Erin O'Hara: Naturopath and wellness expert on whether latest FibreMaxxing trend is safe

Consuming more fibre can be good for your health, but is TikTok's new FibreMaxxing trend the safest way to go about it?

FibreMaxxing encourages people to load their diets up with extra fibre, but experts have voiced concerns that consuming too much could lead to harmful effects.  

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara explains further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News talks'b.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Joining us now is Talk Wellness, Aaron Oharon Edwbeth, good morning,
Good morning. So fiber maxing. This is a TikTok trend
that says eating fiber is super cool basically, and so
we've got you to tell us whether it is or not.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, the fiber maxing trend is a real popular one,
particularly on TikTok and if you don't know what it is,
it's basically maximizing your fiber intake in your diet and
beyond what's the recommended daily intakes. And it's really rooted
around gut health, also the gut brain barrier that brain

(00:46):
access for mental health as well as digestion and regulating
sugar levels. And it's become really popular amongst the young ones. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I mean when I think about fiber, I think about
a certain purpose that fiber can you know, we eat
fib before and I'm not sure that I really want
to be over max you know, max the amount of
fibert Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
It's an interesting way in the way that they've kind
of talking about our bowels move putting it in that influence,
so kind of way of calling it fiber maxine. But
actually it's a trend that I'm a little bit more
for than the likes of your carnivoric tiet. It's actually
a really positive one. Most people actually don't even eat
enough fiber full stop, and so actually this is actually

(01:29):
quite a good healthy trend. And if you think back
through time back in the nineteen eighties, you know everyone
was eating you, you're all brand getting the fiber, and
so good for the gut. And actually it is great
for the gut. It's more how do you do that
to make sure you don't get any side effects when
you start to fiber max and suddenly load the gut
for the fiber. It's not always positive straight away.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Do you want to max it or just have a
good amount of fiber. I mean, that's not sexy on
TikTok when you say that, but nah, and I.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Think we all generally don't eat enough fiber, and fiber
is fantastic for the gut. And when you look at
research studies particularly, there's a land mark study that was
done by the World Health Organization in twenty nineteen, and
it looks at a fiber rich diet and how it
reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, type two diabetes,

(02:16):
and colorectal cancer by sixteen to twenty four percent, which
is huge and actually even looking at our younger population,
colorectal cancer is actually a lot more prevalent in our
population now. So I think that movement from kind of
moving from carnivoric diet which actually increases your risk of
colorectal cancer, to moving to fiber and putting more emphasis

(02:39):
on fiber in your diet is actually a real positive
one for our health and well ba, so where do.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
We get our fiber from? What's the best sources of fiber?

Speaker 3 (02:45):
So basically you're looking at eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds,
and it kind of moved away from the all brand
and into more like the cheer seeds and ground flex
seeds and boosting it into your diet in that way.
And I think the one thing to be really cautious
if you are kind of eating just the standard you

(03:06):
started to suddenly trying to put more fiber in your diet,
go slow, because if you suddenly go from eating not
much fiber and suddenly put fiber into every meal and
you're sprinkling you know, ground flex seed and alleys say,
and lots of beans and lentils. What you'll find is
you'll get a lot of bloating and maybe lots of
gas and stomach cramps. So that's the biggest thing to

(03:28):
watch out for if you're suddenly jumping on this trend
is you must go slow when you start to reintroduce
the fiber into the diet, especially if you're suddenly eating
more beans and lentils. You don't want to suddenly have
a cup. You better just started a little quarter of
a cup and you up increase it slowly over several weeks,
because then the gut microbuy and bugs can adapt.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Okay, So how would we know if we're not having
enough fiber in our diet, Like if we're not even
at the minimum amount, you know, we're not having a
good amount.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, I think it's more like the recommended World Health
Organization is thirty grams. It's just actually nothing, Okay, So
I think it's more maybe just trying to put little
bits extra in each day. Maybe it might be adding
an extra fruit, maybe adding some seeds into So if
you're making things like birch amusely. Instead of making it
with just all oats, you might throw some grated apple
and some cheer seeds in there and soak that in overnight.

(04:18):
It's just more being cautious that you don't put like
half a cup of cheese seeds and suddenly try and
eat that, and you'll end up with one big bloated
tummy that will be very very uncomfortable. And sometimes also
with increasing fiber too quickly, even though we think fiber
great preventing constipation, however, if your gut is already backlogged
and you put lots of fiber, you will end.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Up we cane bigger backlogs.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
So we've just been really careful around that. And the
other little tipper is making sure you're drinking enough water
because if you're putting lots of fiber and you need
the water hydration and it helps to prevent constipation when
you're increasing your fiber intake. So we need fiber with water.
Lots of whole foods, so fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds
and whole grains, legumes, beans, all those good things for

(05:04):
the gut go slow as you rea introduce them or
increase your fiber intake, and don't try and rush it
too much unless you want to have a sawtummy.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
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