Day 181 - One Macro to Rule them All

April 08, 2024

In this conversation, the speaker proposes elevating fiber to macro status alongside proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. He explains that our ancestors consumed a lot of non-edible fiber and our bodies are used to processing it. However, modern diets are lacking in fiber, which can lead to constipation, weight gain, and other health issues. The speaker shares his personal experience of struggling to meet the recommended fiber allowance and provides examples of fiber-rich foods. He suggests counting fiber as a way to ensure a healthy, balanced diet. Keywords fiber, macro, nutrition, diet, weight gain, constipation, blood sugar, cholesterol, heart disease, satiety, whole foods Takeaways Fiber is an important nutrient that should be considered alongside proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Modern diets are often lacking in fiber, which can lead to constipation, weight gain, and other health issues. Increasing fiber intake can help regulate blood sugar, lower cholesterol, and promote satiety. Counting fiber can be a simple and effective way to ensure a healthy, balanced diet. Titles Elevating Fiber to Macro Status The Lack of Fiber in Modern Diets Sound Bites "Let's elevate fiber to macro status." "We were eating anything we could and we were getting a lot of non-consumable food in our diet." "I need 50 grams of fiber per day to even be close to what I need." Chapters 00:00 Elevating Fiber to Macro Status 03:55 The Importance of Fiber in Our Ancestors' Diets 06:18 The Lack of Fiber in Modern Diets 07:16 The Impact of Fiber on Weight, Blood Sugar, and Cholesterol 10:37 Strategies for Increasing Fiber Intake 11:07 Counting Fiber for a Healthy, Balanced Diet

Episode Transcript

Guy Reams (00:01.998)
Today is day 181, one macro to rule them all. In the world of nutrition, we focus on these big three macros, proteins, fat, carbohydrate. And we have a whole discussion and diet plans around the three. So if you go to any one, protein, fat, or carbohydrates, you'll find a whole slew of diets and nutritional plans associated around these three macros. And then you'll have people that focus on a balance of the three. They call them a balanced diet. Well,

You can dive down that world, but for most of us normal people, all we really care about is being able to manage our diet well enough that we can maintain our physique and not gain that weight. I mean, that's what most of our goals. I mean, maybe you have super healthy fitness goals and then you don't need to listen to this video. So don't worry about it. But I think we can elevate. Here's my proposal. Let's elevate fiber to macro status.

So protein, fat, carbohydrates, and fiber. Now I know technically fiber is considered a carbohydrate. It's just a non -energy producing kind of carbohydrate. But I think that's a mistake. Because fiber is extraordinarily important. But before I get into why it's important, let's just think back on my theory as to why fiber is very important. You see, a long, long time ago, went back in caveman days, let's say, we were

foraging for food constantly. We were looking, this was before we developed any rudimentary farming practices. And if you look at the history of humankind, that time period, we were around a lot longer during that time period than we are today. So we've only been really in modern society as we know it for 8 ,000 years, let's say. Before that, there was a long period of time when we lived basically a scavenger.

So if we're out there scavenging for food, you know, meat was a staple, especially in winter, but we were getting eating anything we could roots, nuts, seeds, eggs, plants, flowers, vegetables, protein, fruits, whatever we could get. And these were not the types of fruits and vegetables you see in the store today. Like if you go buy a bell pepper, it looks like a nice little bell pepper and you can just eat it. Well, back a long time ago, fruits and vegetables were very, you know,

Guy Reams (02:30.317)
They were not as nice as they are today, let's just say. It took a long time of genetic and processing and breeding plants together to produce the type of the size and quantity that we get now as a vegetable. These are just not normal. We manipulated it to be that way, but it took forever to get that way. Like if you would have saw corn back in the Pilgrim days,

I mean, not the pilgrim, but when the Mayflower came over, that whole story, which probably isn't even true, but that story where they ate corn, right? Well, the corn back then is nowhere near what the corn is today. I mean, we're talking, they were really small and the kernels were very hard and they were not what they are today. So anyway, what I'm trying to say is,

We were eating anything we could and we were getting a lot of non -consumable food in our diet. Plant fiber, casings, shells, debris, all this stuff we were getting into our intestinal tract as part of our food scavenger process. So our bodies were very used to processing a lot of non -soluble fiber or even soluble fiber through our intestinal tract. This was part of our process.

our bodies would squeeze every available nutrient out of that food so that it could use that. Because remember, we didn't have a lot of over consumption of food going on. There was no ability to over consume because there just wasn't that much food. So we were eating scarce and so it would squeeze every nutrient out and the body would very quickly turn or process that fibrous material out of our bodies as quickly as possible. And so the entire body,

would be working on that process. So it'd be pulling things out of your bloodstream to handle digestion. It'd be pulling sugar, or it'd be pulling cholesterol, or pulling fats or oils out of the bloodstream and putting them into the intestines to process that fiber and non -soluble stuff out of our intestines. So fast forward today. All of our food is really nutrient dense. I mean even that

