Fibermaxxing

Anything But Mid is hosted by Amy Edwards and Whitney Stropp. Neither host is a doctor and nothing here is medical advice. Lightly cleaned for readability.

Amy: Oh. I'm Amy.

Whitney: I'm Whitney. And it's midlife, but you are anything but mid.

Amy: Amen, sister.

Whitney: All right. We did it.

Amy: Oh, my god, we finally nailing our intro.

Whitney: Finally. Okay. Oops, I put this pillow in my lap. I'm not sure why. Okay. So hi.

Amy: Hi.

Whitney: What are you doing? How are you?

Amy: I'm good.

Whitney: How's life?

Amy: Life is good.

Whitney: Yeah? Anything to tell?

Whitney: Well, I mean, I've had a sick person staying at my house, unfortunately. They were just supposed to come in for Thursday evening and ended up staying five more days.

Amy: It's a nightmare.

Whitney: So it's been I've been playing nurse. But happy to do it for a good friend, so.

Amy: And you live alone. So I mean it's like you're so used to your own space. I had a day-to-day where everyone's left. Like.

Whitney: Oh, yeah.

Amy: Yeah. Like we got back from traveling too, and then everyone's gone. And then I'm just so excited.

Whitney: Yeah, I remember those days when you still had kids at home and a partner, and it's just like, all I want is 10 minutes by myself.

Amy: I mean, and I don't want to make food for anybody. I don't want to do a dish for anybody.

Whitney: I This is the funny part about having a friend stay that long accidentally is she looked in my refrigerator and there is nothing there. Nothing.

Amy: She's like, where's the food?

Whitney: She's like, what are you eating? And I'm like, I go out. I go, I DoorDash. I'll tell you what I do. I DoorDash steak tacos in the morning with corn tortilla at the Veracruz tacos.

Amy: What? Oh, my gosh.

Whitney: And I'll eat one for breakfast.

Amy: Like taco Taco Deli, or?

Whitney: No, it's Veracruz.

Amy: That's the name of the place? Oh, I don't know it. I don't know it.

Whitney: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It used to be or still is, you know, the LINE hotel downtown?

Amy: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Whitney: Their little downstairs little walk-up place is Veracruz tacos. It's so good. And so I'm kind of addicted to that right now. So I'll order two tacos. I'll eat one for breakfast and one for lunch. And then typically, I'll go out with a friend or something, or, you know, make a salad or something. But there's not a lot to to eat.

Amy: No.

Whitney: No. And I

Amy: I keep weird stuff. I realize I don't even need to go to the grocery store.

Whitney: Yeah, I have kimchi in my I have kimchi, eggs, a loaf of bread, some cheese, and and my taco that I'm going to eat for lunch.

Amy: Wow. You, my love, are not fibermaxxing. Whatsoever. But when I'm left to my own devices, I eat one meal a day.

Whitney: And how big is that meal?

Amy: It's big.

Whitney: It is? Like, give me an example, like what?

Amy: It will be about, like today, I'm going to eat

Whitney: Oh, you're already excited about it.

Amy: Oh, my god, I'm so excited. I've already got roasted tomatoes in there, and a little bit of broccoli, and some spinach. And so I

Whitney: Did you roast the tomatoes?

Amy: I did.

Whitney: Oh, wow.

Amy: You know me, I like to make my own hummus, I like to roast vegetables. And I'll, I'm making a tofu scramble. That's my favorite. I'm just, I love a tofu scramble.

Whitney: Tofu is so boring.

Amy: Well, it picks up whatever flavors you give it. So if you put a little turmeric and salt and garlic.

Whitney: You already lost me, dude. I don't have a little turmeric. All my spices are like 6 years old.

Amy: But then it turns the color of eggs. I know, right? When my parents died, I found things that were like

Whitney: Yeah. That's terrible.

Amy: This is from 1983.

Whitney: Yeah. I need to go through it.

Amy: Yeah. But I like I'm really excited. It's my favorite meal. I could eat it every day.

Whitney: So you're going to have tofu Really? All right. So it's tofu, tomatoes, broccoli?

Amy: You start Yeah. You You get like a

Whitney: And a little bit of turmeric.

Amy: a firm, and well they it makes it the color of eggs.

Whitney: Are there options? You can get a soft tofu, or a firm, or a hard?

Amy: Oh, yeah. You don't want soft tofu. Oh, hell no.

Whitney: But is there options? Is that why you're saying

Amy: Oh, yeah. There's silken, and then there's firm, and then there's extra firm. There might be a medium, but I don't know. Silken, you would make Like the other day, I made a protein sauce for some pasta. Everyone in my freaking house loved it.

Whitney: How did you know how to make a protein sauce?

Amy: Well, I saw it on Instagram. And she said you use peas, your favorite, nutritional yeast, and some cashews. And some cashews. And you blend it all together to make a protein sauce. And then you're like you're really maxing your protein with pasta. But I forgot I didn't have peas, so instead, I used some broccoli and an avocado and some lemon juice, garlic.

Whitney: Oh, interesting. See, I you have You have the knack. I don't have I couldn't be like, "Oh, I'm out of peas. I'm just going to toss in some broccoli, and this and that, and just whip it up." I don't know how to do that. I follow the recipe, and it tastes like shit.

Amy: I've put it together. Oh, I I I've followed this recipe book for a while. Like, years ago, maybe 2017, '18. It's called, Fed & Fit. And she's like from San Antonio. She like went to A&M and stuff. Cassy Cassy, something. Anyway, she's so cute. And she I felt like I learned how to cook.

Whitney: Okay. It's nice.

Amy: I felt like I learned how

Whitney: I'm going to need to borrow that book.

Amy: You should. You should get it.

Whitney: Although, I'm by myself now, so. And I have a boyfriend that likes to cook, so.

Amy: You're by yourself, though. Oh, so you, yeah.

