Too much fibre?
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free skin care · Tue Apr 10, 2007 8:28 am

I was wondering if anyone could "educate" me on the topic of fibre. I thought I knew the basics, and I eat is for ONE major purpose ( Laughing

) along with it being good for you...but recently I stepped it up to the point where I'm getting maybe three times as much as I used to. My um, bathroom habits called for more, so I've been eating one bowl of Honey All Bran a day (which is 44% of your recommended daily intake...I used to get perhaps 12% at the lowest) and boy, are things moving along now!

The trouble is, my stomach seems to be a bit upset by it. I know that I was supposed to introduce it gradually, but I'm impatient, and plus All Bran is soooo good Embarassed

I'm getting sharp pains in my sides and under my ribs (akin to those "stitch" things you get, from running and such) and things are constantly moving and being noisy in my tummy. I'm just wondering, could this be from my fibre-ific diet, and my stomach trying to deal with it all of a sudden, or is something else seriously wrong here?

The upset started not with the fibre, but the afternoon before when I downed a big glass of chocolate milk. Dairy has never been such a problem for me, but I've substituted soy milk in its stead now.

I don't know what to think. Can anyone give me a bit of advice?

free skin care · Tue Apr 10, 2007 9:08 am

Hi FrevaKZ - I've never had this reaction from adding fiber alone, but that's not to say I can't rule it out. If things are painful or bothering you, I would cut back on your cereal for now and then work your way up. There may be something else you are reacting to but this would help you narrow it down. It's possible that you are sensitive to one of the ingredients in the cereal itself (i.e. gluten), not the fiber. You could always try switching to pure psyllium husk and if that works fine for you, then the fiber isn't the issue. Good luck!

free skin care · Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:58 pm

Well, my company just paid to have a Nutritionist come in and talk to us about Fiber. She said that people need to be careful with their fiber intake, although the avg person needs to consume 25 to 40 MG's a day. But if you normall don't eat a lot of fiber, your body could go into overdrive. Lots of noises, bowel issues, gas, which all causes pain. You do need the fiber, it helps keep your body working and helps bring out the other stuff you eat, because Humans don't use the fiber we take it. So your pains and issues could be from to much fiber. Try to start small doses then work up. That is what I did and now I am fine. I did suffer from simlar symptoms.

free skin care · Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:04 pm

Yeah, the pains in my side are actually gas, haha. I started with the big fibre intake last Wednesday and now things seem to be moving along, but I was surprised it took this many days. I didn't think too much fibre was on par with not enough.

I'll take gas over thinking I'm prego any day. Whew! Thanks for the heads up, guys.

free skin care · Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:00 pm

FrevaKZ wrote:

I was wondering if anyone could "educate" me on the topic of fibre. I thought I knew the basics, and I eat is for ONE major purpose ( Laughing

) along with it being good for you...but recently I stepped it up to the point where I'm getting maybe three times as much as I used to. My um, bathroom habits called for more, so I've been eating one bowl of Honey All Bran a day (which is 44% of your recommended daily intake...I used to get perhaps 12% at the lowest) and boy, are things moving along now!

The trouble is, my stomach seems to be a bit upset by it. I know that I was supposed to introduce it gradually, but I'm impatient, and plus All Bran is soooo good Embarassed

I'm getting sharp pains in my sides and under my ribs (akin to those "stitch" things you get, from running and such) and things are constantly moving and being noisy in my tummy. I'm just wondering, could this be from my fibre-ific diet, and my stomach trying to deal with it all of a sudden, or is something else seriously wrong here?

The upset started not with the fibre, but the afternoon before when I downed a big glass of chocolate milk. Dairy has never been such a problem for me, but I've substituted soy milk in its stead now.

I don't know what to think. Can anyone give me a bit of advice?

We should get 35 grams of fiber every day from numerous sources. The symptoms you are talking about could be from not drinking enough water in a day. For fiber to work properly you must have about 6 to 8 glasses of water a day. I find that people tend to get more discomfort when starting to eat more insoluble fiber (like wheat bran) and more constipation when overdoing it with soluble fiber. Insoluble fiber bulks up the stool and soluble is valuble in helping sop up some of the fat you eat. So, if you want lots of fiber start slow and remember the water (not just dairy).

free skin care · Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:22 pm

I read on the South Beach Diet, that people can take fiber to loose weight because 1. fiber helps to digest the food slower so therefore it takes longer to get to the carbs and sugar.
and 2. fiber also make you go to the bathroom alot so you're not retaining any of the bad carbs..is it true? has anyone lost weight because of taking too much fiber?

free skin care · Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:24 pm

fiber does help you lose weight because it makes you feel full, doesn't pack a lot of calories, and burns a lot of calories in digesting. Plus foods high in fiber tend to be just good for you, natural foods in general so aiming for a lot of fiber can help you eat better altogther.

but you have to start slow if you;re not used to it -- it can cause mega bloating, toots, and all sort of GI nasties if you just ramp up to 30 grams a day if you've been eating hardly any.

great, easy sources:
raspberries, dried apricots, LENTILS (tons!), beans, whole grains, pineapple, etc!
doesn't always have to be bran!

free skin care · Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:54 am

Actually it happened to me once before - the whole day I ate nothing but veggies and then the next day I was heading for the toilet big time. But the funny thing is that it was a singular occurance though I've tried eating only veggies for a whole day again. Just came to the conclusion that it was one of those natural detox days for my body haha Razz

free skin care · Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:15 am

waffle wrote:

fiber does help you lose weight because it makes you feel full, doesn't pack a lot of calories, and burns a lot of calories in digesting. Plus foods high in fiber tend to be just good for you, natural foods in general so aiming for a lot of fiber can help you eat better altogther.

but you have to start slow if you;re not used to it -- it can cause mega bloating, toots, and all sort of GI nasties if you just ramp up to 30 grams a day if you've been eating hardly any.

great, easy sources:
raspberries, dried apricots, LENTILS (tons!), beans, whole grains, pineapple, etc!
doesn't always have to be bran!

I've been on a high fiber diet off and on for years as it helps with my cholesterol. I find that people think something will help them lose weight and go crazy ending up with many of the symptoms you mentioned. First thing is you have to drink enough water to help everything exit. I have even switched to whole wheat pasta just for the extra fiber and the good news is that they taste better than they did (ww pastas)a few years ago.

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