Show Notes
Why Fiber Fails to Impress—and Why That’s the Point Fiber has a public relations problem. Unlike supplements or extreme diets, fiber does not promise instant transformation. Instead, it works slowly, predictably, and quietly. Because of that, people rarely notice it when it’s doing its job well. However, that very boredom is precisely why fiber matters. When fiber intake is adequate, digestion functions normally, blood sugar behaves more consistently, and bowel habits stay predictable. As a result, there is no drama to post on social media. Consequently, influencers move on. Meanwhile, the science stays exactly where it has been for decades: fiber lowers disease risk over time. That kind of quiet effectiveness may not sell products, but it saves lives. “Fiber Isn’t Essential”—Why That Argument Misses the Mark Technically speaking, fiber is not an essential nutrient in the classic sense. In other words, there is no disease caused solely by a lack of fiber the way scurvy results from vitamin C deficiency. Because of this, critics often stop the conversation there. However, medicine does not ask only whether you survive. Instead, it asks whether your risk of chronic disease rises or falls over time. On that front, fiber consistently lowers the risk of colon cancer, improves glucose regulation, reduces constipation, and supports cardiovascular health. Therefore, while you can live without fiber, you do not age particularly well without it. Protein Gets the Spotlight While Fiber Does the Work At the same time, nutrition conversations fixate on protein. Protein goals dominate podcasts, social media, and supplement aisles. Yet, in practice, true protein deficiency in the United States is rare, even among bariatric surgery patients. In contrast, fiber deficiency is the norm. Roughly 92% of Americans fail to meet recommended fiber intake. As a result, constipation becomes common, long bathroom visits feel normal, and scrolling on a phone in the bathroom gets rebranded as “self-care.” Unfortunately, that normalization hides a real problem. A Personal Lesson From Oats, Gas, and a Scorched Desk Years ago, I learned a fiber lesson the hard way. After deciding to increase my fiber intake quickly, I started eating steel-cut oats every morning during a busy meeting week. At first, everything seemed fine. Soon, however, my digestive system made it clear that it had not been consulted in this decision. By the second day, bloating appeared. By the third day, office etiquette became questionable. Consequently, I lit a candle at my desk. Unfortunately, I turned my back, and papers caught fire. Although the flames were extinguished quickly, the scorch mark stayed for years. That stain served as a reminder: fiber works best when introduced gradually. Your gut adapts over time. Confidence without patience, on the other hand, leads to unnecessary consequences. Not All Fiber Works the Same Way Understanding fiber helps people stop fearing it. Soluble fiber, found in oats, barley, beans, lentils, psyllium, apples, and citrus, forms a gel in the gut. Because of this, it slows absorption, reduces glucose spikes, and lowers LDL cholesterol. Consequently, psyllium appears in clinical guidelines rather than influencer protocols. Meanwhile, insoluble fiber focuses on mechanics. It adds bulk, speeds transit, and improves regularity. Importantly, this matters even more for people using GLP-1 medications, where slowed digestion often leads to constipation. In that setting, fiber is not optional—it is foundational. Finally, fermentable fiber feeds gut bacteria. Beans, onions, garlic, asparagus, chicory root, and resistant starch nourish beneficial microbes. As these bacteria grow, they produce short-chain fatty acids, especially butyrate, which supports gut barrier function and immune regulation. No, Butter Is Not a Shortcut to Butyrate Despite what circulates online, butter does not meaningfully deliver butyrate to your colon. Although butter contains trace amou
More from Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson
With all the spices we have access to, it is amazing how bland recipes have become. I have many cookbooks, some from great chefs, television personalities, and friends. What I am always surprised by is how bland the food has become. People seem to think a bit of salt, pepper, maybe onions, and garlic provide the spices one needs. Perhaps it is because some associate spice with heat. Mostly because many have never experimented with some of those great warm spices available. A pinch of coriander, some freshly ground cumin, a little cardamom, or a touch of cinnamon can turn an ordinary dish into something remarkable. And the most astonishing part is that these spices financed voyages around the world, built cities, created fortunes, and caused people to kill one another. Without the spice trade, it is safe to say that the United States, as we know it, would be vastly different from what it is now. The money loaned to the United States, when we were a fledgling country, came from the wealthy spice merchants from what was considered one of the great hyperempires of the world, based in Amsterdam. But before we go to the birth of the United States, let me take you to the meatball.
Tea: The Drink That Built an Empire—and Helped Break One China had the tea. Britain had the appetite. John Hancock had a business to protect.
MesoAmerica and Chocolate In our series looking at foods that built civilizations, today we are going to stay in the Americas with chocolate. Chocolate has been used as currency, consumed by kings, incorporated into religious ceremonies, and prescribed as medicine. Today, it is a multibillion-dollar industry that wants you to believe that eating chocolate is an act of preventive cardiology. I mean, why not? They convinced us to give chocolate to people we love, eat it when we are happy, when we are sad, when only the dog understands us. Don’t feed chocolate to your dog. And we have done all this with a bitter seed that most of us would probably spit out if we tasted it straight from the tree.
I’ve been doing a series about foods that built civilizations. In this episode, we are talking about the potato. It is difficult to imagine that thousands of years ago, people constructed large buildings, managed rivers, built monuments, and created art. We have glimpses of these civilizations through stories, archaeology, and the structures they left behind, but much of their history has been lost. Imagine, we don’t even know where Cleopatra or Alexander the Great are buried, yet we know their stories. As European powers conquered Indigenous peoples, their languages, cultures, and oral traditions were suppressed. When a language disappears, so are the stories preserved within it. Our clues come from archaeology when we uncover a monument, a building, or an ancient settlement. In the Andes, the potatoes they cultivated were not the Russets, Yukon Golds, or fingerlings you find in the store today. Different colors, shapes, and textures. Adapted to survive the elevations, temperatures, and growing conditions. Biodiversity protected their food supply against frost, disease, and changing environmental conditions. If one variety failed, another might survive. The ancient wisdom of diversity that Andean farmers developed over thousands of years was lost when the potato eventually reached Ireland.
In our series about foods that built civilization, we talked a lot about grains, from wheat to corn to rice. Today, we are taking you to the ocean, with the civilizations that salmon built. From California to the interior of Alaska, salmon, a staple, allowed people to settle into villages, develop complex social networks, art, and trade routes. Those trade routes are as large as the ones in the Mediterranean. Some tribes built communal homes and developed complex art and language. Some were Seafaring tribes with canoes up to 60 feet long that traveled across oceans. All because there was a fish that would return in large numbers to streams and rivers, reliably, predictably. So predictable, the people could build their lives around salmon runs. So much so that some built a calendar not only with lunar cycles, but also with the return of the salmon. Civilizations have always gathered around food and water. The Mediterranean connected people who grew wheat and olives, giving people time to make wine, mine copper, build ships, trade with their neighbors, and occasionally go to war with them. Asia had rice and grain near the great river systems. The reliable calories from rice and grains allowed villages to become cities and to travel by water to trade. Today we are going to my home, from the Ventura River in California to my home state of Alaska.