August 27, 2025 • 34 mins
Fiber is supposed to be healthy — so why does “fiber-maxxing” leave so many people bloated, drained, and worse than before?
In this episode of The Burnout Resolution Podcast, Dr. Mylaine Riobé breaks down the viral fiber-maxxing trend and explains why it can be a powerful litmus test for hidden gut imbalances like SIBO and dysbiosis.
Using the gut garden analogy, Dr. Riobé shows how fiber acts like fertilizer: in a healthy garden, it nourishes fruits and vegetables (ally microbes that boost energy and resilience). But in a weedy garden, it grows overgrowth that steals nutrients, inflames your system, and fuels burnout.
Tune in to discover:
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How to know if fiber is feeding your allies or your weeds
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Why a healthy gut should be able to handle fiber without side effects
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The key microbial metabolites your body can’t make without gut allies
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Friendly, low-FODMAP fibers to start with if you’re sensitive
👉 Click Here to Join our 7-Day Burnout Reset Challenge and start your journey today!
Because the path out of burnout isn’t about fiber maxxing — #FiberSmarter!
Timestamps (approximate):
00:00 – Welcome & Episode Intro 01:00 – What is Fiber-Maxxing? TikTok Trend Explained 02:00 – Why “Go Slower” Isn’t the Answer 04:00 – Feeding Allies vs. Feeding Weeds (Garden Analogy) 06:00 – What Happens When Fiber Feeds the Wrong Bugs 08:00 – The Microbiome: 4–5 Million Genes You Don’t Have 10:00 – Vitamins, SCFAs, and Bioactive Metabolites from Microbes 12:00 – Weeds, Dysbiosis, and Unwelcome Gut Guests 14:00 – Fiber as Fertilizer: Litmus Test for Gut Health 16:00 – High-FODMAP Foods that Feed the Weeds 18:00 – Functional vs. Conventional Gut Testing 20:00 – Fiber as a Genetic Switchboard 22:00 – Dysbiosis, Stress, and the Burnout Cycle 24:00 – How Stress and Gut Health Fuel Burnout 26:00 – Smarter Strategy: Weed, Repair, Restore, Then Fertilize 28:00 – Friendly Low-FODMAP Fibers 30:00 – High-FODMAP Foods to Limit 33:00 – Takeaways & Safer Fiber Approach 34:00 – Closing & 7-Day Burnout Reset Challenge
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Hey, Wellness Warriors.
Welcome to the Burnout Resolution Podcast.
I'm your host, Dr. Mylaine Riobé.
For those of you who don't knowme, I'm a board certified medical
doctor specializing in the areasof functional integrative medicine.
I'm also a Chinese medicinepractitioner as well as an OB GYN.
Today we're going to talk about whyfiber maxxing can backfire and actually
(00:31):
fuel your burnout instead of your gut.
Not sure if you've seen those videos,circulating on TikTok, the latest TikTok
trend about maxxing out your fiberas a health hack to heal your gut.
And of course, you'll see just as manyvideos talking about the side effects that
people have been experiencing in tryingto reach these goals of fiber maxxing.
(00:54):
And so what fiber maxxing is is tryingto get 40 to 50 grams of fiber in
each and every day, often through theencouragement of eating lots of beans,
lentils, chia seeds, and psyllium.
While the concept on its surface is a goodidea, when we dive a little bit deeper,
(01:14):
we can see how there are missing pieces ofthe puzzle that are being ignored by this
trend that are leading people down theroad of burnout and worsened gut health.
So yes, fiber is extremely important,and yes, we notoriously undereat fiber.
In fact, the average Americanonly gets half the amount of fiber
(01:36):
or less than what's recommended.
The recommended amount of fibervaries somewhere between 30
to 40 grams per day with womenrequiring slightly less than men.
So while it is true that we undereatfiber and that's not good for us,
one of the things that's missing iswhat we're going to talk about today
(01:57):
that actually fuels yourburnout if you're not careful.
So while these trends look kindof fun and harmless, there's a
truth that no one's talking about.
We're going to tackle that today.
And so very often when people have sideeffects from cranking up their fiber,
they'll experience things like bloating,loose stools, worsening constipation.
(02:18):
And what people are advising them to dois just take it slow and drink more water.
However, when your body tells you thatsomething is going wrong, taking it
slower isn't necessarily always the bestanswer and very often one of the main
reasons that people actually start tocut fiber out of their diet is because
(02:39):
the fiber makes them feel poorly.
It does cause the bloating, it doescause the constipation and the diarrhea.
So they slowly start to shave thesethings out of their diets that are
causing them this distress so thatthey don't experience symptoms.
Now, it's not necessarily thefood that's the problem, it's the
ecosystem that the food is going into
(02:59):
that's the problem.
So if you just take it slowerand drink more water, you're not
taking into account what yourecosystem is telling you is wrong.
It's like you've broken your foot,but you don't get a cast and, you're
not allowed to have crutches, andyou have to walk on your foot.
And when you complain to yourdoctor, they just say, 'Well,
just walk a little slower.'
(03:21):
Right.
and so yes, it'll hurt less ifyou walk a little slower, but
that's not going to necessarilyhelp your foot heal any better.
So this is the equivalent of whathappens when we tell people, 'well, if
the fiber that you're eating is makingyou feel poorly, just, crank up the
amount slower and drink more water.'
(03:41):
It's just simply not the right solution.
And we'll talk about why todayand what you can do instead.
So there's a way that you can actuallyuse those symptoms and side effects
as a clue that something is wrong.
And we'll talk about how you cando that and how these side effects
are actually your body wanting towarn you that there's an issue.
(04:03):
When you're taking in more fiber,sometimes what you're doing is you're
feeding the enemy instead of the ally.
So if we liken this to having agarden where we've planted lots of
vegetables and fruits, if we justfertilize the garden and don't pay
attention to the weeds, we're goingto be feeding the weeds as well.
When you feed the weeds and theygrow, they're going to compete
(04:25):
with the vegetables and the fruitsfor the nutrients in the soil.
And if we're not careful, we'renot going to get the harvest of the
vegetables and fruits that we expect.
This is exactly what happens whenthey start to crank up the fiber
and just indiscriminately eat morefiber If there are weeds in your gut.
Instead of the vegetables and fruitsthat you planted, you're going to
(04:48):
feed the weeds as well as the fruitsand vegetables in the gut ecosystem.
What that means is you're going tofeed bad bacteria that don't belong
in your gut, as well as the friendlybacteria that do belong in your
gut, that we call the microbiome.
So many times when people are havingthese side effects, they get the bloating,
they get the constipation, the loosestools with increasing their fiber.
(05:12):
It's because there are so-calledbad bacteria in their gut somewhere
that are feeding off of these.
They don't behave the sameway as the microbiome.
They're not as friendly to us, sothey spew out toxins and junk and
garbage when they eat the fiber.
So even though the fiber itself ishealthy, there's nothing wrong with
beans and legumes and chia seeds and. They're healthy options of nutrients
(05:36):
that we can consume in our diet.
So it's not the food that's the problem.
It's what is eating thefood that's the problem.
So we know that what we eat changesour microbiome, and we'll talk about
the microbiome a little bit morein depth and just how important it
is for all of our body functions.
Sometimes the microbiome has unwelcomeguests living amongst them, or sometimes
(06:02):
above them in the small intestine.
These are the bugs that are eating thehealthy foods that are producing the
side effects that people often experiencewith fiber maxxing in this new trend.
So fiber maxxing often involves40 to 50 grams of fiber, right?
