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Wondering about your experience with fiber

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Ulcerative Colitis
When it comes to fiber, do you:
Avoid all fiber - 23.1% - 3 votes
Eat food with fiber - 30.8% - 4 votes
Eat food with fiber and also take fiber supplements - 30.8% - 4 votes
Only take fiber supplements - 0.0% - 0 votes
Only use soluble fiber - 0.0% - 0 votes
other? - 15.4% - 2 votes
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Posted 4/27/2013 12:46 AM (GMT 0)
I take psyllium husk caps daily and use psyllium seed powder when I'm in a flare. Although there are certain foods that I always have to avoid, the amount of fiber in the food doesn't seem to be the deciding factor.

My boss, on the other hand, who is very new to UC, has decided to pretty much never eat fiber again. I'm like, really? I can't imagine.

So how many of you avoid fiber, vs eating food with fiber, vs eating food with fiber and also taking fiber supplements?
Posted 4/27/2013 12:54 AM (GMT 0)
I voted for avoiding fiber because it gives me gas which gives me urgency. I also don't have to worry about bulking up my stools because they are already firm anyway.
Posted 4/27/2013 2:15 AM (GMT 0)
Oh where to start with my fiber journey! Lol I've tried avoiding anything with fiber because I found that fiberous foods caused me grief. Than I tried fiber supps...same thing. I avoided fresh fruits and veggies like the plague (though I loved them!). After YEARS of avoiding them, I am now dealing with Diverticular disease. I have a pocket on my left side and one on my right. Btw, I've had UC for 21 years and never hit a true remission until I started Remicade.

I'm sort of bitter now when it comes to a non-fiber diet. I mean if I would've tried to eat something fiberous here or there, would it have stopped me from getting Diverticular disease at 41?? I honestly don't know, but I can say that maybe if I would've attempted fiber once in in a while, perhaps I would've avoided the problems I face today. My UC is in remission...I feel great but now I'm on a restrictive diet so I don't end up in the hospital - which btw, my Diverticular disease has sent me to the ER 3 times already.

So I say, try to get fiber in anyway you can...whatever you can tolerate but don't avoid it 100% like me.
Posted 4/27/2013 9:34 PM (GMT 0)
I can't do a lot of fiber. Even before UC it would tear up my gut. I prefer fruit more then veggies even though I LOVE raw cauliflower in some ranch dip! I eat apples with no peel, pears same thing but only about a half instead of the whole thing. Watermelon in summer is a favorite but I have to make sure I don't try to eat half of it in one day! LOL I stay away from citrus which isn't hard because I've never really liked it. I also love strawberries but can't eat too many in a day either.
Posted 4/27/2013 10:21 PM (GMT 0)
With all the emerging research on resistant starches, I do think fiber is necessary for healing the colon. I've avoided fiber for a few years or so and the results were kind of disastrous -- I never really hit that remission window and my disease got worse.

I can only handle a few types of fiber, but I am hopeful that I can add more once the colon starts healing.

I avoided spinach for a good while, but I am able to handle canned spinach.
Posted 4/27/2013 10:50 PM (GMT 0)
I had to choose "other" because I eat soluble fiber as well as take Citrucel daily.(Just re-read the poll--maybe I chose the wrong one).

My remission was a long journey, in part becuase I was eating too much almond meal as a substitute for wheat flour. Now that I don't eat nuts much at all I am rarely constipated and bleeding is rare. For me insoluble fiber caused both.

Fiber was not my only food problem, just one of several (many).
I eat quite a lot of vegetables and make veggie juice once a week (less fiber there though).
Cooked spinach is one of my guts favorites, have it every day.
I get plenty of fiber daily, more than most Americans, but only fiber that my gut likes.

Citrucel has been the only fiber pill my gut likes. Years ago I'd take 6/day but now healed am down to 1 a day. (I've tried other types touted here with no success--they are in the cabinet of "failed supplements", it's a big cabinet).
Posted 4/27/2013 10:53 PM (GMT 0)
Stealth, actually resistant starch and fiber are not the same.

Fiber passes through your digestive system undigested whereas resistant starch gets digested by good bacteria in the large intestine into short-chain fatty acids that provide additional health benefits(Good for us UC/UP er's). Because resistant starch is digestible to some degree, it also provides some caloric value.

People who have a problem with fiber will likely NOT have a problem with most resistant fibers.

I would agree that there has been a great deal of emerging research on RS and UC/UP.

Best...
Posted 4/27/2013 11:38 PM (GMT 0)
When I try fiber, other than Benefiber, I go from one extreme to the next. Either very lumpy to very soft/loose.

I try to get my fiber from my food.
Posted 4/28/2013 12:02 AM (GMT 0)

protocolteck said...
Stealth, actually resistant starch and fiber are not the same.

