I drew a few conclusions from these recommendations:

• I wanted to try to get at least 25g per day.
• The Institute of Medicine was higher for men. Although the others were lower than the Institute of Medicine, a few of them and many other resources, mentioned that increased intake has increased benefits.
• European and Japanese guidelines were similar to U.S. guidelines, which I always like to check due to how regional politics and conflicts of interest can often shape recommendations.

How was I doing? Not great: Breakfast, ~3 grams; Lunch, ~6 grams; Dinner, ~6 grams. Fifteen grams total. Coincidentally, this is the exact value that I had often seen quoted in literature about how much fiber the average American was consuming each day. As a child of Lake Wobegon, that simply wasn’t going to do. And, to top it off, I had always prided myself on the idea that I ate healthy meals – I nearly always made food from scratch and I always included some sort of fruit or vegetable with lunch and dinner. To find that I was at about half of the recommended value was somewhat depressing.

So, it’s somewhat depressing to find out you’re falling reasonably far below common recommendations. So what? Should I really care if I’m only getting half of what is recommended? This is the key part that I wish I would have learned earlier.

Here are some of the things that fiber has been associated with, based on a brief survey of sources:

• Fiber feeds the microbiota in the large intestine and colon, creating short-chain fatty acids. These short chain fatty acids serve as a nutrient source for the body, aide muscle function, and play a positive role in the prevention of chronic diseases [2];
• Prevention of dietary-induced obesity [1] and aide in attaining a healthy weight [3, 11];
• Helps normalize plasma glucose levels, manage insulin resistance, and impact the incidence of type 2 diabetes [1, 3, 11];
• Helps decrease LDL cholesterol [3, 11];
• Has a positive influence on the treatment of ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and antibiotic-associated diarrhea [1];
• Improves blood pressure control in patients with hypertension [3];
• Possible anti-inflammatory affects [3];
• Likely protection against colorectal cancer and breast cancer [4];
• Increases the speed of transit of food through your digestive system, triggering the hunger satiating signals in your body more quickly, as well as delaying the emptying of the stomach, both of which reduce the desire for second/larger portions [10];
• Softening of stools [11].

With that as a starting point of the benefits, the question became how to increase my daily intake. This turned out to be relatively easy. First off, I found that I love this breakfast bowl. While that’s a satisfying meal all on its own, sometimes I additionally eat a half of an avocado. For lunch, a salad, carrots/celery with humus, mixed nuts, and fresh fruit is a perfect combination that has enough internal and day-to-day potential for variation that it has become my daily go-to. For dinner, there are so many different options, so we try to mix it up each day, rotating through a 2-3 week variety of different meals.

Each person is different and the way and the degree to which they choose to implement will be different. As Dr. Robert Lustig puts it, fiber is half the antidote in preventing and dealing with metabolic syndrome. As I stated at the top, I’m both glad that I learned about the role and importance of fiber early in my research on food-related health, but also wish I had learned about it at a much earlier age. I just try to keep at the forefront of my mind the saying that “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is today.”

Here’s to your good health!