Mocktail Minutes

Fibermaxxing

• Mocktail Minutes • Episode 135

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Have you seen the viral fibermaxxing trend? This week we are talking about our thoughts on this trend.

If you have questions, or topics that you want to hear about, head over to our Instagrams https://www.instagram.com/bayleethedietitian/ or https://www.instagram.com/brianna.dietitian/ and send us a DM! You can also follow the podcast https://www.instagram.com/mocktailminutes/


Featured Mocktails: 

Drink Wholesome 

Further Foods 

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Baylee:

Hello everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Bailey.

Brianna:

and this is Brianna.

Baylee:

We are recording in the morning today. Usually we're in the afternoon, so I am drinking my breakfast as we record. I am doing a, what did I all put in here? A banana zuki, chia seeds vanilla drink, wholesome further foods, hazelnut, collagen.

Brianna:

Mm-hmm.

Baylee:

Something else. Cold brew.

Brianna:

I got the hazelnut collagen from'em too. I like it. I did the,'cause I'm doing further foods also. I'm doing the pumpkin spice collagen,

Baylee:

Yes. Sounds good.

Brianna:

I'm not really a pumpkin person and I really like it. I got it mostly for Victor because he likes collagens in his coffee. So I got the hazelnut, which I do like, and then this morning I was like, Hmm, I'm gonna try the pumpkin. It smells delicious. It's actually really good.

Baylee:

so I like it because like it's pumpkin spice, but it's not. Super spicy. Like

Brianna:

Yeah, it's not like, so yeah, that's what it is. It's not like, yeah, because I even added a little cinnamon and it was good

Baylee:

Yeah. I like pumpkin. I don't like a lot of pumpkin spice. There's a

Brianna:

ice. Maybe that's what it is. Yeah. But it's good. I did it with just like a little blonde espresso and oat milk and that, and it's perfect. Like you don't have to add anything else,

Baylee:

Oh yeah. Keeping it easy. That's what I, that's why I love these different. Collagen flavors because you don't have to add like syrups or anything and just taste good.

Brianna:

There's no weird aftertaste. You know how sometimes there's like weird aftertaste? There's not. So it's a yes for me.

Baylee:

Yes. Today we are talking about fiber maxing. This has been circulating the social media and. Years and like remember that time where we were assessed with fiber. Now hopefully this is a good trend, but I think with anything, I think we're gonna take it too far and we're gonna be our brains out and wondering why we're so bloated all day long.

Brianna:

Yeah.

Baylee:

So we're gonna teach you how to fiber max. I don't wanna say like the correct way, but we're gonna Yeah.

Brianna:

way to fire backs, because, I mean, you're right, it's, we do everything. It's like too far. Right? And like we've seen it with like protein, which I'm always like, yeah, protein. I mean, there's some people where I'm like I don't know if we need like 200, 2 50 grams of protein. That's, that's kind of a lot. Your stomach probably hurts, but now it was like everyone was like. We're so obsessed with protein, we're forgetting about fiber, which I'm like, okay, like I can get on that. And now it's like, you should be doing a hundred grams of fiber a day. This is how I do it. And I'm like, the average American is barely getting the recommended amount, like they're getting half the recommended amount. Let's not go to a hundred right now. You're gonna feel like crap, no pun intended.

Baylee:

Yes, absolutely. And I think a lot of people who are getting to like these very high numbers, I would say I realistically can typically get in like 40 grams of fiber a day. I don't use any fiber supplements. I see when you're getting too much higher, like seventies, it's using a lot of supplements or.

Brianna:

Mm-hmm.

Baylee:

Those like low carb tortillas or like there's bagels out there that have over twentys of fiber. So we're gonna break that down. But basically, if you haven't heard of fiber maxing, the goal is to, you're just intentionally increasing your intake of fiber. Now some people have their different definitions of it. I mean, per usual, we kind of tweak things for what fits us, or based on like telephone, it's like, oh yeah, we heard fiber maxing increase for fiber, but. Really the idea is increasing your daily intake of real whole food fiber. So that's gonna come from fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains. And my said like most women are actually getting like 10, 14 grams per day, but a minimum is 25.