More is better is the philosophy.
(06:23):
So while the recommendation is about30 to 40, they're recommending a little
bit more just to jumpstart the gut.
And so the reason it's popular isbecause we do under consume fiber.
We are notoriously not meetingour requirements for fiber.
Fiber is extremely important for themicrobiome, for the ecosystem of our
(06:43):
gastrointestinal system, but here'swhat's missing: in a healthy gut
ecosystem or your microbiome is healthy,
more fiber is a good thing, but whenthere is what we call dysbiosis,
when there is imbalance of the goodbacteria and potentially unwelcome
bacteria, then it turns into a problemand can make you feel pretty sick.
(07:06):
And if that's you, if they do makeyou feel poorly, that's a huge hint
that something abnormal is goingon in your gastrointestinal system
that you should pay attention to.
So your gut's like a community garden.
You're planting all these vegetablesand herbs and fruits .So we can liken
the herbs, vegetables, and fruits tothe good bacteria, the microbiome that
(07:30):
belong in our gastrointestinal system.
The microbiome is extremely important,and I believe it's going to be
recognized as an organ of the human body.
It's that important.
So it'll be an organ, like theliver or the pancreas, or the small
intestine, or the heart or the lung.
So the reason why the microbiome isso important is because in 2012, we
(07:54):
performed what's called the HumanMicrobiome Project, and we realized
that the microbiome of the human bodycontains 4 to 5 million genes or more
that are essential to our body function.
There are functions that themicrobiome performs for us
that we can't do for ourselves.
(08:15):
For example, humans don't make the enzymesthat are necessary to digest most plant
fiber or resistant starches, or whatwe call FODMAPs fructooligosaccharides.
So the good bacteria, our microbiome,actually ferments these fibers
and these oligosaccharides andresistant starches into what we call
(08:37):
short chain fatty acids, the mostprevalent of which is butyric acid,
which is a ketone.
The cells of our colon arefueled by butyric acid.
The integrity of the lining of ourgastrointestinal system is maintained
by this butyric acid that our goodbacteria make out of the plant fibers, the
(08:58):
insoluble fibers, the resistant starchesand the oligosaccharides that we consume.
Oligosaccharides are atype of carbohydrate.
They also convert these foods into otherkinds of short chain fatty acids, such
as proprionic acid and acetic acid,which help us to regulate our blood
sugar, our lipids, like cholesterol,for example, and control our appetite.
(09:21):
The microbiome also makes vitaminK for us, which is a clotting
factor, which is also essentialfor bone and heart health as well.
Many B vitamins are actually producedby the microbiome, so vitamin B1,
B2, B6, B12, folic acid, and biotinare actually made by the microbiome.
(09:42):
These vitamins are criticalfor our metabolism, removal of
toxins, as well as to make ourneurotransmitters to control our mood.
The microbiome also breaks down what wecall polyphenols that we find in berries,
green tea, and various spices into whatwe call bioactive metabolites that we use
for our body functions that we otherwisewouldn't be able to access for ourselves.
(10:06):
So the butyric acid, the acetic acid, andthe proponic acid I just mentioned are an
example of these bioactive metabolites.
They also control our inflammation,so they tell the immune
system when it's done enough.
It helps to turn off inflammation.
So it's our body's naturalanti-inflammatory control.
(10:27):
They also help to grow whatwe call T regulatory cells.
So T cells are part of our immune system,which help to prevent autoimmunity.
They help to control our immune systemand prevent it from attacking itself.
This is all from the byproducts of ourmicrobiome and what they produce in
response to the food that we give them.
(10:48):
They also help maintain the integrityof the mucus membranes, which in
previous podcasts, we've talked aboutthe mucus membranes and how they help
protect us from viruses and invaders.
And that the mucus membrane actually linespretty much our entire respiratory tract
as well as our gastrointestinal system.
So there's this very thinlining that protects us.
(11:10):
It's a protective barrier thatkeeps things out of our bodies
that don't belong in our bodies.
These metabolites also keep our,gut lining integrity intact.
They prevent leaky gut and helpprevent systemic inflammation
that often results from leaky gut.
If the function of the microbiome isnot intact, we experience brain fog,
(11:31):
fatigue, inflammation, joint pain,mood swings, essentially burnout.
The microbiome also convertspolyphenols into antioxidants, which
are extremely important for preventingdamage from stress in our bodies.
Essentially, they protectus from chronic diseases.
(11:51):
The microbiome is in sharp contrast towhat we would call the weeds of a garden.
So these are what we call pathogenic orunfriendly bacteria that often find their
way into the gastrointestinal systemespecially if we're under chronic stress.
Often these bacteria will endup in places they don't belong,
(12:12):
such as the small intestine.
We call that , small intestinalbacterial overgrowth.
They can also end up living in themicrobiome itself, and sometimes we'll
see them in a functional stool analysisas what they call additional bacteria,
so they're not part of the microbiome,they're just hanging out in the colon.
Very often,
(12:32):
they're also hanging out inthe small intestine, which
is where we absorb our food.
So these are what we wouldliken to weeds of a garden.
When we look at fiber, what fiberis is essentially fertilizer.
So if you don't have a bunch of weedsin your garden and you put fertilizer
on it, you're going to feed thevegetables, the fruits, and the herbs.
You're going to enrich the soil andprovide more nourishment for them.
(12:56):
Now.
If there are weeds in your gardenand you put that fertilizer in your
garden, you're going to strengthen theweeds, which again is going to rob the
herbs, the vegetables, and the fruitsof their nutrients, which is in turn
going to rob you of your nutrients.
When you turn around, you eat them.
And so this is the issue with fibermaxxing is we don't know what kind of
(13:18):
garden we're putting this fertilizer into.
The way that this can be a greatlitmus test is when you put that
fertilizer in and you don't feel good.
That's all you need to know to knowthat there are weeds in your garden.
Just like all you need to do isgo look at your garden and see
that there are weeds growing.
We obviously can't lookinside of our own guts.
(13:40):
However, our body is expertat telling us what's going on.
Our bodies will very quickly let us know'Hey, something's not right in here.
Come and fix it.'
And that's what we experience as thebloating, the constipation, and the
loose stools when we eat too much fiber.
Now again, it's not that we're eatingtoo much fiber, it's that we're
eating more fiber than the bodycan handle because of the weeds.
(14:03):
The weeds are thriving on this fiber.
The weeds are thriving on thefertilizer, and we all know the
weeds grow way faster than the plantswe're actually trying to grow, right?
We've all experienced that and thereseem to be a lot hardier and resistant.
The same thing goes on inthe gastrointestinal system.
(14:23):
So if we're just putting fiber inthere and we don't know what the
ecosystem of the gastrointestinalsystem looks like, we don't know if
our microbiome is healthy and we don'tknow if they have unwelcome visitors.
We don't know that, andwe just put the fiber in.
Our bodies are going to quicklytell us through these signs and
symptoms of the bloating, theconstipation, and the diarrhea
(14:44):
that, 'Hey, there are weeds in here.
Come and fix it.' This is what we'remissing with fiber maxxing, and this
is where the advice of just increaseyour fiber slower and drink more
water is just not the right advice.
Now, will that help your symptoms?
Yes.
But your body is really giving youa huge hint as to what's going on.
So if you really want to be healthy,you really do have to go down and check
(15:08):
for those weeds and get rid of them.
Then you feed your garden.
Then you get the benefits.
So there are certain types of fibersthat are more friendly to the weeds.
We call these high FODMAP fibers.
