Fiber Fueled: Our Book Review
In Fiber Fueled, takes around 600 studies and compiles them into an easy-to-read guide to the human microbiota; one that has now revolutionized the way many approach nutrition. If you thought gut health was an isolated issue that had little to no effect on your overall health, this book is here to show you otherwise.
Book Summary
Dr. Bulsiewicz begins covering the main problem with diet culture — there are too many opposing expert opinions, and it’s far too confusing for people who just want to feel better in their own bodies. As he goes over his experience with a patient suffering from diabetes, fatigue, insomnia, sluggishness, and other ailments, and who’d been on all types of diets, from paleo to gluten-free to Whole 30 to keto, he explains that elimination diets don’t work long-term. This is why he put this patient on a diverse, high-fiber, plant-based diet made up of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and legumes. By the end of the program, they’d reversed her diabetes, dropped her cholesterol levels, and overall, improved her gut health. Dr. Bulsiewicz then goes on to explain that hundreds of his patients have experienced the same results, and he believes it can work for you, as well.
Vocabulary You Should Understand
Although Dr. B does an excellent job at keeping things simple, there are a few scientific terms you’ll see a lot of throughout this book, like ‘short-chain fatty acids’, ‘diversity’, ‘microorganisms’, and ’gut microbiota’. Here’s our breakdown of these terms:
Prebiotics: The type of fiber in our diet that serves as food for our gut’s healthy beneficial bacteria.
Probiotics: The microorganisms in our gut that have beneficial qualities for our body.
Short-chain fatty acids or postbiotics: When we eat different types of prebiotic fiber (or different types of plants), our good gut bacteria (probiotics) process them to create what we call ‘postbiotics’ or ‘short-chain fatty acids’, which offer a huge range of health benefits, from immunity to brain health.
FODMAP: The fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols (short-chain carbohydrates), which are poorly digested by the small intestine and because of this, may cause digestive issues.
Diversity: When mentioning ‘diversity’, he can be referring to the plant diversity in our diets or the diversity of species residing in our gut. You’ll find that both are equally important.
Microorganisms: Here, Dr. B is referring to the small living creatures inhabiting and working in our gut every day. Some are beneficial, while others are not. These include bacteria, viruses, archaea, yeasts, and parasites; they are the main characters of this book.
Gut microbiota: This is the term used to describe the entire community of microorganisms living in our gut, which each serve a specific purpose for our health.
Dysbiosis: An imbalance of the microorganisms in our gut.
In short, Fiber Fueled is a simple explanation of how these microorganisms work in our gut microbiota to produce beneficial short-chain fatty acids, when we increase the plant diversity in our diets, thus increasing the diversity of species residing in our gut. Dr. Bulsiewicz does a brilliant job of providing a simple solution to gut health — and overall health — and a crystal clear explanation of why this approach works. In addition, he provides his readers with a 4-week program complete with fantastic recipes (including low FODMAP options under many of them) that can help them turn their health around completely, and finally achieve their wellness goals.
Do We Recommend This Book?
Overall, if you are interested in nutrition (plant-based or not), we couldn’t recommend this book enough. Not only does it crush the myth that certain plant foods are ‘bad’ or ‘unhealthy’, but it offers a new approach to nutrition that encourages you to stop counting calories, and start counting plants!
If you are interested in Fiber Fueled by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, go ahead and buy it here. Good luck on your plant-based health journey, and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for more tips and information on how to successfully transition to a vegan lifestyle!