Amy's fiber finds 🔎

I'm learning a ton about whole grains, fiber, and health. There's so much I plan to share in the coming months, and to summarize the main points for you:

1. Many diseases are tied to an unhealthy gut
2. A key driver of this is a diet low in fiber
3. Fiber supplements don't replace whole foods
4. Which fight inflammation & keep your gut healthy...

Bringing us back to point #1 

What stands out to me isn't actually the biochemistry of it all, but that:

It's really hard to find resources that size up your own fiber gap and help you fix it.

Our collective failure to eat enough fiber (a global public health concern that influences the length and quality of our lives) isn't due to a lack of awareness. It's rooted in food systems that rely on highly refined grains that are unsustainable to grow and rapidly depleting our planet.

Which is why the dominant advice, while true, isn't working. Telling someone to "prioritize whole, healthy, and nutritious foods" (as the USDA does) isn't actionable on its own. And without reasonable alternatives, those who depend on convenient processed foods to fuel busy lives can't meaningfully change their diets.

Most whole grain recipes, while well-intentioned, miss the mark too. It's no wonder people think whole grains are "unpalatable and complicated to prepare" when recipes are unreliable, underseasoned, or call for expensive ingredients that are difficult to source and require a whole afternoon—fine for the weekend perhaps, but not every day.

However, daily fiber intake is precisely what you need if you're going to get the recommended amount. You may think turning to foods labeled whole grain will help, but you're actually wandering into a maze of confusion. The USDA recommends 2-4 servings of whole grains per day. What I can tell you is that:

• Serving sizes vary and are set by manufacturers
• Whole grains differ in their amount (and types) of fiber
• Whole grain foods only need to be 50% whole grain

So how do you know if you're eating enough fiber to help your gut microbiome fight off disease and enjoy more healthy years in life?

A more precise recommendation would help. According to the Nutrition Care Manual (NCM) and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), adequate fiber intake is approximately 25 g per day for women and 35-38 g per day for men. Added health benefits have been observed at intakes above those amounts.

Armed with that info, you can look at the nutrition panel on everything (even staples like flour and rice have one) and tally how many grams of fiber you're getting, and from where.

It's worth noting that a diet of diverse whole food fiber is most effective at keeping your gut healthy. You may want to aim for:

• 6-8 grams/day of soluble fiber—prebiotics that feed your gut bugs
• Roughly 30 kinds of plants per week (including non-grains like fruits and vegetables). The Microsetta Initiative, the largest citizen science microbiome project in the world, found that people who ate at least 30 kinds of plants each week had a more diverse gut microbiome, plus more of the specific compounds and microbes that are thought to be beneficial.

I'm not a medical professional and none of this is medical advice (always consult your own physician). But all of this is why I'm in the process of launching a line of whole grain mixes for things like pizza, cookies, and pancakes. I want to make it easy (and tasty) to get a variety of whole grains throughout your day.

It's taking longer than I'd expected to launch my baking mixes. In the meantime, here are fiber finds you can enjoy today:

• Wasa crispbread: Multigrain has 1g soluble/2g insoluble per slice.
• Undercover quinoa puffs: 2g fiber/6g sugar per 28g in their dark chocolate sea salt version. They're also nut and gluten free.
• Brown sticky rice: Easier than white if you follow my recipe.
• Juwar Dhani (puffed sorghum): I found this at the Indian market around the corner from me. If you don't already frequent your local African, Asian, European, and Hispanic grocery stores, now's a great time to start. They carry whole grain ingredients and snacks you can't find anywhere else.

Happy whole graining!

Until next time,
Amy

P.s. if you can't tell, I'm trying to find my fiber people! It would mean so much to me if you told just one friend about this or forwarded it on to them.