There is a misconception that people on a low carbohydrate diet must all be constipated and in much need of the highly acclaimed fiber. While it is true that most people will notice a difference in their bowel movements as they switch their diets to a healthier one, but is this change really bad?

Good Calories, Bad Calories written by Gary Taubes is a real eye opening book. He has a whole chapter dedicated to the science of fiber. In his book he dissects the studies that that are supposed to prove that the lack of fiber in diet leads to colon cancer and heart disease. He found that these studies did not prove that dietary fiber prevented colon cancer and heart disease.

If you go shopping at any old grocery store you will see fiber pills, fiber cereals, enriched fiber breads on the market. At the pharmacy you can find “colon detox” therapies, and colon flushes and cleanses, enimas. You can also find specialists who perform colon hydrotherapies. All of these products are manufactured for one purpose – just to get out our digested food.

There sure is a great market for this.

Grains, beans, legumes, fruit are all high in fiber and endorsed as a healthy. But they do cause digestive issues. In my personal experience I know that my bloating and gas has disappeared by removing these foods from my diet.

When I was pregnant my bowels slowed down quite a bit. I was expecting it because in literature I had read that it was normal to allow for extra absorption for vitamins and minerals. I had no discomfort, no pain and no extra gas. Everything was fine and my babies did not seem affected by this “toxic” excrement being held hostage by my body for longer time than normal.

Dr. Barry Groves writes

“Tests into the supposed benefits of dietary fibre soon showed that there could be other harmful side effects. All the nutrients in food are absorbed through the gut wall and this takes time. Fibre, by speeding food through the gut faster so that less nutrients are absorbed, inhibits the absorption of iron, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, energy, proteins, fats and vitamins A, D, E and K. This happens with all types of fibre although with a normal Western-style, nutrient-rich diet, the loss caused by vegetable fibre intake is unimportant. More importantly, phytate found in cereal fibre (bran) also binds with calcium, iron and zinc making them indigestible, which in turn causes malabsorption. One study, for example, showed that subjects absorbed more iron from white bread than from wholemeal bread even though their intakes of iron were fifty percent higher with the wholemeal bread. Bran has also been shown to cause faecal losses of calcium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, nitrogen, fats, fatty acids and sterols, thus depleting the body of these materials.”

Speeding up food transit time from the time it enters your mouth to the time it is expelled is not necessarily good. There is a benefit to slow digestion.

Here is a good explanation of what fiber does to the GI Tract..

Fiber scrapes and bangs up the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, causing the cells to rupture and release mucous for lubrication. Fiber actually injures the cells and the mucous is produced during cell repair. The cells get bombarded every time fiber foods get injested (3 or more times a day!). Scientists are not sure how long these cells survive but because of constant injury they don’t believe it to be very long. They are then replaced by new cells when the damaged ones die-off.

I have always thought that damaged cells are bad… and healthy cells are good…

What do you think? What are your thoughts on fiber?

To your health and wellness,

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