So there are certain types offructooligosaccharides that the weeds,
the so-called bad bacteria, the unwelcomevisitors in your gut love to eat.
(15:32):
They thrive on them.
This includes oats, psyllium,and beans as an example.
And so this is a lot of the foodthat's actually recommended in
the fiber maxxing, and this is whypeople have so many side effects.
Now high FODMAP foods are known totrigger the bacteria that cause SIBO.
They simply like them more,they thrive off of them more.
(15:56):
Now, their metabolism is not as friendlyto us as the microbiome metabolism.
So while the microbiome metabolismis there to help us to thrive and be
healthier, when there is what we calldysbiosis, which is an imbalance of the
microbiome, usually driven by our diets,
toxins or infections in thegastrointestinal system.
(16:18):
So when dysbiosis is present andinfections are present, the weeds,
when we eat these foods, we'reactually fueling the infections and
we're fueling the dysbiosis, whichmeans we're fueling our burnout.
So that's not a sign thatyou should move slower.
That's a sign that you should seea functional medical doctor and
(16:39):
potentially a gastroenterologist.
Now, most gastroenterologists don't dowhat we call functional stool testing.
So they won't see the dysbiosis.
They won't really test for the microbiome.
Given the importance of the microbiome,it's extremely important to have it
tested and to also make sure thatyou don't have infection in your gut.
(17:01):
So there can also be yeast andparasites, not just bacteria that are
invading and causing the dysbiosisor the imbalance of the microbiome.
So a functional stool analysiswill show you if you have yeast and
parasites and additional bacteria,whereas a regular stool analysis that
you might get at a regular lab, yes,it'll look for yeast, it'll look for
(17:24):
parasites, but it'll only tell youif you have what they call pathogenic
bacteria or infectious bacteria.
There's a way that you can have alsonon-pathogenic or non-infectious
bacteria living in the microbiome, stilldisturbing them and causing dysbiosis.
So the regular stool analysis thatwe might get at a regular doctor's
office or a gastroenterologistoffice does not look for that.
(17:47):
And so this is where functionalintegrative medicine comes in.
There are tests in functional integrativemedicine where we do a complete analysis
of the gut ecosystem itself looking forthe amount of good bacteria you have,
looking for the balance that they have,looking for short chain fatty acids to
see if they're functioning properly, aswell as looking for the infections that
(18:11):
we talked about and inflammatory markers.
Looking to see if you are makingyour enzymes properly, whether or
not there's a significant amount ofinflammation or damage to the lining
of the gastrointestinal system.
This is all extremely important ifyou're doing fiber maxxing and you
realize that you're having side effects.
So the key is to get the weeds out andto make the garden healthier overall
(18:34):
before you put the fertilizer in.
Then you're feeding the right bugs.
The other really important tool, ifyou're having side effects from fiber
maxxing, is to make sure you don'thave an infection called SIBO, small
intestinal bacterial overgrowth, whichis notoriously underdiagnosed because
it wasn't officially recognized bymainstream medicine until January of 2024.
(18:59):
There are still many doctors who don'ttest for SIBO or don't recognize SIBO
despite it having been officiallyrecognized a year and a half ago.
Another really importantthing to talk about with the
microbiome is again, the genes.
So the human body, our own cellsonly have about 20, 25,000 genes,
which sounds like a lot untilyou compare it to the microbiome.
(19:21):
The microbiome has 4 million to 5 milliongenes as opposed to our measly 20,000.
So the human body has the samenumber of genes as a house plant.
So the rubber plant or themoney tree that's in the corner
has as many genes as you do.
Now, genes are extremelysusceptible to their environment.
(19:46):
Especially the genes of the microbiomeand in our own cells, what we call
the mitochondrial genes, are extremelysusceptible to the environment.
In other words, the environment wherethey live, inside the cells, where they
live, and whatever goes on out here,goes on in here, ends up in your cells.
(20:06):
Every bite of food that you takeactually alters your microbiome.
That's how they decide what to turnon, what to turn off is in response
to the food that you're taking in.
If you're not consuming the foods thathave the polyphenols, they can't convert
them into the usable or what we callbioactive metabolites that we need.
If you're not consuming the properfibers, they can't convert them into
(20:31):
the short chain fatty acids, the butyricacid, acetic acid, and proprionic acid.
So it does make sense that yes, weneed to have the right amount of fiber,
but we have to make sure that thesystem that that fiber is going into
can accept it and use it properly.
Otherwise it's just going to backfireon us and make us actually sicker.
(20:52):
So fiber is like a genetic switchboard.
It controls what genes getturned on and off in your body.
And again, the microbiomehas genes that we don't have.
So that means they perform functionsthat we cannot perform on our own.
How does this all relate to burnout?
When we're feeding the weeds,those weeds are producing toxins.
(21:13):
They're producing acids and gasesthat disturb the good bacteria,
in fact, can even kill themoff or cause them to overgrow.
So the microbiome is partof the immune system.
They're there to defend as well as do allthe other things we talked about before.
When they're invaded, so to speak,by the weeds or the bad bacteria or
yeast or parasites, they will overgrow.
(21:36):
They will start to divide and multiply.
To try to defend their territory.
Now some of them willhave casualties, right?
So we sometimes see some ofthe species will die off, and
then others will overgrow.
So this is what dysbiosis is.
Now as they're doing that, as allthat chaos is going on in your gut,
they're becoming dysfunctional.
They're not making the acids they needto make, so they make the short chain
(21:59):
fatty acids that we need, or our bodyfunctions, which is very different
than what the bad bacteria make.
They don't make theshort chain fatty acids.
They make lactic acid and other toxictypes of acids that actually damage
the gut and damage the microbiome.
So when this is going on in your gut,this is triggering stress responses.
(22:21):
And again, those stress responseslead directly to burnout.
If they're going on for too long, bytoo long, I mean a few months to years.
Sometimes this is going on for decades
in some of my clients, and this is whyI often hear my clients say, 'I eat
so healthy and I still feel so lousy.
I've changed my diet.
(22:41):
I've taken out all the foodsthat cause me distress.
I have such a restrictive diet now, andI still don't feel well, and no matter
how much I restrict my diet, eventuallythe foods I'm eating make me feel bad
and I have to restrict it even more.'
This is the vicious stress cyclethat takes hold in the gut so
that there's so much inflammation,there's so much damage in the gut
(23:04):
that it's no longer a FODMAP issue.
It's no longer 'am I eating high or lowfodmap, am I feeding the bad bacteria?'
It's also 'I'm putting food into a damagedenvironment where I'm just triggering
inflammation no matter what I do.'
This is the vicious stresscycle that leads us down the
slippery slope of burnout.
(23:25):
When the body perceives itself tobe under stress for too long, it
goes into fight or flight modes.
And again, this is subconscious, sowe're not going to feel panicked like
we're being, hunted down by a lion.
That doesn't happen whenit's subconscious stress.
We're going to be going about our day.
We just might not feel great.
Might have bloating, might betired, might have brain fog, but
(23:45):
we're not being chased by a lion.
But your body can't tell the difference.
It doesn't know.
It just knows it'sstressed and to your body.
Stress is stress.
It's, I'm being chased bya lion, and that's all.
It doesn't interpret stress any other way.
This is what leads us downthe slippery slope of burnout.
You have, again, the increased demandof the body, not feeling well, being
stressed, constantly sending out distresssignals that we're interpreting as
(24:10):
these symptoms and side effects thatcosts your body a lot of excess energy.
So now it's, again, the demands are goingup, the supply is going down because
your gut health has been impacted.
