Dietary fiber

Cafe Society
1

Dietary fiber has been a hot topic in recent years among food and nutrition scientists as well as health professionals. We’ve had conversations on the topic of dietary food supplements over the years - the most recent back in Mar’14, according to the blue box on the right.

Scientific studies suggest that dietary fiber is critical to microbial gut health and has important impact on our overall health. I think 30g of fiber is recommended in the North American diet, but nutritionists say that 60g is better. The gut bio-dome either thrives or suffers in direct proportion to the amount of fiber in one’s diet. Science suggests that a healthy gut has about 3,000 different microbes in the gut (tens of trillions in real numbers). Most north Americans have a far smaller variety and lower overall count of healthy microbes in the gut due to a very low consumption of fiber (<30g) and high consumption of meat products that contain anti-biotics. There also mention of a high incidence of prescribed anti-biotics, but that another matter.

In contrast, hunger gatherer societies in south America and Africa tend to have a much higher fiber diet and tend to have a far greater variety of gut microbes, as many as 6,000 different types.

Now, regardless of variety, not all gut microbes are of the healthy type but a large variety assures a “healthy” overall balance and there is an ecology to the variety that suggests that trying to eliminate the “bad” microbes might have a negative impact because it’s not quite a black & white issue of which are good and which are bad and why.

To sum up, I’ve been tracking a variety of nutritional variables in my diet over weeks, more out of boredom and interest than science. I noticed that by fiber intake is about 40% (12-14g) of recommended daily. So I’m thinking that I need to increase my daily dietary fiber intake to see what noticeable impact it has on my health. Specifically, level of energy and ability to burn more fat. Those are some of the claims being made about the benefits of increased dietary fiber intake.

My plan, after the current 3 day fast, is to switch to brown rice and to start eating more baked sweet potatoes as well as lentils. With fall coming, it seems a fitting change from my diet of summer salads and grilled meats.

So, do any of you bother to track your daily fiber intake, even informally, and what types of foods do you regularly consume to ensure a “healthy” dietary fiber intake? Recipes always welcome and make the conversation more interesting, I think.

2

When I formulated my medsludge for chemo [and ran it past the nutritionist] I added 2 tbsp oat flour [I blenderized steelcut oatmeal into oat flour] and 1 tbsp flax seed meal in per meal [12 oz whole milk, 4 oz whole milk greek unflavored yogurt, 1.5 to 2 packets carnation instant breakfast, ice. Frozen fruit instead of ice if I felt like it] as dietary fiber.

I don’t really track my fiber, other than I do tend to eat about 75 % vegetables - I prefer my potatoes unpeeled, brown rice, wild rice, lentils are my preferred legume, and I like barley instead of noodles in my soups.

3

You can buy psyllium husk fiber. I found I hate the powder and would rather have capsules, but those are expensive.

What are you doing?

4

Yep, that’s my plan. To be more deliberate as far as getting more legumes and grains in by diet. I’ve always liked them anyway. Not sure why I’ve fallen out of the habit.

Just doing a 3 day fast. I do that from time to time, several times a year. First day sucks but after that it feels pretty good and puts me in the frame of mind of eating a little better. I’ve already been doing IF (20/4) for about 15 years, so I’m not new to any of this. I also prefer to avoid supplement fiber and get it though food.

5

Going for fast/convenient options? I am mostly constrained to cook from scratch with the change to adding palm oil/palm shortening, shellfish [oriental fish sauce] or mushrooms as umami boosters to commercially prepped foods. [I absolutely avoid anything that claims ‘natural flavors’ without checking with the manufacturer as to exactly what the flavors are, shrooms as an umami booster are incredibly common]

Granted, cooking from scratch can take up a fair amount of time sourcing ingredients, and making the food, but I prefer cooking for myself and avoiding either a run to the hospital [mushrooms], or spending 4 hours in the bathroom shitting my brains out [palm/coconut/tropical flavors/ingredients, shellfish] and as a diabetic, I do have to watch my diet for nutrition density without junk carbs, and with lower GI cancer I need to avoid known GI irritants like smoke essence and caffeine.

