The Midlife Feast

#179 - Fiber Without The Fuss in Midlife and Menopause

• Jenn Salib Huber RD ND • Season 6 • Episode 179

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If you’ve been told you should get more fiber but feel confused by the fiber-maxing trend and don’t want it to become a full-time job, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I explain why fiber matters in midlife and menopause, how it truly supports digestion, energy, heart health, and satisfaction, and why you don’t need to count every gram or chase perfection.

This episode offers clear, practical ways to think about soluble and insoluble fiber, bust common myths, and add more fiber to your eating in ways that feel doable, not overwhelming. This episode gives you permission to focus on patterns, not pressure.

Get the Mediterranean Salmon Smash recipe here: https://www.jennsalibhuber.ca/blog/fiber-without-tracking-in-menopause

Episodes mentioned: 

🎙Episode 39 — What Every Woman Needs to Know About Heart Health, Cholesterol, and Menopause with Dr. Alex Verge, ND.
🎙Episode 98 — High Blood Pressure in Menopause and Midlife (The Estrogen Connection) with Dr. Alex Verge, ND. 

What did you think of this episode? Click here and let me know!

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now! Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.

Looking for more about midlife, menopause nutrition, and intuitive eating? Click here to grab one of my free guides and learn what I've got "on the menu" including my 1:1 and group programs. https://www.easy.link/menopause.nutritionist

Jenn Salib Huber:

