Can You Believe A Low Fiber Diet Helps?

[Kellysavedbygrace]

After green juicing and manually separating the fiber from the juice w a nut bag I realized this is a replication of our digestive function. It takes a lot of work so which makes me tired which led me to think about how much blood my digestive system pulls from my vital organs to process my high fiber meals. For the last year I have tried to eat really well but noticed that I became particularly symptomatic following high fiber meals such as oatmeal and an apple or black beans w brown rice so for the last couple of weeks I've been experimenting w low fiber meals and getting my good nutrition from green juice and supplements. Along w my new antihistamine treatments I've had more good days in the last week and a half than I can remember. Anyone else have success w a low fiber diet?

[Kellysavedbygrace]

Oh by the way here are examples of "low fiber food" that I've eaten this week:

White bread, white rice, pasta, chicken, beef, canned soups and veggies, crackers, a little cheese. The only fresh fruits and veggies are a tomato, avocado, a few spinach leaves, cooked onions & garlic and a handful of grapes. This seems so counterintuitive but seems to help.

[Rachel Cox]

Hi Kelly,

What an interesting thought! That sounds like the way I used to eat!

It makes sense to reduce the stress on the digestive system... I just get so confused about what I should do with food. ( I've recently been researching more about fructose intolerance as it has an impact on blood pressure). It doesn't seem to matter what I eat, i still have terrible distention and pain. My nutritionist has given me digestive enzymes to aid my tummy trouble. My main focus remains getting nutritional punch because I am eating so much less than I used to. So I drink green smoothies made from kale and coconut water. mmm-mmm (not). What supplements are working for you? What do you make your green juice from?

R

[Dizzysillyak]

I was with you when you were discussing how our digestive tracts work to pull fluids away from

fiber and how we might assist this process but you lost me when I read what you were eating. Lol. Those foods are void of any nutrition.

I tried juicing for 3 months and I felt better at first but never noticed any improvement after that.

I've decided if I want juice I'll let someone else do it for me. Whole foods does this. I pulled the fiber

out twice like you did but it was too much work for me to stick with it.

My body pulls too much fluid out of foods like beans and grains and leaves me severely constipated. I've

never thought of it the way you described it tho. Thanks. Is this what you're doing ? What are your

symptoms ?

I wonder if there are treatments for this. Oh, actually taking magnesium citrate, natural calm, works for me. I took it with meals for awhile but totally forgot about it. I'm going to try it again. The trick with mag citrate is not to get too much. Too much leads to getting the runs.

I feel better avoiding difficult to digest foods so I understand why you feel better. In fact I used to eat those foods, mostly bread, and drink

Ensure or Boost to alleviate gastric pain. That was before being dx as a celiac tho.

Have you tried taking digestive enzymes or eating papaya,

mango or pineapple with your meals ? Papaya helps me the most but it's a pain to keep fresh papays

in the house. I'm on creon now but it's not the miracle I'd hoped for. And it doesn't work on the

dehydration in my digestive tract problem.

If you're interested, healthier options I've found include romain lettuce, parsley, cilantro, peeled apples (skins kill me),

most fruits, a variety of lightly cooked veggies, nuts and seeds. Most of the dark leafy greens are

too difficult for me to digest unless they're cooked.

Antihistamines are helping me too but I haven't started h2s yet. I actually had a negative diy pmttt the other

day. Kow. I'm trying not to get too excited till I see several of these. And of course I was having a good

day or I wouldn't have tried this. It confirms how I've been feeling tho.

Sorry for the book. This just me thinking about digestion. Thanks. D

[yogini]

Many of us tend to have slower digestive systems. Some even gave gastroparesis. Bulkier and harder to digest foods like fiber draw too much blood to the stomach area for me and make my reflux worse. Carbs help my reflux but are also bulky and cause pooling. I think the best food for me is protein.

[songcanary]

I am so glad I popped in on this thread. This doesn't really apply to low fiber, but for the last ten days I have been terribly constipated. And then I realized that I had stopped my digestive enzymes about that time. Thought I didn't need them anymore---not! We have such tummy problems as a group and I wouldn't have been on the enzymes in the first place if not for this forum.

Thanks for the inadvertent reminder everyone. LOL!

[Kellysavedbygrace]

So this thinking about low fiber came about as I'm tachying over the sink after squeezing the juice out of my nut bag. Green juicing is a lot of work so I'm wondering like Dizzy mentioned is it worth it? I feel much better when I drink it but it takes so much effort, I'm always tachying doing it - even when seated so I have time to think and analyze. (not to be too gross but want to convey the full idea.) As I dump the fibrous leftover down the disposal it looks like bright green poop. I mean not a little like poop but exactly like it- well, except bright green. And every time I do this (multiple times a week for the last several months) the whole diversion of blood to the digestive track hits me. And a very important fact I failed to mention in my previous post is that I've gone from having 5-9 bowel movements a day (small alternating between constipation and really watery) to 0-2 normal sized BMs a day. Sorry guys- I've been in the fog all day- that is a pretty important fact.

Now it is possible that this has to do with my antihistamine increase and not the lack of fiber but I'm not sure. I plan on testing this theory soon just don't want to do it this week- thus the thread.

