Question regarding total fiber intake per day....
#4506 - 03/30/03 04:06 AM
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jcataw
Reged: 03/30/03
Posts: 8
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Thank you Heather and friends for this wonderful site. As many have mentioned - it is good not to feel alone in this and to have so much information located in one place. Heather, your books are terrific. My question: I have recently been diagnosed with IBS-D (have had it almost all my life to some degree or another - 42 years old - and have learned to live with it as best I can.) However, recently I have been having added severe problems with spastic colon. My spasms are frequent, extremely painful and in the early a.m. hours. This is what got me to the Doctor. (I have had ALL THE TESTS done to be sure it is not something other than IBS). My doctor said that I need to consume between 20-25 grams of fiber per day. I have not read (and maybe I have missed this due to the volume of this site) any discussions on "AMOUNT" of fiber per day. Just type. I am just starting to eat for IBS. Changing my prior diet of whole grains, lots of fruits and veggies. You know - a healthy diet! The spasms seem to be slowly improving. Does anyone know if the spasms are due to quantity or type of food that I am consuming? Do you see quantity of fiber as an important step? Does anyone know if this will help the spasms? A discussion or direction to a discussion of "QUANTITY" of fiber would be appreciated. Thank you all.
Joyce
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Joyce - if you use the search function at the top of the page and type in "fiber", all forums, no date restrictions you should get all the posts that mention fiber. Specifically go to the ones by Heather and you should find all kinds of links to read up on. If you have any problems with it, post and we'll help you.
Welcome aboard, BTW!
Sharon
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Sharon
"Anything Chocolate"...that is all!
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Thanks, Sharon.
After spending literally hours "reading" and often getting side tracked by interesting insights - I believe I have found what I needed to know about fiber. It seems that I have not been taking nearly enough of my supplement - following the bottles directions and (frustratingly) my doctors advice about ONE scoop per day. I will increase my intake and see how that works. And yes, the search feature is wonderful. I will need to earmark more time to browse the posts for more useful info.
Thanks again,
Joyce
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Hi Joyce - Glad you found some info with the search button. Many folks don't take enough of the soluble fiber supplement - that should make a big difference in stopping those painful spasms you're having.
Interestingly, 20-25 grams of fiber per day is really the bare minimum - and most Western people don't even eat nearly that. There are countries that eat up to 40-60 grams of fiber a day - so you really don't have to worry about going too high.
If you're working up to 2T twice daily (or 8 tablets) of a soluble fiber supplement, and basing all your snacks and meals on soluble fiber, and then carefully incorporating as much insoluble fiber as possible, you will easily be eating 20-25 grams per day - probably more.
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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Thank you Heather. I appreciate your info. I was confused when my doctor said to take one heaping scoop a day of the fiber supplement. Knowing that 20-25 grams of fiber was what I was trying for it seemed like I was missing something! In reading all the posts I am confident I can take control of these spasms and avoid medication (a personal goal of mine). Thanks again for spelling that out for me and covering my concerns.
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Heather,
I was just trying to add up how much fiber I am getting per day, and my rice says 0g. I have several kinds that I use... Risotto, Jasmine and White Basmati all say 0g. My Sushi Rice has no amount listed, but says "not a significant source of dietary fiber." My plain old enriched long grain white rice does say 1g...
I have been basing most of my meals on a bowl of rice thinking I was soluble fiber queen, but this nutrition information is disturbing.
I was having so much fun trying the different varieties, but do I just need to stick to plain for the fiber?
--H2
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-h2
"Soluble fiber not included."
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Hi - I think that a lot of food labels round anything less than 1 gram per serving down to 0. There is soluble fiber in your white rice, no matter what kind (sushi, jasmine, etc.). Check this earlier post - web page
What's really interesting is that the soluble fiber quantity in foods and in supplements doesn't seem to be all that high in proportion to its effect on the gut. I think the grams really start adding up for overall fiber from the insoluble fiber foods. And I also think the serving size listed on most food labels is much smaller than the amount most people eat, so your fiber will add up to more as a result of that as well.
One interesting note...when I got the nutritional analysis software I needed to analyze the recipes for Eating for IBS, I had a lot of questions about the fiber breakdown for foods. I spoke quite a bit to the software rep about this, because every single program available had fairly limited information for fiber analysis. He said that the FDA database and information for fiber quantities in foods (which is what all of the software programs are based on)is notoriously inaccurate - to the point that they'd actually removed some information altogether and quite a few foods didn't have any fiber info at all. As far as I know, that information still hasn't been updated (the FDA only revises and updates its whole database every several years or so). I don't know if this is a factor in the rice labels or not, but ever since learning that I've been suspicious about fiber breakdowns that I see.
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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How weird! i Was just about to post with the exact same question! lol. anyway, thanks for clearing this all up heather
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-Angela
Healed in Jesus' Name 
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