Guy Reams (04:53.837)
that hamburger that you buy is nutritionally dense. Now, it's not nutritionally dense from a modern perspective. Like we think nutrients dense as being high in vitamin. I'm talking about just pure protein and carbs, right? Protein, carbs, and sugar, things like that. Fats, proteins, carbs. A hamburger is loaded with that, like really loaded. Like when you were in caveman days or back in hunter -gatherer days,

you would never have been able to find a food as nutrient packed as a hamburger. I mean, not even close. So we're eating massively nutrient dense food with very little non -edible product in it. Very little non -soluble fiber. Like if you were to eat a hamburger, you'll find very little fiber content in that. There might be a little bit in the bread, but very little of that. They're processing all that stuff out of there.

Even when you go to the store and you buy most foods today, it's been processed so well that it's clean food. So our diets, it's really hard to get to the level of fiber in our diets that we really need. It's almost impossible. So, you know, now the USDA publishes a recommended fiber allowance, but that's usually not even accurate. For example, if I look at it for myself, I'm 6 '2", over 200 pounds.

there is no way that the recommended allowance even is close to what I needed fiber. In fact, I ran a calculator before I wrote this blog. I need 50 grams of fiber per day to even get, to even be close to what I need. So that's how much fiber my body is used to processing, right? And by the way, off the shelf fiber products don't even have near enough. Like I bought these fiber blend pills from the health food store.

and they have like maybe a gram of fiber per serving at the most. So there's just not a lot of fiber in the supplements. So the only really way to make this up is by eating foods to get your fiber, that's it. Now, having lack of fiber in your diet impacts you in many ways. Number one, obvious ones like constipation. But it also causes weight gain. If you don't have enough fiber, you feel hungry all the time.

Guy Reams (07:16.205)
Your body wants to process food. That's what it does. So if you're missing all that volume as fiber, your body is constantly craving more. So the more fiber you eat, the less hungry you feel. Blood sugar, more fiber. When you have fiber in your intestinal tract, your body's pulling from blood sugar to aid in the fiber absorption process. As a consequence,

It helps regulate blood sugar when you're eating a lot of fiber. Also, high cholesterol. Your body's pulling cholesterol to help process foods, to help digest that food and to help it move it through your body. So it needs cholesterol to remove it from the body before it circulates in the blood. So cholesterol goes to the intestinal tract before it goes into the bloodstream. So it helps with cholesterol.

It also, and because of that, can help with heart disease. Anyway, finally, just feeling full and feeling more satiated is just good in general for the human body. So, those are the reasons why fiber's so good for you. Now, having said all of that, if you were to, I don't recommend this unless you're as big as I am, but I'm a big guy, Viking ancestry, right? So I'm 6 '2", 200 pounds.

So I'm used to eating, I need to eat a lot of fiber. Now, a couple days ago I tried to eat enough fiber. I needed to eat 50 grams. I could barely get to 23. I mean, and trying my best. And the reason is because my diet is focused around low carb, high in protein diet. That's my diet today. So I had a really hard time getting enough fiber in my diet. Almost impossible. I couldn't get to about, I couldn't even get to half my fiber.

So then I started looking for ways to do better. So for example, my wife recommended that I use black rice or what they call forbidden rice. That has four grams. So I was eating white rice to up my carb content because I needed more carbs in my diet. So I started eating white rice while I was substituting that with black rice. That's four grams of fiber per cup. I'm now eating a lot of avocados. Avocados have a lot of fiber, like 14 grams for one avocado of fiber.

Guy Reams (09:40.269)
I'm eating a lot of berries now instead of snacks like raspberries have six grams of fiber per cup. Almonds and almond flour as a substitute for normal wheat flour. Almond flour has 13 or 14 grams of fiber per 100 grams of food. Chia seeds. I don't like flax seeds as much, but chia seeds doesn't taste like much and you can put it over anything and it doesn't really change the taste of your food.

So chia seeds gives you 34 grams of fiber for 100 grams of food. Popcorn, when you're feeling really hungry and you want a snack, that's a really great source of fiber. And then lentils, Brussels sprouts, the point is, is that all these foods are whole foods, right? Whole, real foods. So you get the idea. If you were to simply, here's my new diet plan. Instead of counting fat or counting proteins or counting,

carbs, instead of worrying about all that, here's my new plan. I'm just gonna simply count fiber. If I spend my day trying to get enough fiber for my daily allocation of fiber, by the time I'm done, I will have eaten a very healthy, balanced whole food diet that is probably really good for me, and I'll feel better about myself, I'll feel better. So my goal now is to simply to count the number, amount of fiber I get in my diet.

So today, as of the recording of this video, I'm at 34 grams of fiber today. I've still got to eat dinner. So I'm hoping to add some more to my dinner tonight to get to 50. But anyway, pretty, I thought this would be interesting. It's helpful to me, and that's all I got to say. But.