roughly. Roughly about 30 grams of
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protein and 10 plus grams of fiber in a meal.
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You don't need to hit those exact numbers at every meal,
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but conceptually, it's powerful. Look at your plate. Where is
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my protein? And where are my plants? Chicken breast and
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white rice can provide protein and energy, but where's the fiber?
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Add lentils, add broccoli, add roasted vegetables, add beans, use
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brown rice from another intact grain if that works for you,
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and herbs and seeds. Suddenly, we've changed the biological complexity
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of that meal, and we didn't have to eliminate protein
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to do it. When we come back, we're going to
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address the part nobody talks about, gas, bloating, cramping, and
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why eating more fiber can initially make some people feel
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worse instead of better. We'll also talk about something you
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can change at your very next meal without buying a supplement.
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Slow down and chew. And we'll explain why hydration becomes
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increasingly important as fiber goes up. Stay with me. Why
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fiber makes you bloated? Here's the irony. Someone eats a
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low-fiber diet for years, then hears, fiber is good for
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your gut. So tomorrow, they decide to become the healthiest
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human alive. And for breakfast, they eat oatmeal, chia, flax,
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and berries. For lunch, they eat a huge lentil salad.
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For a snack, they have apple and almonds. For dinner,
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they have black beans, brown rice, and broccoli. Then they
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take psyllium. And by bedtime, they're miserable. Their abdomen is distended.
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They're passing gas. Maybe they have cramps. And they conclude,
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fiber doesn't agree with me. Maybe, but another possibility is
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that the dose changed far faster than the digestive ecosystem
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could comfortably adapt to. Fermentation produces gases. When microbes metabolize
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fermentable carbohydrates, gases including hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and depending on
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the microbial community, methane can be produced. That's normal biology.
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Isn't it interesting some people are willing to transition to
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a keto diet with uncomfortable side effects or what we
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call that breaking-in period? But when it comes to fiber,
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they are less enthusiastic about the discomfort and the adjustment period. Dr.
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Emily Leeming discussed exactly this with Dr. Ruby Ajala on
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The Doctor's Kitchen. One of her practical messages is that
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increasing fiber doesn't need to be done in an overnight event.
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Your gut needs time to adapt. This is kind of
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funny too because she also talked about If you do
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start adding fiber back into your diet and you happen
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to have bloating and you're uncomfortable, there is a thing
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that they called a fart walk. And she says, go
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take a walk, and that will actually help work out
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the gas and help reduce your bloating. It's kind of funny,
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but it works. So that's why gradual increases make sense, though,
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because you don't want to be uncomfortable. So start making
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your changes a little bit at a time. If you're
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eating perhaps 15 grams of fiber per day already, don't
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necessarily eat 40 tomorrow. Just add one change, maybe beans
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several times a week, then increase the portion. Maybe switch
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one refined grain for a whole grain and add berries,
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add seeds, add another vegetable, and let your digestive system
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have time to adjust to these changes. And remember that
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not every person tolerates every high fiber food equally. We're
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all individual, not one size fits all. People with IBS
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may be sensitive to particular fermentable carbohydrates, often discussed under
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the FODMAP, which is the short-chain carbohydrates that are poorly
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absorbed in the small intestine and ferment in the colon.
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So that is the FODMAP umbrella. Someone may tolerate oats
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beautifully but struggle with onions. Someone may tolerate lentils but
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struggle with large amounts of wheat bran. Someone else may
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have the opposite experience. That's why eat more fiber should
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not mean force-feed yourself foods that make you miserable. Variety
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gives you options. Now, for perhaps the least expensive digestive
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intervention imaginable. Chewing. Sounds kind of simple or too simple, right?
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You don't need a supplement. You don't need a subscription.
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No powders, no gadgets, just chewing. Dr. Ruppe raised this
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in his conversation with Dr. Emily Leamy. When we eat quickly,
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we often chew less thoroughly. Now, when I was overseas
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and I watched a French man eat in a restaurant,
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I was absolutely fascinated by how slow he ate his food.
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And I remember hearing about how the French really have
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mastered digestion in that sense. It's a very natural thing
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for them to do culturally. And Americans, we tend to
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grow up eating quickly. I mean, I remember eating lunch
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in my car on the way back to work. I'd
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go through a drive-thru, and I would just eat on
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the way back. So again, in our culture, we tend
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to eat quickly. We eat while we're looking at our
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iPads and our iPhones. We eat while we're stressed out.
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We eat fast. We do this and we just think
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it's natural because it's a part of our culture. But
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places like France, they'll eat slowly and they actually mindfully eat.