So now you're not absorbing.
The microbiome's not making thosevitamins and that it needs to make.
It's not making the short chain fattyacids running our body function because
(24:33):
they're busy fighting infectionsand defending their territory.
This creates this viciouscycle that causes burnout.
So what's a better strategythan fiber maxxing?
So instead of fiber maxxing,we want to fiber smarter.
Step one, if you had side effects fromincreasing your fiber, that's a huge sign.
You should look for infectionsin your gut, and you should look
(24:55):
for what we call dysbiosis or thedisturbance of the microbiome.
So a SIBO test is indicated here aswell as a functional stool analysis.
A functional stool analysis is verydifferent than one that you would
get at your regular doctor's officeor at a gastroenterologist office.
The functional stool analysisdoes look at the microbiome.
It looks at the functionof the microbiome as well.
(25:17):
Is it making thoseshort chain fatty acids?
It looks at how many good bacteria thereare, how balanced they are with each
other, and then how functional they are.
It also looks for absorption markers.
It looks for inflammatorymarkers in your gut.
Looks at whether or notyou're making enough enzymes.
Also looks for what we call,a damaged or leaky gut.
(25:39):
So that's something you can add onto a functional stool analysis to
know if there is damage to the liningfrom the dysbiosis and the infection.
That's step number oneis to find those weeds.
Step number two is to killthem when you find them.
So there are natural thingsthat you can use to treat SIBO
or to treat yeast in thegut, or parasites in the gut.
(26:00):
You don't necessarily have to usepharmaceuticals or antibiotics per se.
So these are herbs and spices andessential oils that have also been
studied to kill abnormal bacteria,yeast, and parasites in the gut without
the exposure to the antibiotics thatwould further damage the microbiome.
Then you repair the soil, right?
We call that GI restoration orgastrointestinal restoration.
(26:24):
Now that you've killed the weeds,you want to clean up, right?
You're going to pull them out.
You're going to perhaps replantthe seeds of the vegetables
and the herbs or the cuttings.
You have to repair thesoil in order to replant.
We call that GI restoration.
So again, these are natural thingsthat you can use that will repair
the lining, repair the mucusmembrane of the gastrointestinal
(26:47):
system to restore its integrity.
Then we put the fertilizer in the soil,so that's where the fiber comes in.
You want to make sure thatyou're having friendly fibers
and not the high FODMAP ones.
Even though we've gotten rid of allthe weeds, we all know the weeds can
grow back if we're not super careful.
(27:07):
So we don't want to put super highFODMAP fibers into our gastrointestinal
system because these infections,this dysbiosis comes from just
us mingling with our environment.
If I have a glass of water, Iwill inevitably swallow bacteria.
If I eat an apple, I willinevitably swallow bacteria.
(27:29):
Salad, using my utensils.
There are microbes and, bugs everywhere.
We're designed to live aroundthem, and it's supposed to be fine.
But when we're under chronicstress, our immune system is not
as vigilant as it needs to be.
When we're under stress, ourgastrointestinal system is not
as mobile as it needs to be.
The muscles don't contract as well asthey should, and we also don't make as
(27:51):
much hydrochloric acid to defend ourgut when we're under chronic stress.
That's the perfect fertile groundfor an infection to take hold.
We don't want to be putting fertilizerfor weeds into our gut knowing that
that could be going on at any point intime, especially if we're under stress.
So having lower FODMAP fibersand using them to meet your
(28:14):
requirements is a safer way to go.
So examples of lower FODMAP fibersare guar gum or what we call
partially hydrolyzed guar gumAcacia, and what we call polyphenol
rich fruits and vegetables.
We'll have a list a little bitfurther in the podcast for you.
And then again, you want todo this crop rotation, right?
Just like if we're farming responsibly,we want to rotate the crops so that
(28:37):
we don't strip the soil of nutrient.
So we want to have a variety of fiber,keep it in the low FODMAP family.
That doesn't mean you can'thave any high FODMAP foods.
You just want to keep them to a minimumso that you're not overindulging in them.
But you do want variety, soyou want the base of your fiber
to be more or less low fodmap.
(28:59):
And then you can introduce somehigh FODMAPs in small amounts.
High FODMAP fibers are things thatwould be contained in broccoli,
cruciferous vegetables in general,cauliflower, Brussels sprouts.
Oatmeal in large enough quantitiesis considered to be high fodmap,
so keeping that at a lower dose, soto speak, or lower amount is best..
(29:19):
The takeaway is don't fiber max.
And be very aware of any side effectsthat you may have, and going slower
and slower is not the solution.
So quick recap.
Fiber is medicine, sowe absolutely need it.
And yes, we should be increasingour fiber, but not as a trend, in
a very systematic way that makessure that we're actually benefiting
(29:43):
our bodies, not harming them.
So in a healthy gut, fiber is medicineand it helps to heal the gut, helps
our bodies to function optimally.
But if the garden is full of weeds,if there are infections, SIBO, yeast
infections, parasites, dysbiosis, andimbalance of the good bacteria, then
we're actually making ourselves sickerand we're fueling burnout, not our bodies.
(30:07):
Quick list of friendly fibersthat you can consume safely: green
kiwi, low doses of psyllium husk.
Acacia fiber is a great option.
Zucchini, cucumbers, spinach, kale,collards, spinach, kale, collards,
eggplant, and cooked tomatoes.
Now watch the seeds and the skin.
(30:28):
If you're very sensitive, you don'twant to have that portion of the tomato.
For fruits, mostly berries,strawberries, blueberries, raspberries.
We already mentioned green kiwi earlier.
Oranges, clementines and mandarins arealso a great source of low FODMAP fibers.
Green bananas and green plantainsare another amazing source.
(30:49):
They're considered to be prebiotics.
So what we're talking aboutessentially are prebiotics.
Fiber that feeds the good bacteriaare considered to be prebiotics.
They're essentially the fertilizerthat feeds the microbiome.
So green bananas and green plantains,you would treat as though they
were any other root vegetables.
You could boil them and eat them.
(31:10):
Now in the Caribbean we talkabout tostones in Créole,
we call it bannan peze.
There are different ways that we can makethose green plantains so that they're
tasty, but very often we'll just boil themand eat them with any meal that we make.
Cooked and then cooled whiterice and white potatoes are
also considered prebiotics.
We mentioned oats earlier, but again, makesure you have those in lower quantities,
(31:34):
chia seeds, flax seeds, and pumpkin seeds.
Great sources.
Again, keep those on the lower side.
You don't want to have hugeservings of these things.
. Then again, they can backfire.
So some common high FODMAP foods thatwe want to be a bit cautious with, if
we have dysbiosis and gut infections,like SIBO, or even if you just have
IBS, if you've been diagnosed withIBS, the likelihood that you have
(31:57):
dysbiosis and SIBO actually quite high.
So this also applies topeople diagnosed with IBS.
You want to avoid having too much beansand lentils and chickpeas, for example.
These are considered high fodmap.
In other words, they're morelikely to feed the weeds.
Large servings of oatmealalso considered high fodmap.
(32:18):
So there are certain foods that ifyou have them in small quantities,
they'll be considered low fodmap.
But if you exceed a certainamount, they become high fodmap.
So you want to be aware of that.
And there are some really reliable appsthat you can download, Monash University
out of Australia is what I commonlyrecommend to my clients to use when I'm
(32:38):
recommending that they be on a low FODMAPdiet for any specific period of time.
Now, you don't want to go on alow FODMAP diet, that's different.
I'm just talking about thefiberus foods that you would use
to help feed the good bacteria.