Whitney: I know. I really don't need to be bothered.

Amy: Well, I love just like when I get on a meal kick, that's all I want. So I either make a big salad with like everything that I love on top of it, and I kind of use my homemade hummus as my dressing.

Whitney: Right. Yeah.

Amy: And but now I'm on a tofu scramble kick.

Amy: So

Whitney: I love tofu scramble. And you mentioned protein because we're always talking about protein now. Like everybody is like, "Oh, you got to get your protein." But now you've discovered fibermaxxing, so we've got another thing to put on our list.

Amy: Okay. So that's what we're talking about today. Let's jump in.

Whitney: So tell me what it is.

Amy: Let's jump in. Well, not, I'm going to humble brag. I'm fibermaxxing, guys. I am fibermaxxing.

Whitney: You're already good. Your poop floats.

Amy: Oh. I don't know, actually. I don't know if that's a

Whitney: It is a sign that you're getting enough fiber if your poop floats.

Amy: Oh. Maybe. Maybe. I'm regular. I'm regular.

Whitney: Report back. Report back to us.

Amy: Regular as hell. So every day like clockwork, morning. Like, yeah. So always.

Whitney: Okay. That's good. Oh, wow. Okay.

Amy: Which I thought was normal, but apparently, maybe it isn't. So let's dive in.

Whitney: It's I think that means healthy if you're if you're regular.

Amy: Well, I saw the term fibermaxxing, and I sent it to you, and I was like, we have to do an episode.

Whitney: And I was like, good lord. One more thing that we have to be

Amy: To max. I know, because there's protein maxing, and there's veggie maxing, and this.

Whitney: And by the way, I'm not getting my enough protein. Like, my two tacos.

Amy: Well, you eat steak every day.

Whitney: My two grilled steak tacos, yeah, but you have to you're supposed to get a gram per pound or something like that.

Amy: Oh, that's I think that's maximum, if I think There's a formula that you can do. And I mean, I think if you're yeah, it's like 1. 14 times your weight / 2, or something like that.

Whitney: What's Okay.

Amy: So it would be like 70 or something.

Whitney: And now they want me to do math.

Amy: Now they want you to do math.

Whitney: All right. And now fiber. So talk so

Amy: Yes. So fiber. Okay. So it's about intentionally prioritizing fiber, right? Okay, we got that. So aiming for or above daily targets by building every meal and snack around fiber-rich plants, and sometimes adding a targeted supplement. So

Whitney: What is that? Right. Okay.

Amy: like protein forward, but for fiber. Okay? So it emerged recently for TikTok and Gen Z like nutrition chatter, right? And as part of the maxing lexicon, as they call it. So there was like protein maxing, and I mean, looksmaxxing is really what they've talked about. Have you heard of that?

Whitney: Oh. No.

Amy: Oh, you haven't seen before and after guys looksmaxxing?

Whitney: I'm not on TikTok.

Amy: No, they do it on Instagram, too. But they'll talk about looksmaxxing, and these guys will do all these things to themselves, and like, suddenly they look like a different person. They're

Whitney: Oh, really? Really?

Amy: Yeah. It makes suddenly No. No. No. It takes like 6 months to a year, and they'll like be like sort of doughy, and then suddenly they've got like a jaw a jawline that could cut glass, you know?

Whitney: Oh, wow. Wow. Can't wait to dive into that later today.

Amy: You know what? Your algo's already picking it up, so yeah.

Whitney: I know. It's so true.

Amy: So apparently, according to my research, many adults do not get the recommended a- am- recommended amount of dietary fiber. Especially in midlife.

Whitney: No, I I totally agree with that. Because like what we just said, all of a sudden, I don't have a household to take care of anymore. My kids are on their own, eating on their own, and my husband's dead, so I'm not having to deal with his dietary wishes either. So I just have some kimchi and my and an egg.

Amy: Yeah. Where's your pickles? You love pickles.

Whitney: Oh, I do. I do have pickles. My cornichons or how do you how do you pronounce it?

Amy: Cornichons.

Whitney: Yeah. I have those. Mmm, and the juice. So good.

Amy: Okay. It is good.

Whitney: Is there fiber in that?

Amy: I've started mixing it in my in my

Whitney: Hummus?

Amy: ketchup. Oh, my god, it's so good. Because I

Whitney: Oh. My mouth is watering.

Amy: I will cut up my carrots like fries, and I'll put them in the air fryer, and then I dip that in ketchup with pickle juice.

Whitney: Ah.

Amy: I'm salivating.

Whitney: My mouth is literally watering right now. Oh, my gosh.

Amy: Me too.

Whitney: That's hilarious.

Amy: Okay. So, all right, so as as we get to this stage in life, higher risk of weight gain, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, I don't know what that is, and CVD, I don't know what that is. But dietary fiber can help, okay, guys? That's what we're talking about. It helps weight regulation. And your metabolism, right?

Whitney: Well, because I would imagine that if you have enough fiber, then you feel full for longer, right?

Amy: Yes, exactly, which is really what like Ozempic and these other things are doing, too, is slowing down your digestion.

Whitney: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes.

Amy: And so this is like a good hack for that. So we've got When we're talking about that, we're talking about gel-forming soluble fibers, which is like oats,

Whitney: Mmm. Gel.

Amy: psyllium husk, which I make this bread,

Whitney: Oh, my gosh.

Amy: that is like from psyllium husk, and it's

Whitney: I make my own hummus, and then when I make my own bread,

Amy: It's easy!

Whitney: It's so easy.

Amy: It is easy, and it tastes better.

Whitney: With my constructional yeast or whatever it's called?

Amy: Instructional. What is it? Nutritional yeast. I love nutritional yeast. I put I I put it on

Whitney: I know. I've seen you eat it. That's terrible.

Amy: I put it on my tofu scramble. Oh, yes, I do.

Whitney: All righty.

