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Episode 93

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Published on:

18th Aug 2025

WELCOME TO OUR KITCHEN: We're talking about fiber-maxxing, the latest social-media craze!

Fiber-maxxing. It's the latest social-media craze among food and fitness influencers. What is it? Why is it absurd? But also, why does it touch on something very important?

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of over three dozen cookbooks (plus Bruce's knitting books and Mark's memoir). Food and cooking are our passions. We're so happy to be able to share that with you.

If you'd like to see our latest cookbook, COLD CANNING, please check it out at this link.

Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[01:19] Our one-minute cooking tip: how to make better chimichurri!

[03:33] The latest social-media craze: fiber-maxxing. What is it? And why is fiber important?

[17:55] What’s making us happy in food this week? Summer corn and Bruce's wild take on chili crisp.

Transcript
bruce:

Hey, I am Bruce Weinstein, and this is the Podcast Cooking with Bruce

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mark: and Mark.

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And I'm Mark s Scarborough.

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And together with my husband Bruce,

we've written 37 cookbooks, including the

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latest cold canning, which is all about

making small batch, no pressure cooker,

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no steam pressure, canning, needed batches

of, oh, I don't know, jams, jellies,

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conserved, chutney, dessert, sauces.

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Mm-hmm.

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We have a big infused

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bruce: oils infused vinegars,

ketchups mustard, barbecue sauce,

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mark: a quart jar of the homemade

sham board that's out that

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book, homemade raspberry laco

in our refrigerator right now.

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bruce: Drank some mixed

in champagne last night.

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mark: And you did.

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We have kiwi Jam.

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We've got.

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All kinds of recipes in that book.

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Check it out.

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If you wanna make two to three jars

of something, one for yourself and

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maybe one to give away to a friend.

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You don't need to put up enough

for an apocalypse, but that's

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not what we're talking about

in this episode of our podcast.

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Instead, we've got a one minute,

very specific cooking tip.

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Crazy that arises actually outta

something Bruce recently did.

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We wanna talk about the latest

social media trend, which is fiber

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maxing and what that all involves.

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It is.

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Crazy.

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If you're on TikTok right now, everyone

is fiber maxing and we'll tell you

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what's making us happy in food this week.

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So let's get started.

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bruce: Our one minute cooking tip.

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Here's how to improve

your chimi chili sauce.

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Okay, stop.

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First, let me explain what

a chimi chili sauce is.

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Stop.

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So chimi cherry is a

South American condiment.

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It is parsley and some chilies,

usually chili flakes, salt, pureed up

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with vinegar and lots of olive oil.

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It's often served with steaks or

roasted vegetables, steak, I think

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of it in Argentina, as always served.

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With the steak, and every time I make

a Chimi chew, someone at the table will

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tell me How come your Chimi chew is

better than any chimi chew I've ever had.

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mark: This

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bruce: actually just

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mark: happened to us.

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bruce: Okay, go ahead.

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It's because I don't just use parsley.

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I think Chi Cherry is better when

you throw in one or two other herbs,

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and I try and pick herbs that match

what's happening around the table.

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So we had this big mixed fish grill

the other night, and in the marinades

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with the different fish, there were

Italian flavors going on and lots of

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attempt Middle Eastern flavors going

on and Mediterranean flavors going on.

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So I took my parsley, put it in the

food processor along with fresh oregano.

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Fresh Marum, a little bit of fennel seeds.

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And some chili flakes.

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mark: So what is telling you is to add

another herb, at least one other, mm-hmm.

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Herb, to make a decent chimi cherry.

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Right.

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And

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bruce: then I word that up, putting

olive oil in through the opening of

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the top of the food processor until I

got a beautiful consistency I liked.

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And then I added some wine vinegar,

red wine vinegar to add the acidity up.

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It keeps it fresh green.

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It also gives it a brightness.

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And that is how I make

better Chi and Chew.

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mark: Okay, so that's a hardly one

minute cooking tip, but it was very

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specific to a specific kind of sauce.

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And there we go.

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So before we get to the next and major

part of this podcast, lemme see, it would

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be great if you could join the Facebook

group cooking with Bruce and Mark, or

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if you could check us out on TikTok.

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We have a wonderful TikTok channel.

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May I say you Bruce and Mark?

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Is the same as what happens on Instagram

under cooking with Bruce and Mark.

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But the TikTok channel seems to

be the one that's hot right now.

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So check 'em out.

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Mm-hmm.