Brianna:

Mm-hmm.

Baylee:

Or optimal. I would say getting to like 40 is a good goal to get to. Men on the other hand need at least 38 grams of fiber, so,

Brianna:

Mm-hmm.

Baylee:

and it is tricky to get up to there. It takes a little bit more intentional planning, I would say. It's not impossible, but can get there and I think it's once you just get in the habit of including fiber, including all these different sources and eating enough carbs, that's gonna be a big part to getting enough fiber.

Brianna:

Yeah.

Baylee:

Then it's gonna become easier. But this fiber is important to slow your digestion. It's going to help reduce that blood sugar response or your glucose response. It's gonna support your gut microbiome so you have nice, healthy bacteria lining your gut. It's going to make you feel fuller because it's gonna expand and then it's also gonna help cholesterol and some other just. Metabolic markers within your body, but it helps remove excess cholesterol and can then, I mean, especially when we think about blood sugar balancing, it can actually reduce your cravings later in the day. I often see we're very low on fiber because, you know, I think it's a lot of the diet foods, they don't have a lot of fiber or like whole food fiber, and we've been taught that carbs are bad. So kind of if you're in that generation, you're not gonna getting enough fiber.

Brianna:

Yeah, well. I think that's the big problem is a lot of the diets are like, don't eat carbs, right? Like keto is very low carb, but carnivore is like zero carb, you know, Adkins all, all the low carb diets. So of course it makes sense that our fiber intake is down. And then the other problem is, is when people do start thinking, oh, okay, I wanna increase my fiber, but they're still low carb, but that's when they start using a lot of, they're usually marketed as like keto products because keto doesn't get carbs. So what they do is they just add a crap ton of fiber into something like a tortilla or a bread or a bagel. Like I've seen some, the carbonate bagels are like 30 grams of fiber.

Baylee:

Oh God.

Brianna:

I'm like, ugh, be careful.

Baylee:

Gonna be, yeah, market as keto, but also like on the front where there are like two net carbs.

Brianna:

Ew. Net carbs. Yeah, it's because they have a ton of fiber, which I always get asked like, is that bad? It's not necessarily a bad thing, but. Real fiber has water, polyphenols, other micronutrients resistant starch, that sort of thing. Whereas like added fiber are single molecules. It's not the whole thing. And so you need to really make sure like, I'm drinking a lot of water. I'm doing a lot of other things when I have those products. Because you will react differently, right? Like I guarantee you, you could go eat a large portion of like. Beans or lentils, chia seeds. And then if you were to eat kind of like that same amount of fiber in like the keto tortillas or something like that, you're probably gonna feel a little bit different. Especially depending on what added fiber they use. So for me, when I think of fiber maxing or just increasing fiber, I wanna see it coming from those whole foods because you're gonna have a better digestive response to it. And that's when you're feeding your good, good gut bacteria. You're also increasing like just whole foods in general, which is great, and it's gonna be a little bit harder. To get to an amount that you can't tolerate because I think that's the, the key is there. I see all these things going around, like people are going above their daily recommended, or they're exceeding the daily recommended amount. We don't really have an upper limit for fiber, but we do know probably over 70 you're gonna be uncomfortable unless you're doing that all the time, which most people are not. But if fiber were maxing, I'm seeing people go from the 10 to like. I got 60. Like, like, like how did you feel? Like gas, bloating, cramping, diarrhea. Diarrhea. Like you have to go low and slow.