Amy: Beans, flax seed, chia, all those are like slowing things down, right? And then they slow down this glucose peak that you can have and things like that.

Whitney: Yeah. Which is a big thing. Everybody's talking about glucose. That's why there's a whole outrage from diabetics that need to get their glucose monitor or whatever, and regular people are just like scooping them up.

Amy: I've kind of wanted to, but I haven't done it. Have you done it?

Whitney: I haven't done it because it's like I don't really need to monitor anything else. Good lord.

Amy: So another thing to do. I don't, either. I took off my Oura Ring years ago, and I have not put it back on. I swear to god, though, I was feel- I could feel it. Like, like, the

Whitney: Like, squeezing on you?

Amy: No. Like an electric impulse or something.

Whitney: Mmm.

Amy: Yeah. It's starting to bug me.

Whitney: I don't need a ring to tell me that I'm not sleeping. I already know that.

Amy: All right. It also lowers cholesterol. It also and and so we're going to talk about the types of fiber, too.

Whitney: Yeah, because I don't know I know beans have fiber. That's all I know.

Amy: It also helps you move estrogens through your body, which apparently is a good thing. I don't know.

Whitney: Oh. Well, a lot of foods I I I'm going to get this totally wrong, but I believe a lot of products have estrogen in it that we didn't even realize. That's why kids are hitting puberty earlier

Amy: Oh, great.

Whitney: and, you know, boys are crying. No, I don't know about that part, but that's a joke.

Amy: I mean, I remember Jeremy Piven having some sort of issue around

Whitney: Man boobs? I don't know.

Amy: I think he he blamed it for something, but I think it became like something to where it wasn't true. It was a myth. Anyway, I don't know. Colon health. It helps it it

Whitney: Oh, it was

Amy: Higher fiber diets are consistently linked to lower colorectal cancer.

Whitney: Okay. Great.

Amy: Yeah. And like my mom had ulcerative colitis, which is very much like Crohn's disease, and she had to had to cut out a lot of fiber, and she died of

Whitney: She got Colon cancer?

Amy: Yes.

Whitney: Oh, I didn't realize that that was how she died.

Amy: Oh, yeah. Well, it was actually neuroendocrine cancer, if I recall correctly, and so it was everywhere. It was bad. It was bad, but it started in her colon. And that is like a big risk. And I mean, I always just felt like, shouldn't she heal her gut with fiber, but

Whitney: Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh. Mmm. No. I I know, my father-in-law has Crohn's, and he has to stay away from fiber.

Amy: Oh. I didn't know. Oh, man. That sucks.

Whitney: I know. But he's 81, so maybe he's not going to have colon cancer.

Amy: Knock on wood. I mean, they they have to keep checking for that. You know, like, that's why she

Whitney: Yeah. Yeah, it is weird that you would think that you would want to do the opposite to get things healthy, but it's too disruptive.

Amy: Yeah. It does it doesn't make sense to me.

Whitney: I know. I know.

Amy: Okay. Anyway, it also helps with everybody's favorite, inflammation. That's right, the root of everything. Diverse plant fibers feed a broader microbiome, which we want a good microbiome.

Whitney: Yes, it's true.

Amy: And it generates

Whitney: Which is like the bacteria in your stomach and stuff? I can never remember how to talk about it.

Amy: Yeah, it is. It is. It's the good and the bad and the neutral, right? We want a healthy microbiome. Everybody's down there, all the bugs, the gut bugs.

Whitney: Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Amy: So it supports gut integrity and has anti-inflammatory effects. Love that. And good for metabolic and GI health in midlife.

Whitney: Yay.

Amy: All right. So how are we going to do this, right?

Whitney: That's what I need to know. What's the Can I just take a pill, because I'm taking so many already?

Amy: I mean, you can, but do you

Whitney: Well, that's the thing. Yeah. Where I am now relying so much on supplements, where in the olden days, you got it through your food.

Amy: Food was better then.

Whitney: Yeah, food was way better then.

Amy: Yeah. So our food like I think I've told you, I'm suspicious of baby spinach because I feel like it doesn't have adult adult molecules. I want a fully I don't want baby any vegetable. I want fully formed

Whitney: Oh, yeah, you've said that. That's right. You want fully formed spinach. Yes. Right.

Amy: full-grown veg.

Whitney: That's right. She wants man veggies.

Amy: Woman.

Whitney: None of that wussy stuff.

Amy: Well, a practical goal for most women is 25 to 35 g per day of fiber.

Whitney: Okay. Which means nothing to me, but

Amy: Okay? Which means nothing, right. Yeah. So many doing well at 30 to 40 g. So if you increase gradually and you can tolerate it. If you're supplementing, start with 1 teaspoon, which is 2 to 3 g, once a day. So I suppose if you're adding something like flax seeds to your smoothie.

Whitney: Or Metamucil, is it that fiber or something?

Amy: Don't take fucking Metamucil. Gross. Who knows what's in Metamucil? But I do remember like Geritol and Metamucil commercials saying, "Get more fiber," or whatever.

Whitney: I know. Fiber. Right. But it is true that you have to do it slowly, because you don't want to pound your body with fiber right away. Then you've got stomach issues.

Amy: That's what I'm saying. Then you're just sitting on the toilet. I don't know. But like, okay, so you can do like a cup of beans, right? Lentils

Whitney: Any beans? Okay.

Amy: Lentils, beans. Oh, yeah, I think so.

Whitney: I just bought some lentil soup for my friend.

Amy: Okay. Well, maybe you can have that. That's a good idea. Also, you could do oats. You could do like like rolled oats or something like that, or steel cut.

Whitney: But I'm going to eat it. Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amy: Yeah. Which is kind of a pain in the ass to make, but I'll make like a bunch of quinoa with like a a really good bouillon, like a veggie bouillon, like a a cube, a bouillon cube.

Whitney: Mmm.

