Fiber maxing—Is it good for your gut?

Speaking of Women's Health Podcast host Dr. Holly Thacker talks about how your microbiome connects to metabolism, blood sugar stability, satiety, and long-term disease risk. That context matters when you hear the viral phrase “fiber maxing.” Done right, increasing dietary fiber can support steadier energy, healthier cholesterol patterns, improved regularity, and better weight management, especially when your carbohydrates come from whole foods with a lower glycemic impact.

Dr. Thacker then discusses the most common infectious diarrhea causes that she sees and teaches on, including viruses that impair fluid absorption, bacteria that can trigger toxin-driven fluid loss, and parasites that often hide behind the label “stomach bug.” She gets specific about Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, and Giardia: how they spread, what symptoms tend to stand out, why hydration is non-negotiable, and how contaminated water and produce can be the real source of the problem.

She also shares practical, food-first ways to increase fiber without bloating: build meals around legumes, add chia or ground flaxseed, swap refined grains for whole grains, keep the skins on potatoes, and rinse, rinse, rinse your fruits and vegetables. She covers how fast to increase fiber (slowly), why you must hydrate, how to balance soluble and insoluble fiber, and when personalization matters.

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Focus

Dr. \ 0:14

Welcome to the Speaking of Women's Health Podcast. I am your host, Dr. Holly Thacker, back in the Sunflower House for a new podcast. And I am going to talk about gut health and fiber maxing, which is kind of such a popular internet TikTok YouTube sensation. You've probably heard a lot about that. And I also want to touch a little bit on infectious diarrhea. Now, um, as our regular listeners may know, I covered cryptosperdiosis in quite a bit of detail this summer, and I wanted to talk about other common triggers of diarrhea. I briefly mentioned neurovirus, which is one of

Viruses And Bacteria Behind Diarrhea

Dr. \ 1:12

the more common types of viruses, especially that affects children. Rodoviruses invades the lining of the small intestine. There's supportive therapy. This virus impairs the ability of the gut's ability to absorb fluids, which leads to watery diarrhea. There's lots of different bacteria that can do it from E. coli, salmonella, one reason you don't eat raw eggs, Shigella and Camphlobacter as well, that can cause toxins that lead to fluid loss. And then there's the good old parasites, the microorganisms. I went into great detail about Cryptosporidium, which is found in contaminated water and can result in watery diarrhea. We talked about nidzoxinide as being a treatment. Now, cyclosporidiosis is another parasite, and that has certainly been a big issue in the summer, certainly in certain states like Michigan and Ohio. Both crypto and cyclosporidiasis are parasites, and they both lead to watery diarrhea, cramping, nausea, but they can differ in certainly the medical treatments. The cyclosporidiosis, if it's treated beyond the supportive care, is with bacterum DS or trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole and those that are not sulfa allergic, whereas cryptosporidiosis is treated with nidzoxenide, and there is a liquid strawberry-flavored form for children. And they're caused by various species, and generally the cyclospora is not generally person to person, although it's still fecal oral. It's typically contracted because of contaminated produce like lettuce, raspberries, and cryptosporidiosis is very contagious. It can spread from person to person or animal to animal and also through recreational water. Both of these infections need intense hydration. And while both cause explosive watery diarrhea, the cyclospora can cause a relapsing illness that can last for weeks or months. Whereas crypto is typically shorter and more self-limiting in healthy people, but in those with immunocompromised HIV, it can be much longer. Now

