Good morning, it’s Wednesday.
I’m not sure when this happened but somewhere along the line, our national protein obsession has morphed into a national fiber obsession.
I am ashamed that I had to Google “what is fibermaxxing” to make sure I fully understood the term that has been bouncing around social media for a while now. Basically, it’s exactly what it sounds like – a nutrition trend that encourages people to “max out” their fiber intake.
Proponents claim that doing this will help you be more regular, lose weight, improve your heart health, lower your cholesterol, and reduce your risk of ailments and diseases like diabetes and cancer (specifically colorectal, among others).
A diet rich in fiber means consuming more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and legumes, with the goal of hitting somewhere between 25 and 30 grams of fiber per day. Experts estimate that more than 90% of women and 97% of men are failing to hit their daily recommended fiber intake (25 grams for women and 38 grams for men, depending on your age).
There are two types of fiber – soluble and insoluble – and we need both of them.
Soluble fiber dissolves in water and forms a gel-like substance in the stomach, binding to cholesterol and helping discharge it from the body. It slow digestion, helping you feel full longer, and also feeds the “good” bacteria in your stomach. Insoluble fiber is, well, insoluble, meaning it doesn’t dissolve in water. Its role is to move food through the digestive tract, helping prevent constipation.
If you’re on the go a lot, like me, and you find yourself behind on your fiber intake, one of the easiest things to do is grab an apple.
A single apple, with its skin, weighing in at about 182 grams, contains approximately 4.4 grams of dietary fiber – both soluble and insoluble. Better yet, they taste great! If you really want to maximize an apple’s fiber benefits, try consuming one in the morning (in your cereal or, better yet, your oatmeal, which also packs a decent fiber punch), or perhaps with a small spoonful of peanut butter.
We are deep in the thick of apple season in the northeast. Of the 7,500 known apple cultivars, about 2,500 varieties are grown in the U.S.
New York alone produces about 250 different kinds of apples, with 30 of those grown in commercial volumes. In fact, we are the second highest producing apple state behind Washington, though they really are quite far ahead, with more than 7 billion pounds grown annually, compared to our 1.4 billion.
There’s a growing interest in heirloom apples, which are older and not mass-produced varieties that usually date back several decades – sometimes as far back as a century – and have been passed down through grafting or open pollination. Not only do their heirloom varieties provide a different taste experience, but their biodiversity also makes the crop stronger and less disease prone.
You may have already guessed, but it’s National Apple Day, which, technically speaking, is a UK phenomenon, but since I”m a big apple fan, I think it’s worthy of attention on this side of the pond.
Another glorious day is on tap – perfect for sneaking off for a midday apple orchard visit, if you’re so inclined. We’ll have bright, mostly sunny skies and temperatures topping out in the low 60s.
In the headlines…
President Trump’s approval rating hit a new low just a few weeks before the midterm elections, driven down by broad disapproval of his handling of the economy, the war in Iran and high gas prices, according to a new poll from The New York Times and Siena.
Just 36 percent of likely voters said they approve of Trump’s performance, while 59 percent disapproved – his lowest approval rating in any Times/Siena poll. More than two-thirds of independents said they disapproved of the way he has handled his job as president.
Trump’s political operation dedicated about $277 million from September through mid-October to help Republican midterm candidates, a staggering sum that has given the party an upper hand financially as it clings to full control of Congress.
President Trump vowed on Tuesday to spend an additional $100 million on Republican candidates by Election Day, as his party tries to use its financial advantage over Democrats to weather headwinds that include his own slumping popularity.
Mike Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and Democratic megadonor, is again serving as a late-arriving white knight for the party, sending about $80 million in September and October to help Democrats in the midterms.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters that Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful El-Sayed’s campaign was of “critical importance” because a victory would show a “willingness to chart a new course in Washington.”
The R.N.C., which entered September with an enormous $126 million on hand, told The New York Times that it was finishing moving more than $50 million to the groups overseeing the party’s efforts to elect House and Senate candidates.
Praising President Vladimir V. Putin as a “humanitarian,” the Trump administration envoy Steve Witkoff thanked the Russian leader in St. Petersburg for releasing an American man held for over four years on what the State Department called fabricated charges.
Stephen Hubbard, 73, of Michigan, was sentenced after a closed trial in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison. Prosecutors said he had signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, and fought alongside them.
The U.S. has courted the Kremlin for weeks, and the release of Hubbard — a retired Michigan schoolteacher detained in Ukraine in 2022 — will give Trump a victory to tout after backlash at home and abroad for his tilt away from Kyiv in the conflict.
Jane Doe, who accused Cornell fraternity members of sexually assaulting her in 2024, sent a letter to the school’s faculty senate sharing a secondhand account of President Michael Kotlikoff’s response to her allegations ahead of a potential vote of no confidence.
In a letter, the former student said she felt “unsupported” after hearing about an exchange between the school president and her sorority sister. Officials disputed her account of the conversation.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Cornell described Jane Doe’s account of the question asked by Kotlikoff as “incorrect, based on a documented first-hand account.”
A second young woman claims she was raped at a frat party near the University of Chicago, according to an explosive new lawsuit — over a week after the elite institution was first rocked by sexual assault allegations at another frat house.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing to announce a China-linked computer chip factory near Utica, NY — a desperate bid to tout tech-friendly policy despite her recent, statewide ban on AI data centers.