Amy: I buy one that's like a paste that lives in the fridge, and it's oh, it's vegan, it's so good. It's so good, I could literally shovel the quinoa in my mouth. It's so good.

Whitney: Okay. Because of the bouillon?

Amy: Yeah! God, it's like a umami.

Whitney: Okay. Mmm.

Amy: Oh, it's so good. Okay. Anyway, quinoa, something like that, or just vegetables. But I say just throw everything on a bed of fully formed spinach. Like just throw your shit on a on spinach.

Whitney: Wait. Spinach is fiber?

Amy: Yeah. Yeah. Fruit, vegetables, you can get a couple cups of vegetables, right? Or seeds and nuts, those count. That's great, right?

Whitney: Okay. Okay. Pumpkin seeds?

Amy: I don't know. I don't know. Our our episode on pumpkin seeds, we hope you'll hear it, so.

Whitney: Mmm.

Amy: It got deleted. We don't want to talk about it right now.

Whitney: It may be by the time this is released, we may have gotten it released, so.

Amy: I hope so. I hope so. That's the idea. Just you want Okay. You want to prioritize whole foods over things that say fiber fortified.

Whitney: Oh, right. Right. Well, that makes sense.

Amy: Like, packaged snacks. That's bullshit, y'all. So it can actually raise do something to your insulin and make you bloated. Fuck that. Whole food fiber is better balanced and tends to be better tolerated, so do that.

Whitney: Sure. Bullshit. Oh, yeah. But did you say 1 cup of beans? What'd you say?

Amy: I did say 1 I said 1/2 to 1.

Whitney: That's That doesn't seem like a lot. I mean

Amy: Right. It's doable.

Whitney: You could Yeah.

Amy: It's doable.

Whitney: I feel like that's doable.

Amy: It's absolutely doable, right? And then

Whitney: I'm just going to have to make a list on my refrigerator of like, you know, meat, 1/2 a cup of beans, whatever. Like, I'm going to have to And then just do a check.

Amy: your own little food pyramid.

Whitney: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, because you know the food pyramid's wrong.

Amy: Now here's the deal, though. You have to hydrate. You have to drink enough water.

Whitney: Oh, you've got to be able to let every If you don't have Yes. Then you're going to be constipated.

Amy: So it moves. So it moves. Yeah. I've been slacking off on my hydration a bit. I drink too much coffee, and then I haven't been hydrating like I need to. I think, too, because I was traveling a little.

Whitney: Oh. Yeah.

Amy: But that's key. They go hand-in-hand. Yes.

Whitney: Fiber and water.

Amy: Yes, to skip through your intestines. Now listen to this, though.

Whitney: To move. Okay.

Amy: Okay? This is important for thyroid meds. So I want everybody to look alive since we all have some sort of thyroid thing going on, it seems like.

Whitney: Okay. I'm all ears. Okay.

Amy: Fiber, especially supplements like psyllium husk or psyllium, p-s-y-l-l-i-u-m is what I'm saying. It can reduce or delay absorption of some medications, including levothyroxine, which is kind of like Synthroid, which is what I take. So separate them by 2 to 4 hours. And other meds, 2 to 3 hours. So don't

Whitney: That makes sense.

Amy: I guess if you're eating a lot of this, don't take a bunch of supplements right afterward, too. Morning thyroid meds, do your biggest fiber hit later in the day, and monitor your TSH.

Whitney: How do you monitor your TSH?

Amy: I don't fucking know. Okay? I don't know. I mean, I guess blood work, but you're not going to do it every day.

Whitney: No.

Amy: No. Okay, so.

Whitney: No. Do the best that you can.

Amy: So some of these fibermaxxing things say not 50 to 100 g per day, but that is pretty crazy. You don't need to do that, right? You actually run the risk then of swinging the other direction into bloating territory and GI distress. So you don't you don't need all that, right? We need like

Whitney: Okay. Right. Okay.

Amy: a normal diet, imagine that. Imagine that.

Whitney: But I'm confused now on what is a normal diet. That you know, you can read things that say stay away from all green leafy things and or don't, you know, none of the vegetables coming out of the ground have any of the nutrients that you think that they have, and

Amy: Yeah, well, that you should buy organic, I guess.

Whitney: That's why I'm just popping pills. I'm like, I might as well add another fiber pill, I guess.

Amy: Yeah. I think just mix it up, right? And then like if you're eating something, think about fiber. So like

Whitney: A cup of beans is easy, or bean dip.

Amy: Yeah. I I make bean dip. Instead of hummus, just like throw literally throw a can of beans

Whitney: Hummus? Chickpeas.

Amy: with half uh with half a jar of salsa in your blender, boom, you have a bean dip, and it is so fucking good.

Whitney: Yeah, and put it in a blender. Oh, my gosh. What?

Amy: I make that all the time. For like Gigi. Yeah. Revolutionary, right? And it's so easy. You can keep that in your pantry, and then if you are like, "Hey, I want a crunchy snack," or something, then you put that with like your carrots that you've already cut up that you're making into carrot fries sometimes. I keep them all cut like kind of like this this like a few inches long,

Whitney: Well, that's easy. I'm going to do that today. Your bean dip. Yeah, duh.

Amy: long ways. I'm drooling.

Whitney: I know. You're getting all excited.

Amy: And then I'll toss them maybe in a little avocado oil, and I'll put them in the air fryer.

Whitney: I don't have an air fryer.

Amy: So good.

Whitney: I don't know how to use it. My son has one, he had it at home for the summer.

Amy: It's not hard. You literally just put stuff in it and start it.

Whitney: But I wouldn't know that you could put carrots in there. With nothing on them?

Amy: You can put Yeah, I do it with nothing sometimes.

Whitney: But when you do put something on there, what is it, salt?

Amy: A little bit of avocado oil, yeah. You could spray them or whatever. So Okay. So here's like a midlife-friendly fibermaxxing diet.

Whitney: Oil. Oh, okay. Mmm. Oh, finally.