If you've been told that you should get more fiber, or maybe you want to add more because of all the things that you've read, but you feel confused by like fiber maxing, and you don't want this to become a full-time job, again, like protein, this episode is for you. Welcome to the Midlife Feast, the podcast that helps you make sense of your body, your health, and menopause in the messy middle of midlife. I'm Dr. Jen Sali Puber, intuitive eating dietitian, a naturopathic doctor, and author of Eat to Thrive During Menopause. Around here, we don't see midlife and menopause as problems to solve, but as invitations to live with more freedom, trust, and joy. Each week you'll hear real conversations and practical strategies to help you feel like yourself again. Eat without guilt, and turn midlife from a season of survival into a season of thriving. I'm so glad you're here. Let's dig in. Hi everyone, welcome to February. So, January's over first. Let's all be thankful for that. And if you're listening to this in 2026, we're extra thankful that January's over. But I want to shift the conversation to heart health, which is something that I often do in February. It's a theme that I think is ingrained in me as a dietitian and a naturopathic doctor. And in past years, I've had guest experts on talking about cholesterol and blood pressure. I'll put the links to those in the show notes. Because heart health is something that we do want to give a little bit of attention to, or maybe a lot of attention to in midlife and menopause because these risks are kind of converging. We have the changing hormone landscape, we have the aging landscape, and just our risks for heart disease increase. And we know that it's an important consideration for those of us in midlife and menopause and beyond. So I wanted to kind of bring heart health into an episode, and fiber seemed like a good one to focus on because fiber is having a moment. And it kind of feels like fiber in 2026 is the protein of last year or even the last couple of years. And what I'm seeing a lot of is fiber is kind of getting the messaging of being a superfood, which it isn't, and we'll talk about. And also this moral obligation. Like everybody feels like they quote unquote should be getting more fiber. So I want to make sure that you know that this episode is fiber focused, but it's fiber without the fuss. So that is the lens that I am bringing to this conversation. So if you've been told that you should get more fiber, or maybe you want to add more because of all the things that you've read, but you feel confused by like fiber maxing and you don't want this to become a full-time job, again, like protein, this episode is for you. And if while you're listening, you're thinking, oh my gosh, I want to learn more, or I want to learn how to apply this, there's an entire section on fiber in E to Thrive During Menopause, which is my cookbook. And it includes lots of recipes that will help to make it easier. So um, and if you are thinking, I want a little bit more support, we have a brand new Fiber Without the Fuss roadmap inside the Midlife Feast community, which is my group coaching membership. And this allows you to kind of have some step-by-step guidance from me and do this work alongside other people who are doing the same thing. But let's dig into why fiber has suddenly become a thing in midlife. Now, I just want to say that everything we know about fiber, we've known for at least a decade. So the benefits of fiber aren't new, but the hype is. So this is just diet and wellness culture's kind of latest darling, if you want to say. But we've known for a long time that there are benefits to fiber. So let's talk a little bit about kind of why it's become a thing and also how not to make it a thing. In other words, how not to make it the only thing that you focus on. But I am happy, don't get me wrong. I am happy that it's getting some attention because again, it does matter. But it is okay if you're feeling resistance. And I want to just make sure that we talk about that at first because fiber has been weaponized. Yes, weaponized by diet culture. So if you let's go back to the 90s for a minute, when Weight Watchers had this plan, the fat and fiber plan, I remember counting grams of fat and grams of fiber. And I've talked to so many people who said like this was one of their first Weight Watchers moments. So if you have this internal resistance to counting grams of fiber, I hear you. And this episode will help you not need to count grams of fiber and also feel like you're getting more fiber. So at least that's my goal. So let's talk about what fiber actually does. Now, fiber is often reduced to like bathroom habits, right? Keeps you regular. And that part is true. It does help food move through our digestive system. This helps keep the plumbing regular, if you will. But it also does more than that. So because it helps to regulate digestion, it does help us to feel more full and satisfied, which is great. Because it regulates digestion and absorption, it can help support things like blood sugar and energy levels throughout the day. Awesome. And because certain types of fiber, which we'll talk about in a minute, help to reduce cholesterol in particular, this helps to reduce the risk of heart disease, which is why things like oatmeal are allowed to claim that they are heart healthy, which they are. But that just kind of explains it a little bit. And lastly, but maybe more relevant these days is that it helps to feed our gut bacteria. So certain types of fiber, the fermentable types, are the ones that our gut bacteria love. And having a well-fed microbiome, it's a population of gut bacteria, is linked to better health. So now I want to just kind of spend two minutes talking about soluble versus insoluble fiber. And I'm not gonna get into a whole science lesson on this, but I do think it's important to understand that fiber will broadly fall into two camps. Soluble fiber, which dissolves in water, forms a gel-like substance. This is the kind that helps to lower cholesterol and support blood sugar and also kind of fullness. This is where we're gonna find, this is the type that we're gonna find in things like oats, but also things like chia seeds. So things that like expand in water. This is gonna be soluble fiber. Insoluble fiber doesn't dissolve. So it's what's known as bulking type fiber, so it helps to keep things moving. I often call it like the pipe cleaner. So it's you know often linked to things like regularity, but we're gonna find this in other types of