Why Fiber Is So Important?

All of these factors combined into the perfect storm to ruin our gut microbiome and create the epidemic of obesity we see today.

But there was one more thing that was more devastating than anything else for your healthy gut bacteria. And that’s the decrease in dietary fiber.

I know we’ve talked a lot about the increase in processed sugar and fat, but it’s the lack of fiber in these processed foods that added fuel to the fire of obesity and other health related conditions. In the last 100 years, we basically took all the fiber away.

In a study of Tanzania’s Hadza people, one of the few remaining hunter-gatherer groups on the planet, tribe members consume 100-150 grams of fiber per day. This is 10x what the average American takes in.

The main reason fiber is so important is because it is the primary source of food for gut bacteria. You see, when you eat something, your digestive system processes the foods and absorbs all the nutrients.

Fiber is the one thing it can’t digest. So, it travels down to the large intestine undigested. Good bacteria depend on this fiber to survive and thrive.

Well-fed bacteria maintain health digestion. These bacteria create enzymes that breakdown food, short chain fatty acids like butyrate that seal the intestinal tract and special substances that keep bad bacteria and yeast at bay.

Without fiber, they die, and you get gut imbalance leading to obesity and other chronic health problems.

Let’s put everything we learned together in this chapter.

62