Fiber passes through your digestive system undigested whereas resistant starch gets digested by good bacteria in the large intestine into short-chain fatty acids that provide additional health benefits(Good for us UC/UP er's). Because resistant starch is digestible to some degree, it also provides some caloric value.

People who have a problem with fiber will likely NOT have a problem with most resistant fibers.

I would agree that there has been a great deal of emerging research on RS and UC/UP.

Best...

Protocolteck,

I'm not sure about that definition of resistant starch. There is some ambiguity on what resistant starches are and I think the wikipedia page does a good job of setting the record straight:

"Resistant starch is considered both a dietary fiber as well as a functional fiber, depending on whether it is naturally in foods or added. The U.S. Institute of Medicine has defined total fiber as equal to functional fiber plus dietary fiber, and U.S. food labeling doesn't distinguish between them."

Most of the articles on resistant starch seem to classify it as a fiber; how else would it reach the colon?

There is a strong union between resistant starches and fiber to some degree, that is the highest quantity of resistant starch foods are also the highest in fiber content -- so resistant starches must have some amount of fiber with a few cases being the exception. It's not a coincidence that these same foods are also healthy for the colon. While these foods do ferment in the colon, some quantities of it pass by undigested AS fiber.

I don't think it is accurate to say that people who have trouble with fiber will not have trouble with resistant starches, as many of the foods highest in resistant starches are also the highest in fiber content -- beans, raw banana, etc. This is obviously for people who want the most out of resistant starches. I think some people here would benefit from cooled potatoes and pasta as those are relatively easy to digest.

Post Edited (StealthGuardian) : 4/27/2013 6:11:29 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 4/28/2013 1:37 AM (GMT 0)
Hey Stealth,

Yes I would agree it is not a black and white statement-I think you misread my post or took it the wrong way. I was actually talking about Metamucil, Benefiber and people who have a problem taking this stuff because of urgency, etc may not have a problem with most resistant fibers (look at my post, I said fibers NOT starch). This is because RS doesn't just shoot through you like Metamucil does to many of us, myself included. The definition of fiber is evolving to encompass new concepts, such as resistant starches.

I did not say that people who have trouble with fiber will not have trouble with resistant starches-I said most resistant fibers. Please read my unedited post again.

UC people with fiber issues, that is to say they have a problem with urgency, may find relief with a resistant starch like Tapioca Starch. Keep in mind, Tapioca Starch has virtually no measurable fiber in any usable amount. That is why Tapioca Starch is used to not only curb urgency but also as one of the best resistant starches for UC.

Dude, we both agree that RS is good for us so I don't want to debate schematics with you. The good news is we are both finding relief utilizing it so smile :-) I am out the door to take my lady out to a nice dinner, and yes, I will be having my RS. I have already read the menu online and will have the chef cool my sweet potato before serving (also having spinach:)

Have a great night !
Posted 4/28/2013 1:50 AM (GMT 0)
I don't pay any attention to fiber content.

I don't go out of my way to take extra fiber but I am sure I eat plenty of foods that contain fiber.
Posted 4/28/2013 1:51 AM (GMT 0)
"A schematic diagram represents the elements of a system using abstract, graphic symbols rather than realistic pictures"

"Semantics (from Ancient Greek: σημαντικός sēmantikós)[1][2] is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, like words, phrases, signs, and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotation."

just because i was glad someone pointed this out to me 20 some years ago :-)

Posted 4/28/2013 1:56 AM (GMT 0)
Soy, sent from iPhone. Foiled by Auto-Correct again :-(

Thanks, have a great night
Posted 4/28/2013 5:15 AM (GMT 0)
Fiber, she is a fickle mistress.

Fiber has caused me a lot of trouble this year. I started Metamucil in January and it caused me agony, I switched to citrucel and then to benefiber, but I think I waited too long to stop and tore my insides up. I descended into a full flare, which I am now digging myself out of. I have been trying to add resistant starches, but find that many of them (even the easy to digest ones like cold rice) cause me some pain. For now I'm sticking to greenish bananas, tapioca and rice pudding. Back before my diagnosis, I was a raisin bran junkie, and Boy do I miss the crunch of hearty cereal!

I hope that after I spend some time on this low-residue diet and meds everything will heal and be more resilient and I will graduate to things like pasta salad and navy beans. Maybe someday ill even be able to eat raisin bran again. I'm trying to be patient, it's not easy and causes agony when I move too quickly.
Posted 4/28/2013 4:31 PM (GMT 0)
I don't eat all foods with all types of fibre because of discomfort. I do consume foods with fibre plus fibre (psyllium capsules) supplements taken with my meals.

q
Posted 4/28/2013 7:39 PM (GMT 0)
Pretty much everything I eat is high fiber, being vegan and all. I dont know what I would eat if I had to avoid fiber.
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