foods, so whole grains, nuts, seeds, vegetables, roughage, leafy greens. But most plants contain a mix of both. And I think that's really important to remember because when we start getting into trying to micromanage the types of fiber, that's gonna backfire and that's gonna put us back into that all or nothing good or bad mentality. And variety and persistence matter more than precision. So I'm gonna say that again. A variety of fibers that you include persistently, I prefer that word to consistently, matter more than getting the exact right amount or same amount every day. And one of the things that often trips people up when they're trying to find a pattern of eating that works for them and also increases their fiber intake, is that they'll do too much too quickly, or they'll do too much of one particular type, and then they feel uncomfortable, they feel bloated, or maybe it upsets their digestive system, or maybe it's just too hard to integrate into their life. So, all that to say, today we're talking about patterns of eating. And I hope that by the end of this episode, you'll have a better sense of what that pattern might look like for you. So let's kind of debunk a few myths before I get into some suggestions of how to add more fiber without the fuss. And the first is a number-based one: this idea that you absolutely need a minimum of 25 grams of fiber every single day. Now, that number itself isn't wrong, it's the rigid interpretation of it. So, a reframe that I prefer is that you want an average over the week of about 25 grams a day, or even like the average of week over week. Some days and weeks are going to be lower, some days and weeks are going to be higher. But if we're focused on a pattern instead of applying this prescriptive number perfectly every day, it's a lot easier to feel like you're doing it, right? And it's a lot easier to feel like you can keep doing it, which is the persistence part. And so I like to build in these structural supports, which I'm going to talk about more in a minute. But one of them is starting the day with oatmeal. Now, if you know me for even like a hot second, you know that I'm a huge fan of oatmeal in my Instagram short stories. I usually share my morning oatmeal. And I even had a feaster, shout out to Penny, make me a sweatshirt that says, I didn't choose the oatmeal life it chose me. So I love starting my day with oatmeal. And that's such a great example. And I'm going to give you more details in a second of how that structural support helps to frame a pattern of eating that you can sustain because it doesn't have to be perfect and it doesn't have to be the same every day. The second myth is that you can't get enough fiber without supplements. One of the most common questions people reach out to me with is I'm not getting enough fiber. I want to add more, but I find it really challenging. Can you recommend a supplement? So I want to talk about supplements as being a tool, but they're not required. So some people find it hard for all kinds of reasons to include more fiber. So maybe you have an irregular schedule, maybe you work shift work, maybe you're doing a lot of caregiving right now. You maybe have kids or grandkids or aging parents or family members, or maybe your job is just unpredictable. And as a result, you find it hard to apply this structure at certain times or all the time. In that example, sometimes supplements can be helpful. Cillium husk powder is an example of one that is also food-based that people can try. I have a whole chart comparing the different kinds of fiber in my book. But I think it's important to acknowledge that you can, but don't have to include supplements if you're trying to get more fiber. And one of the reasons that I'm such a big fan of plant forward eating, so not plant-based, but plant forward, is that beans and lentils are some of the highest fiber foods that we have available to us. And they're often pretty accessible because we can enjoy them canned, we don't have to cook them from scratch. And they're also fairly inexpensive. So I love building meals around this plant forward approach, and it makes it very doable for you to meet your fiber goals without supplements. But also, supplements can be helpful. And the third myth is that some fiber sources are quote unquote healthier than others. So this is usually rooted or coming from this carb phobia that we collectively have in our culture. But fiber is a type of carbohydrate. So we want to kind of make sure that we're putting this umbrella of plants as the goal and not some plants are better than others. And so some people will say, well, isn't the fiber from apples or kale better or healthier than the fiber from oats? And they might act differently. So that what I was saying about soluble and insoluble fibers, so they may have different effects in our body and on our health, but none of them are better. They're just different because all plants contain fiber. So if we take the morality out of the discussion around food and fiber, it's not good, it's not bad, it's not better or worse. All plants on your plate, quote, count, then we can just accept that they're just different. And I think that's a really healthy mindset to have as we get into talking about fiber without the fuss. And so, how do you actually apply this to your everyday or to your plate? And kind of keeping on that mindset theme, this isn't a prescription. So I'm gonna give you three strategies that will help, but this isn't a prescription. These are not a set of rules. Think of this as like a permission slip to try on some gentle nutrition. So nutrition by addition or that add-in philosophy is at the core of my approach and this intuitive eating approach in general. But nothing is ever required. These are just things to try on. So as I talked about earlier, I almost always start the day with oatmeal, probably five out of seven days. So I guess it's not every day. And that's an example of how you can apply a pattern without making it an everyday thing. But if we say that five out of seven days, I apply this pattern where I have oats, half a cup of oats, half a cup of fruit or berries or more. I don't actually measure it, I'm ballparking, and a tablespoon of chia seeds. That starts your day with 10 grams of fiber. So whether you do that in an overnight oat recipe, whether you cook it up on the stove, which we often do in the winter and it's like five minutes, you're starting the day with 10 grams of fiber. You could also do a version of this in a smoothie. There are lots of different ways