Fiber intolerance

loca · 09-02-2011 11:12am #1

Hi Guys,

A while back I was diagnosed as having fiber intolerance/high sensitivity to fiber. I was having very bad diarrohea, bloating, weight gain, water retention & chronic lethargy. I was up at 7am sleepy at 10am, home from work at 5pm and asleep by 10 past 5 til 8pm, up til 10pm and asleep til 7am again - no existence for a year and a half.
That was all on a healthy diet full of fiber but due to the diarrohea I though "hmmm... I must not be getting enough fiber" so I upped the ante and ate more porridge and veg and ended up putting on more weight. It was really upsetting. The dietician told me that what I was eating was very good but she examined my food diary she identified the problem as being fiber.
Then I was not really given much guidance on what I can eat. I find that I am quite restricted in that the general grains,legumes, seeds, nuts etc - the stuff thats good for you - does not suit me. I find that a protein rich diet helps my symptoms. I was retaining and gaining alot of weight unknowingly pre-diagnosis and when I switched over I lost all my weight that I had gained. I had 2 stone in 2 years eating what I thought was very healthy and went up to 12.5 stone. Changing my diet made me drop a half stone within 2 weeks. I eventually got back to 10.4 stone but now I've let a half stone slip back on so no time like the present to get myself in order.
If anyone else has experienced this or if you have suggestions of what would suit my diet i.e. low fiber, low starch I would be very grateful as I want to formulate a list of foods to eat.

Thanks a mill!
x Loca

ciagr297 · 09-02-2011 1:40pm

Did a medical doctor diagnose you with fiber intolerance? Were you told which category of fiber was the issue?

Your description here sounds alot like IBS - but you should make sure that a gastroenterologist has confirmed it is not anything more

The good news is, if it is IBS, there is plenty of help out there. I have IBS and its not about cutting out fiber, its about the strategy for eating fiber (soluable and insoluable)

loca · 09-02-2011 1:47pm

Yes i heard its not really an intolerance but a sensitivity. I had all the blood tests and scopes etc to rule out other problems. I have a hiatus hernia at the top of the stomach which was aggravated but when I control my diet that is not a problem at all. I think the doctor said that it is an intolerance to insoluble fiber. Skins of veg, green veg, meals out, porridge all seem to trigger a bad episode. So is Fiber intolerance a symptom of IBS or is it a separate thing?

loca · 09-02-2011 1:48pm

i wasnt told what category.

ciagr297 · 09-02-2011 3:13pm

ok, first off, i'm not a qualified medic - any advice offered is based on my own experiences

i found this site really useful http://www.helpforibs.com/

basically what i did was make a note of everything i ate over a week, and wrote down how i felt afterwards - you know stuff like

lunch: thai curry wrap with salad
afterwards - felt very bloated and stomach unsettled

its to get an idea of what is eaten and its effect. you don't change anything during this time. then you start to eliminate stuff to understand is it (in my example) the thai curry or the salad that caused the problem. it takes a while but you get to understand the trigger foods for you.

the website provides information and strategy tips - they also have an excellent forum where you can get recipes and ideas about how others handle their IBS

i have a couple of books on IBS which you are welcome to borrow - PM me

main thing - don't give up on it, its all about strategy:)

loca · 09-02-2011 4:52pm

Yea its a tedious process but will be worth it in the end!! Thats a good site. I will keep an eye on it. I don't know why but cornflakes don't agree with me much! or full fat milk.

Pity theres no quick fix!!

ciagr297 · 09-02-2011 5:42pm

so this could be your starting point -

have you tried rice krispies instead?
does slimline milk have the same effect as full fat milk on your stomach?

my advice would be to switch the cereal first and then if nothing changes, keep the new cereal and switch the milk

i usually can't handle much milk at all on an empty stomach anyway:)

whiteonion · 10-02-2011 12:19am

Since when was fibre good for anyone? I thought that was just a myth.

Sapsorrow · 10-02-2011 1:20am

whiteonion wrote: »

Since when was fibre good for anyone? I thought that was just a myth.

I'm pretty sure this was already pointed out to you in another thread but anyway...