Parasites: Crypto, Cyclospora, Giardia

Dr. \ 3:58

there's also another parasitic disease that causes watery diarrhea, giardia. Even alcohol mouthwash. So both crypto and cyclo are associated generally in the warmer seasons, you know, when you're out and about in water, maybe eating more fruits and vegetables at picnics. And also the cyclospories can be associated with ownership of domestic animals like birds and rabbits and guinea pigs. GR diasis develops within a one to two weeks, whereas cyclosporiasis typically presents within two to fourteen days, an average of one week. In fact, uh we had a work luncheon and we ate broccoli, and some of us thought, oh, I wondered if they blanched it because heat certainly kills the parasite. And we thought, well, I guess we're gonna probably know within one week, certainly no more than two weeks if we have it. Cryptospritiosis usually takes just two to ten days. Um be careful about drinking contaminated water, being in lakes and pools, and the cyclospora was linked to maybe some lettuce that came from a certain distributor, but then now they're not so sure. But raw imported fresh produce, you have to be particularly concerned about cilantro, basil, lettuce. Um GR diasis causes a little more fatty, foul-smelling diarrhea as well as excessive gas. Um and the cyclospora can cause that watery explosive diarrhea along with the low-grade fever and maybe flu-like illnesses. And so if you get infected repeatedly with cyclosporidia each time, it apparently is not as bad, but it's obviously better for prevention. And gut health is so important, we're learning more and more about the gut microbiome and how it affects a wide variety of diseases. When I was talking with our center endocrinologist, Dr. Ula Abed, about uh PMOS, uh, the polymetabolic ovarian syndrome, uh, she was talking about how key the gut microbiome is in that disease. And one way to potentially improve gut health is through having uh healthy foods and a good amount of fiber, soluble, and insoluble fiber. And that leads me to the rest of the podcast, which I want to talk about fiber maxing. Uh so you may or may not have heard about this, it's really been a viral social media trend, and it's encouraging folks to increase their daily fiber intake. Generally speaking, most Americans they fall really short of the recommended daily goals. Um, so this trend is promoting or exceeding 25 to 38 grams of fiber per day, basically using whole foods, seeds, and supplements. Now, it's very interesting, and I've said this before on other podcasts, that there's lots of food fads. Uh, certainly earlier this year, uh our federal government kind of redid the food pyramid and the plate. Um, certainly there's a goal that we want uh normal body weight, much less diabetes that we have, lower or healthier cholesterol ratios, and stabilizing blood sugar and reducing the epidemic of diabetes. And as I've said so many times, there's no essential carbohydrate, and really there are heart-healthy fats, and in my practice, it's less than 10% of women I see have the right omega-3 to omega-6 ratios. And I've done two podcasts on omegas, we have lots of great information on speaking of women's health.com. But those two classes of fats your body cannot make. Uh, fats carry vitamins, the fat-soluble vitamins, fats lead to satiety, and then of course, we have the protein category where we have essential amino acids, the building blocks of protein, helps maintain your muscle mass, which a lot of people lose with age. So, really, carbohydrates in general should play a lesser role

Prevention, Timing, And Hydration

Dr. \ 9:18

for most people, although there are some people on high uh carbohydrate, low-fat diets that does in some people genetically predispose, though, to higher triglycerides, and in women, higher triglycerides and lower HDL high density lipids tend to be worse. Anyone that's got central obesity, metabolic fatty liver disease that can lead to cirrhosis, high blood pressure, perhaps a history of this polymetabolic ovarian syndrome. So, with carbohydrates, you can stabilize your blood sugar if you do it right and have higher fiber foods that also have lower glycemic index. So when ingesting carbohydrates, certainly prioritizing legumes like black beans. Um we have a good um, we've got some good bean uh recipes on speaking of women's health.com. One fun summer dish that I just made with black beans because I found like I had 10 cans of black beans in my pantry, was I cut up some fresh watermelon. That was of course after scrubbing the rind and rinsing it, because even if you peel uh fruits and vegetables, if there's anything contaminating the surface of it, you could you know cut into it. So I did that, cut off the rind, made uh little small scoops, put in some uh