Amy: So you're going to have some overnight oats with chia or flax seeds and berries in the morning. How nice is that, right? Easy. Lunch, big salad. So maybe you'll do some

Whitney: Big salad. Big salad.

Amy: So maybe you'll do some mixed greens, chickpeas. I love me some chickpeas. Or or just I do I use the hummus as my dressing with a little olive oil, hot sauce. Yeah.

Whitney: Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Amy: I use Yellowbird Habanero Hot Sauce, my favorite. Chickpeas, little maybe quinoa if you want. Like you make a bowl, basically.

Whitney: Mmm. Yummy. Yeah. Yeah.

Amy: Maybe you throw

Whitney: And then you throw some chicken on there and you've got your protein.

Amy: Yep. Throw some pumpkin seeds on there.

Whitney: Dash a little pumpkin seeds.

Amy: You are so good. I mean, that's amazing, right? So then you're getting another like 15 g depending on how much lettuce lettuce you use and, you know, quinoa, whatever.

Whitney: Okay, so lettuce does have fiber.

Amy: Yeah, it does. It does. Where is that? I was going to tell you like foods that did because yeah. Well, why It didn't say it on here. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts. I know I read that spinach does somewhere. Dammit.

Whitney: Green, I think so. Green leafy vegetables, yeah.

Amy: We'll go through some other rock star foods. So then snack, you're going to have pear, or maybe an apple, something like that, maybe some almonds. And then dinner, you're going to have chili with beans, you know, some maybe throw in some throw in a little vegetable, throw in a little broccoli or something. Boom.

Whitney: Mmm. Broccoli in your chili?

Amy: I think it sounds great, but yeah.

Whitney: Mmm.

Amy: But that's just me. I can put broccoli in anything. How about you just throw a little tofu in there?

Whitney: Yum.

Amy: Like, yum.

Whitney: Does tofu have fiber?

Amy: It is not listed anywhere. It's It's soybeans, though, so seems like

Whitney: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Amy: Sorry, made a noise. That's Excuse me. So I I don't know. It didn't say tofu anywhere, but I'd like to I'd like to know because it seems like it would qualify.

Whitney: Well, if it's bean, yeah.

Amy: Yeah. So anyway, just eat a lot more diverse plant fiber mostly from real food, increase it slowly, and then you can supplement it, too, right? But just be careful with your medications and stuff like that. So

Whitney: Yeah. Okay.

Amy: yeah. So it's going to be good for your weight. It's going to be good for your gut. It's going to be good for cancer prevention. This one's a yes.

Whitney: This one is a big yes.

Amy: This is absolutely a yes.

Whitney: And not as overwhelming as I thought. I can do a cup of beans. I can do I like the bean dip idea.

Amy: No. Yeah. Oh, it's so good. It's so good, right?

Whitney: And a salad. Honestly, I I feel like I get more fiber when I'm out of town, like when when I'm traveling, because I'm eating more diverse foods than what I do at home. Like I'll have broccoli and, you know, sides versus at home, I'll just like eat the meat,

Amy: Right. Uh-huh. Mmm. Eat your one taco.

Whitney: eat my kimchi, and and my taco.

Amy: Well, I mean, it does seem to be working for you. You look really good.

Whitney: It is working on the outside. I don't know what the inside is what's happening on the inside. But I'm about to get more blood work done, so we'll know soon. We'll have all the details.

Amy: Ooh, I cannot wait. I cannot wait. So here's just some other foods. Oh, it does say edamame, so I mean like I'm thinking maybe there is some in your tofu. Well, yeah. Yeah.

Whitney: Beans, I mean they said beans.

Amy: So, yeah, kidney beans, black beans, chickpeas. Then we've got chia seed, flax seed, hemp seed, sunflower seeds.

Whitney: I bought this chia seed jam at No, it was good. It's like

Amy: That sounds so gross. I'm sorry. I don't like jam texture. I don't like gel.

Whitney: What? You love textures of tofu, but you don't like jam?

Amy: And tofu, I'm a little like it has to be cooked right. It cannot be slimy.

Whitney: It has to be firm. Mmm.

Whitney: No, it was good. It's just I just got a little jar of it, and I'll put it on a piece of bread with peanut butter and chia jam.

Amy: That sounds like you're fibermaxxing.

Whitney: So I'm getting a little bit of fiber.

Amy: Yeah. Sunflower seeds, almonds, pistachios, artichokes, broccoli, Brussels sprout sprouts, carrots, which you can do all of that in your air fryer.

Whitney: Okay. In the Yeah.

Amy: Carrots, leafy greens.

Whitney: Okay, there you go.

Amy: There she is. There she is. Cauliflower, right? So we've got fruits. We got berries, pears, apples with the skin on. They like the skin. Yeah. Avocado, cool. Kiwi, figs, dates in moderation.

Whitney: Yes. Why? Oh, interesting.

Amy: Too much sugar.

Whitney: Oh, gotcha.

Amy: Because they're dried. Oats, quinoa, farro, barley, brown rice, buckwheat, amaranth. I just ordered some amaranth wafers.

Whitney: I don't even know what that is.

Amy: It's like I don't know what amaranth is, either, but they make a flour out of it. The wafers can satisfy your crunchy need, and they have like no calories. I saw some really skinny girl, and she's like, "How I stay skinny," and she was like eating her amaranth wafer.

Whitney: Yeah, like buckwheat. When are they coming? I'm going to have to try one.

Amy: Like maybe today. I know. I'll I'll I'll have them for you next time. And we'll talk about it. Let's see. Then so that's that's really a good list that's comprehensive and seems pretty easy, right?

Whitney: Yeah. It sounds like once I mean, I don't know how much a salad I don't, you know, I'll have to go back and look at the the numbers of like how much fiber.

Amy: So I mean, for you, anything. Just eat some dark leafy greens. Just eat anything. Really, seriously. It's good.

