Dhru Purohit Show
The Nutrient Most of Us are Under-Eating That Boosts Brain Health and Fights Inflammation and Visceral Fat
31 Mar 2025
This episode is brought to you by Birch Living and Levels. When you think of blood sugar regulation, weight loss, or boosting cognition, fiber may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But this essential nutrient does far more than just relieve constipation. It feeds our gut microbes, keeping them happy and thriving—and in return, they produce anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, immune-supporting metabolites that help us stay healthy, happy, and thriving. Today on The Dhru Purohit Show, we’re bringing you a special compilation episode featuring Dhru’s conversations with top experts on fiber and its powerful benefits for gut and whole-body health. Dr. Will Bulsiewicz breaks down the signs of inadequate fiber in your diet and shares his top four tips for improving bowel movements and incorporating fiber into your daily routine. Dr. Mary Claire Haver explains how optimizing fiber intake can help reduce visceral fat—especially during perimenopause and menopause. Dr. Brad Stanfield highlights psyllium husk as one of the most underrated supplements for boosting fiber intake and supporting overall health. Dr. Will Bulsiewicz is an award-winning gastroenterologist and New York Times bestselling author of Fiber Fueled and The Fiber Fueled Cookbook. Dr. Mary Claire Haver is board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist. Dr. Brad Stanfield is a primary care physician hailing from Auckland, New Zealand who has garnered over 200,000 followers on YouTube for his video segments related to longevity-promoting strategies. In this episode, Dhru and his guests dive into: Signs of inadequate fiber in your diet (02:20) Four tips for improving bowel movements (05:20) How beginners can increase fiber intake and manage gas (17:27) Key behaviors that harm gut health (21:37) How fiber supports gut health and the microbiome (29:15) The benefits of eating a diverse range of plant foods (35:07) How fiber helps combat visceral fat (38:43) The optimal daily dose of fiber (40:38) How to increase fiber intake with psyllium husk (44:50) Recommended water intake when using psyllium husk (48:31) Final thoughts (50:09) Also mentioned: Full episode with Dr. Will Bulsiewicz Full episode with Dr. Mary Claire Haver Full episode with Dr. Brad Stanfield This episode is brought to you by Birch Living and Levels. Get 25% off your Birch Living mattress during their Flash Sale—just head to birchliving.com/dhru today! Right now, Levels is offering my listeners an additional 2 FREE months of the Levels annual Membership when you use my link, levels.link/DHRU. Make moves on your metabolic health with Levels today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Hi everyone, Drew Proat here. Last year, I made a conscientious effort to up my fiber intake. Why? Well, in addition to wanting to improve my gut microbiome, which I know a lot of you guys want to do when it comes to cardiovascular health, I'm also a hyper reabsorber of cholesterol.
So fiber is one of the best tools I can incorporate to help improve my diet, but also keep my ApoB levels lower from the naturally high place that they like to find themselves. In fact, fiber is so powerful that it has the ability to regulate blood sugar, lower cholesterol, fight constipation, increase weight loss, promote cognition, and so much more.
But unfortunately, most of us are not getting enough. In fact, 95% of Americans do not meet the daily fiber requirements. And for most people, it's hurting them. And I say most because there are some situations where people's guts are so messed up that they actually would do better by lowering some fiber and working with a practitioner to get to the root of why there's microbiome imbalance.
But we'll save that for another episode. episode. Today's episode is all about how most individuals would benefit greatly by including some more fiber in their diet. So in today's compilation episode, I'm excited to share with you a portion of my conversations with Dr. Will Bolshevich, an award-winning gastroenterologist, internationally recognized gut health expert, and best-selling author.
We discuss all things fiber, how do you know if you're getting enough, and how to have better and more complete bowel movements, which everybody secretly wants or maybe not so secretly wants, and how to incorporate fiber supplements. And Dr. B, as his patients call him, shares his own journey to heal his own gut.
I also talk with Dr. Mary Claire Haver, who's a board-certified OBGYN doctor and a certified culinary medicine specialist, about the key role that thyroid plays in targeting visceral fat after menopause in particular. And finally, you'll hear from Dr. Brad Stanfield, a
primary care physician based in New Zealand who has garnered over 200,000 followers on YouTube for his video segments related to longevity promoting strategies. And on today's episode, he's going to talk about the fiber supplement that he's most excited about. But first, let's dive into my conversation with Dr. Will B.
What are one, two, or three signs that somebody doesn't have that adequate amount of fiber in their diet? Something that they're experiencing, risk factors, daily stuff that they're going through or not going through. What are some signs that they don't have enough of that fiber?
I think the most obvious sign that you're not getting enough fiber is if you're not eating enough real plant food. If you're not really sure where the plants are in your diet, then you're clearly not getting enough fiber because fiber is found in plants. The average American, only about 10% of our calories are actually coming from plants. Unfortunately, the number one plant is potato.
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