What are healthy approaches to dieting?

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Social media trends can take health habits to the extreme.

Fiber plays a vital role in digestion, gut health, and blood sugar management.

When incorporating more fiber into your diet, it is best to have a gradual increase and also increase water.

Adding too much fiber too quickly can lead to significant gastrointestinal upset.

Despite the growing interest surrounding fiber and gut health, only about 5% of Americans consume the recommended daily amount of fiber. One of the most recent social-media trends regarding fiber has been “fibermaxxing.” As with any trend that spreads online, it’s important to take a closer look, understand the science behind it, and sort out what information is factual.

To understand fibermaxxing, it is important to first understand what fiber actually is. Dietary fiber refers to the components of plant foods that our bodies are unable to completely digest. Instead of fiber being fully broken-down during digestion, it moves through the stomach and small intestine largely intact. Once fiber reaches the large intestine, some types of fiber are fermented by gut bacteria. Examples of food sources that contain fiber are fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and products derived from these foods. The recommended daily allowance for fiber is at least 14g of fiber for........

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