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And when I watched him do this, I started kind
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of getting this mentality that, you know what, I'm going
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to start eating mindfully. Um, at the time I didn't
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realize also that you shouldn't be eating when you're stressed
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out and you shouldn't be eating when you're distracted. Um,
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because that also slows down your digestion. It can also
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cause trouble with your digestion. So a part of chewing
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less thoroughly, chew less thoroughly. Oh wait, I'm sorry. We
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often chew less thoroughly. Part of chewing thoroughly is to
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make sure that we are chewing our food mindfully and
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we're not eating too quickly. Okay. Rapid eating can also
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cause you to swallow more air. Dr. Leeming pointed out
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that swallowed air itself can contribute to the sensation of bloating.
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So this is how we Americans eat. We eat in
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the car, we eat at the desk, looking at our phone,
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standing over the kitchen counter, watching television, between our appointments.
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We don't eat, we inhale. We actually inhale our food.
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But digestion starts before food reaches the stomach. Chewing mechanically
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breaks food into smaller particles. Saliva moistens the food, which
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starts breaking the food down. Salivary enzymes begin acting on
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certain nutrients. The sensory experience of eating also participates in
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what's actually the cephalic phase of digestion, the body's anticipatory
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response to food. You see with the eyes first. You
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actually start eating with your eyes first. Eating more slowly
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can also give sachety signals more time to develop. So
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here's a simple experiment. At one meal today, put your
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fork down occasionally. Actually taste your food. Chew it thoroughly.
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Don't obsessively count 30 chews. You could just stop swallowing
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food after three bites if you want. I like to
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dim out lights and light candles and put on classical
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or jazz music when I eat dinner at night if
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I'm eating at home to encourage my husband and I
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to eat slower and more mindfully. So as far as
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increasing fiber, there is kind of something you need to
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think about here. If you increase fiber, there's another variable
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you cannot ignore, and that's water. When I started increasing
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my fiber intake a month ago, I started getting really
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thirsty during the day and I made the connection, oh yeah,
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you're eating a lot more fiber and the fiber is
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taking up the water in the fluids in your body,
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so you need to drink more water. So remember that
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many fibers absorb water. Psyllium is the obvious example. Put
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psyllium into liquid and watch what happens. It expands and
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forms a gel, right? Because if you have ever put
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psyllium powder in a glass, you have to drink it
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really fast. Otherwise, it gets thick really quick and then
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you can't get it down without choking on it. So
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inside your digestive tract, hydration helps the fiber perform its
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physical role and helps keep the stool softer and easier
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to pass. Britain's National Health Service uses a wonderfully simple analogy.
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Fiber acts like a sponge. Without adequate fluids, suddenly increasing fiber,
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particularly bulking fibers, can actually make constipation worse for some people.
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That's why recommendations to increase fiber are routinely accompanied by
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increase gradually and drink adequate fluids. That doesn't mean everyone
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needs to carry a gallon jug everywhere, but hydration needs
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to vary according to things like your body size, climate,
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your activity level, how much you're sweating, how much fiber
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you're actually including in your diet, if you're on any medications,
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if you're pregnant, or any health conditions that you have
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and other factors. Water also comes from food, so fruits
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and vegetables can contribute substantially. Soups contribute, and caffeine-free tea contributes.
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The goal isn't to become obsessed with a magic number.
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It's to recognize the relationship. More water-absorbing material requires adequate fluid.
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And if you're taking concentrated psyllium, following the product's fluid
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instructions is particularly important. People with swallowing problems, bowel narrowing,
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or certain gastrointestinal disorders should speak with their healthcare professional
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before using bulk fiber supplements. So let's return to Europe.
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Britain recommends 30 grams of fiber per day. France recommends
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approximately the same neighborhood. Neither country has solved the problem.
463
00:37:37.550 --> 00:37:42.909
In fact, British national data shows an average adult intake
464
00:37:42.969 --> 00:37:46.469
around 16 to 17 grams. That should be a warning.
465
00:37:47.289 --> 00:37:50.630
Even when governments tell people to eat fiber, modern food
466
00:37:50.690 --> 00:37:55.829
environments can make that surprisingly difficult. But traditional European food
467
00:37:55.889 --> 00:38:03.019
cultures offer useful clues. Consider France. Lentils, beans, vegetables... whole
468
00:38:03.059 --> 00:38:08.239
grain breads, fruit, nuts, meals eaten as meals rather than
469
00:38:08.440 --> 00:38:15.139
endless grazing. Or the Mediterranean regions, chickpeas, white beans, lentils,
470
00:38:15.280 --> 00:38:20.710
whole grains, vegetables, greens, nuts, seeds, fruit, olive oil, and herbs.