So you don't want to be on a FODMAP diet,so be cautious that you're not having
just low FODMAP foods in your entire diet.
(32:58):
That's not safe to do forextended periods of time
because it's too restrictive.
Again, if you're finding thatyou have to do that to feel well,
there's something going on in yourgut that you shouldn't ignore.
Dried fruit is a huge culprit for highfodmap as are apples, pears, mangoes.
And wheat bran also isconsidered a high FODMAP fiber.
Instead of dumping beans and oats andchia seeds into everything, try zucchini,
(33:23):
carrots, berries, or these will feedthe good bacteria without feeding
the weeds and fueling your burnout.
So I hope you found thispodcast to be helpful.
If so, please share it withsomeone you love so that they too
can benefit from the information.
Please like and subscribe to our channel.
If you want to know more, sign up forour 7- day challenge coming up soon.
(33:48):
We'll give you actionable tips thatyou can apply immediately to start
getting yourself out of burnout
now.
Check out our website,awakenedwellnessnow.com.
If you want to know about ourcorporate programs, you can check
them out on our website as well.
Thanks for listening and watching, anduntil next time, many, many blessings.
Thank you.
Hey, Wellness Warriors.
Welcome to the Burnout Resolution Podcast.
I'm your host, Dr. Mylaine Riobé.
For those of you who don't knowme, I'm a board certified medical
doctor specializing in the areasof functional integrative medicine.
I'm also a Chinese medicinepractitioner as well as an OB GYN.
Today we're going to talk about whyfiber maxxing can backfire and actually
(00:31):
fuel your burnout instead of your gut.
Not sure if you've seen those videos,circulating on TikTok, the latest TikTok
trend about maxxing out your fiberas a health hack to heal your gut.
And of course, you'll see just as manyvideos talking about the side effects that
people have been experiencing in tryingto reach these goals of fiber maxxing.
(00:54):
And so what fiber maxxing is is tryingto get 40 to 50 grams of fiber in
each and every day, often through theencouragement of eating lots of beans,
lentils, chia seeds, and psyllium.
While the concept on its surface is a goodidea, when we dive a little bit deeper,
(01:14):
we can see how there are missing pieces ofthe puzzle that are being ignored by this
trend that are leading people down theroad of burnout and worsened gut health.
So yes, fiber is extremely important,and yes, we notoriously undereat fiber.
In fact, the average Americanonly gets half the amount of fiber
(01:36):
or less than what's recommended.
The recommended amount of fibervaries somewhere between 30
to 40 grams per day with womenrequiring slightly less than men.
So while it is true that we undereatfiber and that's not good for us,
one of the things that's missing iswhat we're going to talk about today
(01:57):
that actually fuels yourburnout if you're not careful.
So while these trends look kindof fun and harmless, there's a
truth that no one's talking about.
We're going to tackle that today.
And so very often when people have sideeffects from cranking up their fiber,
they'll experience things like bloating,loose stools, worsening constipation.
(02:18):
And what people are advising them to dois just take it slow and drink more water.
However, when your body tells you thatsomething is going wrong, taking it
slower isn't necessarily always the bestanswer and very often one of the main
reasons that people actually start tocut fiber out of their diet is because
(02:39):
the fiber makes them feel poorly.
It does cause the bloating, it doescause the constipation and the diarrhea.
So they slowly start to shave thesethings out of their diets that are
causing them this distress so thatthey don't experience symptoms.
Now, it's not necessarily thefood that's the problem, it's the
ecosystem that the food is going into
(02:59):
that's the problem.
So if you just take it slowerand drink more water, you're not
taking into account what yourecosystem is telling you is wrong.
It's like you've broken your foot,but you don't get a cast and, you're
not allowed to have crutches, andyou have to walk on your foot.
And when you complain to yourdoctor, they just say, 'Well,
just walk a little slower.'
(03:21):
Right.
and so yes, it'll hurt less ifyou walk a little slower, but
that's not going to necessarilyhelp your foot heal any better.
So this is the equivalent of whathappens when we tell people, 'well, if
the fiber that you're eating is makingyou feel poorly, just, crank up the
amount slower and drink more water.'
(03:41):
It's just simply not the right solution.
And we'll talk about why todayand what you can do instead.
So there's a way that you can actuallyuse those symptoms and side effects
as a clue that something is wrong.
And we'll talk about how you cando that and how these side effects
are actually your body wanting towarn you that there's an issue.
(04:03):
When you're taking in more fiber,sometimes what you're doing is you're
feeding the enemy instead of the ally.
So if we liken this to having agarden where we've planted lots of
vegetables and fruits, if we justfertilize the garden and don't pay
attention to the weeds, we're goingto be feeding the weeds as well.
When you feed the weeds and theygrow, they're going to compete
(04:25):
with the vegetables and the fruitsfor the nutrients in the soil.
And if we're not careful, we'renot going to get the harvest of the
vegetables and fruits that we expect.
This is exactly what happens whenthey start to crank up the fiber
and just indiscriminately eat morefiber If there are weeds in your gut.
Instead of the vegetables and fruitsthat you planted, you're going to
(04:48):
feed the weeds as well as the fruitsand vegetables in the gut ecosystem.
What that means is you're going tofeed bad bacteria that don't belong
in your gut, as well as the friendlybacteria that do belong in your
gut, that we call the microbiome.
So many times when people are havingthese side effects, they get the bloating,
they get the constipation, the loosestools with increasing their fiber.
(05:12):
It's because there are so-calledbad bacteria in their gut somewhere
that are feeding off of these.
They don't behave the sameway as the microbiome.
They're not as friendly to us, sothey spew out toxins and junk and
garbage when they eat the fiber.
So even though the fiber itself ishealthy, there's nothing wrong with
beans and legumes and chia seeds and. They're healthy options of nutrients
(05:36):
that we can consume in our diet.
So it's not the food that's the problem.
It's what is eating thefood that's the problem.
So we know that what we eat changesour microbiome, and we'll talk about
the microbiome a little bit morein depth and just how important it
is for all of our body functions.
Sometimes the microbiome has unwelcomeguests living amongst them, or sometimes
(06:02):
above them in the small intestine.
These are the bugs that are eating thehealthy foods that are producing the
side effects that people often experiencewith fiber maxxing in this new trend.
So fiber maxxing often involves40 to 50 grams of fiber, right?
More is better is the philosophy.
(06:23):
So while the recommendation is about30 to 40, they're recommending a little
bit more just to jumpstart the gut.
And so the reason it's popular isbecause we do under consume fiber.
We are notoriously not meetingour requirements for fiber.
Fiber is extremely important for themicrobiome, for the ecosystem of our
(06:43):
gastrointestinal system, but here'swhat's missing: in a healthy gut
ecosystem or your microbiome is healthy,
more fiber is a good thing, but whenthere is what we call dysbiosis,
when there is imbalance of the goodbacteria and potentially unwelcome
bacteria, then it turns into a problemand can make you feel pretty sick.
(07:06):
And if that's you, if they do makeyou feel poorly, that's a huge hint
that something abnormal is goingon in your gastrointestinal system
that you should pay attention to.
So your gut's like a community garden.
You're planting all these vegetablesand herbs and fruits .So we can liken
the herbs, vegetables, and fruits tothe good bacteria, the microbiome that
(07:30):
belong in our gastrointestinal system.
The microbiome is extremely important,and I believe it's going to be
recognized as an organ of the human body.
It's that important.
So it'll be an organ, like theliver or the pancreas, or the small
intestine, or the heart or the lung.
