Reducing Fiber in Diet (painful, cramping, doctor, symptoms)
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For years I had a fairly high level of fiber in my diet. I would begin the day with whole grain cereal, have a smoothie chalked full of veggies for lunch, and have a substantial salad before dinner. I thought that, among other things, it would keep my digestive tract as regular as it could be which was none too regular. Then after a few near-embarrassing occurrences I decided that I would try reducing my dietary fiber. I figured I had nothing to lose. That was six weeks ago and things have gotten much better both in quality of BMs and predictability. I basically removed the smoothie from my diet and replaced it with a couple of sliders or a bean burrito. The dinner salad is now about half the size it once was. My prime care doctor stated that he is not a nutritionist but his rule-of-thumb on such matter generally is, whatever works.
My husband and i have been big on fiber for many years. This last year, he started having problems due to the high amount of fiber he was taking in. High fiber bread, pasta, veggies, beans, fruit, green smoothies with tons of leafy greens. High fiber bread went to low fiber bread. He eats less beans now, anything high fiber is out for him. Although he kept his green smoothies. One to start the day. He said he feels a lot better now. And still goes "regularly" but not the 3 times a day like before.
Now me, I started having problems with whole grain wheat. Any time I would eat it, it would feel like a boa constrictor was squeezing my middle and it was very painful. I do not have the same problem when I eat enriched bread/pasta, etc. I guess maybe as we get older something changes in there? All I know is we can no longer handle all that fiber. I still eat my vegetables, fruit, leafy greens, and my little packet of oatmeal in the morning. But I will not focus just on high fiber everything anymore.
I have a nerve-disease and I believe the nerve-impulses in my colon are impacted. I have had slow and/or weak transport of waste, for as long as I can remember, mainly resulting in constipation. Have tried all sorts of ways of eating and it continues to be a struggle.
The times I have tried upping my fiber, UGH, it just stops me up badly. The one time I did a phase of eating a lot of fibrous veggies, I got painfully backed-up for a week, nothing coming out. After a while I had to "clean myself-out" manually, it was insane how much stuff came out of me.
So now, I eat a high-fat/moderate-protein/low-carb diet and it works really good for my problem.....there is very little waste to cause problems.
If your smoothie had milk in it than dairy may have caused your problems rather than the fiber.
Do you drink milk besides in the smoothie, or eat other dairy products?
I drink milk and eat a cup of yogurt a day. I have not changed my milk intake nor cut-out the yogurt. Basically I reduced my fiber intake about half by eliminating most fruit and veggies. And it seems to have done the job.
I've had ulcerative colitis 15+ years and it took years to figure out that my gut REALLY dislikes too much fiber, from whole foods like veggies, from fiber added to foods like baked goods and even fiber pills.
I put up with a lot of resistance from IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) forums where fiber is beloved but every gut is different IMO and reducing fiber has been a tremendously healthy thing for me. There are 2 main kinds of IBD: UC and Crohn's. IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) is not the same thing although some people with IBD also have IBS. Confused yet? So was I for a long time and I actually have both and telling them apart by symptoms is darn hard.
Here's what's hard about lowering fiber intake: you have to read a lot of small print on packaging because fiber is added to a lot of manufactured food because it's cheap, it's filling and it has no calories. I get fooled sometimes but my gut never does and acts up to say "Hey I did NOT like that" even if my taste buds did.
BTW the only fiber pill my gut tolerates is Citrucel, available generic too. It was always the most expensive fiber pill so my gut has expensive taste haha.
I drink milk and eat a cup of yogurt a day. I have not changed my milk intake nor cut-out the yogurt. Basically I reduced my fiber intake about half by eliminating most fruit and veggies. And it seems to have done the job.
Depending on the fruits/veggies you eat, it might also be a FODMAP issue that you are eating too many fruits and veggies that are high FODMAP and hard to digest. It can be tricky because with some fruits, it depends on the ripeness (ripe bananas are harder to digest than unripe ones). I know for me, if I have anything with inulin fiber in larger quantities, I have issues. I second twinkle’s note that you have to look at the ingredients. I have issues with inulin fiber and anything with soy protein isolate (which is in a different category, but added to A LOT of foods) in higher quantities. For a while, I was going to work and coming home with horrible bloating and cramping every afternoon and then realized it was because I was eating granola bars with soy protein isolate in it. Then I tried some with inulin/chicory root and the same thing happened. I now have cheerios as a snack (still fiber) but have no issues.
I've had ulcerative colitis 15+ years and it took years to figure out that my gut REALLY dislikes too much fiber, from whole foods like veggies, from fiber added to foods like baked goods and even fiber pills.
I put up with a lot of resistance from IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) forums where fiber is beloved but every gut is different IMO and reducing fiber has been a tremendously healthy thing for me. There are 2 main kinds of IBD: UC and Crohn's. IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) is not the same thing although some people with IBD also have IBS. Confused yet? So was I for a long time and I actually have both and telling them apart by symptoms is darn hard.
Here's what's hard about lowering fiber intake: you have to read a lot of small print on packaging because fiber is added to a lot of manufactured food because it's cheap, it's filling and it has no calories. I get fooled sometimes but my gut never does and acts up to say "Hey I did NOT like that" even if my taste buds did.
BTW the only fiber pill my gut tolerates is Citrucel, available generic too. It was always the most expensive fiber pill so my gut has expensive taste haha.
My bowels were perfectly fine until I watched some documentary on raw food. I started working in raw vegetables and seemed to be doing fine until one day at 28 years old until the area right below my belly button bloated up with a dull ache. After some testing it turned out I have Crohn's. I went on steroids and a maintenance medication they said I would need to take for life.
Fast forward 12 years and I haven't taken any pills in the last 3 years. I feel like they haven't really benefited me for at least 6-8 years, but was too afraid to stop taking them. I just learned to manage my fiber intake and not go too extreme.
As long as I don't eat most vegetables raw, I'm fine. Others I can tolerate such as lettuce. More fiber is not always better.
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