471
00:38:21.610 --> 00:38:25.630
The lesson isn't eat like Europeans because Europeans are healthier.
472
00:38:26.349 --> 00:38:32.010
That's too simplistic. Europe has fast food. Europe has ultra-processed food.
473
00:38:32.510 --> 00:38:36.809
Europe has obesity, Europe has diabetes, Europe has chronic disease,
474
00:38:37.389 --> 00:38:42.070
and Europe has fiber deficiency. The useful lesson is traditional
475
00:38:42.159 --> 00:38:47.559
food cultures frequently built fiber into meals automatically. Nobody needed
476
00:38:47.639 --> 00:38:51.380
a package saying high fiber. A bowl of lentil soup
477
00:38:51.420 --> 00:38:54.860
didn't need a marketing department. Beans didn't need an influencer.
478
00:38:55.199 --> 00:38:58.590
An apple didn't need a health claim. Food provided the fiber.
479
00:38:59.780 --> 00:39:03.500
Modern nutrition often does the opposite. We strip foods into
480
00:39:03.820 --> 00:39:07.360
components and then sell the components back to ourselves, remove
481
00:39:07.380 --> 00:39:09.739
the fiber from the grain. When they mill our wheat,
482
00:39:09.920 --> 00:39:14.570
they remove the fiber from the grain. They refine it.
483
00:39:15.070 --> 00:39:18.309
So the funny thing about that is people will go
484
00:39:18.349 --> 00:39:21.289
buy wheat bran and they'll put it in their smoothies.
485
00:39:22.030 --> 00:39:25.610
That wheat bran was removed from the wheat berry and
486
00:39:25.630 --> 00:39:28.710
then sold to us. So if we would just mill
487
00:39:28.789 --> 00:39:30.260
our own wheat, and you can do that in a
488
00:39:30.300 --> 00:39:33.420
powerful blender, you don't necessarily need a wheat mill, and
489
00:39:33.699 --> 00:39:36.590
create our own foods through that. You can bake your
490
00:39:36.630 --> 00:39:39.489
own bread with a bread maker very easily. You can
491
00:39:39.570 --> 00:39:43.210
make crema wheat. You can make pancakes with it. But
492
00:39:43.369 --> 00:39:47.429
if you keep the grain intact, you're And you're also
493
00:39:47.469 --> 00:39:49.900
going to help it retain its nutritional value because the
494
00:39:49.940 --> 00:39:57.179
shelf life isn't as long. Now, a good source of fiber, okay,
495
00:39:57.219 --> 00:40:01.070
for instance, sometimes fortified foods can be useful, but there's
496
00:40:01.110 --> 00:40:04.369
something almost absurd about that cycle, right? Nature built complexity
497
00:40:04.489 --> 00:40:08.869
already into the food, and then we dismantle it. And
498
00:40:08.949 --> 00:40:11.260
now we're spending billions of dollars trying to reconstruct it.
499
00:40:11.349 --> 00:40:15.079
So what the research really says is this. When you
500
00:40:15.119 --> 00:40:17.739
zoom out from individual foods and look at large bodies
501
00:40:17.760 --> 00:40:22.699
of evidence, the signal around fiber is remarkably consistent. Higher
502
00:40:22.820 --> 00:40:27.550
dietary fiber intake is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease,
503
00:40:28.250 --> 00:40:33.789
type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer, as well as premature mortality.