So the reason why the microbiome isso important is because in 2012, we
(07:54):
performed what's called the HumanMicrobiome Project, and we realized
that the microbiome of the human bodycontains 4 to 5 million genes or more
that are essential to our body function.
There are functions that themicrobiome performs for us
that we can't do for ourselves.
(08:15):
For example, humans don't make the enzymesthat are necessary to digest most plant
fiber or resistant starches, or whatwe call FODMAPs fructooligosaccharides.
So the good bacteria, our microbiome,actually ferments these fibers
and these oligosaccharides andresistant starches into what we call
(08:37):
short chain fatty acids, the mostprevalent of which is butyric acid,
which is a ketone.
The cells of our colon arefueled by butyric acid.
The integrity of the lining of ourgastrointestinal system is maintained
by this butyric acid that our goodbacteria make out of the plant fibers, the
(08:58):
insoluble fibers, the resistant starchesand the oligosaccharides that we consume.
Oligosaccharides are atype of carbohydrate.
They also convert these foods into otherkinds of short chain fatty acids, such
as proprionic acid and acetic acid,which help us to regulate our blood
sugar, our lipids, like cholesterol,for example, and control our appetite.
(09:21):
The microbiome also makes vitaminK for us, which is a clotting
factor, which is also essentialfor bone and heart health as well.
Many B vitamins are actually producedby the microbiome, so vitamin B1,
B2, B6, B12, folic acid, and biotinare actually made by the microbiome.
(09:42):
These vitamins are criticalfor our metabolism, removal of
toxins, as well as to make ourneurotransmitters to control our mood.
The microbiome also breaks down what wecall polyphenols that we find in berries,
green tea, and various spices into whatwe call bioactive metabolites that we use
for our body functions that we otherwisewouldn't be able to access for ourselves.
(10:06):
So the butyric acid, the acetic acid, andthe proponic acid I just mentioned are an
example of these bioactive metabolites.
They also control our inflammation,so they tell the immune
system when it's done enough.
It helps to turn off inflammation.
So it's our body's naturalanti-inflammatory control.
(10:27):
They also help to grow whatwe call T regulatory cells.
So T cells are part of our immune system,which help to prevent autoimmunity.
They help to control our immune systemand prevent it from attacking itself.
This is all from the byproducts of ourmicrobiome and what they produce in
response to the food that we give them.
(10:48):
They also help maintain the integrityof the mucus membranes, which in
previous podcasts, we've talked aboutthe mucus membranes and how they help
protect us from viruses and invaders.
And that the mucus membrane actually linespretty much our entire respiratory tract
as well as our gastrointestinal system.
So there's this very thinlining that protects us.
(11:10):
It's a protective barrier thatkeeps things out of our bodies
that don't belong in our bodies.
These metabolites also keep our,gut lining integrity intact.
They prevent leaky gut and helpprevent systemic inflammation
that often results from leaky gut.
If the function of the microbiome isnot intact, we experience brain fog,
(11:31):
fatigue, inflammation, joint pain,mood swings, essentially burnout.
The microbiome also convertspolyphenols into antioxidants, which
are extremely important for preventingdamage from stress in our bodies.
Essentially, they protectus from chronic diseases.
(11:51):
The microbiome is in sharp contrast towhat we would call the weeds of a garden.
So these are what we call pathogenic orunfriendly bacteria that often find their
way into the gastrointestinal systemespecially if we're under chronic stress.
Often these bacteria will endup in places they don't belong,
(12:12):
such as the small intestine.
We call that , small intestinalbacterial overgrowth.
They can also end up living in themicrobiome itself, and sometimes we'll
see them in a functional stool analysisas what they call additional bacteria,
so they're not part of the microbiome,they're just hanging out in the colon.
Very often,
(12:32):
they're also hanging out inthe small intestine, which
is where we absorb our food.
So these are what we wouldliken to weeds of a garden.
When we look at fiber, what fiberis is essentially fertilizer.
So if you don't have a bunch of weedsin your garden and you put fertilizer
on it, you're going to feed thevegetables, the fruits, and the herbs.
You're going to enrich the soil andprovide more nourishment for them.
(12:56):
Now.
If there are weeds in your gardenand you put that fertilizer in your
garden, you're going to strengthen theweeds, which again is going to rob the
herbs, the vegetables, and the fruitsof their nutrients, which is in turn
going to rob you of your nutrients.
When you turn around, you eat them.
And so this is the issue with fibermaxxing is we don't know what kind of
(13:18):
garden we're putting this fertilizer into.
The way that this can be a greatlitmus test is when you put that
fertilizer in and you don't feel good.
That's all you need to know to knowthat there are weeds in your garden.
Just like all you need to do isgo look at your garden and see
that there are weeds growing.
We obviously can't lookinside of our own guts.
(13:40):
However, our body is expertat telling us what's going on.
Our bodies will very quickly let us know'Hey, something's not right in here.
Come and fix it.'
And that's what we experience as thebloating, the constipation, and the
loose stools when we eat too much fiber.
Now again, it's not that we're eatingtoo much fiber, it's that we're
eating more fiber than the bodycan handle because of the weeds.
(14:03):
The weeds are thriving on this fiber.
The weeds are thriving on thefertilizer, and we all know the
weeds grow way faster than the plantswe're actually trying to grow, right?
We've all experienced that and thereseem to be a lot hardier and resistant.
The same thing goes on inthe gastrointestinal system.
(14:23):
So if we're just putting fiber inthere and we don't know what the
ecosystem of the gastrointestinalsystem looks like, we don't know if
our microbiome is healthy and we don'tknow if they have unwelcome visitors.
We don't know that, andwe just put the fiber in.
Our bodies are going to quicklytell us through these signs and
symptoms of the bloating, theconstipation, and the diarrhea
(14:44):
that, 'Hey, there are weeds in here.
Come and fix it.' This is what we'remissing with fiber maxxing, and this
is where the advice of just increaseyour fiber slower and drink more
water is just not the right advice.
Now, will that help your symptoms?
Yes.
But your body is really giving youa huge hint as to what's going on.
So if you really want to be healthy,you really do have to go down and check
(15:08):
for those weeds and get rid of them.
Then you feed your garden.
Then you get the benefits.
So there are certain types of fibersthat are more friendly to the weeds.
We call these high FODMAP fibers.
So there are certain types offructooligosaccharides that the weeds,
the so-called bad bacteria, the unwelcomevisitors in your gut love to eat.
(15:32):
They thrive on them.
This includes oats, psyllium,and beans as an example.
And so this is a lot of the foodthat's actually recommended in
the fiber maxxing, and this is whypeople have so many side effects.
Now high FODMAP foods are known totrigger the bacteria that cause SIBO.
They simply like them more,they thrive off of them more.
(15:56):
Now, their metabolism is not as friendlyto us as the microbiome metabolism.
So while the microbiome metabolismis there to help us to thrive and be
healthier, when there is what we calldysbiosis, which is an imbalance of the
microbiome, usually driven by our diets,
toxins or infections in thegastrointestinal system.
(16:18):
So when dysbiosis is present andinfections are present, the weeds,
when we eat these foods, we'reactually fueling the infections and
we're fueling the dysbiosis, whichmeans we're fueling our burnout.
So that's not a sign thatyou should move slower.
That's a sign that you should seea functional medical doctor and
(16:39):
potentially a gastroenterologist.
Now, most gastroenterologists don't dowhat we call functional stool testing.
So they won't see the dysbiosis.
They won't really test for the microbiome.
