Fibermaxxing: The gut health trend you need to know in 2025 (and how to do it safely)

TikTok has a knack for turning everyday habits into the next big wellness craze - and in 2025, fibermaxxing is capturing plenty of attention. At its simplest, fibermaxxing means deliberately upping your fibre intake to boost gut health, energy, and overall wellbeing. While it might sound like just another hashtag trend, the idea actually has strong roots in nutritional science. And considering that most Australians aren’t eating nearly enough fibre, this could be one trend worth paying attention to.

What is fibermaxxing?

Fibermaxxing is about hitting, and often exceeding, the recommended daily fibre intake. For adults, that’s around 30 grams per day, yet research shows about 70% of Australians fall short. 

Why does this matter? 

Because fibre does more than just keep you “regular.” 

A steady fibre intake can:

• Support smooth, pain-free bowel movements
• Keep blood sugar levels steady
• Help with satiety and reduce cravings
• Feed the gut microbiome and produce beneficial compounds that calm inflammation

The functional medicine case for fibre

At Melbourne Functional Medicine (MFM), we see this play out every day with patients. Many arrive thinking of fibre purely as a “bowel regularity” tool, but once we address the fibre gap, they notice shifts in energy, mood, cravings, and even how their body handles stress. Fibre is one of the simplest yet most powerful levers we can pull to create systemic change.

From a functional medicine perspective, fibre is a foundation for whole-body resilience. Expanding the variety of fibres people eat supports steadier energy, more stable blood sugar, improved hormone balance, and even shifts in mood and mental clarity. For those managing insulin resistance or diabetes, this effect is especially valuable, as fibre helps blunt sharp rises in blood sugar that can otherwise be so destabilising - and pairing this natural function of fibre with a low-sugar, fibre-rich drink like Liquify can make the impact even greater.

Pairing this natural effect of fibre with a product like Liquify, which is both low in sugar and high in fibre, creates an exponential impact. For people managing insulin resistance or diabetes, this combination can be particularly powerful for stabilising blood sugar throughout the day.

Fibre achieves this because it doesn’t just move food through the gut. It feeds the microbiome, shapes immune responses, slows the release of glucose into the bloodstream, and supports the body’s ability to clear out what it no longer needs. When the right mix of fibres is in place, everything else tends to work better.

That said, the way you introduce fibre matters just as much as the amount - and this is where many people run into problems.

Functional medicine cautions before you jump in

In practice, what we notice is that when some people - especially those who already have microbiome issues - push fibre too quickly, their symptoms often flare rather than improve. 

Bloating, discomfort, or diarrhoea are common signs that the gut hasn’t had time to adapt. For those with IBS, SIBO, or inflammatory gut conditions, adding lots of fibre at once can feel like pouring fuel on the fire.

That’s why the smarter approach is sequencing - calming the gut and improving motility before layering in higher fibre loads. It’s not about hitting 30 g tomorrow; it’s about building tolerance steadily so fibre becomes a friend, not a foe.

A few principles to keep in mind:

• Balance, not extremes: Your optimal intake depends on your unique gut and health history
• Know the difference between fibre types: Insoluble fibres (like psyllium) act as bulking agents - they don’t feed the microbiome much, but they help keep things moving. Soluble fibres, on the other hand, actively feed and nurture your gut bacteria. These can be more challenging for sensitive guts at first, but in the long run they’re the fibres that help restore balance
• Quality and diversity over quantity: Rotate fibre sources - vegetables, legumes, gluten-free grains, resistant starch, nuts, and seeds - to feed a broad microbiome.
• Start slow: Add around 5 grams at a time over 1–2 weeks to give your gut microbes time to adapt
• Hydration is essential: Fibre needs water to do its job; otherwise, it can backfire
• Address underlying issues first: If you’ve got IBS, SIBO, or inflammatory gut conditions, work with a practitioner before pushing fibre too quickly
  
  

How to start fibermaxxing the smart way

If you’re curious about fibermaxxing, start by looking at your current baseline. A simple food diary for a few days will give you a rough estimate of your intake. From there:

• Make it simple with a daily booster: Products like Liquify Drinks are an easy way to close the fibre gap and make hitting your daily target realistic, not just aspirational. Because the fibres are fully hydrated before bottling, your body doesn’t need to work overtime to process them - they support smoother digestion and actually add to hydration rather than taking it away. Starting with Liquify Drinks as a baseline can make it easier to layer in food sources and build a consistent fibre habit
• Experiment with gentle fibres: Psyllium husk can help regulate bowel movements with fewer bloating issues than wheat bran or inulin. Start small and increase gradually. Psyllium husk can be a useful add-on for some people, but many find it hard to take consistently. That’s where convenient options like Liquify help fill the gap day-to-day
• Use food as therapy: Two green kiwifruit daily have been shown to improve regularity naturally, while chickpeas or lentils add both fibre and protein. If legumes are challenging, start with small portions
• Layer in resistant starch: Try cooled potato or rice, or add a spoonful of green banana flour (GF) to smoothies - excellent for feeding beneficial gut bacteria.
• Focus on diversity: Mix it up across the week with nuts, seeds (chia, flax, sunflower), berries, root vegetables, and gluten-free grains like quinoa or buckwheat. Different plants have different  fibre types and phytonutrients (plant nutrient that fuel for your microbiome) and thus feed different beneficial microbes, towards building a resilient gut ecosystem
• Stay hydrated: Aim for 1.5–2 L of water daily, especially if you’re adding gel-forming fibres like psyllium

Think of this process as “training the gut.” Just as you wouldn’t jump from the couch to a marathon, you don’t leap from 10 g of fibre to 40 g overnight. Small, steady increases give your microbes time to adapt, which means fewer symptoms and better long-term results.

Fibermaxxing may have started as a social media buzzword, but fibre should be seen as one of the true foundations of health. When you build a solid base of daily fibre, energy steadies, digestion becomes smoother, inflammation calms, and resilience grows. The key is to do it wisely - increase gradually, choose diverse sources, stay hydrated, and listen to your body’s signals. A simple daily booster like Liquify can make it far easier to consistently meet your fibre needs, alongside a balanced diet.

If fibre alone hasn’t been enough to calm your gut, it could be a signal that deeper support is needed. At Melbourne Functional Medicine, we combine advanced testing with personalised care to help people finally resolve the issues holding them back. Find out how the team at MFM can help you.

 

About the author:

Jabe Brown is the Founder of Melbourne Functional Medicine - a clinic dedicated to personalised healthcare.  Find out how the team at Melbourne Functional Medicine can help you find the healthiest version of you.