The term fibre covers a wide range of different plant based compounds, generally divided into digestible or non-digestible types. Fibre is a family of compounds, not an individual component, some are good and some bad.

Indigestible fibre can't be digested by human enzymes or metabolised by gut bacteria and so is potentially irritating to the gut. It absorbs water from your gut increasing faecal bulk and so helps you crap regularly and that's about it.

Indigestible fibre also contain lectins and binds certain minerals (zinc, selenium etc) in the gut reducing nutrient absorption.

Soluble fibre is chemically reactive and metabolised by gut bacteria to form bioactive compounds (gases/short chain fatty acids) with many potentially beneficial effects like blood sugar regulation and reductions in LDL cholesterol production and stimulation of the immune system.

I avoid unnecessary non-digestible fibre (and lectins) from cereals, legumes etc but try to get as much soluble fibre from fruit and veg as I can.

Sapsorrow · 10-02-2011 1:29am

loca wrote: »

If anyone else has experienced this or if you have suggestions of what would suit my diet i.e. low fiber, low starch I would be very grateful as I want to formulate a list of foods to eat.

Starch and fibre are two completely different things, I don't think you need to avoid starch.

I follow a low-nondigestible fibre diet because I have IBS otherwise. I eat mainly fruit and veg followed by meat, fish, dairy and nuts. I avoid cereals and legumes/pulses completely. It's not hard, if you did it you'd essentially be following a primal diet. Marks daily apple is a great resource for advice and recipes: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ and there's a discussion forum here: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/forum.php

You could try eating low-fibre by just eating refined cereals like white bread, white rice etc but that's not a very sensible decision to adopt for the long-term in my opinion.

chlobow88 · 07-01-2013 10:33am

Hi Loca,

I am just wondering what ended up coming about with your bowel troubles? I took a read through your post to find that I have the exact same issues! I am booked in for a colonoscopy and endoscopy on the 24th Jan 2013. Over the past 5 years I have come to realised that fiber is my problem, particular insoluable fiber e.g nuts, muesli, bran, porridge (the worst) corn, peas, spinach, stringy greens, beans, lentils, multigrain bread, Metamucil and Benefiber are hell! For about the past year I have cut out all high fiber foods and for the past 6 months I have cut out cows milk and caffine and have noticed huge improvements and weight loss. I noticed you listed a lot of the same problem foods! My gastroenterologist hasn't given me a reason for this intollerance but will hopefully have some reasons after the colonoscopy results come back! I am only 24 years old but they are sending me for the procedures because my 24 year old cousin has been fighting bowel and secondary liver cancer, thankfully she is now in remission. They say her's was a gene mutation but want to check all of my family to be sure, and me espceially considering my bowel issues.

Anyway it would be fantastic if you had a moment to reply with an update and outcome of your issues.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Chlo

loca · 28-02-2013 9:02am

chlobow88 wrote: »

Hi Loca,

I am just wondering what ended up coming about with your bowel troubles? I took a read through your post to find that I have the exact same issues! I am booked in for a colonoscopy and endoscopy on the 24th Jan 2013. Over the past 5 years I have come to realised that fiber is my problem, particular insoluable fiber e.g nuts, muesli, bran, porridge (the worst) corn, peas, spinach, stringy greens, beans, lentils, multigrain bread, Metamucil and Benefiber are hell! For about the past year I have cut out all high fiber foods and for the past 6 months I have cut out cows milk and caffine and have noticed huge improvements and weight loss. I noticed you listed a lot of the same problem foods! My gastroenterologist hasn't given me a reason for this intollerance but will hopefully have some reasons after the colonoscopy results come back! I am only 24 years old but they are sending me for the procedures because my 24 year old cousin has been fighting bowel and secondary liver cancer, thankfully she is now in remission. They say her's was a gene mutation but want to check all of my family to be sure, and me espceially considering my bowel issues.