504
00:40:34.849 --> 00:40:37.889
Have you noticed the increase in colon cancer cases in
505
00:40:37.929 --> 00:40:41.969
Crohn's disease the last several years? And I'm starting to
506
00:40:42.030 --> 00:40:46.199
think that perhaps this is a result over the reduction,
507
00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:49.219
not just the consumption of all of the junk foods
508
00:40:49.239 --> 00:40:52.940
we eat and processed foods, but the consumption of the
509
00:40:52.980 --> 00:40:56.280
popularity of the keto diets, which encourages people just to
510
00:40:56.360 --> 00:41:01.250
eat mostly meat, especially the carnivore diet and the lion
511
00:41:01.269 --> 00:41:04.829
diet that's been popularized and has encouraged us to stop
512
00:41:04.929 --> 00:41:09.269
eating fiber. So we know that fiber alone doesn't cause
513
00:41:09.650 --> 00:41:13.050
us to have every benefit, but people who eat more
514
00:41:13.110 --> 00:41:17.070
fiber may differ in many other ways. They may eat
515
00:41:17.110 --> 00:41:20.860
more whole foods and that's important. They may consume fewer
516
00:41:20.960 --> 00:41:26.300
ultra-processed foods and they may exercise more. So that's why
517
00:41:26.380 --> 00:41:30.760
randomized trials also matter. And randomized trials show physiological effects
518
00:41:30.840 --> 00:41:35.269
consistent with some of those long-term associations. For instance, viscous
519
00:41:35.289 --> 00:41:40.010
fibers can improve glycemic control. Certain soluble fibers can lower
520
00:41:40.110 --> 00:41:45.210
LDL cholesterol. And fiber changes stool characteristics. Have you ever
521
00:41:45.250 --> 00:41:47.329
looked at a stool chart and seen the different types
522
00:41:47.369 --> 00:41:52.320
of stools? And they actually explain to you what each
523
00:41:52.380 --> 00:41:54.860
type of stool is a result of and what you
524
00:41:54.900 --> 00:41:58.050
might need to eat or do to change it and
525
00:41:58.070 --> 00:42:04.670
make it look healthier. Fermentable fibers alter microbial metabolism. This
526
00:42:04.730 --> 00:42:07.050
is a rare area of nutrition where multiple kinds of
527
00:42:07.190 --> 00:42:12.039
evidence point in a broadly similar direction. And French health
528
00:42:12.119 --> 00:42:16.500
authorities reviewing the evidence have noted associations between fiber intake
529
00:42:16.639 --> 00:42:21.840
and reduced risks of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer,
530
00:42:22.179 --> 00:42:25.760
with benefits appearing around the 25 to 30 gram range.
531
00:42:26.070 --> 00:42:29.090
And this is why those recommendations are within that range.
532
00:42:30.030 --> 00:42:33.869
Britain arrived at its 30 gram recommendation after reviewing carbohydrate
533
00:42:33.909 --> 00:42:38.170
and health evidence. So while social media may have rediscovered
534
00:42:38.449 --> 00:42:43.230
fiber and people are fiber maxing, Science never really abandoned
535
00:42:43.289 --> 00:42:46.199
it to begin with. What changed is our understanding of
536
00:42:46.300 --> 00:42:51.619
how many systems fiber touches. So here's how to build
537
00:42:51.639 --> 00:42:55.820
a 30-gram day without fiber maxing. So what might a
538
00:42:55.980 --> 00:43:00.889
fiber-rich day actually look like? Not a prescription, just an illustration.
539
00:43:01.750 --> 00:43:06.530
Breakfast could include oats, berries, chia or flax, and perhaps nuts.
540
00:43:08.090 --> 00:43:11.929
Now the doctor's kitchen has really awesome overnight oats and
541
00:43:11.989 --> 00:43:15.079
overnight chia and yogurt fiber and protein rich breakfast ideas
542
00:43:15.139 --> 00:43:18.639
that I've been using. And I really like the different
543
00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:22.940
variables that he has and different ideas because I don't
544
00:43:22.980 --> 00:43:26.019
want to eat the same thing every single day. And
545
00:43:26.159 --> 00:43:28.469
also you can make them the night before pretty quickly,
546
00:43:28.530 --> 00:43:30.449
put them in the fridge and just pull them out
547
00:43:30.469 --> 00:43:32.849
the next morning and eat them. And you don't have
548
00:43:32.869 --> 00:43:36.219
to worry about prep the next morning. And also, when
549
00:43:36.260 --> 00:43:37.940
something includes chia, you kind of want it to sit
550
00:43:37.960 --> 00:43:40.739
overnight anyway, so that the chia could absorb the liquid
551
00:43:41.179 --> 00:43:45.090
and thicken up and have a smoother flavor. For lunch,
552
00:43:45.239 --> 00:43:48.130
you could have a large mixed salad. But remember what Dr.
553
00:43:48.190 --> 00:43:50.969
Leeming points out, salad greens alone often don't contain as
554
00:43:51.030 --> 00:43:53.670
much fiber as people imagine. So make sure to add
555
00:43:54.070 --> 00:43:59.449
things like chickpeas, lentils, beans, seeds, whole grains, or another
556
00:43:59.510 --> 00:44:03.099
substantial fiber source. And this isn't really that a lot
557
00:44:03.119 --> 00:44:05.949
of trouble. You can buy organic chickpeas in the can.
