Fiber! Yes, it’s “good” to eat fiber (while some people do very well on a no-fiber diet!), but I’d say the value is in what surrounds the fiber: the colors, antioxidants, micronutrients, and good flavors in well-selected, well-prepared fruits and vegetables—more than the fiber itself.

Grains? Okay, they taste good—but otherwise, the “fiber benefit” tends to erase other nutritional benefits.

But today, I want to share with you three particular and less well-known kinds of fiber that you might selectively include in your supplement routine.

Biotagen Thera-Biotic contains both inulin and FOS (fructooligosaccharides), which happen to be great at boosting our microbiome’s colonies of Akkermansia, a probiotic noteworthy for gut health maintenance and restoration—and handy at lowering blood sugar, improving insulin action, and balancing levels. You’ll also find these fibers naturally in sunchokes, Agarlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, and green bananas.

Modified Citrus Pectin is a gentle “chelator” (pronounced KEY-later) that helps remove toxins such as environmental chemicals, mold, and heavy metals. Food sources include the peel and pulp of citrus fruits, apples, and also cranberries, currants, and persimmons.
(Okay—great persimmon soup recipe next month, during high season!)

Partially Hydrolyzed Guar Gum has a particular knack for enhancing our “cow function.” We, like wonderful cows, can eat a wide range of foods—greens, vegetables, fruits, and even meats—and ferment the raw materials in our guts, producing beneficial short-chain fatty acids, particularly butyrate and propionate. It’s often labeled as SunFiber, useful in some bacterial gut imbalances.

Are these better than psyllium or Benefiber? Not better—but they do have particular uses.

If you like a fiber I haven’t mentioned and it works great for you, fantastic!

If you’re one of the people who gets constipated when adding fiber, you might like one of these three for their other benefits—usually without the constipation sometimes associated with more common fibers.