Believe it or not, there was once a time when people avoided talking about their bowel movements. As with other once taboo topics like politics, religion, or whether the US was on the right side of World War II, people are suddenly talking shit all the time.
We no longer go to “the powder room” or to “see a man about a horse”: We openly, flagrantly discuss poop in groupchats, TikToks, on Reddit, and in trend pieces about “hot girls with stomach issues” — and not merely during Constipation Awareness Month, which seems to start earlier every year.
Into this shameless era comes fibermaxxing, a trend that has folks consuming as much fiber-rich food as they can in order to flush themselves out. Unlike other movements that seek to fill the void within, this one seeks to create one. The fibermaxxer does not seek temporary relief, they push for the ultimate state of equipoise: regularity.
To the fibermaxxer, to be regular is to be divine. Praise the lord and pass… everything.
The benefits of fiber consumption are abundant and well-known: lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels, satiety, and, of course, healthy poops. Considering that only 5% of American adults meet the daily requirement of fiber intake according to the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, it was only a matter of time before people began pushing for a movement like this.
Every generation has had their gut fixes, from prunes to Metamucil to high fiber cereals like the ones parodied in SNL’s “Colon Blow” commercial. Consuming fiber was long a part of the private wellness routines of people in their golden years, not something considered chic.
That is, until now.
Look online and you’ll find fit twentysomethings — usually women — pounding back shots of psyllium husk, loading chia seeds and flaxseed into smoothies and talking about “internal showers.”
These shitfluencers extol the virtues of clearing themselves out in terms of weight loss and flat tummies, but there’s something fervent, almost holy about their pursuit of colon health. Publications from the New York Times to USA Today and the Wall Street Journal are going full panic about it: Should you be fibermaxxing? Is it healthy? Be careful!
The silver lining here is that the rise of fibermaxxing and normalizing of poop talk has mainstreamed diagnoses of gut-related issues that people have endured in the shadows: IBS, Crohn’s disease, and colon cancer chief among them.
A 2023 report from the American Cancer Society noted that colorectal cancer rates have nearly doubled in the past 25 years for people between the ages of 18 to 55. Diagnoses of IBS and Crohn’s have gone up as well, undoubtedly in part because people have terminology to identify stomach issues.
“Things like the increasing awareness of colorectal cancer and the importance of gut health from prebiotic sodas like Olipop and Poppi have really begun to slowly create a movement around fiber and its benefits,” said Alan Lin, a health and wellness founder who goes by Fiber Daddy on TikTok.
Lin’s videos show what he eats (and why it’s important) to poop and fart all day, and have received upwards of 15 million views.
Fibermaxxing follows closely behind the trend of proteinmaxxing, the mass consumption of protein that has defined American health and wellness culture over the last few years. Protein is great for building muscle, but it’s also good for building intestinal blockages.
“It’s like a lead weight in your stomach. It makes you super constipated if you eat a ton of protein without some fiber,” said Violet Witchel, a San Francisco-based recipe creator and influencer best known for her dense bean salads. “I think if you eat protein powder and protein bars every day, you’re going to start to feel that.”
Companies are cashing in on the pivot to fiber. Hot girl fiber supplements are this decade’s Fiber One bars with cuter outfits (and $20 million in venture capital backing). If the Kardashians are pushing fiber, there must be a shitload of money in it. Products like Goodles mac and cheese, Ka’Chava meal shakes and OlliPop sodas are advertising fiber, putting an upbeat, Instagram-friendly overlay on the maxxers’ utilitarian routines.
San Francisco-based salad company Mixt is seeing the fibermaxxing bump. “We’ve definitely noticed an uptick in guests’ interest and questions around fiber,” said Leslie Silverglide, Mixt CEO and co-founder. “We have a lot more people asking our salad chefs which ingredients or menu items have the most fiber, or what they can add for more fiber.”
The fiber supplement market is booming: Introspective Market Research estimates its value at $450 million. Lin, aka Fiber Daddy, has taken advantage of his virality. He has promoted something he’s calling fartmaxxing, where he maximizes the odor and volume of his farts by consuming copious fiber and fermented foods. He’s also entered the supplement game with his own product called Liquid Salad, which is exactly what it sounds like.
One question hanging over the fibermaxxing moment is whether this is just a new take on toxic diet culture, a health fad that affirms the body image obsessed society found online and IRL.
“The wellness industry has essentially become diet culture in the past five years or so with these heavy pushes and these extremes one in one direction or the other,” said Kelly E. Powers, a San Francisco-based nutritionist. “In the ‘90s it was no fat, low fat, removal of fat, the carbohydrate attack and what not. It's interesting that it was taken in the opposite direction; instead of the restriction, it became more overconsumption and hyperfixation.”
Whether it’s “for your gut” or “for your waist,” all that fibermaxxing looks the same in the end — or at least until the next trend emerges and people “maxx” something else.