Baylee:

yeah. You wanna slowly build up and especially make sure you're hydrating. This is the part that we often forget. If you are adding all this fiber and not hydrating, you're actually gonna probably get constipated. I always think about you know, like the Fiber one bars, I still love those and they would. I love them for the taste, but they would make me cramp up so bad and I was like, oh, it's working like it's gonna make me go to the bathroom. It's like, that doesn't mean it's working literally. So the fiber that's in those Fiber one bars, it is pulling water in two your intestines at a very quick rate because there's such a concentrated amount of it. So it's pulling it. That's why you're cramping and I mean, yeah, I think the goal is to wear pulling water in so it softens and then you can have a bowel movement, but you shouldn't have to be in pain to have a bowel movement. That's not the goal. When you are consistently getting fiber in every day, it's going to be easier. And your digestive system. So you don't have this like up and down of, I'm bloated'cause I had too much fiber or anything like that. You. If you're eating like 40 grams of fiber, like you work your way up to there, you should not have like just gas, bloating, cramping, diarrhea, anything like that. You should be very consistent with your bowel limits, one to three a day. And yeah, I think it's depending on, yeah, where are those sources of fiber coming from? Because, so you do have two different types of fiber. Not that you have to memorize these, but you have insoluble and soluble fiber. There's gonna be a lot of overlaps. Like insoluble fiber is like. One that's creating roughage, it's helping kind of the bulking, giving regularity, and it adds volume to your meals, so it keeps you really full. This is gonna be in your veggies, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and the skin of your fruits. So this is something where I see a lot of people, they're like peeling their fruits and they're like, oh, I got two grams of fiber.

Brianna:

You did it.

Baylee:

You're probably losing a lot of that fiber.

Brianna:

Yeah. You, you cut it

Baylee:

That skin is a lot of your fiber. That's why like apples and pears, Kiwis are really good for fiber. If you eat the skin trick for Kiwis,'cause I used to be afraid of the skin, thinly slice them, it makes a difference. It's not bad at all. I hate like peach skin. I compromise with myself and I'll eat half of it with the skin on half of it, not. But kiwi skin does not bother me at all. Which by the way, did you know that there were so many different types of Kiwis? Like have I been living under a rock?

Brianna:

I didn't. I just thought there was one, and then Costco had like golden ki so I was like, oh, what

Baylee:

That's what Sam's had. So they had the golden ones. I got those Delicious. Those actually might be my favorite. Then they had red ones. Those are really good too. They taste very similar, I think, to the gold ones. But I think the other varieties I prefer over, over like the typical

Brianna:

like the regular, yeah.

Baylee:

I didn't know there was different types and I study food for a living, so

Brianna:

Well, I think it's also like really just dependent on where you live, because like other countries, they're like raspberries. Like, what the heck is that? You know? So I guess it's like dependent. There's, I was reading something the other day that was telling like how much fruit variety there is in the world. There's like hundreds, so I'm like, well, I guarantee you my grocery store does not have hundreds.

Baylee:

Yes.

Brianna:

So now I'm like, curious, I'm gonna go down a rabbit hole.

Baylee:

Well, when we were in Jamaica, I had papaya and I've tried it like in Missouri before, did not like it and I was like, oh, I'll try so much better in Jamaica.

Brianna:

yeah,

Baylee:

Probably a little fresher, but then like their melon was not great. I was.

Brianna:

Yeah. Interesting.

Baylee:

Papaya was really good there,

Brianna:

I

Baylee:

but yeah. Okay. So insoluble fiber, sorry. It's girl soluble fiber is your gel for me, and it's gonna be in like oats, beans, berries, chia apples. So it's gonna slow down that digestion, it's gonna blunt that blood sugar rise and it's gonna, this is gonna be the one that kind of feeds your good bacteria. And then you have the added fibers. Your added fibers are gonna be like inulin, chicory root soluble corn fiber, modified wheat starch. Those are pretty common fibers that are added. Again, not to say these are just like bad products, but. This example I always give, because I really like the extreme wellness tortillas. I think they have like, is it 12 grams of fiber In them

Brianna:

Yeah,

Baylee:

it's, I mean, it's definitely higher than three, which is like a typical whole grain product. I like them because if you look at the label, like I'm pretty sure it's the whole grain and then it's flax seed. Those are two of the like whole food fiber sources that the fiber is coming from, and then it has some added fiber to it, which is why it bumps it up. So I still do those. I like those. I think they're a good product, but I don't take that as like, here's my 12 grams of fiber for this meal. I still add fiber, so like if I'm gonna make a wrap, I'm still gonna put some vegetables in there and I'm still gonna do fruit on the side to really get more of that whole food fiber in. I don't know. Is that how you kind of approach it with products like that?