6

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love to cook and I prefer to cook things from scratch. It’s just that this goddamn do everything from home 24/7 lifestyle has made me fall into an eating rut which has caused me to become lazy and unmotivated to cook, opting for more processed food (mostly cold cuts and cracker style snacks).

So I started tracking everything I eat using the Cronometer app. That is when I noticed my diet imbalance with respect to fiber.

7

Ugh, I commiserate with you. mrAru and I sort of lucked out, we both are packrats and had quite an odd but good random selection of pantry goods, and we have 2 full sized chest freezers that started out pretty fully stocked, we were just sort of short of fresh fruit, so we were pretty good for the first 3 months of reduced ability to go shopping. Having no real immune system, we have been pretty much keeping to ourselves to diminish exposure for me.

I find an amazing tool is foodgawker.com, they digest hundreds of food blogs daily so you only have to hit one site to make a menu plan, and it is searchable. It helps us avoid the whole ‘Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day’ cycle of the same 10 menus =)

8

I used to use Metamucil capsules but I have been buying a generic from Target, MUCH cheaper.

9

Yeah, I drink a large glass of that daily, about 2 tbs in a glass of water.

10

Those are much less messy.

11

Seems like some of you prefer to use a supplement to get your fiber. I’m assuming that it may be for regulatory reasons. My intention is more along the lines of overall gut biome health and thus relying more on getting it from a variety of fiber rich foods.

Aside: I’m on day 3 of my fast. First day always sucks. Day 2 sucks in a slightly different way in that is when the hanger sets in and my blood glucose levels seem to have leveled off. I alternate between clear headedness and some ocular migraines. Day 3 is better. Much better quality of sleep last night and a feeling of calmness this morning. No hanger. That may come towards the end of the day as that is when I typically eat. So just another 36 and I break my fast tomorrow evening. Time to start planning my meal.

12

I want to point out the importance of Kefir. Some people think it is the same as yogurt, but its probiotic contribution is different and sometimes almost indispensable.

13

Love that stuff. A bit too much sugar in the fruit flavored kind, but the plain is pretty damn good over some fresh berries.

14

We don’t TRACK it, but my wife (who pays more attention to nutrition than I) always stresses eating the least processed food possible. As I understand it, her opinion is that processing generally reduces the benefit of fiber, and instead makes the food more like sugar. (I told you I didn’t pay much attention! ;))

I really don’t care much about food - I’ll eat what is available. So we eat a lot of rice, beans, lentils. We’ve pretty much eliminated pasta other than lentil/chickpea. We eat A LOT of whole fruits/veggies. Yesterday one meal was sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts, and another was a green salad and a TON of watermelon. But, when we had company on Labor Day, we cooked burgers. And when we want the occasional ice cream or cake, we don’t think twice.

15

Every morning I have a layer of Kellogg’s All-Bran Buds in my bowl of cereal. A half cup has 17 g of fiber. If the RDA for fiber is ~30 g, that’s 57% right there.

We also eat a lot of fresh fruit, salads, and lentils. I eat bread made of sprouted wheat berries, which has about 2 g of fiber per slice (90 calories). I’m not concerned about my fiber intake.

16

My father’s been reading Gut by Giulia Enders and wrote an email to his doctor wondering if he should be taking prebiotics. Doctor said go ahead.

We can feed and support good bacteria in the gut with prebiotics – dietary fibre such as endive, asparagus, leeks and cold sushi rice. “For good bacteria, each little grain is a comet of deliciousness,” writes Enders. “Bad bacteria cannot process prebiotics, so the good ones gain the upper hand.”

Something to consider for getting fiber, as the type of fiber is also important, not just the amount is not enough.

17

For sure. I’ve recently learned that leeks, asparagus, zucchini, and various cruciferous vegetables (which I enjoy) may be superior to the fiber supplements (which I never liked). Love rice, quinoa, buckwheat and whole grains too.

Really pleased with my 3 day fast results. Thinking of making it a quarterly practice.