Fiber Feels Good

I’m a pleasure seeker, not a wellness influencer. I believe life is about feeling as much goodness as possible. Luckily, doing good things usually does feel good to me, even when it’s monumentally hard — like building a company or being a parent, or taking a stand for something I believe in. I take pleasure in the sense of adventure, accomplishment, and teamwork of it all.

And yes — I use the word pleasure provocatively, as a counterweight to the stoic, linear, data-driven culture we exist in. I purposely want to feel untethered and light — as a balance to the shadow that gives meaning to life. I’m not here to optimize every minute of my life or yours. Life opens up when you stop trying to control everything and simply follow what feels good and right. We are living in a time of heaviness and we must rebalance it with lightness.

Case in point: I eat dessert every night and chocolate every afternoon at 3 (Chocolate Floura bar coming soon!). There is honey and milk in my tea and cream in my coffee. I’m not here to sculpt you into a marble statue through restriction or bring you to your knees in the gym. I am here for lightness, a return to self, and freedom from the tyranny of perfection and optimization.

So how did a pleasure-seeker become a fiber evangelist?

Because once I started eating more fiber I started feeling good. Like, really good. My mind cleared. My digestion calmed. I felt lighter in every dimension: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual/philosophical. If it hadn’t been so dramatic, I wouldn’t be dedicating my life to changing how we make and eat food.

You Are Nature

After stepping away from Jeni’s five years ago, I walked in the forest every single day. I needed to heal — to find myself again, and in many ways, for the first time.

Walking moved feelings through my body. The trees and streams carried my sadness away. I adored the forest. I wanted to disappear into it. So I brought the flavors of the forest into my kitchen.

I half-joked that I was eating like a woodland gnome: berries, apples, oats, walnuts, seeds, yogurt, soft-boiled eggs, smoked fish, greens, mushrooms, tubers, crusty sourdough with sesame, butter, and honey. It wasn’t about “health.” It was delicious imagination.

(We’ll talk about imagination and healing soon.)

And then I learned the science underneath the magic.

Oats contain beta-glucan, a powerful prebiotic fiber that feeds the microbes responsible for making butyrate, the molecule that keeps your gut lining strong and inflammation low. A splash of vinegar in your milk overnight helps “open” the oat fibers, making them more accessible to your microbes by morning. Slightly underripe pears add even more benefit—they’re firmer because they hold more pectin, another prebiotic fiber that slowly breaks down as the fruit softens.

And then there are blueberries, my forever favorite. I used to make fresh blueberry jam every July to swirl into ice cream, and the berries thickened on their own with nothing but sugar and heat because so much pectin hides in their skins. Pectin is beloved by the microbes that create butyrate too.

The more I learned, the more everything clicked.

Fiber feeds the microbes in your gut biome — and 95% of us aren’t getting enough. That deficit affects nearly everything: metabolic health, immunity, mood, inflammation, hormones, energy.

The foods we eat will change us for the better, or the worse.

The industrial food system removes fiber from our foods and it has caused lasting damage. 60% of us have at least one chronic condition and 41% of our children. Once I learned that statistic, I knew I had to go deeper.

This isn’t a story about dietary restriction. It’s a story about coming home to yourself through beautiful food. (btw, here is my handy guide for fiber-rich foods)

Lightness

When I began eating more plants—berries, nuts, seeds, greens, beans, spices—and walking every day, I lost twenty pounds without ever feeling like I was trying. More importantly, I gained something else: lightness. A looseness in my body, a clarity in my mind, a spaciousness in my heart.

I wish I had known this at 25.

This is what fiber became for me—not just a nutrient, but a feeling. And that feeling is called lightness. It moves through every realm of your being.

Your First North Star:

Shoot for 30 grams of fiber daily. Don’t worry if you don’t hit it. Just get fiber.

Let it be easy. Let it be delicious. Let it feel like a return.

Your future self will thank you.

Next, we’ll talk about the next north star: 30 plants — and why it’s not just fiber, but diverse fiber that makes all the difference in how you feel.

With love and lightness,

Jeni