Brianna:

Yes, I was just looking up the like car balance ones, just to see what their first ingredient is. It's well water and then it's the wheat starch, which is where it's getting, and those have like. What is it like nine 17 grams of fiber,

Baylee:

Yeah. I think that's higher than the extreme wellness

Brianna:

but that's kind of how I do it too. I really try to

Baylee:

Yeah, extreme. Wellness is 12 grams of fiber. I was looking that up real quick. The the first thing, well, first water second resistant wheat starch, potato starch, wheat protein, and then it's cellulose and then it's whole wheat. swore there are flax seeds in here. Wonder if they

Brianna:

There is one with flax seeds. It might be

Baylee:

Okay. Maybe I'm just looking at a different one.

Brianna:

might be the STE ones, or no, the, yeah,

Baylee:

I think they might have changed this recipe because it's now has like avocado oil in it. I don't remember that.

Brianna:

Yeah, it's that, that's what I do too. I don't try to think like, oh, I'm just getting 17 grams of fiber in this, so I don't need to add anything else. I'll do like avocado or, or what? I try to just do the whole food because I react very, and I've, I've tested this just to be like, okay, if I get the majority from like a tortilla like this and like an op and this, I don't feel the same as if I get the same. From Whole Foods. I just don't, and so, and that's what I try to encourage people to do. Like, yes, starting out fiber is good, but eventually it's same with like protein powders, right? Or like protein bars. Like if you're using those when you start out Yeah, like when you're using'em to start out, to get like a good amount of protein. Okay, fine. But eventually we're graduating towards like, how do I add more whole food sources of protein? That's what I do with fiber because. You're not gonna feel the same. And also I want you like adding variety and color and stuff to your plate. And if you're just like, oh, this has 17 grams of fiber, you're not adding fruit or vegetables or anything else. So your variety isn't there. And that's really important too when it comes to, am I getting fiber? The other thing too is the added fibers don't really like mimic the. I guess what, what do we wanna call it? Like metabolic response. That real fiber

Baylee:

I don't know if this is what you're getting to, but like for example, like on a CGM, I've actually seen people have a higher glucose response when using like a low carb tortilla

Brianna:

Yes. I don't know why that is.

Baylee:

I, I guess like the more refined, more processed, because I've seen that happen

Brianna:

Mm-hmm.

Baylee:

the same way. Like, I mean, diet sodas, I've seen people have a high glucose response to it.

Brianna:

too cauliflower pizza as well. I don't know what it is about cauliflower pizza. Yeah. Or someone was like.

Baylee:

the other day. Yeah,

Brianna:

Someone was like, should I have just done the real pizza? I'm like, well, your CGM is telling me yes. Like when I'm looking at your blood sugar, yes, but you're not gonna real fiber when it has all the other like components to it. It helps that it slow carbs absorption better than these added ones. It improves your GLP one response. It reduces insulin spikes and it feeds your good. Bacteria, your good gut bacteria. There's something to be said about the whole digestion and absorption process when it's coming from Whole Foods. We even see that with like, you know, protein digestion of like chicken versus like aminos, like we know there's better absorption and all that because of the whole digestion, digestive process of just breaking down real foods. So. You can use these things to supplement, that's fine. But really thinking like my goal is to be increasing whole foods and same, I can get 40 grams without doing any supplement

Baylee:

Yeah, and I think it's, it almost seems. don't know, like maybe it's just easier for like, okay, increase fiber and you just go and look for all these high fiber foods that say high fiber. So don't forget your whole foods. That's where, if you just seen that, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds, whole grains, that should be your fiber focus is those five groups. Start with including once serving a fiber at every meal. Then bump up to two to every meal, then bump it up to three every meal. That's an easy way to kind of think about it. But I mean, as a good template, you could do like breakfast, include a nut, like a peanut butter. Include seeds like chia and then include fruit for lunch. Maybe do a fruit vegetable and a stretchy cart for dinner. Or you can do fruit and two vegetables for dinner. Maybe you do some legumes and a vegetable and another vegetable, so like maybe kind of give yourself a little bit of a template, but working your way up to at least three servings of fiber each meal, that's gonna make it a lot easier to hit your fiber

Brianna:

Yeah. Yeah. And aiming for the, like the five. Rule, you know, five by five rule. Try to get fiber from at least five different sources every day. Gets you around like 25 grams of fiber. I think first. Really just figuring out what the heck fiber is. And we, I mean, I know we do this, like I'll give them like a fiber guide that's like, these foods have fiber. And I tell'em like how much is in, how much grams is in each serving of like whatever that food is. And my whole thing is like, look through this list. Highlight stuff that you actually like and how can you spread these across your day? And then it gets. Easier and it's the low and slow too. Like sometimes if I'm really concerned, like if people have a lot of like digest, like GI issues, I look at their food journal, I'm like, they're getting like no fiber. Sometimes I'll have them just do their normal intake for like a couple days, figure out how much they're getting, and then we will put together a plan. Okay, how do we increase this by like two to five grams per week? Because. The low and slow is gonna feel good.'cause I've had some people, and I know I've shared this before, that they're like, I can't tolerate fiber, so I don't do it. I'm like, that's not true. That's not true at all. You can, you just did it wrong.

Baylee:

Yes. And also, yeah, seeing like how were you increasing fiber? Like was it a fiber one bar or was it like, oh, I added some berries. So there are differences. Overall, fiber is not all created equally. Just like carbs are not all created equally. The protein sources are all created equally. When you're thinking about fiber maxing slowly increase with real whole foods. Don't feel like you have to go buy every fortified product. I would say those the main things like,

Brianna:

Yeah.

Baylee:

try to just add one thing at a time. The more fiber diversity you eat, the better your gut and metabolism will actually respond as well. So get a variety, get all different types, get all different colors, and that'll be really beneficial.

Brianna:

And I would say if you're gonna supplement, that's fine. Use it as you're starting or use it to fill the gaps, like when you're traveling or something, right? Like one of my easy tricks, if you're traveling and you're in the middle of nowhere, okay, grab an op from the gas station. I get yourself a little bit like, it's a fun way to get fiber, but I wouldn't be like, oh, I'm getting seven grams of fiber every day for my Ali Pop, so I don't have to think about it again. Like. Su supplement.

Baylee:

of think of it as like a bonus.

Brianna:

Yes, exactly. Like this is your bonus. It's fun. It's a better option. It has fiber. But yeah, really focusing on, let me do this the right way. Don't do the extremes. You know, like I seen this video the other day and this guy's like, I'm attempting 85 grams of fiber today. And I'm like, this is the perfect example of us. Like too much is a

Baylee:

being weird. We're

Brianna:

can we just get people to eat 20 instead of five grams of fiber? Like, let's do that. But we do that. We talk about that all the time. We do the extremes. So not, remember, not all fibers created equal. Do it low and slow. Increase your diversity, focus on whole foods and then see how you feel. Probably gonna feel good.

Baylee:

absolutely. Well, we hope this episode brought you some clarity and brought you some direction as to how you can cyber max in a way that's not gonna wreck your gut. And yeah, we'll be back next week with a brand new episode.

Brianna:

Bye.

Contributor

Baylee

Host
Contributor

Brianna

Host