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And you can see videos of us

making food for each other.

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All right?

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Mm-hmm.

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On that note, sweet.

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bruce: We're very sweet.

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mark: Oh, we are.

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But on that note, we're gonna go

to the latest social media trend.

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Fiber maxing.

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bruce: I'm gonna start this by

having you explain what the hell is

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fiber maxing, because you told me

about this yesterday and I'm like,

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I don't know what you're talking

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mark: about.

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Okay, so if you know anything about

how these trends have gone over the

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past maybe two years, there has been a

craze for what is called protein Maxine.

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Okay.

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I want

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bruce: that.

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I like that.

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And these are

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mark: people who just.

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Absolutely up their protein.

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Take their whole influencer feed is

about how to get more protein in your

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diet to put more whe eat more steak.

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Yeah.

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But I mean, they're even putting

whey protein in scrambled eggs.

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Sure.

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They're doing all kinds of things to just.

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Up, up up the protein content.

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And of course, a lot of these

people are fitness influencers,

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but they've influenced the

entire space on social media.

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And now I find even Bakers online

are talking about how to add

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more protein to their cakes.

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I see this cake.

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You know what,

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bruce: if I'm gonna eat cake, I wouldn't

mind it having some more protein in it.

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I get,

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mark: I see this Check Boy on Instagram

and on, uh, TikTok, and he, he always.

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Begs with his shirt completely unbuttoned

because of course he's beautiful at 23

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and um, uh, you know, he's, half his

stuff is about how to get more protein

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into a brownie, which is just, to

me sounds insane, but it is a trend.

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So after all of this about protein maxing,

and maybe because of what happens when

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you eat too much protein like this, the

current crazed trend is fiber maxing.

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And what happens here is that

people are actually trying to eat.

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Eight to 10 times the amount of

daily fiber requirement once a week.

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I don't quite understand why

you wanna do this to yourself.

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bruce: Wait, so they're taking 10

times the fiber you need in a week

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and they're eating it in a day?

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In a

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mark: day.

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And the whole idea is that one

day a week you do fiber maxing.

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So you know you protein max all week long.

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And then I guess.

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You wanna, sorry, this is gonna get gross.

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Blow it out of yourself.

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So one day you fiber max.

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So I

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bruce: wanna figure this out.

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So let's say, the way I like

to do extra fiber for one thing

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is to put some wheat germ Okay.

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Onto my oatmeal.

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Okay.

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In the morning.

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Okay.

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And if I do that every morning,

that's seven tablespoons.

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Right.

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A week.

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So now you're telling me a week.

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So that one of the things I'm gonna

do on fiber maxing day is put seven

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tablespoons of wheat German one day.

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mark: Yeah.

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You might even put 10, you

might even put half a cup.

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Mm.

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Have a week.

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bruce: That's

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mark: a not

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bruce: to leave the house day shit.

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mark: That's what I'm telling you about.

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I don't quite understand why people wanna

do this themselves, but I think it has

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to do with the fact that they may blocked

after so much protein maxing and maybe.

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The kids are just absolutely recognizing

that this doesn't totally work.

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So this is the trend.

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It's all about how to get

fiber into what you eat.

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You can find all kinds of bakers

on social media, on Instagram,

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on TikTok, on Facebook reels.

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You can find them all adding.

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All kinds of fiber.

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Suddenly as if this is a new thing,

suddenly all kinds of whole wheat

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and whole grain products are becoming

incredibly, uh, influential in the space.

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And this is all part of this

overall fiber maxing trend.

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Okay, let's start with the facts.

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Only 7% of US adults get the

fiber they need, as it is, which.

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Is part of perhaps the

trend toward fiber maxing.

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Most US adults do not eat enough fiber

to develop a healthy gut microbiome, and

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bruce: the gut biome is connected to.

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Everything about your health.

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It is not just your digestion,

your healthy gut microbiome

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is about your health overall.

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So if fiber will help you improve

your gut biome, it's gonna

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help your health in general.

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And I wanna start with what is

the easiest, absolute easiest,

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and most delicious way to

get more fiber in your diet?

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Eat more fruit.

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I wanna start with that.

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Just eat.

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More fruit.

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Fruit is sweet.

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Fruit is delicious, right?

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We're recording this in the summer.

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The peaches are amazing.

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The cherries are amazing, but even

in the winter, grapes are available.

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Pineapples available.

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Oranges and and tangerines are available.

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Eat them.

