For me, the topic of fibre is typical of the whole area of gut health. It seems straightforward at first but soon becomes complicated and confusing.
‘Eat more fibre!’ is one of the things you hear most often about digestive health. So often in fact that we might just tune it out… ‘yeah yeah, eat more fruit and veg, blah blah, whatever!’
Fibre is crucially important to the long term health of our microbiome and therefore our entire body, but did you know that if our gut is already in a bad state, eating high-fibre foods can actually make us worse?
What is fibre?
There are different kinds of fibre and varying definitions of what it is, but the bottom line is this:
‘Fibre’ is stuff we eat that we can’t actually digest.
This begs the question: why are supposed to eat food that we can’t actually digest?!
Back in our hunter-gatherer days, fibrous material came with the plants we found and consumed. It was part of the package.
These days fibre is added to packages of breakfast cereals and snack bars by manufacturers who want you to think their food is healthy (it isn’t!).
Our cavemen ancestors couldn’t avoid fibre even if they wanted to. There was no white bread or white rice around!
Another thing our early ancestors couldn’t avoid was bacteria (and neither can we). Their guts were full of microbes, as are the guts of all living creatures. And one thing bacteria are good at, is breaking stuff down and converting it into fuel. That’s how they survive in the most hostile conditions on earth, such as volcanic undersea vents.
The result was a deal between our cavemen ancestors and their bacteria: the humans would provide food and shelter to the bacteria, and the bacteria would in turn help to break down food that we would otherwise be unable to digest, providing nutrients for them AND FOR US.
This ‘deal’ of course was never hammered out over a negotiating table but we now know this is how Mother Nature works, through symbiosis and cooperation between different species.
The result is that we are able to unlock nutritional goodness from otherwise indigestible fibre.
But it turns there are a lot more benefits to taking care of our little microscopic buddies. Read on!
Fibre Nurtures a Rich Microbiome
‘Microbiome’ is the collective name for the squillions of bacteria that live inside us. The list of ways we now know they help us is long, and getting longer every day as scientists carry out more studies.
For example, friendly bacteria help to:
- fight off ‘bad’ bacteria that would make us sick
- regulate our immune system so we’re not overwhelmed by allergies and unwanted inflammation
- regulate our metabolism and hormones so we don’t get fat
- regulate our brain development and mental state, for example by making neurotransmitters like serotonin.
When we eat fibre it feeds and supports the ecosystem that is our microbiome. For this reason foods and supplements that contain fibre are know as PREBIOTIC.
(By the way, prebiotics are not to be confused with PROBIOTICS, which are foods or supplements containing friendly bacteria.)
Without enough fibre there isn’t enough food for our many species of friendly gut bugs and they die back. This is a problem as we need as much diversity as possible in this ecosystem.
It’s exactly the same with other complex ecosystems such as rainforests and coral reefs: when they lose diversity they become weak and vulnerable to invaders or collapse.
If we regularly eat fibre our microbiome is happier. And when our microbiome is happy we immediately notice the difference because we feel better.
If we don’t eat enough fibre, the bacteria start eating the lining of our gut, a tasty mucous layer that’s vital for how our gut wall functions. The wall can then become inflamed and porous, leading to problems like leaky gut and colitis. Ouch!
Fibre Sometimes Makes Things Worse
We need enough of the right kinds of friendly bacteria to break down fibre. If we don’t have enough, what happens to the fibre we eat? It just irritates our gut and makes things worse.
That’s why gastroenterologists sometimes recommend low fibre diets to patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS, one of the most common and least understood gut problems).
If your gut is in a bad state this can be very confusing. You faithfully follow the standard advice and eat high fibre food, maybe a big bowl of All Bran or oats, and what happens? Your symptoms get worse: misery ensues.
How Do I Train My Friendly Bacteria to Cope With More Fibre?
So what should we do? For a start, it’s better to get your fibre from fruit and veggies rather than from processed breakfast cereals that are full of irritants like high-fructose corn syrup and gluten.
If your gut is currently suffering and you think fibre is making things worse, there are various different gut-healing protocols you can follow such as Paleo or Low-FODMAP.
As your gut starts to gradually recover over the course of weeks and months, you can gradually start increasing your fibre intake. If this causes a flare up of your symptoms, decrease or stop the fibre, then try again the following week.
Let’s recap…
The 3 Things You Need To Know:
- We can’t digest fibre. Without bacteria to break it down, fibre passes straight through us.
- Fibre feeds and nurtures our friendly bacteria, and they’re super important to our health
- If we don’t have enough of those helpful bacteria, eating fibre can make our symptoms worse.
42 thoughts on “The 3 Things You Need to Know About Fibre”
Thanks for giving a fresh perspective about fiber! We always need to look on the pros and cons to everything we consume for sure
I didn’t know that about fiber. I have to be more conscious about it. It is a big deal in the diet here in japan as rice is a main staple.
