Fiber vs Carnivore: What is the best for Digestion?

Two nutrition trends are grabbing attention for completely opposite reasons: Fibermaxxing, where people push their fiber intake to extreme highs, and the Carnivore diet, where fiber is eliminated altogether.

Fiber Vs Carnivore, both groups claim digestive and health benefits — smoother bowel movements, less bloating, reduced inflammation, and even better long-term health. But what does the science really say? And more importantly, which approach is best for your gut?

In this article, we’ll break down the benefits and drawbacks of each diet, who might thrive on them, and why a balanced middle path often provides the most sustainable benefits. We’ll also explore advanced gut health testing — like the Gut Zoomer, Wheat Zoomer, and IBS + Candida Profile — to help personalize your nutrition choices.

Key Takeaways

• Fibermaxxing (50–70g+ of fiber daily) can boost beneficial bacteria, improve blood sugar control, and lower risk of heart disease — but may cause bloating and discomfort in sensitive guts.
  
• Carnivore eliminates fiber entirely, often providing quick relief for IBS or SIBO symptoms, but may harm microbiome diversity and gut lining integrity long term.
  
• Not everyone responds the same — genetics, microbiome composition, and existing gut conditions matter.
  
• Middle ground approaches (low-FODMAP diets, gradual fiber reintroduction, and fiber diversity) usually deliver the best results.
  
• Advanced testing like the Gut Zoomer can identify imbalances, intolerances, or infections that guide more personalized diet choices.

What is Fibermaxxing?

Fibermaxxing is the practice of eating very high amounts of dietary fiber — often 50–70 grams a day or more, well beyond the recommended 25–38 grams. The idea is that more fiber equals better gut health, metabolic health, and longevity.

Why Fiber Matters for Gut Health

Fiber is not digested by human enzymes. Instead, it reaches the colon where gut bacteria ferment it into short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as butyrate, acetate, and propionate. These compounds:

• Fuel colon cells and repair the gut lining (butyrate).
• Help regulate appetite and blood sugar (propionate).
• Support microbiome diversity and balance (acetate).

The key insight: different fibers feed different microbes. That’s why diversity — not just hitting a number — is critical.

Types of Fiber

1. Soluble Fiber

• Dissolves in water, forming a gel.
• Fermented into SCFAs.
• Regulates blood sugar and cholesterol.
• Examples: oats (beta-glucans), apples (pectin), beans, lentils, psyllium husk.

2. Insoluble Fiber

• Adds bulk, speeds transit.
• Less fermentable.
• Crucial for motility and stool form.
• Examples: whole grains, nuts, seeds, leafy greens.

3. Resistant Starch

• Passes undigested to the colon → fermented into butyrate.
• Examples: cooled potatoes, green bananas, legumes, oats.

4. Prebiotic Fibers

• Specific soluble fibers that selectively feed beneficial bacteria (Bifidobacteria, Lactobacilli).
• Examples: inulin (chicory root, onions, garlic), FOS (bananas, asparagus), GOS (lentils, chickpeas).

The Role of Polyphenols

It’s not just fiber — polyphenols, the colorful compounds in plants, also shape the microbiome. They’re found in berries, green tea, dark chocolate, pomegranate, artichokes, olives, and more.

Polyphenols:

• Act as prebiotics by encouraging beneficial bacteria growth.
• Reduce harmful bacteria and inflammation.
• Strengthen the gut lining.
• Provide antioxidants that protect cells.

Pairing fiber + polyphenols is especially powerful. For example:

• Apples provide both pectin (fiber) and flavonoids (polyphenols).
• Oats supply beta-glucans (fiber) and avenanthramides (antioxidants).
• Berries deliver soluble fiber and anthocyanins.

Aiming for 30+ plant foods per week ensures you’re not only getting diverse fibers but also a rainbow of polyphenols — a true microbiome super-strategy.

Risks of Fibermaxxing

• Too much, too fast → gas, bloating, diarrhea and digestive pain.
• High-FODMAP overload → onions, garlic, beans trigger symptoms in IBS/SIBO.
• Inadequate hydration → constipation.

The smarter path: gradual increases, plenty of fluids, and maximum variety.

What is Carnivore?

The Carnivore diet is an all-animal-food approach, typically beef, fish, poultry, eggs, and sometimes dairy. It eliminates all plant foods — vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds.