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They're delicious.

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So, so

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mark: here's the facts.

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On average, a US citizen eats about

a cup of fruit or vegetables a day.

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And let me tell you that when I'm

saying vegetables, I'm not counting

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french fries, poor Mac and cheese Mac,

and if you're from the South as I am,

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mac and cheese, which is supposedly a

vegetable at the Luby's cafeteria line.

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Well, it's a, it's a side dish.

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bruce: It's a side dish.

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My mother always told me I

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mark: had to get a vegetable,

so I got mac and cheese anyway.

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Uh, uh, most US adults eat one cup

of fruit or vegetables a day, and

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according to the USDA, you should

be eating two and a half cups.

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So let me give you a tip here.

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Mm-hmm.

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From MD Anderson, the cancer Center in

Houston, Texas, MD Anderson suggests.

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Roasting on the weekend, a

batch of small sweet potatoes.

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So, you know, on a Saturday all you

have to do is easily roast them right

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to like, like how does that work?

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How do you roast?

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You take

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bruce: your sweet potatoes, you put them

on a tray and you put them in your oven.

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You put the oven on three 50 and within

an hour, depending on the size of them,

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they're tender and they're done and

they're sweet and they're delicious.

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mark: Okay, so that's, that's what you do.

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Now you take 'em out, let 'em cool the

room temperature, wrap 'em up 'cause you

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don't want 'em to desiccate and dry up.

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They're cool to room temperature.

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Stick them in your fridge.

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This is MD Anderson's idea, and then

for breakfast over the next week or two,

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have one every other day for breakfast.

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They do make a really nice

breakfast called, I can tell

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you I live with somebody.

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Who eats cold, sweet potatoes

right outta the refrigerator.

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Oh, I

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bruce: love them that way.

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But they are so soft and sweet.

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You could spread them on toast, right?

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You could.

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You could take your sweet potato

and spread it on toast instead of

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mark: jam.

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You do.

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You do want to eat the skin

for the full fiber bottle.

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Okay.

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But I've watched you sit there in a chair

and eat a sweet potato, like a hand fruit.

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bruce: But to be honest, even the

insides of a sweet potato has fiber.

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It does.

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It does.

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So go ahead.

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And, and eat your sweet

potatoes for breakfast.

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That's a great way, and I'm gonna

just continue to say, eat more fruit.

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Eat an apple, eat an orange, eat a peach.

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Yeah.

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Eat a nectarine.

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Yep.

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Yep.

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We eat tomato.

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Tomatoes are fruits.

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mark: I, I mean, we have a huge

cookbook group as you know.

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We eat a lot of rich food and we.

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Always have bowls of fruit in the winter.

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It's citrus.

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In the summer it's melons and stone

fruits like plums and peaches.

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We always have berries.

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Um, we've talked to you about this

before, that at the big box stores like

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Costco and BJ's, the fruit is actually

better because it sells so quickly.

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They have to buy it closer

to rightness and cheaper.

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We went to Costco

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bruce: yesterday and we got three melons.

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We've got four pounds of peaches.

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We got six pounds of APRs.

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We got.

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Boxes of blackberries and raspberries.

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Yep.

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I will be eating these all week

because they're delicious and end

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mark: next week.

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Mm.

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And I, it's absolutely what you do.

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Okay.

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That's the first thing.

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Eat more fruits and vegetables too.

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When possible.

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Choose the whole grain option.

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So let's say you go to Panera Bread

and you get a sandwich when they tell

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you what kind of bread do you want it?

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Ask for the whole grain

bread, whatever that is.

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The seven seed, the 10 seed,

the whole wheat doesn't matter.

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Just always make that your default.

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I'm gonna go with the

whole grain option, and

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bruce: I know a lot of people say,

I don't like whole grain breads.

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I just don't like them.

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You're probably thinking about

in the morning plain bread with.

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Has toast and maybe with butter.

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Yeah, but now you are gonna

be throwing Turkey, bacon,

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lettuce, and tomato on there.

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You're gonna be adding mayonnaise, right?

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That right?

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You're gonna be adding, also, you

may be having a pastrami sandwich.

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Yes, that's a high fat thing.

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So why not have the whole grain bread?

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You're not even gonna taste it.

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mark: And think about brown rice.

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If you eat, let's say Chinese

takeout, let's have brown rice.

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Occasionally.

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You don't always have to have

it, but occasionally with it.

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Let's talk about whole

grain pastas, right?

