6 grams of fiber that works with your digestive system instead of against it. Sustained energy, stable blood sugar, no afternoon crash, and your beneficial gut bacteria get properly fed and produce the serotonin they need to.

Another critique of normal noodles, nutritionally speaking, is they don’t have fiber. You get hungry real fast afterwards.

But in another twist, the high protein in our noodles also created a huge problem of its own.

We tested every fiber source you can think of:

• Guar gum - made the broth the texture of snot. Yum.
• Chicory root/Inulin - poorly digested by a lot of people(like me). Causes gas, bloating, biological warfare in small rooms.
• Oat fiber - actually this one worked alright but it was REALLY EXPENSIVE (and still kinda gritty)
• Psyllium husk - Perfect for all our needs! Except... it can kill us. Not you though. More on that later.

See... The thing about fiber is that it affects everyone differently. Very differently. But fiber, and digestive health, is incredibly important to our well being, and more research every day comes out on how gut health affects everything from energy levels, to mood, to a lot of other stuff.

But... if you eat too much fiber, especially of the wrong kinds at once, if you’re not used to fiber...

You’ll turn into a hot air balloon, and just as much gas. You will not be able to stay indoors. Everyone will make excuses to not be around you. And you’ll be running to the bathroom... a lot.

Testing all these fibers, then... was probably one of the worst parts of this. Especially for me, who admittedly should eat more fiber, and thus was also the most affected by it.

Which is also why there’s a moderate amount of fiber in our noodles, and not more-- simply, we need to balance it so that everyone, no matter how much fiber they normally consume, can eat it, get the benefits, and not have an area of effect status that keeps everyone away from them!

At first, psyllium husk, finely powdered, seemed to be a great solution. It fit all the things we need, fulfilled all the conditions like helping our noodles not take twenty minutes to cook!

...Oh. I forgot to talk about that huh

So, here’s the thing about protein. Stick a steak in water, and stick a piece of bread in water... which one gets soggy first?

The steak is made out of mostly protein, and so absorbs water slowly. Keep a steak in water long enough and it’ll also get bloated and watery, but the bread, made out of mostly carbohydrates, will get soggy first.

Same thing with noodles. High protein = slow water absorption, and our “instant” ramen became... not so instant. It took an INCREDIBLY long time to boil, 15 minutes on average.

See, normal instant ramen is “instant” for two reasons. It has a lot more carbohydrates, which hydrates faster for the reason we talked about, but it’s also deep fried, a method created by the inventor of instant noodles, momofuku ando. When you deep fry noodles, the steam from the water inside the noodles explodes outwards, creating little microscopic holes that water can get into later, hydrating it faster!

Of course, the trouble is... we don’t deep fry our noodles. At the time, we air dried them. That meant that it had all the cooking time of air dried noodles... plus the protein to make it even worse.

Ouch.

The thing about fiber though, is that fiber IS a carbohydrate, just one that your body can’t digest. It’s a broad category, and generally consists of two general types: Soluble and insoluble.

Soluble just means it can dissolve in water, and insoluble means it won’t dissolve in water. Simple.

Besides the health benefits, soluble fiber has another benefit: IT SUCKS UP WATER FASTER.

Which means, put into our ramen... we get a double whammy of benefits, both for you, who’s eating it, and you, who doesn’t have to wait as long for it to boil. Still, the biggest thing that made our noodles be able to hydrate even faster is our proprietary microwave dehydration method, which is so fast, so innovative, that companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars have tried to break into our facility to find out its secrets. But that’s a story for another day.

Corn fiber won.

Not because it was trendy or cheap, but because it was the only one that delivered prebiotic benefits without digestive rebellion. Your gut bacteria get fed properly, you don't spend the afternoon uncomfortable, and the noodles maintain their texture.

About psyllium husk: Yeah, it's great for digestive health. It's also documented to potentially create lethal sudden allergies with enough airborne exposure during manufacturing. We're not interested in dying suddenly, so that was an easy elimination.

It's a soluble prebiotic fiber that feeds beneficial gut bacteria without feeding the problematic ones that cause gas and bloating. Your microbiome stays balanced, your energy stays stable, and you don't regret eating.

Insoluble fiber (like wheat bran) adds bulk, can irritate sensitive guts. Soluble fiber (like oats) slows digestion, sometimes too much. Prebiotic soluble corn fiber feeds good bacteria without feeding bad ones.

Your beneficial gut bacteria (Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus) can break down corn fiber into short-chain fatty acids. These SCFAs reduce inflammation, improve mineral absorption, and support gut barrier function.

Your problematic bacteria can't digest it efficiently. So the good guys get fed, the bad guys get crowded out, and your gut stays balanced.

Most brands use whatever fiber is cheapest. We use corn fiber because we refuse to make you choose between nutrition and comfort.