Whitney: I know. I know. I do get avocado every day.

Amy: Yeah, avocado's really good. That's good fat. That's good fat, too. So we're talking about it says here, estrogen detoxing. So that's good. And it's going to help balance that. Balance your blood sugar, your cortisol with the less of a crash in the afternoon. That's very appealing to me.

Whitney: In my steak tacos. Mmm. Mmm. Yes.

Amy: And reduced bloating, as long as you don't overdo it, and weight regulation. I love it.

Whitney: All right.

Amy: Now what I really want to talk about, so if we're talking about the number one per serving serving, I don't know, a cup?

Whitney: Yeah.

Amy: Lentils, then black beans and chickpeas, chia seeds, split peas, flax seeds, raspberries and blueberries. We love blueberries. A cooked artichoke, who's doing that? That's a pain in the ass. Then avocado, quinoa, barley, and then

Whitney: Mmm. Yeah.

Amy: my favorite at the end, number 10 here on the list, is a potato with skin.

Whitney: Oh, I do love a good potato. But then I started feeling like the message was they're not healthy. Baked potato is healthy.

Amy: Well, they're wrong. They're wrong. So I want to shout out So oh, yeah, I'm going to put a link in here, too, because then I started reading about one from the Washington an article in the Washington Post that was talking about fibermaxxing, too. And this one was talking particularly, this article, about resistant starch. So

Whitney: Mmm.

Amy: there is a book that a very fit friend turned me onto, and it's called The Potato Hack, which I love potatoes, guys.

Whitney: I love a hack. So are we a great team?

Amy: Wow, we're a match made in heaven. So there's a book called The Potato Hack, and she said you basically eat potato just potatoes for like 3 days, and it completely resets your gut microbiome. And you can order this book, it's like really thin and easy to read.

Whitney: Okay. Oh. Did you do it?

Amy: I've done it some. I've done it for like a day.

Whitney: Did you do it for three Oh, so you haven't actually ever done a full reset.

Amy: I think maybe I know, because I wanted like butter.

Whitney: Oh, you just You can't put anything on the potato? Oh, no. That's not happening.

Amy: No. No. You cook it you can And they don't even recommend salt, but I had to do salt. But what you do is you cook the potato, and then you let it cool. So what that does is shifts the starch in potatoes to something called resistant starch. It's a specific kind of fiber that resists digestion in the small intestine and reaches the colon where the gut microbes ferment it, and it is really good.

Whitney: I'm just imagining these little bugs at the end of my colon like just busy as little bees.

Amy: They are. They're down there partying their asses off.

Whitney: They are fermented.

Amy: Yeah, they're all

Whitney: Fermenting it up.

Amy: So I from my understanding, and she is like an Eastern medicine doctor, and she was just talking about the power of resistant starch. So you can actually just buy potato starch, too.

Whitney: Okay. Ew.

Amy: No, it's not bad. You can use it to make all sorts of things, but I can't remember what. But he has recipes in that book.

Whitney: But the plan in the book the plan is just potatoes for 3 days, plain, cooked, cooled potato?

Amy: I should grab the book. Yep. Yep.

Whitney: And then you're kind of starving. I would think you're starving the bacteria or something. I don't know. I don't understand the science.

Amy: Well, you have to read the book for the science. I don't remember. But I remember it's good, right? And so

Whitney: I'm not doing it, though. But I will eat potato. I love potatoes.

Amy: I know. Me, too.

Whitney: I put salsa on mine.

Amy: So good. Hot sauce, salsa, I'll eat it with anything.

Whitney: Mmm. Me, too.

Amy: Absolutely anything. I'm a potato freak. I just love them.

Whitney: Yeah, they're good.

Amy: So, yeah. So the benefits are about microbiome health, I guess, is the thing. And feeling satiated. And calorie absorption. So it's bigger than just counting your grams, it's about if you're doing resistant starch, too, which this is so stupid, includes green bananas. Like, who's going to eat a green banana?

Whitney: Nobody's eating a green banana. Gross.

Amy: Gross. No, but the cooled cooked potato really is a a rock star in that. But beans and lentils can satisfy it, too. But it's helping with your metabolism and your fullness and all of that. And so

Whitney: No. Okay. Right.

Amy: so I like if you're going to cook potatoes, let them cool down first and then you're getting the benefit of that. And you can reheat them. But you're getting that resistant starch. So it's really, really cool.

Whitney: Okay. That's good to know. Because I usually just scarf mine down right after I've heated it up.

Amy: I know. They're so good. It's hard to let them cool. Eat a few, and then let the rest cool. And then do that. So.

Whitney: I wonder if you put Have you done a baked potato in the air fryer? Is it like a french fry?

Amy: I think you can.

Whitney: Yeah, you haven't done it. I need to get an air fryer.

Amy: Justin cooks a steak in the air fryer

Whitney: What?

Amy: every single day.

Whitney: I'm going to need that recipe to pass on to my kid. Because he's like I go, "You need to stop DoorDashing." And he's like, "I guess I need to learn to cook." And I'm like

Amy: It's 11 minutes. Justin can do it. He puts a little liner liner paper in there. Which is It's so weird, but the If you don't have a something in the liner paper, the liner paper paper will burn. But if you do have something in the liner paper, it doesn't burn. It's so

Whitney: Okay. It doesn't. It's the juices that keep it from burning, maybe.

Amy: I don't know. Anyway, he cooks a steak in there, which it's like 11 minutes for a ribeye. 11 minutes. I don't know what temperature, whatever, 380 or something. And he does that literally every day. Loves it.

Whitney: Oh, my gosh. That's good to know.

Amy: No, they're good for everything. I didn't get on the train till like a year and a half ago. And then I was like, what have I been

Whitney: I know. I just bought one for my college kid and but I don't I don't know how to use it, so.

Amy: Well, it doesn't sound like you really need one.