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There are plenty of whole

grain pastas, quite honestly.

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bruce: Whole wheat pasta.

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To me, there's no difference

in texture at at all.

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And honestly, to me, I

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mark: love chickpea pasta.

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Oh yeah.

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That's really good too.

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I, and it's a very high fiber pasta.

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Mm-hmm.

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Just choose the whole grain

option whenever you can.

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You don't have to make this a rule in your

life, but kind of set it as the default.

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Do I eat white rice?

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Yes, of course.

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I sometimes have white rice when

Bruce makes Sichuan food because

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the sweetness of the rice is perfect

against the super spicy food.

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But I prefer.

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If we would have brown rice.

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Okay, that's two.

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Here's three.

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Just eat legumes and beans.

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Mm-hmm.

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Particularly, these are the big ones.

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Lentils, black beans, and chickpeas.

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So, you know, listen, I see them

all the time at Whole Foods.

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I see chickpea salads, I see black

beans, salads in the prepared food case.

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Choose it for lunch once a week,

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bruce: and it doesn't mean

you have to cook black beans

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and lentils and chickpeas.

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All this stuff comes

available pre-cooked in cans.

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They are fantastic and

one of the best legumes.

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People forget peanuts.

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Yeah, eat peanuts.

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They are legumes.

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Peanut butter is so high in fiber

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mark: and.

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Let me say about lentils.

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Bruce often makes a pot of lentils

and then puts it in the fridge

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and covers it with plastic wrap.

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Once it's at room temperature, puts it in

the fridge, puts the plastic wrap right

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down on it so it doesn't dry out, and

then he throws lentils into things we eat.

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Into salads, into chops, salads.

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bruce: Mix it into some hamburger too.

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You can stretch the hamburgers.

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You need less beef.

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You're still getting the fiber.

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It's fabulous.

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Put it in tuna salad.

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mark: And you can even

buy cooked lentils, right?

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Mm-hmm.

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You don't have to cook your own.

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bruce: You don't have to cook your own.

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And here's a tip too.

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Do you make smoothies in the morning?

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You will not notice that you've

put a tablespoon of lentils

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in your smoothie, right?

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Okay, that's three.

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Here's four.

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mark: Just eat more nuts and seeds.

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Jerry, just like the

fruit, they're delicious.

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They are, and they're high in fiber.

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In fact, an easy tip is if you add a

tablespoon of flax seed to just about

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anything you eat, you will have as.

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Essentially met your daily requirement.

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Mm-hmm.

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Not quite, but you'll get close to it.

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And Bruce said to me before we started

recording this mix that flaxseed

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into ground beef to make hamburgers.

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Yeah.

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You don't even know it's there.

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No, you

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bruce: wouldn't know it's there.

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And to be honest, nuts have so much

fiber that if you need something sweet,

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you really want to crave something

sweet instead of a piece of chocolate.

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Get chocolate with nuts in it, or

even a handful of candied walnuts

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or candied cashews are better for

you than just a piece of candy.

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'cause at least you're getting the fiber.

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That's right.

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mark: Okay.

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And here's something that you

should know of course, about

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all this discussion of fiber.

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And you don't have to fiber max

the way the kids are doing it.

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Mm-hmm.

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But try to get your fiber

from more than one source.

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So important.

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Yeah.

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I know This is actually

harder to accomplish.

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Because you think, well, okay,

fine, I'm just going to eat

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two apples and be done with it.

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No, really, actually, you need

a variety of different kinds of

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fiber for a proper gut biome.

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So you need a variety of fiber.

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So for example, if you're gonna make

oatmeal in the morning, that's great.

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Now add some nuts to it or fiber,

and then take a pair and cut it

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in half and put pear chunks in it.

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Now you have.

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Three different sources of fiber,

the nuts, the pears, and the oatmeal.

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Now you're really cooking with fiber

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bruce: and it doesn't even have

to be all in one meal, right?

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Right.

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You can have an apple with breakfast.

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You can have some nuts in

your chicken salad for lunch.

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Right?

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You can have a whole grain pasta for

dinner that you should be getting this.

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Different kind of fiber.

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Some of it is soluble, some of it

is insoluble, and you should be

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getting it throughout your day.

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mark: I can tell you, okay, I,

this is the honest gosh truth.

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This is what I'm gonna do today.

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What I've already done is I had

a piece of whole grain toast

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when I woke up with my coffee.

