Guess what, common wisdom is often completely wrong regarding being all bunged up.
Straight to the fibre thing
This study showed that stopping or reducing dietary fibre intake reduces constipation and its associated symptoms. Yes, you read that right.
“Idiopathic constipation [i.e. with an unknown cause] and its associated symptoms can be effectively reduced by stopping or even lowering the intake of dietary fiber.”
Similarly, a literature review put it just as clearly:
“A diet poor in fiber should not be assumed to be the cause of chronic constipation. Some patients may be helped by a fiber-rich diet but many patients with more severe constipation get worse symptoms when increasing dietary fiber intake.”
On a practical note: as with most interventions, I suggest easing into it gradually so that you don’t have some sort of weird rebound with it. The body usually prefers to have a little time to get used to changes.
A side note on fibre
If you’re among the people who do better with more fibre, rather than less, it’s worth considering increasing your ratio of soluble fibre (which dissolves in water) to insoluble fibre (which doesn’t). Here’s a fact sheet on that, and a study that shows participants feeling better on the whole when increasing mixed fiber (which was plum-derived…’cause, prunes…) as compared to psyllium.
On drinking more fluids
The review above follows up with a double whammy to common knowledge, clearly stating that “[t]here is no evidence that constipation can successfully be treated by increasing fluid intake unless there is evidence of dehydration.”
Which means that not getting dehydrated in the first place is a great preventive measure, but there’s no point glugging down massive amounts of fluids if you’re already in that unhappy state.
One digestion-and-fluid-related note: my suggestion is to not drink much fluid with meals, but rather at least half an hour on either side of them.
A few interventions that might work better
If you’ve already eliminated the oftentimes-negative of too much fibre, here are a few other things that are worth investigating. Again, as with any intervention, it’s best to introduce one at a time so you know what works and what doesn’t. Also, each of them should be introduced slowly! Or you may well end up with the opposite issue happening suddenly.
- Check your magnesium intake to see if it’s adequate.
- Increase the amount of healthy fats in your diet (in a world where everyone takes stands and makes strict lists of what’s considered un/acceptable, olive oil seems to fare the best at emerging relatively unscathed).
- Consider increasing your consumption of probiotics, either from foods like raw sauerkraut (the kind you’d buy in the fridge section, not the shelf-stable jars on a cupboard), kimchi, plain, unflavoured kefir or yogourt, or as supplements from quality sources.
The food with the bad rep
Hey, there’s always okra. Being a member of the mallow family, it’s known as a demulcent, something that’s considered soothing and that provides lubrication…which is why it could be considered a little on the slimy side. (Be in touch if you’d like to know two very palatable ways I’ve learned to cook it that both reduce the “ew” factor.)
Worth considering if your gut integrity is severely compromised
For severe and ongoing cases, do your own research and consider diving into the GAPS Diet protocol. Here’s a great overview, and here is a more comprehensive summary (I know, bit of a contradiction in terms, but there you go) from the diet’s creator.
Moving along (Ha ha?)
I hope this has given you something useful. This time, in the interest of not venturing into TMI territory, for once I won’t say to be in touch with me on this (except if you’d like the okra info) – but I will suggest that you forward this article to anyone who may need it.