Whitney: I don't know. I try to I need to eat meat every day. I mean, if I could just make a

Amy: Why? I don't eat meat every day.

Whitney: Protein. Well, you're vegan and you do all that. I go eat a burger.

Amy: I'm not really vegan. I'm a carnivore. Mmm. Okay.

Whitney: I like to eat meat for my protein. That's how I get my protein.

Amy: I mean, you can cook meat in there.

Whitney: Yeah, so you've said.

Amy: Absolutely. I cook chicken in there. And then I'll cook it in there for Gigi and and Justin, and then I have this amazing chicken shredder.

Whitney: Oh, my god, you get so excited.

Amy: And like my chicken shredder's so awesome. So you put all the chicken breast, you cut it into chunks, and then it suction cups to the counter, and then you have two handles and you go and it shreds it.

Whitney: And it's just to make it shredded for tacos and stuff. Yeah.

Amy: It's It's amazing.

Whitney: Awesome.

Amy: Anyway. Okay, sorry. All right. So that's my report, my book report on fibermaxxing. I was trying to see I just wanted to end with that resistant starch, because I thought that that was important. And just avoid ultra-processed food, because that is

Whitney: All right.

Amy: going to downgrade your fiber situation.

Whitney: Well, that's that's that's for everything.

Amy: Anyway, I felt really validated after doing this one, so I was like feeling pretty good.

Whitney: You're like, "I am fibermaxxing to the max."

Amy: I just really like veggies and all that kind of stuff, and lentils and all that. I love that shit. And I feel better when I'm eating it. I'm

Whitney: I buy it, and then it just sits, and then I'm like And then it'll be like a can drive, and I'll be like, "I guess I'll give these to

Amy: Really?

Whitney: to the needy, because I'm not using them." I need to do better. I need to do better. I do all this stuff with supplements, but it's really real food that I need to be working on, you know?

Amy: I guess. I guess. I don't know. I mean, I feel like supplements serve their purpose, and your body can absorb them, so I think they're still a good thing.

Whitney: I'm pounding them down. I've said pound like a bazillion times.

Amy: You're getting pounded.

Whitney: I really want to be pounded. Who doesn't?

Amy: Who doesn't? I mean, really.

Whitney: But, yeah, I've I need to do better on the I hate to cook. I don't, you know, when the kids left, I was so happy, because I just felt like so stressed every day like what am I going to make that they'll actually eat, that'll taste good. And so now I'm just like, "Woo-hoo, I'll order I'll order food."

Amy: I know. I know. How much you're paying it You pay for DoorDash every single day.

Whitney: The two Well, not every single day, but maybe three days, four days a week. For the two tacos plus a $5 tip, it's $21.

Amy: Not bad.

Whitney: And I get a breakfast taco and a lunch taco.

Amy: Not bad.

Whitney: So it's not too bad, actually.

Amy: No.

Whitney: But but I'm sure I'm going to get sick of it. I mean, like, literally, it's all I'm eating. So I'm sure I'm going to get sick of it.

Amy: Did you eat it today?

Whitney: I did. I one, and I've got one waiting for me.

Amy: Oh, my god, that's awesome.

Whitney: But it's just easy, and I know I've got getting protein, and it's a clean, healthy restaurant. Like, they're all about organic.

Amy: Oh, they are?

Whitney: Veracruz.

Amy: Oh, okay, even better.

Whitney: Yeah. No, it's good. I'm being healthy, and I get some avocado in there. And then I do my kimchi.

Amy: Nice. Well, that's good. We You know, that's um a fermented food, and I I feel like maybe we should talk about that sometime.

Whitney: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I love it. My mouth is watering right now.

Amy: Really?

Whitney: Yeah. Have you had kimchi before?

Amy: Oh, yes. Yes, but not lately. Yeah, it's pick- but it's got that pickle thing you love.

Whitney: Yes. It's like pickled. Yeah. Oh, and it's a little spicy.

Amy: Yeah, they say sometimes when you're craving something, you know, it's showing you what you're lacking.

Whitney: It's so funny because there was a time when all this stuff was going on with my hormones that I could not get enough pickle juice or salty things. Like it was I had to text my doctor and be like, "What's happening?"

Amy: And?

Whitney: He didn't really I said, "Do you think it's

Amy: Your doctor sucks.

Whitney: I know. I go, "I, you know, I stopped taking my thyroid medicine because I ran out, and I'm waiting for it. But in the last week, I have could not get enough salty things. Like I'm craving it to the point where I'm still wanting it, and my mouth is like sore."

Amy: Is this the 90-year-old doctor? Sore.

Whitney: And I was like, "This is a problem."

Amy: Hate that feeling.

Whitney: And he goes, "Maybe."

Amy: Is this the 90-year-old?

Whitney: Mhm.

Amy: Oh, my god, get a new doctor.

Whitney: He just retired, though. But I was already I'd already retired him. But now we just got a notification that he's retiring. I'm like, it's probably wise.

Amy: Good. Sounds overdue, frankly.

Whitney: Yeah, so. Do you want to hear something crazy? That doctor I may have already said this, but my that doctor was the partner of the gynecologist that delivered me.

Amy: Yeah, always.

Whitney: So they were partners. So he was an OB-GYN in Houston, and his partner

Amy: And you're 54. Okay.

Whitney: And so when I took my mom to the functional health doctor, because I was like, "Come on, you do it, too." She was like, "Wait a minute. He started the Women's Hospital in Houston? That was my doctor started that."

Amy: Wow. Wow.

Whitney: And so when she went in, she was like, "Do you know Dr. so and so?" And he was like, "He was my partner."

Amy: Uh.

Whitney: So it's she he probably checked my mom's vagina once or twice.

Amy: Wow, gosh. Full circle.

Whitney: Just full circle.

Amy: Wow. Oh, gosh.