that you can apply this, but I like this because it is this structural support to my goal of adding more fiber to my plate. And that's why things like oats and chia and flax and other seeds show up so often in my recipes, is because they're really great structural supports, especially around fiber. The second strategy is to have some easy add-ins throughout your day. And hummus is a great one. Lots of people are familiar with hummus. You can make it, but don't have to. There's a great recipe for hummus in Eat to Thrive, but hummus is such an easy thing to find, and it's such an easy way to add more fiber. Because did you know that every tablespoon of hummus is roughly a gram of fiber? That means it is easy to have as an add-on to your plate. So if you have something that can be dipped, whether that's a cracker or a vegetable or even a fruit, it's really easy to just kind of add a little bit of hummus. And you can get creative with your add-ins without sacrificing satisfaction. And I want to share this tuna salad story from a couple of months ago. A couple of months ago, I opened the can of tuna, cats came running, I was put, you know, getting ready to make a tuna salad for lunch, and I opened the fridge and we're out of mayo. And I thought, what am I gonna do? I don't want to go to the store because I've already got this can open. And I noticed, though, that there was hummus. Now, a couple of years ago, I saw this trend of using hummus instead of mayo in tuna salad. And I immediately rejected the idea because that felt like it was straight up out of diet culture. You know, the healthy swaps that we're all too familiar with. So I never tried it. But on this particular day, I'm staring in my fridge and all I have is hummus. And I thought, well, I guess I'll give that a try. And I fully expected it to be awful. Like I even half expected to have to throw out the tuna salad. But instead, I was really pleasantly surprised that I liked it just as much, if not more, than mayo. And now it's my go-to. And I've tried all kinds of different variations. If you like spicy foods, jalapeno hummus in your tuna salad is amazing. And I've got a new Mediterranean salmon salad recipe that includes hummus and some other veggies. And there's a link to that in the show notes. But it's an example of how we can be creative without getting caught up in needing to do it perfectly or needing to sacrifice satisfaction or make that healthy swap in the name of health all the time. So those add-ins can be really helpful and also really impact your total intake over the course of the day. Nuts and seeds are another example. So the third strategy is to choose one or two plant forward meals. Now, again, I've said a couple of times, I am plant forward, not plant-based. And there's nothing wrong with being plant-based, but for me, it keeps me out of the all-or-nothing thinking to think plant forward. And beans and lentils pack a huge fiber punch. So a cup of chickpeas or really any bean, it's going to come in around 10 grams of fiber per cup. So if you add a can of anything to let's say a stir fry or a salad or anything that you're cooking, then you're easily adding at least 20 grams. Another strategy to include these plant forward meals is to have a bit of like a batch cooking strategy. So towards the beginning of the week, I usually make a soup or a salad. So like a red lentil soup with squash or a chickpea salad, if you remember the dense bean salad trend, that's kind of what I'm talking about. Early in the week, then you have an easy lunch option. So you've had your oatmeal for breakfast, and now you have a lunch option that includes a bean or a lentil, either as the main character protein or as a supporting character. And lunches are often easier to do this because if you're in midlife or menopause or beyond, you probably don't have to account for other people at lunchtime or at least fewer people. So I'm almost always alone for lunch. So that means I just have to think about me. And I get to put my preferences at the top of the list. And that may not be true at other meals of the day, including suppertime. So for us, supper is our busiest meal. And, you know, it may not be the meal where I'm gonna get the most buy-in for always having a plant forward meal. But it's really easy for me to do that with lunches. And so I gave you a couple of examples, dense bean salads, which is really just like a bean where you a salad where the bean is the main character. But I also really like adding red lentils to red things. So whether that's a pasta or a tomato-based pasta sauce, whether that's a soup made with squash or sweet potatoes, you can blend them up and you don't even know that they're there, but they add so much satisfaction, fiber, fullness, satiety, all of it. So I hope that this kind of fiber forward recipe, but without the fuss and without the rules, has made it a little bit easier for you to think about adding fiber to your day. And so to kind of recap, yeah, it is helpful. It does help to support how we feel in our bodies today and also our health as we get older. But you don't have to have a prescriptive rule based counting approach where you're constantly measuring and tracking and worrying that you're not getting enough. Think about building the structural support for. Front loading your day, having some add-ins, and including a plant forward meal a few times a week. And that is really what Fiber Without the Fuss is all about. It's about patterns, not pressure, not perfection. So let me know if you found this episode helpful and if there are any other nutrition topics that you would like me to tackle in ways that are easy and doable and just make it easier for you to do every day. Thanks so much for tuning in. Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Midlife Feast. If you're ready to take the next step towards thriving in midlife, head to menopausenutritionist.ca to learn more about my one-to-one and group coaching programs, free resources, and where to get your copy of Eat to Thrive during menopause. And if you've loved today's conversation and found it helpful, please share it with a friend who needs to hear this and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. It helps so many more people just like you find their way to food freedom and midlife confidence. Until next time, remember midlife is not the end of the story, it's the feast. Let's savor it together.

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Dr. Jenn Salib Huber RD ND

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