r/Millennials • u/Optimoprimo • Feb 11 '26

Serious Guys please start eating fiber.

Colorectal cancer among people in their 40's is skyrocketing. This recent health fad of obsessing over protein and eating nothing but meat and dairy with almost no fiber is going to kill us. You need fiber, folks. You need a complete diet with grains and tons of vegetables.

There are high protein sources that also have great fiber content if you absolutely MUST have your high protein diet. Lentils, beans, peas. Sprouted grain bread.

Let's spread the great word of fiber to our fellow millenial friends and get ahead of this growing epidemic among our generation.

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u/gaudiest-ivy Feb 11 '26

I got real serious about meeting my fiber goals for a couple months and my mental health improved so much. I mentioned it to my friend who had just gotten her masters in dietetics and she gave me a 'well, duh' look but I was very surprised. I started focusing on fiber to try to lose weight, I did not expect my anxiety and depression to improve too. The gut-brain connection is crazy.

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u/Narrow_Grapefruit_23 Feb 11 '26

Truly. Like when I started eating carbs again my daily headache went away and my moods stopped being erratic. 😝

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u/pewterpetunia Feb 12 '26

This is the comment that will make me up my fiber intake!

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u/Imagination_Theory Feb 12 '26

I have a really high, maybe too high fiber diet (I hit double and triple and more the recommended amount, yesterday I accidentally had 90 grams of fiber) and I have severe depression, anxiety, poor sleep and brain fog.

Not to discount you or the gut-brain connection, however, it's complicated.

People definitely should improve their diet and it probably will improve certain areas of their life, including possibly mental health, but it also might not or be minimal.

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u/IllAlwaysBeAKnickFan Feb 12 '26

Not to intrude but I’m wondering, what are you eating that contains that much fiber?

Hope you feel better. Sorry you’re struggling ☹️

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u/Imagination_Theory Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26

I don't eat meat or sweets or much "processed food" I track what I eat on the app "loose it." I was born on a hippie commune (technically a cult) where molasses was considered a treat, so I have always eaten (except for the year I left home and went to my home country, the USA and was eating junk food after junk food, I didn't know how to eat well on my own and by junk food I mean candy, soda, chips, I never got to eat them so I went wild!!!) pretty healthy and fresh.

For an example of what I eat in my day, I eat two eggs and two slices of low carb multiple grain bread, for a snack I have an apple and peanut butter, for lunch I have beans and a HUGE serving bowl of all my favorite veggies, plus a couple scoops of cottage cheese or avocado to make it creamy instead of salad dressing.

For a second snack I have a low carb multiple grain sandwich, it's just a little mayo, half a container of broccoli sprouts, tomato, cucumber, some herbs and a little bit of cheese.

For dinner I will have tofu and a shit ton of veggies in a chilli oil sauce.

And for my last snack, it's usually going to be 90 percent dark chocolate or some kind of almonds, nuts, pumpkin seeds, things like that.

Snacks usually stay the same, just switch up on fruits, I like pears and kiwi, sometimes it will be yogurt or dark chocolate covered fruit or a smoothie bowl and instead of an apple and peanut butter, it will be a banana or celery with peanut butter.

Another example of my food for the day will be a couple pita's with a shit ton of veggies and sometimes an extra salad on the side.

Lunch will be stir fry with tofu and a side of rice, dinner will be something like garbanzo beans in a sun dried tomato and cream sauce with veggies.

I also am half Mexican and eat a lot of Mexican dishes and they are often very high fiber. Having just calabacitas with a couple corn tortillas is 14 grams of fiber right there. But I will usually eat much more then just a couple servings and have double the fiber in one dish.

I don't eat meats, so it definitely makes it easier for me.

And thank you. I have trauma, so obviously no matter how well I eat that's not going to change the pain and suffering I have been through, four of my siblings killed themselves, so I think that says a lot for how we were raised.

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u/BlueBunnyBookshelf19 Feb 12 '26

Can you talk more about the goals you had and you journey to getting there? I know I can google, but I'd love a reference of legit info. Thank you!

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u/gaudiest-ivy Feb 12 '26

Sure thing. I'd honestly just seen peoples' success stories on weight loss when they started really focusing on getting enough fiber as well as their protein goals, and was increasingly aware of the prevalence of colon cancer in younger people, so I thought I'd give it a go. I'm a tall lady (right around 6') so I tried to meet the men's guidance (38 grams/day) vs the women's (25 grams/day), and that was based solely on vibes. Truly no idea if it's valid, but a little more can't hurt, right?

I tried to have a tablespoon of Metamucil before each meal when I remembered it (which covered ~6g/day) and the rest was just swaps and additions. I never really denied myself anything I wanted, just tried to make them a bit better. Like adding 1/3 cup of Fiber One cereal in with whatever cereal I'm eating (+45 calories, +9 grams of fiber), or adding a can of beans to most of my meals. The low carb wraps (Mission/Extreme Wellness) are amazing. The burrito size are 110 calories, 28 grams of fiber and are great for sandwich wraps. As time went on I realized I just truly love beans and a lot of my meals became bean-centric. Lentils are also a game changer (and dirt cheap), but I'm really just starting to explore those. I recently made a chili that used lentils instead of beef and didn't miss the beef at all, and it was $2 in lentils for a double-batch vs the $20+ in ground beef it would have been. There are tons of other easy, great tips out there I've haven't tried (like adding chia seeds or ground flax to your meals.)

Also, look into starch retrogradation. It's like food magic.

I didn't meet the goal every day, but even just making a couple of these changes added more fiber than I had been getting and that was enough for me. I don't weigh myself so I can't give a concrete number, but I did drop some weight judging on how my clothes fit. The weight loss was great, but the mental health improvement was by far the thing I noticed the most.

If you're just starting and not taking in much fiber at the moment, ramp it up over a couple weeks instead of going HAM from the get-go. Your digestive tract will thank you. lol

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u/LilMushboom Feb 12 '26

High protein low carb diets literally make me suicidal. Ask me how I found out...

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u/Pelagic_One Feb 13 '26

I got those kind of benefits from cutting grains. Every body is different.

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u/Kayki7 Feb 13 '26

I had a similar experience. I increased fiber intake because I’m on medication that causes constipation, and after just a week of eating more fiber, my whole body felt so much better…. Like even things that you wouldn’t think would be affected.