Fiber Fueled: The Plant-Based Gut Health Program for Losing Weight, Restoring Your Health, andOptimizing Your Microbiome Hardcover – May 12, 2020

I knew that fiber was important but this took that to a whole other level (key terms: SCFA and Butyrate). And learning about microbiome is fascinating (Spoiler alert - even the plants we eat have a microbiome!). I plan on rereading it as it's packed with great, paradigm-shifting information.I am doing the 4-week meal plan now (I'm in week 2) and the meals are tasty, I'm learning many new things, and I feel great. I'm listening to the author's podcasts as I cook.

Great book

Dr B provides a ton of valuable information and makes it easily understood. I flew through this book and feel so much better about what I need to eat to make myself feel my best. I recommend this book to everyone I know. I gave this book 5 stars for his part in the book but was not a fan of the 4 week meal plan for a few reasons:1. The meal prep in some weeks is just not doable for a working person. I am currently not working so I had the time and I was nonstop cooking for 3 days straight for the first weeks prep. It just wasn’t manageable and the quick fix options still required a significant amount of prep since you had to use items that took a lot of prep (e.g., had to use the dip that took over an hour of prep for the sandwich).2. The meal plan was not laid out easily to follow. You really had to read the entire meal plan for the week ahead of time. Week 2 lunch would sometimes be leftovers from a week 1 dinner? This was frustrating because I had either finished the leftovers or thrown them away before the next week even started. The leftover days would always be 2-3 days after they were cooked and this was a continuous cycle each week. I wish it was laid out so you just had your dinner leftovers for the next day lunch instead of stuffing your fridge with tons of leftovers and having some of them going bad.3. The grocery list was incorrect for the items needed. Each week I had to go to the grocery to buy additional recipe items not listed in the grocery list AND I threw away food that I was told to buy that was not used.4. The recipes would call for already prepped items even though the grocery list said to buy fresh. It was frustrating getting ready to make lunch and then realizing this is going to take an extra hour because even though they said to buy 2 beets, the recipe now says 2 steamed beets. Either these steps need to be included in the recipe or the already prepped items needed to be listed in the grocery list.5. Some meals I was unable to cook because prep took too long. I went to go cook the sunflower sandwich and the first step was soak the sunflower seeds in water for 24 HOURS. This should have been listed in the prep for the week.6. Some meals were sooooo bland. My husband NEVER complains of my cooking but he was miserable for most dinners and this was me adding 5x the amount of spices. A lot of recipes would call for only 1/2 teaspoon total of spices (usually only salt and pepper) for an entire 4 person meal!! Now I’m not sure if this was done intentionally to help prevent gut sensitivities to spices but nothing was stated that that’s why. Now some of the recipes were really great and I don’t want to make it sound like they were all terrible but most dinners were very bland despite me adding way more spices than called for.7. Sometimes the grocery list would add all the items for 7 days worth of desserts and sometimes they would forget to add items for the full week of snacks/desserts. I had 7 days worth of lemons for a dessert but no cucumbers for the dip. Overall the grocery lists were poorly done and were not checked over.8. It seemed like the fresher the item the later in the week it was used. By the time I would get to some recipes my items were moldy or wilted. Wish it was planned out to have the items that spoil quickly in the beginning.By week 3 I went through each recipe and made my own grocery list to make sure it was accurate as well as read every single recipe to know what to expect and plan for any items that needed to be prepped in advance that weren’t listed. I also went through and rearranged the meals to make for a more realistic week of eating and not risking leftovers or produce to spoil. This should not be needed for a meal plan. I definitely recommend doing the meal plan and I feel wonderful after the 4 weeks. However just read every recipe in advance and make your own grocery list to make it efficient. It will take A LOT of prep and time so be prepared.Overall I took a lot away from the book and learned to like some new foods from the meal plan which is why I give it 5 stars despite all the issues with the meal plan. I really look forward to a second book but I hope Dr. B has the RD team up with a chef for the recipes.

Recommended to me by a dietician.Very informative and even includes some good recipes.

I have auto immune issues and food sensitivities. I checked out fiber fueled on a recommendation from a friend. I had been on the AIP Paleo elimination diet for 7 months before starting fiber fueled so I am not a newbie when it comes to following a difficult diet plan and overhauling the way I think about food (AIP Paleo is about as restrictive and disciplined a diet as they come). However, like so many reviewers have already said, the science part of this book (albeit extremely redundant) is great but the 28 day plan needs to be overhauled as it is extremely time consuming and expensive.The 28 day recipes each have like 3 different steps (some of which the book recommends you prep in advance and others will comes as a surprise if you didn't preview the recipe before attempting to make it). Cooking these recipes is like a full time job (and I have a full time job so all my free time is spent in the kitchen). It also seriously requires you to have an enormous fridge or a second fridge to fit in all the ingredients after you shop (and like others said, the grocery list is NOT accurate). When you actually cook the food, you have leftovers and nowhere to store them. Some recipes make way more than needed and others make the stated 2 servings. If you have a spouse and they eat the second portion, you won't have the leftovers necessary to either eat it again later in the week or use as an ingredient in another recipe (which is weird in and of itself) but is also a serious flaw of the plan. The author didn't bother to tell you that the leftovers would be used on whatever day for whatever recipe so you can properly plan. Even odder than that, the author expects you to save some leftovers from week 1 for week 2 meals (also not disclosed in the plan)! In addition I've found that the cooking times are way off for several of the recipes and so are the amounts of Biome Broth used in some recipes so you will have to make more than the 8 cup recipe each week (again - not a novice in the kitchen so I don't understand how the cookbook writer could be so wrong?)Despite the plan issues, the reason I am still giving this book 4 stars is because I am truly enjoying eating a diverse diet again. And while I am only halfway through this diet plan, I am starting to FEEL better. I haven't said that in a LONG time. So while it is tough for me to embrace a vegan lifestyle, I am excited to finally see some results after years of searching. I know that once the 28 days are up, many of these recipes will never grace my kitchen again but I will have a better grasp of how to cook in this manner to get a diverse range of nutrients in my diet. I wish someone would come up with companion recipe book for the post 28 days or start some blog for a fiber fueled community beyond his website (but honestly I suspect that not many people make it the full 28 days on the plan because the diet is onerous). Most bloggers that mention the book praise the science and then just use it as scientific support for their vegan lifestyle choice, not necessarily as the next step in a fiber fueled journey.