That is a very insightful and very well-written post. I have learned so much about fiber, I always include a good portion of the fiber in my diet.
Great moment you address here. Specialists often tell you to eat more fiber but it’s hard to understand what it actually means exactly for regular person. You post looks like something they need to make a chart from you and give people to read to properly follow the fiber recommendations
I only have to say that I love my portion of fibre every day. Thanks fot these details tho.
Very insightful,we assume things at times believing they are good for body. But glad you busted that myth. I believe, everything in right potion and requirement is okay for our body.
I was today years old when I learned we can’t digest fiber. That is crazy. I have been seeing that Low-FODMAP lately on Youtube. I think I might have to check it out.
Informative post, it makes sense if we can’t digest why we eat haha but your post help to understand more about fiber. Thank you for sharing!
Perplexity dealt with in a straight forward easy to understand explanation. Thank you very much. 👍
Most of the food I buy, it says high in fibre on the packages and I always thought “Oh, that must be good then!” I understand now why my tummy is irritable sometimes. That’s probably because of that. I’ll be more careful now… Thanks for sharing this!
Fibre is so important to our gut health and sadly most doesn’t eat enough. I hope this article will help to remind more people and be aware of this.
I did not know that there is a wrong type of fibre I thought fibre was fibre, thanks for this knowledge.
Learned so much from reading this articles. Kinda been watching what i eat carefully these past few days anyways. Thanks for the tips!
Now, this gives me more reason to increase my fiber intake. Thanks for the info!
There are many benefits of eating fruits rich in fibre. I am a fan of fruits since it help me move out in the morning regularly.
Very interesting and detailed breakdown of information about fibre, incluidng so much that I didn’t know already.
Thanks for this great information! I need to start introducing more fiber to my diet!
We always hear about fibers, in fact, but understand better what they are, how well they do … what about useful and informative post.
I learned so much from this blog and I agree with your tips. Eating foods rich with fibers help my digestion. I feel good every day!
I love this useful and very detailed information! Keep it up!
Thank you for the full information about the fiber and the bad side of it as well.
Fibres are so useful for our digestive system if taken properly. They nourish friendly bacterias in our body which is good for our immune system.
fibrous foods mostly veggies like celery leafy veg…and seeds that cant be digested easily…and most of the time when we poof it will come out like the same..but not all of it….doctors says to when you have hemmorhoid problem .that its good to it fibrous foods too
I eat fruits that are rich fiber. I dont have problem in my morning routine. I move out regularly because of fiber.
I used to eat a lot of fibre rich foods, but I didn’t know that the body was unable to digest it!
I did not know this about Fibre. I do know I need some more in my diet.
Thanks so much for sharing this informative post. Too often, we are eating the wrong things.
This is very informative. I didn’t know it feeds on bacteria. I can’t know if it is fibre haha but I think I’m getting the hang of it now. Thank you for sharing!
I feel silly that I’m a food blogger yet I didn’t know the effects of fibre.
Thanks for sharing this post.i have learnt a lot.
I am currently following the Paleo diet and this was such an interesting read. Thank you for sharing!
I didn’t know about the effects of fibre. I’ve heard to minimize the amount of veggies you consume.
thanks for this useful informative sharing, I never know that we can’t digest fibre, also prebiotic actually considered as fibre too. Learnt lots from this.
cheers, siennylovesdrawing
This was interesting – I didn’t know fibre can sometimes make things worse.
Fibre intake is very important to out system. I have some fibre supplement which we take daily to help our gut and also the needed vitamins too. Thanks for this information.
This post was actually extremely helpful, thank you! I’ve always struggled balancing my fibre intake and have had digestive issues. I never actually knew that fibre passes right through us and can’t be digested without bacteria. I always tried to UP my fibre intake to help me and didn’t realize that some of the fibre may not be the right choice. Thank you for such an informative and helpful post! 🙂 This really does make a huge difference for me!
I always thought that fiber is a good intake. But this information cleared my misconceptions. Thanks for sharing such an informative article!
Any examples about good and bad bacteria you’re referring about?
Wow this is so informational. I never new about this until this article. And I love how you asked the question that I was thinking in my mind, “how can we eat things that arent digestible?!?!” Thanks for sharing!
So much I didn’t know about fibre! Very interesting read.
That’s lots of info about fibre that I didn’t expect! I always thought they’re good all the time, I guess not. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve been struggling quite a lot to digest fibre recently and this article has really helped me understand why!
There’s also the issue of soluble vs insoluble fibre, including that from fruit and veggies. Insoluble fibre from any source can be a problem if you have gut issues. Chris Kresser has a good article on this: https://chriskresser.com/got-digestive-problems-take-it-easy-on-the-veggies/