Brown Rice
#372772 - 03/31/16 01:09 PM
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JeanM
Reged: 03/31/16
Posts: 2
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Hi,
I am brand new to this board, so forgive me if this question has already been asked and answered. I go back and forth between diarrhea and constipation and stumbled upon this idea of eating more soluble fiber. I am confused about brown rice, however. Heather, when I read your info, it sounds like you promote brown rice as a soluble fiber food. Yet, everywhere I look on the web, brown rice is listed as primarily insoluble fiber. Can you clear up my confusion? Thanks!
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Hello Jean - brown rice has both insoluble fiber (the bran on the outside, the brown part) and soluble fiber (the rest of the grain beneath the bran). If you polish off the bran, you're left with white rice.
In general, brown rice is a well tolerated whole grain by most folks with IBS (instant oatmeal and finely ground cornmeal are two others). But - if you're struggling, stick to white rice to be completely safe.
XOXO
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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Hi Heather,
Thank you so much for responding so quickly. Brown rice feels heavy in my stomach, so I will be avoiding it. But now I have a question about white rice. Every label I read, and everything I see on the web about white rice, states that it has no fiber whatsoever. Is that what you're seeing as well? Is that a good thing? It seems that eating foods with no fiber will just make matters worse, especially for those of us with IBS-C. Would love your thoughts.
On another note, I have just started taking the Acacia powder... very small amounts to start out. Crossing my fingers and hoping it helps!
-- Jeanne
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Hi - Hang in there, I know fiber can be confusing. Most plant foods have both soluble and insoluble fiber - check here http://www.helpforibs.com/diet/faq.asp#both_fibers .
And fiber charts are notoriously unreliable, so they're not an easy solution. There's a whole article about that here http://www.helpforibs.com/messageboards/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=diet&Number=284172&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5&o=&fpart=1 Food/nutrition labels are all deriving fiber numbers from the charts/databases, so they have the same problems.
The best rule of thumb is whether or not something is "smushy". It sounds silly, but it's a fast and easy - and pretty accurate - gauge of whether or not something can be considered safe. If you can "smush" a plant food - like bananas, cooked rice, cooked potatoes, etc. - that points to soluble fiber and a lack of insoluble fiber. If you couldn't "smush" it - think raw cabbage, kernel corn, wheat bran - that indicates insoluble fiber.
The smushier a food seems (and you don't have to actually conduct the experiment, it's usually easy to just visualize it and it's obvious) the safer it will be. The more seeds, hulls, tough skin, fibrous material, stems, etc. the more insoluble fiber you're looking at.
If something is not at all smushy raw, but much smushier cooked (spinach, celery, etc.) that is a good indication that the cooking process has broken down that insoluble fiber and made it much easier for your gut to handle.
Hope this helps, please let me know if you need more info.
Best,
H
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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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