Given the importance of the microbiome,it's extremely important to have it
tested and to also make sure thatyou don't have infection in your gut.
(17:01):
So there can also be yeast andparasites, not just bacteria that are
invading and causing the dysbiosisor the imbalance of the microbiome.
So a functional stool analysiswill show you if you have yeast and
parasites and additional bacteria,whereas a regular stool analysis that
you might get at a regular lab, yes,it'll look for yeast, it'll look for
(17:24):
parasites, but it'll only tell youif you have what they call pathogenic
bacteria or infectious bacteria.
There's a way that you can have alsonon-pathogenic or non-infectious
bacteria living in the microbiome, stilldisturbing them and causing dysbiosis.
So the regular stool analysis thatwe might get at a regular doctor's
office or a gastroenterologistoffice does not look for that.
(17:47):
And so this is where functionalintegrative medicine comes in.
There are tests in functional integrativemedicine where we do a complete analysis
of the gut ecosystem itself looking forthe amount of good bacteria you have,
looking for the balance that they have,looking for short chain fatty acids to
see if they're functioning properly, aswell as looking for the infections that
(18:11):
we talked about and inflammatory markers.
Looking to see if you are makingyour enzymes properly, whether or
not there's a significant amount ofinflammation or damage to the lining
of the gastrointestinal system.
This is all extremely important ifyou're doing fiber maxxing and you
realize that you're having side effects.
So the key is to get the weeds out andto make the garden healthier overall
(18:34):
before you put the fertilizer in.
Then you're feeding the right bugs.
The other really important tool, ifyou're having side effects from fiber
maxxing, is to make sure you don'thave an infection called SIBO, small
intestinal bacterial overgrowth, whichis notoriously underdiagnosed because
it wasn't officially recognized bymainstream medicine until January of 2024.
(18:59):
There are still many doctors who don'ttest for SIBO or don't recognize SIBO
despite it having been officiallyrecognized a year and a half ago.
Another really importantthing to talk about with the
microbiome is again, the genes.
So the human body, our own cellsonly have about 20, 25,000 genes,
which sounds like a lot untilyou compare it to the microbiome.
(19:21):
The microbiome has 4 million to 5 milliongenes as opposed to our measly 20,000.
So the human body has the samenumber of genes as a house plant.
So the rubber plant or themoney tree that's in the corner
has as many genes as you do.
Now, genes are extremelysusceptible to their environment.
(19:46):
Especially the genes of the microbiomeand in our own cells, what we call
the mitochondrial genes, are extremelysusceptible to the environment.
In other words, the environment wherethey live, inside the cells, where they
live, and whatever goes on out here,goes on in here, ends up in your cells.
(20:06):
Every bite of food that you takeactually alters your microbiome.
That's how they decide what to turnon, what to turn off is in response
to the food that you're taking in.
If you're not consuming the foods thathave the polyphenols, they can't convert
them into the usable or what we callbioactive metabolites that we need.
If you're not consuming the properfibers, they can't convert them into
(20:31):
the short chain fatty acids, the butyricacid, acetic acid, and proprionic acid.
So it does make sense that yes, weneed to have the right amount of fiber,
but we have to make sure that thesystem that that fiber is going into
can accept it and use it properly.
Otherwise it's just going to backfireon us and make us actually sicker.
(20:52):
So fiber is like a genetic switchboard.
It controls what genes getturned on and off in your body.
And again, the microbiomehas genes that we don't have.
So that means they perform functionsthat we cannot perform on our own.
How does this all relate to burnout?
When we're feeding the weeds,those weeds are producing toxins.
(21:13):
They're producing acids and gasesthat disturb the good bacteria,
in fact, can even kill themoff or cause them to overgrow.
So the microbiome is partof the immune system.
They're there to defend as well as do allthe other things we talked about before.
When they're invaded, so to speak,by the weeds or the bad bacteria or
yeast or parasites, they will overgrow.
(21:36):
They will start to divide and multiply.
To try to defend their territory.
Now some of them willhave casualties, right?
So we sometimes see some ofthe species will die off, and
then others will overgrow.
So this is what dysbiosis is.
Now as they're doing that, as allthat chaos is going on in your gut,
they're becoming dysfunctional.
They're not making the acids they needto make, so they make the short chain
(21:59):
fatty acids that we need, or our bodyfunctions, which is very different
than what the bad bacteria make.
They don't make theshort chain fatty acids.
They make lactic acid and other toxictypes of acids that actually damage
the gut and damage the microbiome.
So when this is going on in your gut,this is triggering stress responses.
(22:21):
And again, those stress responseslead directly to burnout.
If they're going on for too long, bytoo long, I mean a few months to years.
Sometimes this is going on for decades
in some of my clients, and this is whyI often hear my clients say, 'I eat
so healthy and I still feel so lousy.
I've changed my diet.
(22:41):
I've taken out all the foodsthat cause me distress.
I have such a restrictive diet now, andI still don't feel well, and no matter
how much I restrict my diet, eventuallythe foods I'm eating make me feel bad
and I have to restrict it even more.'
This is the vicious stress cyclethat takes hold in the gut so
that there's so much inflammation,there's so much damage in the gut
(23:04):
that it's no longer a FODMAP issue.
It's no longer 'am I eating high or lowfodmap, am I feeding the bad bacteria?'
It's also 'I'm putting food into a damagedenvironment where I'm just triggering
inflammation no matter what I do.'
This is the vicious stresscycle that leads us down the
slippery slope of burnout.
(23:25):
When the body perceives itself tobe under stress for too long, it
goes into fight or flight modes.
And again, this is subconscious, sowe're not going to feel panicked like
we're being, hunted down by a lion.
That doesn't happen whenit's subconscious stress.
We're going to be going about our day.
We just might not feel great.
Might have bloating, might betired, might have brain fog, but
(23:45):
we're not being chased by a lion.
But your body can't tell the difference.
It doesn't know.
It just knows it'sstressed and to your body.
Stress is stress.
It's, I'm being chased bya lion, and that's all.
It doesn't interpret stress any other way.
This is what leads us downthe slippery slope of burnout.
You have, again, the increased demandof the body, not feeling well, being
stressed, constantly sending out distresssignals that we're interpreting as
(24:10):
these symptoms and side effects thatcosts your body a lot of excess energy.
So now it's, again, the demands are goingup, the supply is going down because
your gut health has been impacted.
So now you're not absorbing.
The microbiome's not making thosevitamins and that it needs to make.
It's not making the short chain fattyacids running our body function because
(24:33):
they're busy fighting infectionsand defending their territory.
This creates this viciouscycle that causes burnout.
So what's a better strategythan fiber maxxing?
So instead of fiber maxxing,we want to fiber smarter.
Step one, if you had side effects fromincreasing your fiber, that's a huge sign.
You should look for infectionsin your gut, and you should look
(24:55):
for what we call dysbiosis or thedisturbance of the microbiome.
So a SIBO test is indicated here aswell as a functional stool analysis.
A functional stool analysis is verydifferent than one that you would
get at your regular doctor's officeor at a gastroenterologist office.
The functional stool analysisdoes look at the microbiome.
It looks at the functionof the microbiome as well.
(25:17):
Is it making thoseshort chain fatty acids?
It looks at how many good bacteria thereare, how balanced they are with each
other, and then how functional they are.
It also looks for absorption markers.
It looks for inflammatorymarkers in your gut.
Looks at whether or notyou're making enough enzymes.
Also looks for what we call,a damaged or leaky gut.
