Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: grams of dietary fiber vs soluable fiber

Hi Olivia - Welcome! It's rare for a food label to breakdown fiber quantities into soluble/insoluble, so you do have to rely on just knowing by heart some of the staples (rice, oats, pasta, potatoes, etc.) and following the "is it smushable?" rule of thumb. The more smushable, the greater the soluble fiber/ lower the insoluble fiber. A banana is very smushable - a raw lettuce leaf is not.

There have been past posts on fiber quantities in foods that address this really well - check here web page and here web page for a whole thread on the topic.

It doesn't take much in terms of grams of soluble fiber to really help IBS. Many of the supplements only provide 1-2 grams per serving, but this makes a huge difference. The same is true of the soluble fiber foods. In terms of food volume, insoluble fiber foods will be much higher in grams of fiber per serving. So, in the end, you'll eat more (in volume) of soluble fiber foods, but more (in grams of fiber) of insoluble fiber foods, if you're just eating a well-balanced diet. You'll see this explained in the past posts too.

Best,
Heather

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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