558
00:44:07.340 --> 00:44:11.460
With lentils, you can rinse them and cook them pretty quickly. Again,
559
00:44:11.519 --> 00:44:13.219
you can buy beans in the can if you want,
560
00:44:13.559 --> 00:44:16.260
and of course, seeds you can buy so easily, as
561
00:44:16.320 --> 00:44:20.320
well as whole grains. So dinner might include vegetables, beans,
562
00:44:20.360 --> 00:44:23.389
or lentils, a whole grain or a potato with its
563
00:44:23.449 --> 00:44:27.590
skin on, alongside whatever protein source you choose. Your snacks
564
00:44:27.650 --> 00:44:32.079
could include fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, or hummus. Now you
565
00:44:32.099 --> 00:44:34.409
can buy the store-bought hummus. We like to make our
566
00:44:34.429 --> 00:44:38.469
hummus from scratch with our food processor and it's really,
567
00:44:38.510 --> 00:44:42.210
really easy to make. There are hummus recipes all over
568
00:44:42.250 --> 00:44:45.010
the internet and hummus is a really great way to
569
00:44:45.050 --> 00:44:49.099
get a plant protein into your diet. So now with
570
00:44:49.159 --> 00:44:53.500
this in mind, suddenly 30 grams of fiber isn't that hard.
571
00:44:53.820 --> 00:44:57.199
It's not like a big deal. Again, what makes it
572
00:44:57.260 --> 00:44:59.400
easy for me is if you find a website that
573
00:44:59.460 --> 00:45:03.619
say a, dietician or a nutritionist came up with with
574
00:45:03.639 --> 00:45:06.880
their recipes, that's the better route to go. I mean,
575
00:45:06.920 --> 00:45:10.079
it's fun to shop around the internet and look up recipes,
576
00:45:10.260 --> 00:45:17.599
healthy recipes, but people with academic accolades, they're better trained
577
00:45:17.699 --> 00:45:20.760
on the balance of these things. And Dr. Ruppe has,
578
00:45:21.079 --> 00:45:23.800
with the doctor's kitchen, he has a doctorate in nutrition.
579
00:45:24.440 --> 00:45:26.760
So he really does, he goes to a lot of
580
00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:29.960
trouble to make sure that these dishes are balanced and
581
00:45:30.389 --> 00:45:32.530
So for me, I don't have to think that much
582
00:45:32.590 --> 00:45:35.030
about how I'm going to get my fiber in and
583
00:45:35.070 --> 00:45:37.809
my protein and have a balanced meal. I just go
584
00:45:37.849 --> 00:45:39.889
to his website. By the way, I get nothing for
585
00:45:39.949 --> 00:45:42.800
recommending him. I just happen to be making a lot
586
00:45:42.840 --> 00:45:45.639
of food from his website. We made his shawarma, which
587
00:45:45.679 --> 00:45:49.659
was just out of this world delicious. We keep making these,
588
00:45:49.840 --> 00:45:53.449
I forgot what they call them, these little meatballs where
589
00:45:53.489 --> 00:45:56.769
you just like you grind up. chicken thighs and stuff
590
00:45:56.829 --> 00:46:01.039
and you mix mint in there and different herbs and
591
00:46:01.300 --> 00:46:03.900
you just make little meatballs in the oven and we'll
592
00:46:03.920 --> 00:46:06.539
put those in like little whole grain pita breads with
593
00:46:06.559 --> 00:46:09.780
a bunch of vegetables so there's a lot of really
594
00:46:09.840 --> 00:46:13.760
good believe it or not simple recipes if you don't
595
00:46:13.800 --> 00:46:16.280
like chopping your veggies I would say if you think
596
00:46:16.320 --> 00:46:18.099
it's just so much trouble but you need to get
597
00:46:18.119 --> 00:46:21.320
those down go to the grocery store and find like
598
00:46:21.619 --> 00:46:26.550
packaged organic pre-chopped veggies if you're a really busy person.
599
00:46:26.909 --> 00:46:28.909
You don't have to chop them yourself. But once you
600
00:46:28.929 --> 00:46:30.849
start doing it on your own, honestly, it's no big deal.
601
00:46:31.050 --> 00:46:32.630
You just pull them out and chop them up and
602
00:46:32.690 --> 00:46:34.849
throw them. We toss them in some olive oil in
603
00:46:34.889 --> 00:46:36.809
a pan with some salt and pepper and we throw
604
00:46:36.829 --> 00:46:38.869
them in our little pita or we eat them in
605
00:46:38.909 --> 00:46:41.760
our salad and we make a little yogurt sauce or
606
00:46:41.800 --> 00:46:44.820
something to go with it. And there's recipes on the
607
00:46:44.860 --> 00:46:49.320
Doctor's Kitchen app for that as well. So... I kind
608
00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:51.519
of went off on a little rabbit trail there. Instead
609
00:46:51.539 --> 00:46:55.090
of asking, what is the highest fiber food? Ask how
610
00:46:55.110 --> 00:46:58.610
many different fiber containing foods did I eat today? So
611
00:46:59.269 --> 00:47:03.690
make it diverse. Vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, keep the
612
00:47:03.750 --> 00:47:07.329
fiber varied. You want those different fibers. You want to
613
00:47:08.210 --> 00:47:12.010
feed your microbiome because you want to get healthier. You
614
00:47:12.030 --> 00:47:15.059
want to have a faster metabolism and you want to
615
00:47:15.079 --> 00:47:18.320
have more energy. So maybe fiber's comeback is part of
616
00:47:18.360 --> 00:47:23.260
something bigger. We're watching, as Americans, we're watching ourselves rediscover
617
00:47:23.280 --> 00:47:29.280
things like fermented food, sourdough, whole grains, beans, gardening, farmers markets.