Lily Fan, the chair and commissioner of the State Liquor Authority, donated $40,000 on Oct. 6 to a super PAC that has registered to support Hochul — and that is run by partners at a government relations firm that frequently lobbies Fan and her agency.
Hochul and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman butted heads on the campaign trail Tuesday over energy policy and the increasingly high cost of utility bills.
New York state’s rosy mid-2026 economic picture could come crashing down if a potential AI-fueled market bubble bursts, Hochul’s Budget Director Blake Washington warned recently.
Empire State Republicans are betting a public safety focus will help them buck a tough national political climate. It’s a strategy that helped them in tough races in 2022, leveraging an issue that resonates in crucial bellwether regions like the New York City suburbs.
A poll conducted by On Message Inc. for Republican Saritha Komatireddy’s campaign for attorney general found Hochul leading Blakeman by just 4.4 percentage points.
Blakeman, joined by the state’s last Republican Gov. George Pataki, vowed during a Washington Heights news conference to tap into the state’s natural gas resources and slash energy bills if he becomes governor.
Hochul’s pledge to crack down on auto insurance fraud during this year’s legislative session has resulted in a shift of law enforcement priorities in New York that her administration said is beginning to result in arrests.
New York officials said they arrested 16 people for their alleged involvement in auto insurance fraud schemes involving nearly $500,000 in attempted fraudulent claims statewide.
State Attorney General Letitia James dropped the ball on protecting New Yorkers, a group of crime victims and their relatives said Tuesday as they rallied for Komatireddy.
James and Komatireddy are at loggerheads over what New York’s chief legal officer has the power to do. Each told the Times Union in recent interviews that the other misunderstands what the role entails.
The Trump administration is sharply reducing the time refugees have to contest the termination of their status, a move advocates say could put as many as 186,000 people who fled persecution and war in their home countries on a path to deportation.
Counties across New York State are struggling to adapt to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) after changes from President Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ officially took effect on October 1.
State Police investigators searched the Colonie residence of Lt. Col. Jared Duffy, who is chief of staff for State Police Superintendent Steven G. James. Multiple law enforcement sources said the investigation is focused on sexually explicit images of children.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the expansion of a gun violence prevention initiative — an effort that’s been shown to drive down shootings over time — into Harlem, Washington Heights and Bushwick.
Mamdani appointed a Jewish judicial ethics attorney as director of a panel that recommends judges for city courts after bar groups criticized Mamdani earlier this year for not including Jewish lawyers on the panel.
Mamdani’s administration is proposing a new rule cracking down on companies using automated chatbots for customer service, requiring businesses to disclose when they use such systems and to allow customers the option of talking with a person instead.
Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels was grilled by New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones at a school integration town hall over his lack of a plan to address inequality in city public schools, more than 10 months into the new mayoral administration.
Samuels faced a frustrated, impatient crowd Tuesday as he insisted the Mamdani administration is committed to integrating New York City public schools, even as he declined to share a specific plan.
A good government advocate has been tapped by Mamdani to take on the duties of managing the committee charged with vetting judicial nominees, City Hall announced Tuesday.
Nearly 100 students at LaGuardia High School, the Manhattan arts school that inspired the movie “Fame,” walked out of class on Tuesday to demand a freeze on artificial intelligence, driven by concerns that the new technology could threaten their future careers.
A City Council hearing focused on why ambulances are taking far longer to respond than a decade earlier, with fewer hospitals and a shortage of emergency workers partly to blame.
NYC Councilmember Chi Ossé, a Democratic Socialists of American chum of Mamdani, ditched government hearings on Monday and Tuesday to instead travel multiple hours outside of his Brooklyn district to head to Rochester and Syracuse.
Federal, state and city authorities conducted searches of adult day care facilities in New York City as the Trump administration investigates allegations at centers in states Democrats control.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz confronted employees at two New York City senior care centers over suspected Medicaid fraud, challenging their billing practices.
The city may landmark a little-known 70-foot lighthouse on the western edge of Coney Island that’s been guiding ferries, tugboats, barges and sailing vessels to safety for more than 135 years.
New renderings are out for the planned Metropolitan Park and Hard Rock Hotel and Casino complex in Queens — and the reviews are mixed.
The city’s Public Design Commission unanimously voted to table its vote on the design of a public-facing portion of the Metropolitan Park casino after opponents raised concerns about the $8 billion complex’s impact on the local environment.
A pair of masked anti-Israel vandals wrecked a Brooklyn subway station last week, smashing seven OMNY machines to protest the payment-reader maker’s alleged ties to the IDF.
A 46-year-old man was fatally shot in the head during a drive-by shooting on the George Washington Bridge Tuesday, officials said.
The resignations of four board members have left the Rensselaer Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners unable to properly function.
Despite widespread rejection of the move by state lawmakers, the Albany Common Council passed a resolution Monday calling on the state to consider implementing an income tax on people who work but do not live in the city.
Police investigating the disappearance of Ashley Carroll, a Troy woman who vanished 16 years ago, found human remains Tuesday afternoon behind a home at 7 Marlborough Court.
Albany County officials broke ground this week on a new 75,000-square-foot facility at the Coeymans Industrial Park as part of an expansion project for port operations.
Albany County residents will be voting this fall on the transition of coroners to a medical examiner’s office.
Rensselaer County is looking ahead to 2027 with its proposed budget. County Executive Steve McLaughlin says the plan would mark the ninth consecutive year of a property tax decrease for county residents.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