But carnivore isn’t one-size-fits-all. There’s a spectrum:

• Strict Carnivore: only red meat, salt, water.
• Animal-Based: includes eggs, fish, poultry, sometimes dairy.
• Ketovore: meat plus low-carb extras like butter, coffee, spices.
• Modified Carnivore: mostly animal foods with small amounts of honey, fruit, or herbs.

How Carnivore Can Help

1. IBS & SIBO

• By removing fermentable carbs, carnivore cuts off food for gas-producing bacteria.
• Rapid relief from bloating, gas, and diarrhea.

2. Autoimmune Conditions

• Eliminates plant compounds like gluten, lectins, oxalates, and phytates that can act as immune triggers.
• Some patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, or inflammatory bowel disease report remission-like improvements.

3. Food Intolerance Reset

• With only animal foods, carnivore strips away common triggers (dairy, wheat, legumes, FODMAPs).
• Useful as a strict elimination diet when nothing else works and a great short term intervention.

4. Mental Health & Neurology

• Anecdotal reports and early studies suggest benefits for mood, anxiety, and even epilepsy — likely due to ketone production and reduced inflammation.

Drawbacks of Long-Term Carnivore

• Loss of Prebiotics: Without fiber, SCFA production plummets.
• Microbiome diversity decline: Long-term risks for gut and immune health.
• Nutrient gaps: No vitamin C, minimal magnesium, potassium, polyphenols.
• Potential cardiovascular strain: In some, LDL cholesterol increases.
• Unnatural diet: No known culture in history has survived on only animal foods. Even Arctic Inuit traditionally ate seaweed, berries, and partially digested plant fibers from animals’ stomachs.

Who May Benefit Short-Term

• Those with severe IBS, IBD, or SIBO unresponsive to other diets.
• People with autoimmune conditions who need an elimination phase.
• Highly motivated individuals seeking a “reset.”

Why Carnivore Shouldn’t Be Forever

While it can be therapeutic short term, a zero-fiber, zero-plant diet is not sustainable or optimal long term. Beneficial bacteria wither without prebiotics, and absence of polyphenols starves an entire layer of gut defense.

The better strategy is hybridization:

• Use carnivore to calm the gut.
• Reintroduce gentle fibers (PHGG, psyllium, kiwifruit).
  Layer in polyphenols for long-term resilience.

Who is Best Suited to Each Diet?

Fibermaxxing May Work Best For:

• People with healthy gut function who tolerate fermentable fibers.
• Those with constipation or sluggish motility.
• Individuals seeking cardiovascular and metabolic health improvements
• Remember it is still important to increase slowly to avoid the side effects.

Carnivore May Work Best For:

• Short-term relief in people with SIBO, IBS-D, or functional gut hypersensitivity.
• Those who have not responded well to elimination or low-FODMAP diets.
  People looking for a strict reset diet to reduce inflammatory triggers, autoimmune conditions or when you have tried “everything else”.

Why the Middle Path is Often Best

For most people, extreme approaches are not sustainable long term. A middle path that balances fiber diversity with digestive tolerance usually provides the best outcomes.

• Step 1: Calm the gut: If you’re inflamed or symptomatic, temporarily reduce fermentable foods (low-FODMAP or simplified carnivore-style).
  
• Step 2: Rebuild with gentle fibers: PHGG, kiwifruit fiber, and finely ground psyllium husk are well-studied for IBS.
  
• Step 3: Personalize with diversity: Gradually expand toward 30+ different plant foods per week, feeding a wide range of microbes.

This approach gives the benefits of carnivore’s gut-calming phase and fibermaxxing’s long-term microbiome support.

Advanced Gut Testing

When digestive symptoms persist despite diet changes, testing provides clarity.

Testing moves you away from guesswork and toward a personalized roadmap.

Fiber Vs Carnivore – Conclusion

So, which wins — Fiber Vs Carnivore? The truth is neither extreme is perfect. Fibermaxxing has excellent long-term evidence but can cause misery if your gut isn’t ready. Carnivore may feel like magic short term, but it comes at the cost of starving beneficial microbes.

For most people, the middle ground — calming the gut, then rebuilding with gentle fibers and diversity — delivers both symptom relief and long-term resilience. Add testing, and you can create a nutrition strategy tailored to your gut health.