(25:39):
So that's something you can add onto a functional stool analysis to
know if there is damage to the liningfrom the dysbiosis and the infection.
That's step number oneis to find those weeds.
Step number two is to killthem when you find them.
So there are natural thingsthat you can use to treat SIBO
or to treat yeast in thegut, or parasites in the gut.
(26:00):
You don't necessarily have to usepharmaceuticals or antibiotics per se.
So these are herbs and spices andessential oils that have also been
studied to kill abnormal bacteria,yeast, and parasites in the gut without
the exposure to the antibiotics thatwould further damage the microbiome.
Then you repair the soil, right?
We call that GI restoration orgastrointestinal restoration.
(26:24):
Now that you've killed the weeds,you want to clean up, right?
You're going to pull them out.
You're going to perhaps replantthe seeds of the vegetables
and the herbs or the cuttings.
You have to repair thesoil in order to replant.
We call that GI restoration.
So again, these are natural thingsthat you can use that will repair
the lining, repair the mucusmembrane of the gastrointestinal
(26:47):
system to restore its integrity.
Then we put the fertilizer in the soil,so that's where the fiber comes in.
You want to make sure thatyou're having friendly fibers
and not the high FODMAP ones.
Even though we've gotten rid of allthe weeds, we all know the weeds can
grow back if we're not super careful.
(27:07):
So we don't want to put super highFODMAP fibers into our gastrointestinal
system because these infections,this dysbiosis comes from just
us mingling with our environment.
If I have a glass of water, Iwill inevitably swallow bacteria.
If I eat an apple, I willinevitably swallow bacteria.
(27:29):
Salad, using my utensils.
There are microbes and, bugs everywhere.
We're designed to live aroundthem, and it's supposed to be fine.
But when we're under chronicstress, our immune system is not
as vigilant as it needs to be.
When we're under stress, ourgastrointestinal system is not
as mobile as it needs to be.
The muscles don't contract as well asthey should, and we also don't make as
(27:51):
much hydrochloric acid to defend ourgut when we're under chronic stress.
That's the perfect fertile groundfor an infection to take hold.
We don't want to be putting fertilizerfor weeds into our gut knowing that
that could be going on at any point intime, especially if we're under stress.
So having lower FODMAP fibersand using them to meet your
(28:14):
requirements is a safer way to go.
So examples of lower FODMAP fibersare guar gum or what we call
partially hydrolyzed guar gumAcacia, and what we call polyphenol
rich fruits and vegetables.
We'll have a list a little bitfurther in the podcast for you.
And then again, you want todo this crop rotation, right?
Just like if we're farming responsibly,we want to rotate the crops so that
(28:37):
we don't strip the soil of nutrient.
So we want to have a variety of fiber,keep it in the low FODMAP family.
That doesn't mean you can'thave any high FODMAP foods.
You just want to keep them to a minimumso that you're not overindulging in them.
But you do want variety, soyou want the base of your fiber
to be more or less low fodmap.
(28:59):
And then you can introduce somehigh FODMAPs in small amounts.
High FODMAP fibers are things thatwould be contained in broccoli,
cruciferous vegetables in general,cauliflower, Brussels sprouts.
Oatmeal in large enough quantitiesis considered to be high fodmap,
so keeping that at a lower dose, soto speak, or lower amount is best..
(29:19):
The takeaway is don't fiber max.
And be very aware of any side effectsthat you may have, and going slower
and slower is not the solution.
So quick recap.
Fiber is medicine, sowe absolutely need it.
And yes, we should be increasingour fiber, but not as a trend, in
a very systematic way that makessure that we're actually benefiting
(29:43):
our bodies, not harming them.
So in a healthy gut, fiber is medicineand it helps to heal the gut, helps
our bodies to function optimally.
But if the garden is full of weeds,if there are infections, SIBO, yeast
infections, parasites, dysbiosis, andimbalance of the good bacteria, then
we're actually making ourselves sickerand we're fueling burnout, not our bodies.
(30:07):
Quick list of friendly fibersthat you can consume safely: green
kiwi, low doses of psyllium husk.
Acacia fiber is a great option.
Zucchini, cucumbers, spinach, kale,collards, spinach, kale, collards,
eggplant, and cooked tomatoes.
Now watch the seeds and the skin.
(30:28):
If you're very sensitive, you don'twant to have that portion of the tomato.
For fruits, mostly berries,strawberries, blueberries, raspberries.
We already mentioned green kiwi earlier.
Oranges, clementines and mandarins arealso a great source of low FODMAP fibers.
Green bananas and green plantainsare another amazing source.
(30:49):
They're considered to be prebiotics.
So what we're talking aboutessentially are prebiotics.
Fiber that feeds the good bacteriaare considered to be prebiotics.
They're essentially the fertilizerthat feeds the microbiome.
So green bananas and green plantains,you would treat as though they
were any other root vegetables.
You could boil them and eat them.
(31:10):
Now in the Caribbean we talkabout tostones in Créole,
we call it bannan peze.
There are different ways that we can makethose green plantains so that they're
tasty, but very often we'll just boil themand eat them with any meal that we make.
Cooked and then cooled whiterice and white potatoes are
also considered prebiotics.
We mentioned oats earlier, but again, makesure you have those in lower quantities,
(31:34):
chia seeds, flax seeds, and pumpkin seeds.
Great sources.
Again, keep those on the lower side.
You don't want to have hugeservings of these things.
. Then again, they can backfire.
So some common high FODMAP foods thatwe want to be a bit cautious with, if
we have dysbiosis and gut infections,like SIBO, or even if you just have
IBS, if you've been diagnosed withIBS, the likelihood that you have
(31:57):
dysbiosis and SIBO actually quite high.
So this also applies topeople diagnosed with IBS.
You want to avoid having too much beansand lentils and chickpeas, for example.
These are considered high fodmap.
In other words, they're morelikely to feed the weeds.
Large servings of oatmealalso considered high fodmap.
(32:18):
So there are certain foods that ifyou have them in small quantities,
they'll be considered low fodmap.
But if you exceed a certainamount, they become high fodmap.
So you want to be aware of that.
And there are some really reliable appsthat you can download, Monash University
out of Australia is what I commonlyrecommend to my clients to use when I'm
(32:38):
recommending that they be on a low FODMAPdiet for any specific period of time.
Now, you don't want to go on alow FODMAP diet, that's different.
I'm just talking about thefiberus foods that you would use
to help feed the good bacteria.
So you don't want to be on a FODMAP diet,so be cautious that you're not having
just low FODMAP foods in your entire diet.
(32:58):
That's not safe to do forextended periods of time
because it's too restrictive.
Again, if you're finding thatyou have to do that to feel well,
there's something going on in yourgut that you shouldn't ignore.
Dried fruit is a huge culprit for highfodmap as are apples, pears, mangoes.
And wheat bran also isconsidered a high FODMAP fiber.
Instead of dumping beans and oats andchia seeds into everything, try zucchini,
(33:23):
carrots, berries, or these will feedthe good bacteria without feeding
the weeds and fueling your burnout.
So I hope you found thispodcast to be helpful.
If so, please share it withsomeone you love so that they too
can benefit from the information.
Please like and subscribe to our channel.
If you want to know more, sign up forour 7- day challenge coming up soon.
(33:48):
We'll give you actionable tips thatyou can apply immediately to start
getting yourself out of burnout
now.
Check out our website,awakenedwellnessnow.com.
If you want to know about ourcorporate programs, you can check
them out on our website as well.
Thanks for listening and watching, anduntil next time, many, many blessings.
Thank you.
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