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We're gonna finish recording here, and I'm

gonna have a vegetable salad for lunch.

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You know, lots of fresh vegetables in

it, and I'm sure sometime during the

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afternoon I'll eat a peach or a plum.

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That over the course of the day is, in

fact, my, my fiber intake requirement.

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It makes for health.

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bruce: It does.

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mark: And what's the last tip?

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bruce: Well, the last tip is

really important because fiber

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needs water to work, right?

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It does if you just eat the

fiber without the water.

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Now, the nice thing about fruit is you're

getting a lot of fluid with fruit, but

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let's say you're getting other forms

of fiber that don't come with the

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:

built-in water, drink water fiber goes

through you, and it can only do that.

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Properly with water.

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This,

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mark: this always kills me.

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I'm back to my check boy with

his open shirt who's baking it?

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Adding, please tell

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bruce: me his chest is shaved.

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It's, we're not getting

chest hair in the food's.

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No, it's not shave.

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Oh.

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I think that's

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mark: part of his sexiness.

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:

So it's not shaved.

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But, um, here's part of what cracks

me up is he always makes this really

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:

fancy Austrian or Hungarian or Czech

pastry and then, you know, he serves

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:

it with a little tiny cup of espresso.

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And I always think, really,

you added all this fiber to it.

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You really need to have that

piece of cake with a glass of

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:

water because the fiber eats.

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:

To pass through you.

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:

And the only way it can do that is water.

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And by the way, in case you wanna

know your grandmother was right.

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:

Mm-hmm.

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:

Prune juice is a great way to, in

fact, get fiber and get things moving.

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:

Prune juice is actually hydrophilic,

meaning it attracts water to it.

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:

It causes an OS asthmatic reaction

inside of you, and it does in

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:

fact get everything moving.

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:

But I will tell you that I

am not a fan of prune juice.

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I do love prunes.

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I love prunes.

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:

We always have a carton of prunes in

the back pantry, and I often go in there

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:

for a snack and grab two or three prunes

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:

bruce: and almost any

dried fruit will work.

453

:

In this instance, prunes are spectacularly

good, but raisins work, dried apricots,

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dried apples because you're dried apples.

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:

Yeah,

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:

mark: I love dried apples

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:

bruce: because then you're

getting all that fiber and

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:

it's kind of concentrated down.

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:

But again, if you're doing it that way.

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:

Drink

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:

mark: water.

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:

Drink water.

463

:

Okay.

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:

So you don't have to fiber max the way

the kids are doing it, but you can in

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:

fact increase the fiber in your diet and

you can catch onto what they're saying.

466

:

'cause what they're saying is right.

467

:

People do need to eat more fiber.

468

:

Mm-hmm.

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:

Especially if they're upping their

protein content, but in fact, at any time.

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:

So there's some easy ways to

get more fiber into your diet.

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:

Before we get to the last

segment of this podcast, let

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:

me say that it would be great.

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:

If you could subscribe to this

podcast so you don't miss an episode,

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:

and if you can rate it and even

write a review, that's even better.

475

:

Thanks for doing that.

476

:

It really helps us stay

fresh in the analytics.

477

:

Okay, up next, the final

traditional end of the podcast.

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:

What's making us happy in food this week?

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bruce: Local corn.

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:

It is in.

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:

It is delicious.

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:

And the only way, now wait,

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:

mark: I have to say we record.

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Before you say anything else, I have

to interrupt you and say, we live

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:

in rural New England and there are

many parts of the United States where

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corn has been in and gone already.

487

:

So for us it's just, it's mid August,

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:

bruce: we're just getting corn.

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:

Right?

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:

And the only way I'm doing it, this

is so delicious, I husk it, I take the

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silks off, I wrap two or three ears.

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:

Foil.

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:

I put them over a high flame on my

stove for about two minutes aside.

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:

They get a little charred, they steam a

little bit, and then I cut the charred

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:

corn off the cob and mix it in a chopped

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:

mark: salad.

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:

That's right.

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:

Mm-hmm.

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:

Um, it's really kind of amazing.

500

:

And uh, by the way, corn is

an incredibly high fiber.

501

:

There you go.

502

:

Food.

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:

There you go.

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:

Uh, it's really high fiber, whole grain.

505

:

It is a whole grain.

506

:

It is a whole, it's the only.

507

:

Grain that humans consume, that you

can eat the husk because that, that

508

:

outer tough, it's not tough, but

that outer coating on each is edible.