618
00:47:30.159 --> 00:47:32.320
People are going back into the kitchen because of all
619
00:47:32.389 --> 00:47:36.510
the chemicals in the food out there. Bone broth has
620
00:47:36.530 --> 00:47:38.710
been popular for a while. Home cooking seems to be
621
00:47:38.730 --> 00:47:41.349
making a comeback. And we're starting to get more educated
622
00:47:41.409 --> 00:47:45.690
and look at our ingredient labels. Not every trend is
623
00:47:45.909 --> 00:47:48.730
backed equally by science, but underneath many of them is
624
00:47:48.769 --> 00:47:53.909
a shared instinct. Something changed when food became industrialized, and
625
00:47:54.349 --> 00:47:58.690
that doesn't mean everything old was healthy, but it doesn't
626
00:47:58.710 --> 00:48:02.909
mean everything modern is unhealthy either. Modern food technology has
627
00:48:03.070 --> 00:48:07.840
prevented deficiencies. improved food safety and reduced spoilage, as well
628
00:48:07.880 --> 00:48:11.360
as it's made nutritious food available year round. Now that
629
00:48:11.420 --> 00:48:14.900
being said, it is recommended and you can look that
630
00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:18.440
up to eat by the season. So even though these
631
00:48:18.539 --> 00:48:22.460
foods are available to us, like they'll be frozen, you know,
632
00:48:22.539 --> 00:48:25.139
and stuff like that, it's not always the best thing
633
00:48:25.199 --> 00:48:28.210
for us to just eat that food all year round
634
00:48:28.230 --> 00:48:32.269
and maybe treat yourself, but try to eat the seasons
635
00:48:33.090 --> 00:48:36.150
as far as your food is concerned. As far as
636
00:48:36.230 --> 00:48:39.559
like the, if you're watching this on social media and
637
00:48:39.599 --> 00:48:41.820
you're looking at the food recalls that are going on,
638
00:48:41.860 --> 00:48:45.820
like with like blueberries and I wanna say like the greens,
639
00:48:45.840 --> 00:48:48.739
some of the greens, like the mixed packaged salads and
640
00:48:48.760 --> 00:48:53.159
stuff like that. It's better really like say, instead of
641
00:48:53.199 --> 00:48:55.309
buying packaged lettuce, it's better just to go ahead and
642
00:48:55.369 --> 00:48:58.630
buy a head of lettuce and chop it up. So
643
00:48:58.650 --> 00:49:02.110
same with your cabbage. It's better to do that. What
644
00:49:02.250 --> 00:49:03.710
I like to do is I like to make sure
645
00:49:04.679 --> 00:49:07.059
As far as my food is concerned, I really got
646
00:49:07.099 --> 00:49:12.719
into looking at kosher symbols because that's a third-party tested item,
647
00:49:13.199 --> 00:49:15.929
and there's more scrutiny involved as far as the standards
648
00:49:15.989 --> 00:49:22.550
are concerned. It's really important and it's a lot more
649
00:49:22.570 --> 00:49:25.429
involved than you think. When was the last time you
650
00:49:25.449 --> 00:49:30.039
heard of a kosher food item being recalled? I don't
651
00:49:30.079 --> 00:49:32.659
remember ever. I'm not saying it's never happened. I just,
652
00:49:33.079 --> 00:49:35.719
it's not something that you can expect to happen. So
653
00:49:35.739 --> 00:49:38.389
if you want to be safe, look for kosher symbols,
654
00:49:38.530 --> 00:49:41.550
look for the kosher symbols on the internet, look for
655
00:49:41.570 --> 00:49:44.650
them on your packaging. We like to buy like say
656
00:49:44.809 --> 00:49:49.190
our chickpeas or garbanzo beans in the can. And I
657
00:49:49.269 --> 00:49:51.750
like that Whole Foods has like a 365 brand and
658
00:49:51.949 --> 00:49:54.219
there's a little U on the front, which gives me
659
00:49:54.239 --> 00:49:57.400
a reassurance that that is a kosher food item. So
660
00:49:57.519 --> 00:50:01.820
if you're concerned about the current food recalls going on
661
00:50:01.860 --> 00:50:05.239
right now with the fresh foods, think in terms of,
662
00:50:06.039 --> 00:50:09.219
buying it in its whole form and not packaged and
663
00:50:09.260 --> 00:50:12.800
pre-mixed or processed. And you're going to have a better
664
00:50:12.840 --> 00:50:15.989
chance at avoiding that. And better yet, get a greenhouse
665
00:50:16.030 --> 00:50:19.690
and grow it yourself. So progress can have trade-offs. We
666
00:50:19.730 --> 00:50:21.630
know that. And one of those trade-offs may have been
667
00:50:21.650 --> 00:50:24.829
that we became extraordinarily good at producing calories, right? So
668
00:50:25.429 --> 00:50:28.769
while removing much of the biological complexity that once came
669
00:50:28.789 --> 00:50:31.329
in our food, fiber is a part of that complexity.