I should also mention that in my Dysautonomia case GI is the least of my concerns. Yes, I have BMs that are way off, I get nauseous often and alternate between constipation and diarrhea - but it is nothing compared to the neuro issues, parasthesias and fatigue that keeps me from functioning like a normal person.

Giraffe- I use a Vitamix (whole food processing machine) and a nut bag. The Vitamix liquifies the food and the nut bag strains the fiber. I typically make enough for two 16oz drinks and I put the second one in an airtight container to preserve as many of the nutrients/enzymes as possible. I usually use 2/3 branches of organic kale (minus bitter stem) a big handful of organic parsley, another big handful of organic salad greens (spinach, spring mix or romaine), a whole apple (quartered minus stem) a quarter of a

Lemon or lime peeled, a thumb sized piece if Ginger root, a frozen bannana (which helps chill the juice) and some other form of sweet fruit- whatever I have in hand (a handful of grapes, an apricot, pear, etc) and I put in about one and a half cups of organic apple juice. There are you tube videos that talk about juicing using a vitamix.

Dizzy, I am with you and concerned that what I'm eating is totally void of nutrition- it is so opposite how I think that it is hard to comprehend me eating this food that is so empty- but, remarkably it does seem to help. And now I'm stuck trying to figure out what to eat. . Today I made tuna fish minus the raw celery and onion that I love. I have an appt w a nutritionist tomorrow to discuss this. I took a food sensitivity test and the Spectracell comprehensive nutritional analysis and found I'm deficient in 8 nutrients and have sensitivities to eggs, non cultured dairy and slightly to sugar. (but gluten/ wheat seemed ok.). So I'll see what she says and go from there. I like your idea of cooking fresh veggies & peeling apples- what other tips do you have for getting fresh food w/o high fiber? No I hate papaya and have only a little pineapple- might try that.

Yogi- I'm with you. I think I need protein w every mini meal- just hard to always get low histamine versions of protein when I eat small meals often. Lemme know if you have any tips.

SongC- have I ever mentioned how seeing yor pic on here always makes me smile? You seem so happy. Makes me thin I need to get a pic up- but I can't compete w you. Glad the thread helped you figure that out.

Thanks all for your input!

[Dizzysillyak]

Interesting thread. Thanks. I was dx with gastroparesis then undiagnosed after going gf, etc. but

I can tell certain foods sit in my stomach still. I finally realized that I should just avoid these a few

weeks ago instead of trying digestive enzymes, probiotics, etc to get these in me. Beef,

shrimp, apple skins, beans, etc all cause stomach pain.

I found that chewing romain lettuce, parsley (leaves only) and cilantro (leaves only) give me more energy than juicing did. These are

my current salad ingredients and they're not causing me gi problems and they're high in nutrients. I recently stopped trying to eat raw kale,

raw onions, leeks, garlic, peppers, celery, etc. in my salads. I was trying to get the nutrients from these but decided

it wasn't working for me.

I didn't see these listed above but after juicing beets and carrots for a couple on months my esophagus started hurting if I ate or juiced these.

I'm not sure if it was the oxalates in these or the texture but I wanted to warn you. Straining the fiber

didn't help either.

You may want to check out different papayas. The enzymes in the meat and seeds are great for digestion.

To me the smaller ones taste better. And I never eat the outer edge next to the skin. I only like the ones that

are completely ripe too. Actually, if you have a BJ's nearby their's are only $4 and very good if

you let it ripen.

Some people can eat overly processed wheat better than whole wheat because

whole grain wheat is full of gluten and high fiber. It's only been two weeks so your body still hasn't

fully adapted yet either.

Not to beat a dead horse but I'd still remove the gluten if I were you. I've seen countless people

show up on forums now that say their doctors have advised them to go gf despite neg lab results. I've also seen countless success

stories. But I would never have healed as much as I have just by giving up gluten tho.

Or by eating those "gf" foods. I need to follow

a paleo type diet. I don't mean to sound pushy tho.

Hope you get this figured out. Not to be a downer but unless your nutritionist is better than most,

you could be wasting your time and money. Imho, dr wahls has the best diet plan if you subtract

most of that fiber and allow for your intolerances.

Tc .. D

[Rachel Cox]

So this thinking about low fiber came about as I'm tachying over the sink after squeezing the juice out of my nut bag.

Oh! pardon me! I can't help but laugh myself silly over this sentence. Here in NZ a 'nutbag' is another term for (shhh) scrotum. Tee hee! best laugh all day :-D

[songcanary]

Hi Kelly,

You are so sweet! I am smiling because 2012 has been a pretty good year. I finally feel like I'm crawling out of the hole. Now if you had taken my picture three years ago.....well that was not a pretty sight by any means. There is hope, even on the worst days, always remember that

[Kellysavedbygrace]

Dizzy- thx for your input. Funny- the nutritional testing I have had done did not show an issue with wheat or gluten but the nutritionist also suggested I try removing gluten bc it helps so many. Hmmm... I will seriously consider.

G- Lol!

SC- you inspire me to keep going