Gut Microbiome And Metabolic Health

Dr. \ 10:58

rinsed black beans, some feta cheese. Um I rinsed off uh some mint and put in mint. You could do uh cilantro or basil as well. I think that goes well again since they're herbs, depending on where you get them. You have to rinse them very, very well. And then I added some pickled jalapenos for a little bit of a kick and mixed that up, and it was a great summer salsa. So high fiber things like black beans and lentils, uh, whole grains like quinoa, oats, and then seeds, chia seeds and flax seeds, and we're really fans of chia seeds and flaxseed because they're high in omega 3s. Now, um, certainly if you're eating a lot of seeds and you're not chewing them well and digesting and you have diverticulosis, that might irritate things. So we do want a high fiber diet, but we do want you, especially if you're over 50 or if you have issues with diverticula, uh, to make sure that you chew your food thoroughly so things don't get stuck in those little out pouchings. And high fiber fruits include avocados, oh, which have a lot of heart healthy fat in them, and magnesium, and raspberries. Raspberries are high fiber fruits. Um, those are also the ones that might have the cryptosperdiosis, so you know, if um it's very important to clearly rinse them. And so this type of high fiber maxing diet is really quite in contrast to the high-fat, high protein, low carbohydrate, low fiber keto diet. So there's a lot less bowel waste with the high fat, high protein diet, and certainly getting into ketosis many times for some people will reduce their appetite. Regardless of what type of diet you're following, if you're not pregnant and you're a grown adult, I think constricting the time you eat and letting your body relax and rest and not constantly use your stomach and liver and gallbladder and pancreas, uh, where you're constantly digesting things or constantly driving insulin. And certainly any carbohydrate, especially one with a high glycemic index, drives the insulin levels up, and that certainly increases fat deposition and sometimes a whole cascade of problems in people that have too much obesity and insulin resistance. Now I've done several podcasts on um weight loss and

Fiber Maxing Trend Explained

Dr. \ 13:53

interviewed weight loss experts, um, and that is perennial women's number one concern is weight and reducing your calories, changing the macronutrients, boosting activity with exercise to build muscle. Now, a lot of women ask me, Oh, should I take creatine? And I'm like, let's maximize it in your diet. Uh, you know, meat and seafood have a lot of creatine. Now I do have some patients who are strict uh lacto-ovo vegetarians and they don't have as much creatine, and so with adequate hydration, assuming that they're weight lifting, um, the dose for just general muscle building is about five grams. Um there's some uh studies that suggest maybe 10 grams a day may help cognitive function. And um again, I think diet is the best way to do things for the building blocks of what you need. It's also the best way to improve your omega ratios. Everybody just wants to, you know, pop a fish oil capsule. Well, you know, what if it's contaminated? You know, what's the source of it coming from? Um, has it been tested by an independent lab? Um is it rancid? Um, is it the right ratios? So rather than just swallowing a bunch of things instead of doing the hard work, and that includes planning out your meals, um, you know, preparing the food, and it's very time

High Fiber Foods That Work

Dr. \ 15:34

consuming. Certainly, you know, uh a lot of us are pulled in all different directions. So I think splitting it up into more manageable chunks of time uh can be helpful. Getting back to the gut microbiome, and you've been listening to the Speaking of Women's Health podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Holly Thacker, the Executive Director of Speaking of Women's Health. I am also the director of our Center for Specialized Women's Health at Cleveland Clinic, and I direct our specialized women's health fellowship, and we've just uh had a new fellow join us in the center. We're very excited about this, and we'll have to find a topic she's interested in talking about. Um I know she actually is an expert, she trained in palliative medicine, and we haven't had a topic on that, so I'll definitely book her for that. Um, but getting back to gut health and the gut microbiome, which affects so many different diseases, I would say that um you can follow a variety of different types of diets, and I think in the future uh with uh more neutrogenomics, we'll have a better idea of what people's metabolism is the healthiest diet for them. Right now, we pretty much say the Mediterranean diet, uh, but I've seen very healthy people on a strict carnivore diet saying that they it's helped their multiple sclerosis, their autoimmune disease. Again, it would have to be quite monitored well because you've got to make sure you're getting enough minerals as well. And certainly if you're eating foods like liver, which are rich in lots of vitamins and iron, that's a little you know easier to get those nutrients. Conversely, I've seen people who've been strict lacto-ovovegetarians their entire life and been very healthy. Again, I I worry about getting enough B12 and enough zinc and enough creatine. Um, if you're following mainly a Mediterranean diet and you just want to do some tweaks around the edges, especially if maybe you've had a slow gut and you want to get in on maximizing your fiber, you do have to do it carefully and you do have to slowly increase it. And it does take a while for your gut microbiome to shift, depending on what type of diet that you're following. But the people that are focusing on fiber maxing to help their blood sugar, help their metabolism, help their satiety sensation, you have to start by building your meals around fiber-dense foods. So legumes, pulses, so split peas is 16 grams per one cook cup. Lentils are 15.5 grams per cook cut. So these are really the ultimate fiber heavy weights. And tamami, black beans, chickpeas also provide massive protein and fiber boost. And you can take a can of chickpeas, rinse them off, put a little bit of tahini, uh a little bit of garlic, and some olive oil, and make your own hummus to serve with some vegetables as dip for a very healthy appetizer. Now, seeds, just one ounce of chia seeds, which I tend to sprinkle on my Greek yogurt, packs in 10 grams of fiber. Ground flaxseed that I add to lots of dishes provides both fiber and the omega-3s. Whole grains, if you can swap refined carbs for whole wheat spaghetti, you're gonna get six grams per cup. Barley is six grams per cup, quinoa is five grams per cup, and uh let's hear it for some air pop popcorn. That's 3.5 grams per three cups. In the fruits and vegetables, which again just to remind you to rinse, rinse, rinse, and any foods that have little deep crevices or anything that you're at all concerned about, if you cook it and expose it to heat, you're going to kill the parasites. So raspberries, blackberries, really top the food charts. Vegetables, focus on artichokes. We have a great artichoke mozzarella dip that one of our retired nurse practitioners, Mary Clarkin, her recipe she'd always bring it in to work, has a little bit of fried uh dirty onions. Really tasty. So if you're an artichoke fan looking for a good dip, go on. Speaking of women's health deck, broccoli. Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable, very healthy. It's rich in DIM