Whitney: Anyway, on that note

Amy: On that note. Do you have a midlife moment? Because I can't I don't have one right now.

Whitney: I do. I woke up this morning, and my back hurts. And I did nothing.

Amy: For no reason.

Whitney: No. And actually, I you know what I think the reason is, is that I've been sitting on the couch with my sick friend for several days.

Amy: Oh, yeah, that's why. Mhm.

Whitney: But just just waking up and being like, "Ugh, oh, my back." That's sad.

Amy: It's midlife.

Whitney: And I did nothing.

Amy: Central.

Whitney: Yeah. Total midlife.

Amy: Yeah. When you're just like, "I slept wrong."

Whitney: Yeah. You're like And now I'll be hurting for like 3 weeks.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah.

Whitney: Yeah. It's so stupid.

Amy: Well, speaking of sleep, I guess that's mine. I uh I just I'm realizing that now I'm going to have to just sleep with a towel beside the bed.

Whitney: Oh, no.

Amy: Like, last night, I was sweating so much that I got the bed kind of wet.

Whitney: Dude, you have to get uh go back Uh wait. I

Amy: Go back on my estrogen?

Whitney: Yes.

Amy: All right.

Whitney: You have to.

Amy: Okay, I will. Well, my face is better, you know, cuz I stopped everything cuz it was breaking out.

Whitney: Yeah, but I don't think that Were you test testosterone, too? I can't remember.

Amy: I had already cut that out.

Whitney: You need to get back on estrogen and progesterone.

Amy: All right, I'll start taking them again. What time of day do you take your estrogen?

Whitney: Well, now I have a patch.

Amy: Oh, right.

Whitney: So it's constant. But before that, I did everything in the morning.

Amy: Oh. I take mine at night.

Whitney: But now with this ChatGPT stuff, I need to Well, I did it for the thyroid, but I need to go back, because apparently, there are certain times and ways that you're supposed to be taking all this stuff. It's not necessarily a good thing that you take everything at the same time. And I didn't know that.

Amy: No, mine were spread out. Literally, after I did that thing with the functional nutritionist,

Whitney: Yeah, yeah.

Amy: it was like five times a day. So it was like morn- right when I wake up, then morning, then lunch, then dinner, then before bed. And so I bought these little things that divided all up.

Whitney: The pill containers?

Amy: Yeah. And I could never remember to do them all. And I was like, this is too much. So I've just had to trim it down to just like

Whitney: We do what we can.

Amy: right when I wake up, then after my large meal that I do, and then night time, bed.

Whitney: Right. Yeah.

Amy: And that's it. That's all I can handle. I can't handle fucking five times a day to take my pills.

Whitney: Well, I'll forget. Like you said. No.

Amy: That's absurd, and I'm kind of annoyed.

Whitney: No.

Amy: So.

Whitney: I know. I'm annoyed by it all.

Amy: Yeah, so I had to trim that all down. And so I'll go back to God, I feel kind of nauseous talking about this. I don't know. I'll go back to doing it. I've got them all ready to go. I just

Whitney: I mean, there's no reason for you to be sitting in your own sweat all night long, and then having to mop it up with a towel and change your sheets. Like

Amy: When you put it like that.

Whitney: that's miserable.

Amy: It It was I mean, just waking up last night, I was like, oh, my god. I had to get up and get a towel, wipe off my chest, wipe everything. And I was like, damn, I got to sleep with a towel.

Whitney: Yeah. Just get back on your estrogen, dude.

Amy: I I feel like it was still bad with my estrogen, but I'll try it. I'm going to try it. I'm going to report back.

Whitney: Well, then you need to go back to your doctor and figure out why isn't this working? That's what happened to me.

Amy: Okay. That's what I'll do.

Whitney: And so And just know that whenever you up the estrogen, you also have to up the progesterone. But whoever your doctor is, hopefully, will tell you that.

Amy: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I just had an idea, too. You know, hair loss can be tied to thyroid, so.

Whitney: Yeah, I know. That's what's crazy is this doctor put me on all these things, and then I started losing faith in him, and then I was like, "Why am I taking this? I'm not going to take that anymore. Why am I taking this? I'm not going to take that anymore." Not realizing that there was an intricate plan. But also, he put me on DHEA, and it was just 5 mg, but it skyrocketed my levels.

Amy: What even is DHEA?

Whitney: It's something that your body makes, but I don't know anything else.

Amy: Okay, we'll have to look into that. I'm I have to say with this show, I'm feel like I'm getting really educated. Do you?

Whitney: Same. I feel like there's a lot I don't know, and I need to educate myself.

Amy: Well, I feel like we're getting it.

Whitney: Yeah. No, we're learning.

Amy: Like, we're able to determine, "Oh, okay. Maybe I don't need that. Or maybe I" like

Whitney: Right. It definitely is making me be even more of an advocate for myself, because I'm just randomly taking shit that peop- I mean, people that I don't even know, just on the internet or like media.

Amy: Oh, my god. Oh.

Whitney: And I'm like, "Oh, I got to get me some of that." And I don't know if it has any adverse effects or if it doesn't line up with some of the other things that I'm taking. I know nothing.

Amy: Yeah. Me, too.

Whitney: I did stop taking the glutathione liquid, cuz you said it doesn't work.

Amy: I'm still spraying mine stinky on my stomach, but just till it runs out, and then I probably won't redo it.

Whitney: Yeah. We do what we can. We do what we want.

Amy: I just talked to somebody the other day, and she was like, "Oh, I did some glutathione, blah, blah, blah." And I was like, "Mmm."

Whitney: That's the other thing. You're taking all this stuff, but what we don't realize is that everything absorbs in certain ways. Like it's just exhausting.

Amy: It really is. I think that's what we determine almost every time. This is exhausting, so guess what? Do what you want.

Whitney: That's right.

Amy: We do what we want.

Whitney: We do what we want.

Amy: Bye.

Whitney: Bye.