670
00:50:31.489 --> 00:50:35.030
And so are the polyphenols. and so are the intact
671
00:50:35.050 --> 00:50:38.949
cellular structures, as well as the diversity of the plants
672
00:50:38.989 --> 00:50:41.780
that we eat. So maybe the goal isn't to just
673
00:50:41.880 --> 00:50:45.000
eat exactly like Americans did in 1850, because we obviously
674
00:50:45.039 --> 00:50:47.780
know they didn't eat perfect, or to eat like people
675
00:50:47.800 --> 00:50:50.659
in Italy or France or Britain. Maybe it's just something
676
00:50:50.679 --> 00:50:54.679
more simple. So take what modern science has learned and
677
00:50:54.719 --> 00:50:58.929
combine it with something that our ancestors understood intuitively, which
678
00:50:58.989 --> 00:51:02.869
is to eat food that still resembles food, Now, when
679
00:51:02.889 --> 00:51:04.630
we come back, I'm going to give you a simple
680
00:51:04.670 --> 00:51:08.909
fiber challenge. No powders required, no extreme diet, no counting
681
00:51:08.949 --> 00:51:12.360
every gram, just a practical way to begin rebuilding the
682
00:51:12.400 --> 00:51:15.860
diversity on your plate. And we'll close with why I
683
00:51:15.940 --> 00:51:19.320
think this subject fits the heart of Chasing Eden better
684
00:51:19.340 --> 00:51:45.570
than almost anything we've discussed. Stay with me. Here's the challenge.
685
00:51:46.210 --> 00:51:50.789
For the next seven days, don't try to FiberMax. Don't
686
00:51:50.849 --> 00:51:55.809
go from 10 grams to 50. Don't buy six supplements. Instead,
687
00:51:56.389 --> 00:52:00.849
add diversity. For instance, on day one, add berries to breakfast.
688
00:52:01.769 --> 00:52:05.460
On day two, add beans or lentils to one meal.
689
00:52:06.360 --> 00:52:10.780
On day three, try oats or barley. Day four, you
690
00:52:10.820 --> 00:52:14.550
can add nuts or seeds. Day five, Eat a vegetable
691
00:52:15.139 --> 00:52:17.900
that you haven't eaten this week. Day six, you can
692
00:52:17.960 --> 00:52:21.699
choose an intact or a whole grain carbohydrate instead of
693
00:52:21.739 --> 00:52:26.059
a refined one. For instance, if you're having a pita
694
00:52:26.300 --> 00:52:29.400
with your dinner or something, if you decide to make
695
00:52:29.719 --> 00:52:33.440
some of that wonderful Middle Eastern Mediterranean food on Dr.
696
00:52:33.480 --> 00:52:37.070
Rupi's website, you can have a whole grain pita to
697
00:52:37.090 --> 00:52:40.190
go with that or make whole grain pita chips or something.
698
00:52:41.239 --> 00:52:43.639
On day seven, you can make a meal containing at
699
00:52:43.679 --> 00:52:47.039
least four different plants. And that's not that hard, honestly.