509

:

Each uh, little seed, each

little bit is in fact edible.

510

:

It's

511

:

bruce: not digestible as we all know.

512

:

No, but it's edible.

513

:

Okay?

514

:

We're not gonna have

515

:

mark: that discussion.

516

:

But it is at a seal, only whole

grain that humans consume,

517

:

that we eat the husk of it too.

518

:

So, okay, that's a very high fiber thing.

519

:

So what's making me happy in.

520

:

Food this week is Chili Crisp out of our

book called Canning, and Bruce recently

521

:

made it, and it's not a traditional

chili crisp, but I'm gonna get him

522

:

to explain it to you in a minute.

523

:

Well, first of all, you explain

what a traditional chili crisp is.

524

:

bruce: So traditional chili Crisp is an

Asian condiment in which you use Asian

525

:

chilies and other typically Asian spices.

526

:

Typically ginger, scallions,

garlic, shallots, I mean,

527

:

you're saying Star Anis, Asian.

528

:

mark: Truly S one originally.

529

:

S one.

530

:

Yeah.

531

:

bruce: Originally S one.

532

:

And there'll be dried tangerine

peel, and there'll be, uh, like

533

:

five spice powder spices, which

include fennel seeds and star anis.

534

:

And you mix those together.

535

:

You pour boiling oil over it,

it sizzles up and you end up.

536

:

With the crunchy chili stuff on the

bottom, the oil on the top, you could

537

:

mix it up and put it on anything.

538

:

And so that's a traditional chili crisp.

539

:

mark: So yeah.

540

:

So now I'm gonna talk about mine.

541

:

So Bruce recently made one from

the book, which is that technique,

542

:

but now sieved through Syrian and

Lebanese and Middle Eastern food.

543

:

So pull all of those Chinese.

544

:

Flavors out of it and keep the

cinnamon, but then use Aleppo pepper.

545

:

Mm-hmm.

546

:

And use preserved lemon cumin

and preserved lemon and sumac and

547

:

dried sumac, which is super sour.

548

:

And now you do that same thing of mixing

all it together, pouring the hot oil over

549

:

it, and letting it steep for about a week.

550

:

And you come out with this wildly

weird Middle Eastern chili crisp.

551

:

And I have to tell you, the

way I ate it recently is Mm.

552

:

This is such a fabulous thing.

553

:

I took a little bit of the hot, hot stuff,

the granulated stuff in there, and I mixed

554

:

it into melted butter and put it on a

piece of fish, and it was so delicious.

555

:

It's

556

:

bruce: such a strange thing.

557

:

You look at this jar and you

think, this should be Asian, right?

558

:

This looks like it should be Asian.

559

:

And then you open it and you

smell it, and you're like.

560

:

It's Middle Eastern.

561

:

What is going on here?

562

:

mark: Right?

563

:

It's delicious.

564

:

So that's what's making me happy in

food this week and that recipe just

565

:

to be completely self-promotional

is in our book, cold Canning.

566

:

So that's the podcast for this week.

567

:

Thanks for being with us.

568

:

Thanks for being part of our journey.

569

:

We're glad you're here, and we hope

that our podcast has helped you.

570

:

Eat more fiber.

571

:

Maybe not fiber max, but at least eat

572

:

bruce: more fiber.

573

:

And one promise we will always make

to you here at cooking with Bruce

574

:

and Mark is you will not get ai, you

will not get fake, you will not get

575

:

anything generated by a computer.

576

:

It's always going to be the real.

577

:

Bruce and Mark here at

cooking with Bruce and Mark.

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About the Podcast

Cooking with Bruce and Mark
Fantastic recipes, culinary science, a little judgment, hysterical banter, love and laughs--you know, life.
Join us, Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, for weekly episodes all about food, cooking, recipes, and maybe a little marital strife on air. After writing thirty-six cookbooks, we've got countless opinions and ideas on ingredients, recipes, the nature of the cookbook-writing business, and much more. If you've got a passion for food, we also hope to up your game once and a while and to make you laugh most of the time. Come along for the ride! There's plenty of room!

About your host

Profile picture for Mark Scarbrough

Mark Scarbrough

Former lit professor, current cookbook writer, creator of two podcasts, writer of thirty-five (and counting) cookbooks, author of one memoir (coming soon!), married to a chef (my cookbook co-writer, Bruce Weinstein), and with him, the owner of two collies, all in a very rural spot in New England. My life's full and I'm up for more challenges!