Add Fiber Safely Without Misery

Dr. \ 20:28

anti-cancer. Anybody who's ever had HPV human papillomavirus, which 80% of the population gets exposed to. We really like to push the vitamin D levels and DIM cruciferous vegetables. If you're going to do your baked potato or sweet potato, do it with the skin because the skin gives you more fiber. So, how to fiber max safely? Well, a sudden spike can cause bloating and gas and a lot of digestive discomfort. So go slowly. Five to no more than 10 grams to what you're already doing daily per week until you hit your goal. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Certainly if you're sick and in hot weather or have explosive diarrhea, but hydrate as well if you're ingesting fiber, because you can actually get constipation from too much fiber without enough water. And generally, you should mix your sources. So you want soluble fiber, which would be beans and avocados and oats, and that helps balance your blood sugar, along with insoluble fiber like wheat bran and veggie skins for regular digestion. And certainly talk to your healthcare team before you change anything radical, you know, with your diet, particularly if you've got any underlying medical problems. But having a healthier diet and higher fiber has been linked to less heart disease. Anytime you can reduce obesity, you reduce type 2 diabetes, you reduce several types of cancers, including colorectal cancer, which has really been on the rise. And if you're going to have a significant amount of carbohydrates in your diet, then it really should just be whole foods and plant-based foods, largely. Now, everyone's individual, and I really think in the future we'll be able to come up with a little bit more personalized plans for folks. So, for instance, some vegetables and fruits can have a lot of oxalates like spinach and kale and rhubarb. So if you've had kidney stones that are calcium oxalate, the most common cause, and if you do, I hope you listen to the podcast we did on kidney stones, you really wouldn't want to be maxing out on those types of foods. You'd want more citrus, more citrate, lemons, etc. So when you hear the term fiber maxing, it's kind of it sounds dramatic, but it's just a way of saying eat more fiber, eat more whole foods. But if you're going to go over 50 grams of fiber per day, you have to let your gut adjust, no more than five to ten per week extra. Drink plenty of fluid, check out your digestive system, and certainly refer to speaking of women's health, for healthy recipes, nutritional information. We have a lot of good tables, we have lists of what foods are rich in various nutrients, we have a lot of good information, free treatment guidebooks, breaking health news, as well as just general health information to keep you to be healthy, to be strong, and to be in charge, which is our motto. So thanks so much

Resources And How To Reach Us

Dr. \ 23:48

for joining us in the Sunflower House. And be sure to give us a five-star rating if you enjoyed the podcast. Share it with others, and if you have any questions, you can go to the contact us portion on speakingofwomen's health.com. Any topics you want to hear about in the future. And if you don't already subscribe, wherever you listen to podcasts, hit the follow collect button. Remember, be strong, be healthy, and be in charge.