700
00:52:47.079 --> 00:52:51.219
It's really not. Throughout the week, drink water and slow
701
00:52:51.239 --> 00:52:53.519
down because you're adding fiber. So you want to start
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00:52:54.019 --> 00:52:56.940
adding more water into your diet. And as far as
703
00:52:57.139 --> 00:53:00.139
day seven and adding those four different plants, again, if
704
00:53:00.179 --> 00:53:04.469
you're creating a salad at home and you add something
705
00:53:04.530 --> 00:53:10.889
like spinach and cabbage and maybe some sugar snap peas,
706
00:53:11.369 --> 00:53:13.889
or maybe some grated carrot, there's your four different plants
707
00:53:13.949 --> 00:53:19.090
right there. If you're adding some lentils or a bean product,
708
00:53:19.110 --> 00:53:23.969
there you go, there's some more. So don't forget, chew. Now,
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00:53:24.179 --> 00:53:26.500
one of the issues I think with chewing is people
710
00:53:26.559 --> 00:53:28.880
tend to chew pretty quickly if they're staring at their
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00:53:28.940 --> 00:53:32.300
iPad or their cell phone. I really recommend putting on
712
00:53:32.320 --> 00:53:34.960
some music, lighting candles. It might seem like a lot,
713
00:53:34.980 --> 00:53:38.239
but it's a really easy thing to do. And notice
714
00:53:38.280 --> 00:53:41.199
how your digestive system's gonna respond to this. If you're
715
00:53:41.239 --> 00:53:45.690
increasing fiber significantly, do it gradually. And if you have
716
00:53:45.730 --> 00:53:50.630
a persistent abdominal pain, unexplained bloating, blood in the stool,
717
00:53:51.289 --> 00:53:57.239
inflammatory bowel disease or bowel narrowing, severe constipation or another
718
00:53:57.489 --> 00:54:03.019
gastrointestinal condition, don't assume that piling on more fiber is
719
00:54:03.239 --> 00:54:07.980
automatically the answer. Talk to your doctor or registered dietician.
720
00:54:08.739 --> 00:54:13.099
Fiber is powerful. But nutrition isn't one size fits all.
721
00:54:15.739 --> 00:54:20.050
There's a beautiful idea underneath today's episode. Your body isn't
722
00:54:20.210 --> 00:54:26.010
simply a machine waiting for calories. It's an ecosystem. And
723
00:54:26.170 --> 00:54:31.989
inside that ecosystem lives another ecosystem. Every meal becomes information.
724
00:54:32.909 --> 00:54:37.599
Every meal becomes substrate. Every meal becomes an opportunity to
725
00:54:37.940 --> 00:54:42.639
to nourish not only your cells, but organisms that have
726
00:54:42.780 --> 00:54:48.619
lived alongside humanity for thousands of years. And maybe that's
727
00:54:48.699 --> 00:54:53.219
why the fiber conversation feels so appropriate for us. Because
728
00:54:53.260 --> 00:55:01.500
we're not chasing another miracle ingredient. We're rediscovering something incredibly ordinary. Beans, lentils, oats,
729
00:55:01.960 --> 00:55:07.130
fruits and vegetables. Foods humanity has eaten for generations. We
730
00:55:07.170 --> 00:55:09.829
don't need to fear carbohydrates, and we don't need to
731
00:55:09.869 --> 00:55:13.469
worship protein either. We don't need to declare fat the enemy,
732
00:55:13.889 --> 00:55:15.909
and we don't need to turn fiber into the next
733
00:55:16.130 --> 00:55:22.230
nutritional religion either. We need balance, variety, real food. Perhaps
734
00:55:22.369 --> 00:55:25.590
a little more respect for the extraordinary design of the
735
00:55:25.650 --> 00:55:30.289
human body. Psyllium can help. Supplements can have a place.
736
00:55:30.969 --> 00:55:34.690
Modern medicine absolutely has a place. but none of them
737
00:55:34.789 --> 00:55:39.369
eliminates the need to build a nourishing dietary pattern. So
738
00:55:39.409 --> 00:55:43.440
tomorrow morning, don't worry about becoming perfect. Put some berries
739
00:55:43.500 --> 00:55:47.340
on your oatmeal, lentils to the soup, throw beans into
740
00:55:47.380 --> 00:55:50.440
your salad, eat the apple instead of drinking the juice,
741
00:55:50.719 --> 00:55:55.780
drink some water, sit down, slow down, and chew your food.
742
00:55:56.760 --> 00:56:02.630
Small choices repeated every day become patterns. Patterns become lifestyles.
743
00:56:03.130 --> 00:56:07.389
and lifestyles shape health. I'm Carolyn Thompson, and this is
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00:56:07.449 --> 00:56:11.010
Chasing Eden, where we're rediscovering the wisdom of real food,
745
00:56:11.409 --> 00:56:15.280
real health, and God's design. If today's episode helped you,
746
00:56:15.719 --> 00:56:17.840
share it with someone who's been hearing all the talk
747
00:56:17.880 --> 00:56:21.360
about fiber and wondering what it actually means. And follow
748
00:56:21.420 --> 00:56:24.960
Chasing Eden wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find
749
00:56:25.019 --> 00:56:30.289
more episodes and resources at chasingeden.net. Until next time, keep
750
00:56:30.329 --> 00:56:34.469
asking questions, keep learning, And keep chasing Eden.
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