Anyway it would be fantastic if you had a moment to reply with an update and outcome of your issues.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Chlo

Hi chlo so sorry to hear about your cousin. Basically I still have problems. In the interim of this & the last post I have cut out high fat dairy, I've given up meat as I didn't eat that much anyhow. I eat more fish. I drink coconut milk in my tea. I try to avoid high finer foods but we are only human & often stress and diet cause flare ups.
I am now predominantly diet managed. There hasn't been any support for my condition from my doctor really so I have changed docs. My weight is down but for the diet I eat I should be quite slim. I think the foods I do eat put my body under a fair bit of pressure. I try to avoid processed foods.
The biggest thing that I find gives me energy is smaller portions as the body isn't under pressure to digest large meals but since I've cut these things out I've no bloating which is a huge difference.
I'm not advocating my diet my Amy means but this is what I find works best for me...
Any questions just shout!!!

sglgirl · 16-02-2014 6:15pm

Hi Loca and Chlo,

I have been suffering with issues for many years, it has only been the past 3 years or so that I am very focused on what my issues are. With what both of you have posted about your experiences it sounds like my life. I have been jumping back on forth with foods and know that gluten and dairy are not my friend and have not been for many years. Although eliminating these from my diet has only relieved some symptoms it has not taken it all away. Recently I attempted to stick to a Ketogenic diet, which was amazing for me digestively, however I experienced the opposite effect of the diet and started to gain weight after 4 weeks of being on it. However now I am not sure that it was the diet made me gain. On the advice of my new Naturopath, she wanted me to follow a GAPS diet, which increased my carb intake through added vegetables. It has now been 4 weeks and the addition of veggies have brought back all my gas and bloating....the bloating is worse than ever and I have managed to put on another 4 lbs over the past 4 weeks. I am now beginning to wonder if it is insoluble fiber is my issue and not SIBO or bad gut bacteria. What veggies do you find more tolerable than others?

ssusan coleman · 09-04-2014 10:58pm

Hi. you were talking about insoluble fibre being a problem but i have found so too can Soluble Fibre.
Gas, Constipation, Immune Problems. That's what i get from trying to eat soluble fibre. i can tolerate low soluble fibre foods like lettuce and tomato and some berries. and i can eat pumpkin and avocado as long as there is nothing sweet [milk is sweet!!] in that meal.
The university of Michigan puts out a list of major gas producers, moderate gas producers and normal gas producers and that list is very helpful.

Basically the worst are foods that combine high soluble fibre with also sweetness [raffinose, fructose]. i cannot eat any amount even a tiny amount of those - examples apricots, cabbage, carrots. The only grain i can eat is wheat which has low soluble fibre, though i can only eat a small amount - about 40 grams in one meal. i can eat meat and fish which have virtually no fibre.
I found it is helpful to keep a gastro diary to find out my trigger foods - it took me one year to find out this information. Susan

Pam P · 22-01-2015 7:44pm

Hello, I've just been reading your threads and wondered if you'd be interested in a link to your problems. My grandson has had gastrointestinal problems since birth. We realised, after lots of trial and error, that he was only ok with things like mashed potato, meat, fish and eggs (although even eggs could be a problem). We thought fibre to be the problem but then somebody suggested he may be intolerant to salicylates - a natural part of plants - and also the main ingredient in aspirin. Since eliminating all but negligible salicylates, he has become a different child. It basically means giving up fruit and vegetables but obviously is more complex and this is just a brief overview.
There is a lot of information on this subject. A doctor in England has carried out tests on children with ADHD and autism and found that the enzyme that transfers phenols (found in plants etc.) is working at a very low level. Therefore the phenols stay in the system - entering the nervous system.
If you want to research the subject use your search engine re: Dr. Rosemary Waring and salicylates. Feingold diet and autism. There is also a site where you will find a list of foods and their salicylate levels.
One of the reasons the enzyme isn't working is because it requires sulphate to activate it. Look up Epsom Salts - it might be mentioned on some of the sites - it is Magnesium Sulphate and the sulphate activates the phenol transfer system. In England you can buy it from Amazon quite cheaply. You soak in a cupful placed in your bath for about 20 minutes - it is absorbed through your skin. I hope this is helpful. If you need any more information I'll be happy to help - it's a miserable life otherwise

Fiber intolerance

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